Category Archives: Kids in Missions

Coffey Family June 2021 Prayer Letter

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Prayer Requests & Praise  

  • Missionary Jeremy Hall will be bringing a group of 9 people from all over the US to be with us in a couple of weeks.  We’re praying the Lord really moves in the heart of this mission team.  We’re especially excited that my niece, Chloe Johnson, will be a part of that group.     
  • Please be praying for our Junior and Teen Camps that we are having in July.  These will be our first winter camps at Camp Rhino.  As you all are heating up in the States, remember our seasons are opposite here in South Africa so it’s getting a little cooler.        

Quick Updates  

  • With the funds given to help the pastors and ministries in Zambia and Kenya we’ve continued to be a blessing to those great folks.  This past month we financed a well for one of the Bible Institutes in Zambia.  Thank you all for being a great help.  We are still collecting funds to be a help to those pastors if you are wanting to give.  
  • We are starting construction on the buildings for Bay Baptist Bible College next to Camp Rhino.  $25,000 was given for the first building, and we will need about that same amount for each of the following 5 buildings.  We’re hoping to continue construction for the Bible college along with the new lodge for Camp Rhino.  

Please pray that all our churches will be strengthened and more young people will step out and give their lives to preach the Gospel so we can start more churches.  

Lighthouse Baptist Church is going well.  We had 3 ladies saved this past month and the attendance is steadily increasing.  

Vision Baptist also continues to grow.  New Life and Nkandla have struggled a bit but we’re hoping and working to see some more growth in the coming weeks.

All we do here goes toward training national leadership with the purpose of starting more churches.  We know that if people have a church in their community they have a chance at eternal life. Pray with us as we continue to work toward starting a church for every community.  There is so much work to do. 

We finished up our first semester for our Bible College this year.  Our next semester starts in August.  We plan to be in our new building by that time.  We are hoping to branch out this year and make our college available to other churches around the country, especially with our new facilities becoming a reality.  

I do have a very excited announcement to make very soon. Be watching for our next email coming out this week.

Our Half Year in Pictures

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Here is a snapshot of 2021 so far for the Coffey family. Thank you all so much for being a part of our ministry. We are very fortunate to be involved in this exciting work.
We started off 2021 with two camps at Camp Rhino. We were torn about having camp during lockdown but finally decided to follow through with them. Thankfully we haven’t had a single outbreak with Covid this year with any of our meetings.
We started with Junior Camp. 

Then we followed with Teen Camp.

Remember, January is Summer for us here in South Africa:)

We saw over 50 young people make professions of faith during those two camps. Katie Dilfer who is raising support to come back to South Africa was able to visit for 3 weeks during that time. My son Chase also brought a group from the states to help with those camps.  

He also used that time to propose to his girlfriend Ashley.  We love her very much, btw:)

Two interns from Vision Baptist Missions came to work and train with us for 3 months, Noah and Tristan Wilkerson. 

Noah and Tristan surrendered to be missionaries to the bordering country of Mozambique during their time here.  We were able to take a short survey trip there to check out the country before they made their final decision.  Pray for them as they are now on deputation with the new son Logan, raising support to come back to Africa very soon.

Even though our churches were on lockdown and weren’t allowed to meet in their buildings, we invited the churches that wanted to participate to Camp Rhino for three weeks straight of Sunday services.  It was a special time for all the churches to meet together.  

In February, the restrictions were lifted and churches were able to meet again.  There is still a little struggle with attendance, but the leadership and spirit are strong and the churches are beginning to grow.  We continue to see people saved with five people making professions of faith this past month.

In March, I went back to the states for 3 weeks to teach at our annual orientation at the Wilds for Vision Baptist Missions. Below are those in attendance from our Africa team. I have the great privilege of serving them as the Africa Director for VBM. 

This is all our missionaries in attendance for orientation, those on furlough and those on deputation. 

In April, we had our very first teen camp and single camp during school’s fall break.  This is the first time we’ve had a camp outside the regular summer season.  We’re hoping this will begin our year-round camping which we hope to be the new normal.  We had 10 young people make professions of faith. 

Robert Canfield, Africa Representative and Director of the Our Generation Training Center in Alpharetta, Ga brought students from the Training Center to help during those camps.

We’ve tried to make great use of some of our downtime at Camp Rhino to improve our facilities. We’ve installed video surveillance along with an intercom system for the entire camp.

