Sipho and I had the privilege to speak to the students at Lungisa High School this past week. Lungisa High School is a public high school very close to our church. We now have an open door to come and spend time with the students during their lunch break each week. This is a great opportunity for us to be able to impact many young people with the truth of the Gospel.
On January 22nd, the construction began for New Life Baptist Church Kwadwesi. Other than lacking a few doors, electricity, and water, the building is ready for use. Well, we’re going to use it anyway:) We will be having our first service in the main auditorium this morning, April 19th at 10am. I want to thank everyone for their prayers and support during this building project. The money for building came in just in time, even when I underestimated the cost or had surprise expenses. I praise the Lord, there is a lighthouse in the Kwadwesi area of Port Elizabeth, South Africa to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Continue to pray as we seek to reach the lost and train young men for the ministry.
The main beam for our auditorium was delivered this past week. It was nice seeing things advance when I went by the church yesterday. Our main floor should be ready for use by next Sunday morning.
Our building is progressing nicely. We are still hoping to have our first service on April 5th, Easter Sunday morning, but we’re cutting it very close. The I-Beam we need for the main floor won’t be available until Wednesday, at the earliest. Without the I-Beam we can’t finish the main floor.
This past we we did experience our first break-in. Someone tried to break in through one of our new windows. With no success, they bust in through the new door. We paid one of the workers to spend the night there, but he decided to skip that night. Unfortunately, all of our builders tools were stolen, and the window and door need to be replaced.
I’m glad to know the roof is almost finished and hopefully water and electricity will be connected this week. Overall this has been a great building experience with very little interruption.
Thank you all for you prayers and support.
Here lately, I’ve felt that most of my life has been about building projects, which for me isn’t a bad thing. I love building, or better said, I love organizing the building and watching others build. It’s been neat seeing the walls go up on New Life Baptist Church. We are hoping to have the building ready for services by April 5th/ Easter Day.
This past week we started another building project at Madiba Bay Baptist Church. This project is to supply housing for Pastor Lubabalo and his family.
For almost a year, this family of 4 has been living in 2 small rooms in the church. The new addition attached to the church will provide Lubabalo’s family with 2 bedrooms, bath, kitchen, and a good size living area. Along with providing this family with a nice living space, two more badly needed Sunday school rooms will be available for the church to use when they move out. If you would like to have a part in this project here is a breakdown of the expenses.
Plumbing- $1,345
Electrical- $1,318
Labor for walls & roof- $2,197
Materials- $2,164 rand (Blocks, brink, cement, sand, etc)
Roof- $870
Total- $7,894
Below are the two rooms they are currently living in.
Over the past two weeks, $15, 600 came in to help with the building of New Life Baptist Church. This has enabled us to continue building without any major delays. We are grateful to those who gave, and want to thank the Lord for bringing the funds in so quickly. We are hoping and feel pretty certain, with these funds, we will be able to complete the first phase of the building. This first phase will give us space for our first auditorium, 4 Sunday school classes, two bathrooms, and also supply housing for my assistant. I’m feeling pretty overwhelmed by the sacrificial giving of God’s people with this project.
Dear Pastor and Friends,
The most exciting thing that took place since our last updated happened just a few days ago. My wife was able to witness, in Xhosa, to the lady who watches our kids during the day, Mama Khunjuzwa. After two week of going over salvation, Mama K was born again! She is a 51 year old lady who has attended church all of her life, and from her own testimony, never heard a clear presentation of the gospel until now. Please pray for Rebekah and her as they continue with some foundational lessons. Pray that she will come to our church and begin to get grounded in the word and connected with other believers.
Our Pastor, Wayne Cofield and his wife were with us for two weeks last month. During his stay he preached and taught 18 different times. One of those times was at a street soccer evangelistic out-reach we started in our church parking lot. There was an incredible turn out for our first weekend. Around 150-175 youth, and young men showed up. Pastor Cofield preached the first message and 6 young men made professions of faith. We are looking forward to using this to draw the attention of many more and share the gospel.
This is the foundation, slab and beginning of the walls for New Life Baptist Church. I can’t tell you how excited we are to see this progressing. Individuals and churches have given generously to make this happen. We were recently given $3,600 from our home church to begin building the walls. Since then, another individual has given close to $10,000! Hopefully our teammates, Mark Coffey and Sipho Bonga, will be meeting in this building within two months. God is faithful and has provided for His work!
Future Events and Prayer Requests:
Thanks again for all you do and may God bless you richly!
Sincerely,
Jeremy and Rebekah Hall
The quote for building materials for all the walls on the first floor of New Life Baptist Church comes out to 48,790 rand which is about $4,435. This will be the cost once we have the foundation completed, which will include a single garage-size basement.
For months, I have been mentioning this church, and our desire to start building as soon as possible. The day to start building has come and gone. The footers and most of the foundation wall is complete. The wait is over.
This will be the first church for me to pastor here in South Africa. Pray for me and Pastor Sipho Bonga as we work to start this church in the coming weeks. Originally, Pastor Sipho was going to start this church on his own, but for now he wants to come on as my helper to give his family a little time to adjust. As time goes on, and I’m able to be be involved in more church plants, we plan for Sipho’s role to change quite a bit.
The foundation, unfortunately, is costing more than we originally planned because of the layout of the land. We don’t have the final number for the first floor, but it looks like it will be closer to $15,000 to have everything roughed in. This is close to $7000 more than we had initially planned. More details to come.
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