Author Archives: The Coffeys

Please Pray for the Underwood Family

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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

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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

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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!

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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 🙂

 

The New Church Plant Update

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We are still in search for a place to start the church.  There is a meeting this Saturday with a family who may be willing to rent us their house.  Please be in prayer that we will walk through the doors the Lord opens.

The two areas we are wanting to start churches in are fairly young communities. There aren’t many buildings outside of houses, and the houses are over crowded and don’t become available often.  We believe these areas would be ideal places to start churches, and we’ll keep you up to date on the progress.

In the meantime, please to continue to pray for our language learning.

 

 

Update on Baby Grace Bassham

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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.”

Click here for full article

 

 

Possible building…..not so much

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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

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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.  

Missionary Friends in Thailand

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My good friends Philip and Lori Bassham just had their second baby, Grace.  She’s a beautiful little girl, but has had some infection problems.  She is currently in NICU in Thailand, and will probably be there for a few days.

Philip in Lori are currently learning the language and have been in Thailand for about a year and a half now.

Unfortunately, Philip and Lori missed being able to put this pregnancy on their insurance by about 10 days, and it looks like he is going to have to pay at least $7500 in medical expenses for the delivery and with the situation of little Grace.

Please be praying for this family and their financial situation.  If you would be interested in helping out a little with the expenses you can send it to our mission board: Vision Baptist Mission  P.O. Box 442 Alpharetta, GA  30009.  You can also give online by going to visionbaptistmissions.com.  Philip and Lori are members of our home church and with our mission board.

Coffey Family September 2014 Prayer Letter

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Delay…. Probably.  Please continue to pray.  The location we planned to use for the new church plant fell through this past week.  One of the owners was worried the community would be upset with a church being started in the neighborhood, and wouldn’t give us the go ahead.  We’re not sure if this is a closed door, but we are praying the Lord would change hearts if that’s the place for us.   We are continuing to look for a new location and hope to do outreach soon with an address in mind.  We were planning to start today on September 14th, but that’s wasn’t possible.  I’m hoping we can start sometime in September, but it’s dependent on a building. 

We’re not discouraged.  We know the Lord is in control and we’ll just see what happens.  Our main priority is still improving on our language abiblity so there is plenty to do.  We are continue to do minsitry in the other churches until others doors open up.  We thoroughly enjoy helping the other pastors and their churches, especially with the young people who have a heart for ministry. 

Prayer Request

  • Our first church plant.  We are still hoping to start in September.
  • The place for the new church plant fell through.  Pray we can find a different location soon.
  • Souls saved & faithful men
  • Our language learning.  This is of course is a repeated prayer request because it’s still a big priority.

More Highlights

  • Madiba Bay Baptist just celebrated their 7 year anniversary.  This is the main church we have been attending while in language school. Pictured to the right is Pastor Lubabalo during the anniversary service. He’s been a great help to us in learning the language. 
  • 4 Baptised after the anniversary service.
  • Needs met for Wells Estates Baptist Property and the Gospel Tracts 

Needs 

  • Pulpit, Sign, Overhead Projector (Old-School Projector), song books, and a small trailer for the new church plant.
  • Approx. $7000 needed to build the first building for New Life Baptist Church.  $3300 has come in so far.

The Lord has blessed this past month by meeting two of the needs we have been mentioning.  Wells Estates Baptist has a piece of property they should be able to move to in December.  The money that has already been raised for this church is plenty for the property and a decent building unless things change.

Three churches gave toward the tracts and invitations needed.  This should be enough to last us for a few months, and for new tracts to be printed for the new church plant.   We are always grateful and humbled by the giving of goods people.  Thank you for loving missions and thank you for caring for souls around the world.