We are also working on improving Camp Rhino grounds and sport fields….

…. and adding hens soon to take down some of the expenses for the camp.

Classes have continued for Bay Baptist Bible College and Bay Baptist Bible Institutes throughout the lockdown. Please be praying as we will be breaking ground on our new buildings for Bay Baptist Bible College in the next few days. (New Pictures Coming Soon)

We’re definitely excited about what else is in store for us here in South Africa.  Thank you all for your prayers and support.  We wouldn’t be able to do what we get to do without you.

Coffey Family May 2021 Prayer Letter

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2020 was the year we planned to open up Camp Rhino to year round camps.  Unfortunately, those plans didn’t work out like we wanted for obvious reasons, but 2021 is looking much brighter.  

We held our first teen and junior camps in January and just finished another teen and singles camp at the end of April.  This is the first time we’ve had a camp outside of our summer months which we hope will be our new normal.  We had a much better turnout than we anticipated with 105 campers and 14 workers.  We were stacking kids on top of each other because of our shortage of beds:)

While a lot of countries are still shut down to travel, we’re very glad to know that South Africa is still open.  We have a group coming in June for a 10-day trip and also a large group from Medical Missions Outreach coming in September.  We are hoping to be completely booked with mission teams in 2022. If you or your church group is interested in visiting South Africa, we would love to have you.
Please continue praying for our 4 church plants as we continue reaching our communities. 

Prayer Requests & Praise  

  • This past week we had our first Fall Break Teen Camp here at Camp Rhino. We had over 100 campers and 9 of them trusted Christ as their Savior.    
  • We also hosted our very first Single’s Camp.  This was geared more toward our church young people, but we did have one young man who trusted in Christ. 
  • Please pray as we plan for the construction of Phase 2 for Camp Rhino.  In phase 2 we would like to build a lodge, a large meeting space, and several cabins that can be used for couple retreats and visiting groups.  We are probably going to need around $200,000 for these projects.   

Quick Updates  

  • My short trip back to the States went very well.  I was able to teach during our VBM Orientation and also present our ministry in a couple of new churches.  During the Orientation, it was a privilege to be with such a great group of missionaries who are eager to reach the world with the Gospel. 
  • Robert Canfield, Director of the Our Generation Training Center in Alpharetta, GA, brought three students for a two-week trip after I returned from the States.  During their trip, we traveled by car to the countries of Mozambique and Swaziland, while also visiting Durban, South Africa’s third-largest city.
  • We are in need of 40 beds and mattresses for Camp Rhino.  We have the dorm space but don’t quite have enough beds. Each bunk bed is about $300, which in total will be about $6000 if you would be interested in helping us with this need. 

Coffey Family March 2021 Prayer Letter

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With summer camp season over, our crowds at Camp Rhino haven’t been as big, but we’re still busy as ever.  We’re using this down time to improve things around the camp which will make it safer for campers and staff. Not to mention our Bible College and Bible Institute classes are in full swing. 

Currently, we’re installing a new surveillance system that will help with security and accountability. We are also installing an intercom system that’s going to be very helpful in moving people around more efficiently and allows us to play good music and messages over the entire campus during downtimes. 

Camera and Speaker Systems being installed at Camp Rhino

All improvements are possible because of your generous donations.  Thank you all for playing a huge part.  We would really love for you to visit Camp Rhino sometime so you can see everything for yourself. 

We are continuing with our weekend youth mentoring program.  New Life Baptist Church is bringing a group of teens to the camp this week for an overnight retreat.  We are also planning a parents’ camp day where we invite all the parents of campers to check out the Camp. Most of these parents do not go to church and will be hearing the Gospel during their time here. Pray that lives will be impacted during these events. 

Prayer Request & Praise

  • Pray for me as I travel back to the States next week to teach at our annual orientation with Vision Baptist Missions.  Pray for Amy as she holds things down here at Camp Rhino with the kiddos while I’m gone. I do have a Wednesday evening service available along with Easter Sunday if you would like me to come by your church during this time.
  • We are planning now for the construction of our Camp Rhino Lodge. This will be the place teams from America stay during mission trips and will also be the housing for our couple retreats and camps. Pray that we’ll have the wisdom and the finances we need going forward. This will be a very large project.
  • Pray for Nate and Emily Wilkerson as they arrived in Burkina Faso, West Africa to begin their language studies this past month.  They have the opportunity to serve and learn under missionaries Jason and Charity Rishel.
  • Pray for Mvume Johnson and the Lighthouse Baptist Church, our 2nd church.  Our Friday youth meetings have doubled in size over the past few weeks.  We are hoping that many will come to Christ soon.  
Nate, Emilee, & Azariah Wilkerson

