Category Archives: Children

Coffey Family May 2022 Prayer Letter

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Prayer Requests  Praise        

  • My wife’s ear surgery was today.  Pray she will recover hearing in her left ear.  She had 20% hearing in that ear, but after surgery, the doctor hopes she will regain anywhere from 80-90% of hearing.  We won’t know for a week or so after the surgery how effective it was. 
  • Please continue to pray for Missionary Katie Dilfer’s South African Visa.  It still hasn’t arrived, but thankfully she was able to travel to Puerto Rico where she’s been ministering while she waits.  We’re happy she’s able to be a great help there, but we are looking very forward to getting her to South Africa.  
  • Pray for our South African Visa renewals.  Our current visas expire in July so we need to renew for new visas this month.  Because of covid, this has been a long process, but we’re hoping we can get things worked out soon. 
  • Please pray for the mission teams coming in June and July from four different churches.  We hope to be a blessing to them as they sacrifice to be here.

Quick Updates  

  • We had a fantastic time during the last two weeks with a mission team my son and daughter-in-law, Chase & Ashley, led to South Africa. Part of the team was from Hope Baptist Church in Fairfield, OH and the other part was from Immanuel Baptist in Corruna, MI.  This was such a great group of people.
  • There were several young people and a couple of older folks out of this group who expressed a desire to commit their lives to be missionaries.  Pray we see many follow through and give their lives to share Jesus on the foreign field.  Our prayer is for more laborers. 

What an amazing month!  Seven days before we needed the full $113,000 to purchase property for the South Africa Youth Home, we only had $23,000.  Within a few hours, that number jumped to $68,000. By the next Sunday, the Lord provided and we had the full $113,000. Praise the Lord!

Thank you all for praying and thank you all who helped us reach our goal by giving financially.  We anticipate seeing what the Lord will do in this new ministry.   

I will be emailing updates out on a more regular basis to keep you informed on the remodeling progression to get the new house ready for our teenagers.  If you are not on our email list and would like to be, please send me a note to add you.

I’m still in a little shock seeing how the Lord provided.  There were times of doubt that we would really be able to do this, but little by little the Lord kept confirming to us that this was His will. Please pray for wisdom as we go forward for Him. 

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Coffey Family March 2022 Prayer Letter

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Would you consider committing $1000 to be one of the 100 churches to give towards the Africa Youth Home?  We are needing $100,00 by the end of April for this purchase.  It is the property right next to Camp Rhino, which makes it a very strategic location.  

The asking price is around $113,000, and we’ve already raised about $13,000.  I know with prices going crazy in the States and really around the world with fuel and inflation, this is a tough time, but we know this youth home is going to help a lot of young people who don’t have anything.   

Prayer Requests  Praise        

  • We will be back to the States for our Annual Missions Orientation in April.  Pray this is a productive time with our new missionaries.  We’re also planning to raise funds for the Africa Youth Home. Pray we can raise $100,000 in a month:)
  • Please continue to pray for my wife’s ear surgery.  The date has been set for her to have surgery on May 16th.   
  • Pray for Missionary Katie Dilfer’s visa to arrive.  Unfortunately, it didn’t arrive in time and she had to cancel her tickets to South Africa for the end of February. She is hoping she will be here no later than the end of April.   
  • As soon as we get back in April, we also need to apply for new visas.  Pray we can get those worked out as soon as possible. There’s been a back log and some have waited over a year for their visas. 
  • We are thankful for those who gave to replace the things that were stolen in January.  We have bought almost everything back now. 

Quick Updates  

  • We’ve started construction on a new building for Nkandla Baptist Church.  Pastor Khona & his wife Iminathi are excited about having a larger more permanent building.   
  • This last week I was in Nigeria with Graham and Olivia Young during their survey trip.  They will return in July to work full-time under Missionary Mark Holmes for their first two years.  Please be praying for them and Nigeria.  There are very few missionaries to Nigeria for over 220 million people.  We badly need more missionaries in this country. 
  • This past month, we’ve seen two guys that I’ve worked with for years walked away from the Lord come back to church.  We praise the Lord and pray the Lord continues working in their lives to make them more like Him.
Nigerian Style with Graham and Olivia Young

In church news, the main church we are working in now, Lighthouse Baptist Church, has been having more visitors.  Pray, we see more saved.  There are so many without Christ.  New Life Baptist Church is still struggling unfortunately in the more affluent part of the township, but Vision Baptist is doing well.

New building for Nkandla Baptist Church

Africa Youth Home & Short Trip back to the States

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For the month of April, I will be back in the States for our mission board’s annual orientation. I’m looking forward to being with all our Vision Baptist Mission’s missionaries on deputation and on furlough. Pray the Lord blesses this time.

