Coffey Family May 2015 Prayer Letter

May 30, 2015 by The Coffeys

Our first pastors retreat in the little town of Addo was a great success. We had a wonderful time with our team of missionaries and pastors. The classes were a big help in encouraging everyone to keep their eye on the mark. It’s amazing how easily distracted one can get when doing the Lord’s work.

This week, Missionary Randy Stirewalt from Kenya was able to visit and teach several classes for our Bible institute. Brother Stirewalt has served in Kenya for over 38 years and has been involved in starting over 260 churches in Kenya, Uganda, and South Sudan. We have been blessed to glean from his vast experience in ministry. He has been a tremendous help in the plans of our Bible college, and will be helping as we setup the struture and curriculum.

Please pray for the Josh Sullivan Family who arrives this week for a 6 month internship. As they train for the field on the field, we pray God uses them in a mighty way during their time here in South Africa.

We pray God brings more young people just like the Sullivan’s here to South Africa for training. I’m thankful to be a part of a team who has a burden to help young people to find their place in world evangelism.

Prayer Request

The start of Bay Baptist College
More laborers
Pastor Sipho and his family as we work together at New Life Baptist Church.
Language learning
Plans for ministry expansion in the next few months

More Highlights

Akeme Ubom, pre-med student from North Ga University, visited this month and was a great blessing to all our families and churches.
4 teems came to church and made professions after Akeme preached at Tamsanqa High School
Hannah Peabody from Fellowship Baptist in Maryville, Ga arrives June 2nd for a one month internship

Needs

$1300 to finish the electric work for the pastor house at Madiba Bay Baptist Church
$1000 to finish the plumbing at Madiba as well

Pray for Lungisa High School

April 26, 2015 by The Coffeys

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.

The Church Building Open and Ready for Use

April 19, 2015 by The Coffeys

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.

We may soon have a floor

April 12, 2015 by The Coffeys

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.

New Life Kwadwesi Building Update

March 29, 2015 by The Coffeys

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.

More Building

February 21, 2015 by The Coffeys

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.

New Life Building from Start until Present

February 21, 2015 by The Coffeys

Building without Delay

February 15, 2015 by The Coffeys

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.

New Life Building from Start to Present

February 7, 2015 by The Coffeys

January 2015 Coffey Family Prayer Letter

January 28, 2015 by The Coffeys

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.