Quick Updates

  • Noah & Tristan Wilkerson finished their internship and were accepted as new missionaries to the country of Mozambique with Vision Baptist Missions.  Pray for them as they begin raising support and please consider having them in your church to present their ministry.  You definitely won’t regret it. 
  • We’ve had 3 young people trust Christ at our 4th church plant this month, Vision Baptist Church with Pastor Sipho Bonga. Here we are also starting Sunday morning services on Easter.  Before we’ve only had evening services on Sundays and Wednesdays.  
  • Pastor Khona is having Bible studies with those who trusted Christ last month.  He and his wife Iminathi are doing a great job there at Nkandla Baptist Church. Pray for this dear family and for more souls to be saved. 
1st Youth Meeting at Lighthouse Baptist Church with Pastor Mvume
Lisakhanya sharing the Gospel with one of the teens

Coffey Family January 2021

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“These are crazy times” is quickly becoming the go-to cliche every where:). That’s definetely true for things in South Africa. 

Because of higher Covid numbers here in South Africa, tighter restrictions have returned.  The closing of churches and not being able to sell alcohol are really the only things that have changed. We’re glad about the alcohol but not so much about the churches. 

As I write this letter, we are in the middle of our last full day of teen camp.  Things have been slammed with us starting camps and with two groups from the US arriving to help. I slipped away so I could let you guys know what’s going on.  

Even with the restrictions on religious gatherings, we decided to have both our junior and teen camps.  Businesses are allowed to have 50 people indoors and 100 people outdoors.  Our plan was to stay under the 50 number for campers, but we haven’t done a perfect job at that.  These camps have been a blessing to our churches and we are thrilled to see many young people believe on Jesus.

Prayer Request and Praise

  • Pray for all our churches here in South Africa.  Churches aren’t allowed to meet until February 15th, at the earliest, because of Covid.  We have been holding services at Camp Rhino for the churches that want to be involved. Soon some of the churches will start meeting even though there is a lockdown.  It’s hard to find a good reason to stay closed with casinos, theatres, and malls still open. 
  • We had 22 saved during Junior Week at Camp Rhino to start off this year! 🙂         
  • Our smaller camp ideas didn’t exactly work out for Teen Week:) We ended up having 78 campers and hit 106 with staff and counselors.  Too many wanted to come, and we couldn’t turn them away.     
  • Katie Dilfer, a single missionary to South Africa with BIMI, came for three weeks to help out with camps.  Pray for her as she returns to the States next week to continue raising monthly support to come and work here full time.          
  • Pray for Noah & Tristan Wilkerson as they are here for a 2-month internship with the OG Training Center. If you are interested in helping with their expenses during their time here please let me know.

Quick Updates

  • We praise God for the offerings that came in the last 2 months.  Those gifts enabled us to finish our boys’ dorms, install the electricity for our auditorium/activity center, and cover the cost of both teen and junior camps this year. 
  • Our next building projects for Camp Rhino will probably be our couples’ cabins and main lodge. We have really been amazed at how far we’ve come in such a short time with all your prayer and support.  We can’t thank you enough. 

Coffey Family February 2020 Prayer Letter

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Prayer Requests & Praise  

  • We praise the Lord for the 27 young people who trusted Christ during our first ever Junior Camp at Camp Rhino.  Thank you so much for praying.  We had 55 Juniors in total attend our camp, which means almost 50% of those in attendance made a profession of faith.  
  • Since the start of our camp a little over a year ago, we have seen over 120 young people come to Christ.  Camp Rhino has been a tremendous aid in all our churches here in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.  Pray we can even see more done for Christ this year. 
  • Pastor Mvume Johnson started Lighthouse Baptist Church on January 19th with 7 visitors in attendance, 4 of which are part of his lost family. 
  • Pastor Khona Nohamba started Nkandla Baptist Church this past Sunday.  We were delayed a week because of the building, but we had a great service with 4 visitors.  
  • I’m excited about the impact of both of these new young churches and pastors. Please pray for them as they shine forth the light of the Gospel in their communities.

