Viewing for Larry Underwood will be Monday, November 3, from 5-8 at Ponders Funeral Home in Dalton, GA. (Off the by-pass)
The funeral will be Tuesday at 10am at McFarland Hill Baptist Church in Dalton, Ga.
Thank you all again for your prayers!
Category Archives: Updates
Please Pray for the Underwood Family
We received news from our team member, Stephen Underwood, that his father unexpectedly passed away in his sleep this past Saturday morning. Please be praying for Stephen and his family. His dad was only 55 years old and this was very unexpected. I believe the funeral will be Tuesday morning at McFarland Hills Baptist Church in Dalton, GA. As we get more information it will be passed along.
Stephen and Ashley are currently on deputation and are doing well raising support to get to South Africa. They had to cut a missions conference short they were a part of in Knoxville.
WorldEvangelism.net
I was privileged to write a highlight on missions in South Africa for the new blog WorldEvangelism.net. Take a look if you have a few minutes. It’s a little longer than I usually write, but there are some pictures:) Maybe they will let me write again if I can get you guys to read and comment.
Mission Field Highlight: South Africa
In March of 2011, I traveled to Port Elizabeth, South Africa to lead mission teams to work with my cousins, missionaries Kevin and Corli Hall. God used that trip to bring my family to where we are now, full time missionaries to South Africa serving along side Kevin and Corli and my cousins Jeremy and Bekah Hall.
Traveling to South Africa helped me realize the spiritual biblical dearth of a very religious place. If you come to South Africa today you will see a country that has a lot of places that are called churches. Around town where most of the white population live you will see…. click here to read more at WorldEvangelism.net
Rent or Buy & Soccer
As of now, a place to rent hasn’t opened up for the new church plant. It seems that rentable space is very limited. We will continue to search, but it may come to the place where we need to buy property. I’m really hoping we can keep the cost down the first year by just renting a space, but I’m not sure how much longer we can wait. Many people have offered to sell their property, but no one is able to rent.
We are praying for clear direction from the Lord right now. To rent a house with enough land to build a small auditorium would be around $50 to $75 a month. To buy the same property would be between $5000 and $7000 I believe.
At Madiba Bay Baptist we are currently renovating the front parking lot of the church to build a soccer/fubito court. The church plans to use Friday night and Saturday soccer leagues for outreach and evangelistic purposes. With the lack of space in the community for these types of events, we believe it will be a great opportunity to be in contact with a lot more lost young people. It will also be a great venue for the young preachers to gain more experience in preaching and presenting the Gospel.
Please be in prayer for both the new church plant and the soccer leagues.
Surprise!
Yesterday, my wife surprised her sister, and pretty much everyone else from our family and home church by flying in to see our newly born niece, Selah. Thanks to a faithful supporter, my wife was able to be with her sister, Stephanie Cornwell, right after the birth of her new baby girl. We were hoping to get her there before the birth when the tickets were purchased 2 months ago, but she missed it by 15 hours.
She will be in the States for two weeks to spend time with her sister and family. Please pray for her while she travels. More importantly though, please pray for me while I’m attempting to take care of the five kiddos back here at home, while studying the language and looking for a church building 🙂
Update on Baby Grace Bassham
Many prayers were answered this past week when little Grace Bassham checked out of NICU and the hospital in Bangkok, Thailand on Monday morning. The Bassham family are grateful for all that sent financial support, but they are even more grateful for the many prayers that were prayed for the new little baby.
The infection didn’t get to the blood stream, and the seemingly bad situation has passed.
Below is the latest update from the Bassham’s:
“I want to say a huge thank you to everyone for your prayers and support this past week with the complications of the birth of Grace and her time in the NICU.
Today, after 7 days in the NICU, she was finally released, and we were able to bring her home!
This past week, we were able to see the Lord answer prayers from all of the world for little Grace. There was a whirlwind of change that happened over here in the 24 hours following the update out asking for prayer for her.”
Possible building…..not so much
Yesterday, I was able to contact the owner of a building we were interested in renting for the new church plant. It was a run down looking building that didn’t look like it was being used at all. We went by earlier in the week, and the young son said his dad was interested in renting out the building. What we found out yesterday was that he was only interested in renting out a small room in the front part of the building. He was still using most of the building for a tavern and pool hall.
So, I guess that’t not going to work. The look continues.