I’m also using this time to present the ministry of the new Africa Youth Home in churches. If you would like to have me back in to report and update your church on the Youth Home, please just let me know. I still have a few dates available, but we will head back to South Africa on April 26th, Lord willing.

Several have reached out to me concerning gifts their church has already given or committed to give for the Africa Youth Home. As soon as I have a total, I’ll let you know. I am praying for 100 churches to commit $1000 by the end of April to make this Home a reality. We are trying to raise $113,000 in total with over $10,000 already being promised.

Would you consider being a part of helping us impact these young people?

Thank you for your prayers and thank you for partnering with us to impact South Africa with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Coffey Family February 2022 Prayer Letter

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We need your help and prayers.  We’re stepping out to start the Africa Youth Home.

This past week I went to look at a property that is for sale right beside Camp Rhino for the start of this ministry.  It has a 4 bedroom house and 20 acres of land.  By faith, I went ahead and made an offer for the property for $100,000.  The asking price is $145,000 so we’re waiting for their answer.  Needless to say, we don’t have $145,000 or $100,000:). 

20 Acre property with a 4 bedroom house beside Camp Rhino

We have four 16-year-olds living with us now at Camp Rhino.  These teenagers have faced much hardship and loss.  We want to help more young people like them, but we need your help.  

We need at least $100,000 to start if not $145,000.  All the teens we have up to this point have been a part of our church’s ministries for years now.  We have 2 more teens that need to be here now, but we just don’t have the room or the staff.  Would you consider playing a part?

1st Day of School – My daughter Addison is with Ano, a pastor’s kids with the Micky shirt on, and our 4 new teenagers, Sisipho, Dumisani, Liso, & Elethu.

Pray Requests and Praise

  • Our Bible College starts back this month.  Please pray for the 9 full time students who are studying for the ministry.  There are another 15 students who are taking part-time classes in our Bible Institute.  Please pray especially for this aspect of our ministry.  All of our ministries are pointed toward training young people for church planting.  We can’t produce lasting change here in South Africa without more churches.  
  • Please continue to pray for my wife’s ear surgery.  She has a hearing test this week and an appointment with the ear surgeon on February 22nd.  
  • Pray for Lynette Osborn who is coming to work with us in the ministry, specifically in the Youth Home.  She has 40% of her support and is hoping to be here in January 2023.

Quick Updates

  • This past week our house was broken into while we were sleeping.  About $5000 worth of equipment was taken.  We are so grateful that $4000 has been committed toward replacing that equipment so far.  We are also installing a new alarm system that will hopefully deter that from happening again.  
  • We are also thankful that $2200 has been committed toward the $3000 shortfall we had for our camps this year.    
  • Currently, we have 4 teenagers who are living at Camp Rhino.  They are the start of our Youth Home Ministry.  If you would be interested in sponsoring one of these teens please let me know.  A full sponsorship is $100 per child per month.  This provides basic essential needs along with covering food and housing cost. 
Sisipho
Dumisani
Liso
Elethu
Download PDF File HereDownload

Coffey January 2022 Prayer Letter

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Happy New Year everyone. What a great start to 2022 here in South Africa at Camp Rhino.   We had 12 teenage boys trust Christ as their Savior during the first-ever boy’s only teen camp week.  We also just finished the girl’s camp week and had 7 girls trust Christ.  In total between the two groups, we had 142 campers.  

Girls’ Teen Camp 2022

We had to split the teen camp up this year and have separate camps because of space.  We just don’t have enough dorms to house more than 120 at a time, and we are also short about 30 beds to max out the space we do have. With all the churches growing, this is a great problem to have. 

Boys’ Teen Camp 2022

Please pray with us concerning expenses for the camp. We currently need around $3000 to cover this year’s summer camps.  This shortfall is a reflection of some good things that are happening. We have more camp staff than we’ve ever had before.  Our counselor-to-camper ratio is much better this year.  We also have a much better kitchen staff along with our working crews.

Prayer Request

Right now we have 4 teenagers from our churches that are living full-time on the campus of Camp Rhino.   These young people have experienced some pretty horrific things in their short lives. We believe the Lord is leading us in the direction to start a separate youth home for these kids and for more just like them.  Every teen we have now has made a profession of faith and expressed a desire to live for the Lord. Pray as we move forward.

Please continue to pray for my wife’s ear surgery.  She’s lost most hearing in her left ear.  It’s a serious surgery that could improve her hearing or cause her to go completely deaf in that ear.  We are hoping to have this surgery in the next month or so.  

Quick Updates

Camp has been great, and there are many opportunities for you to still be involved.  We still need sponsors for many of the teen campers that have already enjoyed camp and also the junior campers who will be here next week.  Every sponsorship given helps us pay the salaries of all our counselors and the extra kitchen staff we need for all our camps.  It also aids in improving our camp facilities.  You can sponsor a child for camp at $50 a person or give any offering to help towards our expenses. 