Quick Updates & Reminders:

  • We will be back in the States between April 23rd to July 13th for our oldest son’s wedding.  If you would be interested in helping with our Church Planting efforts or Camp Rhino, we would love to schedule a meeting during this time. 
  • My beautiful wife turns 40 on February 7th.  I know I’ll get in trouble, but I figured it was okay since it will already be on Facebook anyway:)
Pastor Khona working on his new church building with Pastor Sipho

We are really encouraged this new year with the start of two new churches already.  In February, we also hope to start our third church.  We have been holding weekly Bible studies in an area next to our main church, New Life Baptist, in a small shack for a couple of years now.   With newly acquired land we believe it’s time to officially start the church.  We are in need of about $5,000 for the building.  This would give us a slab floor and a very good space to start in.  It will be a metal “shack” church, but something we will be able to use for many years.   

We are thrilled to let you know that almost $18,000 came in for Camp Rhino this past month.  That is over half of what’s needed to finish phase one of construction.  Our goal for 2020 was $35,000, so we only lack $17,000 to meet our goal for the year.  When everything comes in, we will be able to put the roof on our auditorium plus build new dorms for the boys.  That will enable us to house 120 campers along with counselors and staff.  Finishing the auditorium will also enable us to have camp year-round without fears of bad weather conditions.

Teen Camp 2019 at Camp Rhino

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23 Trusted Christ as their Savior

2019 Teen Camp at Camp Rhino

Our 2019 Teen Camp has come to an end, and what a terrific end it was. 25% of 90 campers made professions of faith in Christ before our week was over.

There were teens from every one of our churches who were saved. What an answer to prayer!

Thank you so much for praying and thank you so much for giving. We had over half of our campers sponsored because of your generosity. We can’t thank our great counselors enough for the impact they made on the lives of our campers. They worked tirelessly the whole week.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to finish our auditorium space in time for camp. We fell short in funds, but we were able to make what we have work out great.

We are so thankful for the Camps Abroad who were here for the third in a row. They have been a great help during this entire process. We are very new at what we are doing, and they walked with us every step of the way. Thank you Tim, Rachel, and Steve.

Tim and Steve teaching the staff how to do “Tag Alot”

We are also very grateful for our intern Regina Gordon, who leaves out tomorrow to end her 6-month intership. She has been a valuable part of our team her entire time here, especially at camp this past week.

We were also privileged to have Sindy Gaines from Oakland Heights Baptist Church in Cartersville, Ga here to help with camp, along with Katie Dilfer from Gospel Light Baptist Church in Helena, Al. Both of these ladies were a great blessing. Pray for Katie as she is praying about coming back to South Africa full-time to help start a Christian School.

Sindy was our camp photographer and helped in the kitchen on the side.
Future Auditorium and Activity Center at Camp Rhino

Coffey Family December 2019 Prayer Letter

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Prayer Requests & Praise

  • Pray as we go forward with our third church plant in January 2020. One of our young couples will be heading up that work. Please pray for Khona and Iminathi. Khona has been a faithful worker and is currently enrolled in our Bible college, and his wife Iminathi is enrolled in our Bible Institute.
  • Our Teen Camp at Camp Rhino is from Dec. 10th-13th. We still need help sponsoring campers to offset expenses at $50 per camper for the week. We are preparing for 100 teen campers for this first camp of the summer season.
  • This past month our South Africa team was able to visit the countries of Kenya and Rwanda. God is doing great work in Kenya, but more still needs to be done. The need for reaching Rwanda really touched our hearts. We need more missionaries there. It is wide open and definitely a good place for someone to consider being a missionary. Pray for laborers.
“Hotel Rwanda” in Kigali, Rwanda
Khona and Iminathi’s wedding one year ago.

Quick Updates & Reminders:

  • Over $15,000 came in to finish our girl dorms at Camp Rhino. We also had enough to update our electrical system and to start renovating an old structure for our auditorium space. We need about $6,000 for the roof on the building. We’ll be cutting it close but hope even it will be ready for camp.
  • We have secured property for the land we hope to use for our future medical clinic in Port Elizabeth, which we are also using for our 2nd church plant.
  • Katie Dilfer is here from Gospel Light Baptist Church Helena, AL to look at the possibility of maybe helping us start a Christian School. Pray for guidance in this area.
  • Regina Gordon has been serving as an intern for the last 6 months. She only has a few days left. Please pray for her as she returns to the States. She’s been a tremendous help to all the ministries during her time here.
New auditorium space for Camp Rhino – $6,000 needed for roof
Slab inside new auditorium is being laid

I hope all had a great Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for. I’m especially thankful to you all for making it possible for us to serve here in South Africa. We are so blessed.