Pray and Give for Baby Grace in Thailand
Yesterday, I wrote about our good missionary friend’s Philip and Lori Bassham new little baby Grace. She was born on Monday and everything looked good for a little while until she started having problems breathing. The Doctors feared she may have the Step B Infection. They moved her to NICU and put in an incubator and told Philip and Lori she would be there from 3 to 7 days.
I found out a few minutes ago that the doctors have confirmed she does have the Step B Infection and will now be in the NICU at least 10-14 days.
With Philip and Lori being really close friends of our, it’s tough being so far away during a time like this. I know it has to be even more tough for their families.
Since we can’t be there with them, we would like to help raise the $7500 in Medical expenses they are facing right now. Amy and I have already given and are willing to give more if the needs aren’t raised.
Would you consider giving a small gift to help with these medical expenses? You can send your gift to: Vision Baptist Missions P.O. Box 442 Alpharetta, GA 30009 or give online at visionbaptistmissions.com.
I would also asking you to please be praying. There are some pretty scary scenarios for babies that get it early on like little Grace. Prayer is needed. Please pray.
July 2014 Coffey Family Prayer Letter
Prayer Request
- For our two college interns that will be here until August.
- That we find the right piece of land for Wells Estates Baptist Church
- For Amy and I to learn the Xhosa language
- Bible studies to go well for Pastor Sipho at Kwadwesi (location of the new church plant) – Over 20 professions of faith so far
Highlights
- Many were saved during the youth conferences and children’s crusades this past month
- Missionaries Stephen & Ashley Underwood came for their survey trip.
- My son Tyler preached his 1st message
Needs
- $500-$1000 for Gospel Tracts
- Approx. $8-10,000 needed to build the first building for New Life Baptist Church
- Still looking for land for Wells Estates Baptist. We have $5500 for this need but will probably need $6000 more.
- Around the same amount of $8-10,000 is needed for Wells Estate’s building.
June 23rd marked the one year anniversary of my family arriving here in Port Elizabeth. It’s been a terrific year of learning a new culture, city, and part of the language. This year has flown by, but we’re even more excited about what’s ahead.
We just finished up hosting two groups and from the states. Pastor Tony Howeth and his gang from Newton Baptist Church in Covington, GA were a great blessing during the Youth Conferences in June. His preaching and teaching were a great help to the young people.
The group from Calvary Baptist Church in Hiawassee, GA and our two college interns worked tirelessly during our children crusades. There were over 30 professions of faith with over 600 different children in attendance between the 2 day meetings at each of the churches.
As much as all of our guest have been a blessing to us, we do pray there time here on the mission field will make a life long impact in their lives. Our heart and desire it to help people find their place in getting the Gospel to the world. The need for labourers, not only here but around the world, is still great. We pray the Lord will use this ministry to help raise up more of those labourers.
Coffey Family May 2014 Prayer Letter
Prayer Request
- That we find the right piece of land for Wells Estates Baptist Church
- For Amy and I to learn the language
- For two of the pastors we are helping go full time: Pastor Thami & Pastor Ntobeko
- For our missions teams coming in June and July
Highlights
- All travel expenses of our trip back to the states were covered. It was exciting seeing how God provided.
- Land found and purchased for New Life Baptist Church in Kwadwesi. Hoping to begin construction on the building this month.
- Back to language school- It’s amazing how much Xhosa a person can forget in month.
Needs
- Approx. $8,000 needed to build the first building for New Life Baptist Church
- Still looking for land for Wells Estates Baptist. We have $5500 for this need but will probably need $6000 more.
- Around the same amount of $8000 will be needed for Wells Estates Baptist Church.
We arrived back to South Africa on May 21st after a month of funerals in the states. Please continue to pray for my family as we are still dealing with the losses.
It is great to be home and back in the middle of everything.
In the first week back, Pastor Sipho found a nice piece of land for the new church, and we were able to buy that within a few days.
Our next land search is for Wells Estates Baptist. They’ve been asked to find a new location and could be told to vacate the premises any day. We have some options but need your prayers for wisdom and the remaining finances. (Continue reading below)
With the purchase of permanent property comes the need for a permanent building. We are having building plans drawn up that we are hoping to use for all the new churches. This will help us better know the cost for future building projects and save us from having to pay for new building plans each time. The layout includes a small prophet’s chamber for the pastor’s family, an Auditorium that will hold about 80 people, bathrooms, and 3 Sunday school rooms. Above is our rough draft we believe will cost around $8000.