I’m excited to announce that Jacob and Christen Clower have been accepted with VBM as missionaries to the country of Mozambique.  During our survey trip with them, they believe God confirmed that was the place He wants them to minister.  Please pray for them as they begin raising financial support.  

Jacob & Christen Clower – Our New Missionaries to Mozambique
January 2022 Prayer Letter in PDF Download

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 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 June 2020 Prayer Letter

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Wedding Day

The day has finally come for my oldest son Tyler to get married. We are excited that Lydia Bush will be an official part of our family in a few hours. I’m thankful for Jeff and Mindy Bush raising such a wonderful daughter.

Tyler and Lydia at their rehearsal dinner


We were uncertain concerning flying back from South Africa earlier for the wedding because of lockdowns, but definitely believe now it was the right decision. Please do pray flights to open back up so we can get back to South Africa by the first part of August. We are thankful we’ve been able to report back to supporting churches and present our ministry in new churches. We are still hoping to raise extra support to help towards Camp Rhino during our time here.

I want to thank all of you who have given to help the pastors and their families in Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, and South Africa. I’ve heard terrific reports on how much of a blessing you all are to these families in need. If you would like to be involved to help more families in these countries please send your offering to Vision Baptist Missions or you can give via PayPal. $10-20 can help a pastor and his family eat on the very basics for a month during these unprecedented difficult times.

To give to help Pastors’ Families in Africa go to:

http://paypal.me/camprhino
or
https://visionmissions.org/give/
(Choose Mark Coffey or Camp Rhino)

You can also send money to:
Vision Baptist Missions
P.O. Box 442
Alpharetta, GA 30009
(Make a note for Mark Coffey- food for Pastors)

Pastor Alute giving food to Pastors on the border of Kenya/Uganda
Food being given out from Pastor Mario Genada’s Church in Zambia
Pastor Alute giving food to another pastor in Kenya.

The roof for our provisional auditorium at Camp Rhino is nearing completion. The weather has slowed us down a little, but the metal sheets should go on this week. Thank you all for the continual gifts that are helping build Camp Rhino.

I want to also thank everyone who has been praying for my Pastor Austin Gardner. He was on the ventilator for 21 days because of Covid19. He has been off the ventilator now over a week and actually went home yesterday. I’m still amazed at how the Lord has work to bring him back from a very bad situation.

Coffey Family March 2020 Prayer Letter

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Prayer Requests & Praise

  • This weekend, Pastor Thomas Alute from Eldoret, Kenya will be here to be the main speaker at our Couples Retreat being held at Camp Rhino.  Pastor Alute is out of Missionary Randy Stirwalt’s ministry and has been pastoring over 30 years.
  • Pray as we head back to the states at the end of April.  We’ll be there for 2 ½ months for our oldest son Tyler’s wedding.  I still have a few openings if you would be interested in having us in.  I am trying to raise extra support to offset some of the expenses for Camp Rhino.        
  • Our two new churches are doing well.  The two new pastors are getting used to the idea of being pastors now.  Please pray for Khona & Mvume as they are pastoring their new churches while also still both in Bible College.       
  • Pray we can raise $5000 soon so we can build facilities to start our 4th church, Vision Baptist Church.  We have the property now but need help with the slab floor and building.  This will be in the area where we’ve been having midweek meetings but lost our location.  We believe it is now time to officially start a church for that community.   
Pastor Mvume Johnson preaching at his new church, Lighthouse Baptist Church

Quick Updates & Reminders

  • My oldest son Tyler will be marrying Lydia Bush on June 20.  Lydia is daughter to Jeff and Mindy Bush.  Jeff serves as the Director of our Mission Board, Vision Baptist Missions.  Please be praying for Tyler and Lydia as they prepare to start their life together.   
  • We still have openings for 2021 Mision teams if you are interested in bringing a group to be with us.  We would love to have you here on the field.
  • Would would love to have your group here in 2021.

A big part of our goals for 2020 is to help strengthen the three churches we’ve helped start and to also get the forth church off the ground.  I want to do all I can to help these young pastors be successful.  

Our team of pastors is doing a great job, but we still want to improve in a lot of areas.  We are hoping to especially help our first church, New Life Baptist Church, become more financially independent this year.   That has been one of our greatest struggles.  

As we are back in the states for this short trip our desire is to raise more funds, but more importantly, we are also needing to raise more workers, short term and long term.  Our future goals involve starting a Medical Clinic, Christian school, and to expand Camp Rhino.  All of these ministries are aimed at helping us see more churches started.  If you or anyone you know are interested in being more involved on a personal level, I would love to talk to you to see how you could be more involved.    

Thank you all once again for your prayers and support.