There is a special prayer request I would like to share. Pieta Struwig has served as head of maintenance and grounds here at Camp Rhino since January. We couldn’t have accomplished most of what has been built here at the camp without his help. He received news last week that he has cancer. This was surprising news for all of us. Pieta is only 40 years old and was saved last year at Grace Baptist Church where my cousin Kevin pastors.

Pieta pictured far right

As he starts Chemo this week, we are asking God for complete healing. Please pray. I’m not sure what we would do here at Camp Rhino without him. He’s been such an incredible help and blessing.

Also please don’t forget about teen camp, which is a week away. Pray for lives to be changed.

Coffey Family November 2019 Prayer Letter

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This past week, our teen discipleship meeting went in a different direction.  As we were starting our study, 3 men came into the home of the church members where we have been meeting and robbed us at gunpoint.  Thankfully, no one was hurt, but they did get away with my MacBook and iPhone along with my son, Luke’s iPhone and about $300. Pray we can replace some of these things ASAP.  My family keeps making fun of me for saying “Hey Siri” anticipating a response from my phone that I no longer have. I really do use my phone and computer in almost every part of our ministry though:)

Some of our teens

It’s hard to believe we only have 2 months left in 2019.  It amazes me that so much has taken place, yet I can be overwhelmed at times at how much more we have to do.  I can say through it all, we are having a fantastic time seeing God work.  What a privilege it is to be in the Lord’s work.  Thank you all for making that possible.

My Son Luke

Prayer Requests & Praise  

  • What we are calling our Christmas Camp is from Dec. 10th-13th.  We need help sponsoring campers to offset expenses at $50 per camper.   We are preparing for 100 teen campers for the first camp of the summer season. Click here to donate via PayPal.
  • Pray for many to come to Christ during year-two of Camp Rhino. 
  • 8 of our teens were with my son Luke and me when I was robbed this week along with 2 other faithful adults from our church.  Pray the Lord uses this in our lives to help us be more serious concerning eternity. 
  • We received great news this week regarding property for a possible medical clinic.  It looks like our district is going to give us a terrific piece of property to use for the clinic at a great price.  Please continue to pray as we go forward with the idea of starting our own full-time medical clinic here in South Africa.
Only a few weeks until our 2019 Teen Camp

Quick Updates & Reminders:

  • We are short about $3,000 of the $20,000 needed to complete the new dorm-style cabins at Camp Rhino.   The roof is going on this week, but we still lack the doors and electrical systems. Please be praying as we also need to prepare the space we will be using for the main auditorium.
  • We just passed the one year anniversary of when we first purchased the property for Camp Rhino.  So far this year we’ve seen over 60 professions of faith through our camp events.  We’re praying and hoping for even greater results during this next year.
  • Contact me in you’re interested in a missions trip to South Africa. We would love to have you. You can join a group or bring your own. We are booked for groups for the Summer months of 2020 but have room for individuals and off months. We are also scheduling for 2021 and 2022. Come experience Camp Rhino for yourself.
  • It looks like we will be in the States next year for my oldest son’s wedding, probably from April to June. I will also be using that time to raise extra support to help with our current and future ministries. If you would like to have us in during that time please just let me know.
The roof is on our girl dorms

Christmas Camp Sponsors

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In our last prayer letter, I mentioned needing sponsors for our next big teen camp in December. Some requested more info, so here you go:

We are planning for 100 campers for what we’ve referred to as our Christmas Camp which will go from December 10th-13th. While you hopefully will be enjoying a cool and possibly white Christmas, we will be somewhere in the 70’s and 80’s seeing it’s the start of our summer season here in South Africa:)

Our goal is to raise $50 per camper. This would help with activities, transportation, food, and lodging.

We are continually working to make Camp Rhino a better place for evangelistic outreach and training so any donation would be appreciated.

If you would be interested in sponsoring a camper you can send funds to our mission board by clicking visionmissions.org/give/ or via Paypal by clicking Paypal.me/camprhino.

Thank you for helping us impact these teenagers with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Can’t have camp without a camp fire
Preaching
Big Ball
Thank you for partnering with us to reach people with the Gospel.