One of our ministry partners has committed to match up to $45,000 toward the purchase of the property and first house for the South Africa Youth Home. We praise the Lord that over $30,000 has been matched so far. God truly did some big things this week to make this a reality.
I need to make the wire transfer on Tuesday to get the money to South Africa on time. The cut-off date is May 7th. We are only short $14,500 of the $113,000 we need. Go here https://visionmissions.org/give and select Africa Youth Home- Mark Coffey.
Please let me know if you are able to be a part of this need as soon as possible so we will know how to proceed.
These are exciting days. Thank you for praying. Thank you for giving.
One of our ministry partners has committed to match up to $45,000 toward the purchase of the property and house. Please pray this news will be met quickly. The cut-off date is May 7th. We were told another cash offer has been accepted if we aren’t able to come up with the funds. We are still short $35,000 of the $113,000 we need. Go here https://visionmissions.org/give and select Africa Youth Home- Mark Coffey.
We are flying out tonight to return to South Africa.
I’m praying we can raise this money in the next week to give us time to transfer everything over to South Africa before the deadline.
Please pray we raise the needed funds in time.
On another note, please pray for my wife’s upcoming ear surgery on May 16th. It’s a serious operation that could allow her to regain hearing in her left ear or she could possibly lose all her hearing in that ear. There is also a high risk of vertigo.
4 of the young people already staying at Camp Rhino plus little Ano, one of our pastor’s daughters:)This would be the first official house for the South Africa Youth Home if we can raise the needed funds.
You can also keep up to date with the youth home at our new website for the home.
Our time in the States has flown by. We’ve had terrific meetings from Alabama to Virginia over to Ohio.
This past week Amy and I spent the week in Crab Orchard, Tn for the Executive Team Retreat for Vision Baptist Missions. With our President, all the Field Directors from around the world gathered to challenge each other in the Word of God and update the policies and procedures for the VBM Handbook. This was also in preparation for the VBM Annual Orientation with all stateside VBM missionaries next week at The Wilds Camp in Brevard, NC. As Africa Director, this is the main reason Amy and I are back for a few weeks.
Please pray as we meet with these great men and women, who will be on the front lines preaching the Gospel soon.
From Left: Travis Snode, General Director; Jeff Bush, President; me, Africa Director; Mark Tolson, Asia Director; Jason Holt, Latin American Director The secret to any success, our wives:)
South Africa Youth Home Update
So far, over $15,000 has been given or committed to the South Africa Youth Home. Others have informed me that they will be sending money in at the beginning of May for this new outreach.
We did just find out there has been another offer made for the property we are wanting to buy for the Home. We now know that we only have until May 7th until our accepted offer expires and the owners are able to accept new offers.
Please pray we are able to raise the remaining funds in time if this is the Lord’s will. With the teens already on the campus of Camp Rhino, we believe this ministry is of the Lord. We know the Lord can bring in the funds even though we only have a few days until the deadline hits.
Prayer Request & Updates
5 Mission Teams are scheduled to be with us this Summer in South Africa. We look forward to seeing what the Lord does in their hearts during their time on the mission field.
Pray as we travel back to South Africa on April 26th. It has been great seeing our kids who are stateside so that day may be a tad bit sad.
$90,000+ – This is what we need for the South Africa Youth Home.
Bay Baptist Bible College- We have 3 students finishing their studies in May, while the rest will be going into winter break.
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.
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.
Our offer for the property and first house for the Africa Youth Home has been accepted. We now have about 90 days to raise $113,500 and $5500 has already been donated:)
The property for the Youth Home is right next to Camp Rhino and the Bay Baptist Bible College. This purchase will double the amount of property we have in total taking us to over 40 acres of land.
Right now we have 4 teens living on the campus of Camp Rhino, but I can really see hundreds of kids being cared for on this new property one day.
Some may ask, why don’t you just build the youth home on the property you have now. Why would you want to buy more property? Let me give you a few reasons why:
We continue to expand Camp Rhino with adding new facilities and activities for the children. The possibilities are endless with growth of our camps and retreats and we can easily use all the land just for the camp as the Lord provides.
The 4-bedroom house located on this property would probably cost $80,000-$90,000 to build. It is a well built home with brick, tile, and stone finishings. For just an extra $20,000-$30,000, we will be doubling the amount of land we will own along with having the first house for our Youth Home.
Having more property will allow us to keep the ministries of Camp Rhino and the Youth Home separate. Camp can lose its appeal for the children if they live there every day.
This extra property will enable us to continually expand our ministries. We want more than one house to use for the youth home. I can dream of having a dozen or more houses or complexes being used for the Youth Home. This would also give us room for a single mom’s and women’s shelter that we have considered starting one day.
The price of property continues to rise, we believe it would be wise to make this investment now.
Securing this property allows us to protect the camp atmosphere for Camp Rhino. We are thankful for the neighbors we’ve had in the past, but we never know who may move in next. The property we are wanting to buy for the Youth Home is the closest property to the camp.
Please pray we can raise the needed funds quickly. Please pray about giving.
Katie Dilfer is a missionary with BIMI coming to work with us here in South Africa. She’s almost completely raised all her financial support and purchased her tickets to arrive here as a full-time missionary on February 24th.
My wife Amy (left) with Katie at the Addo Elephant Park
Her only holdup at the moment is her visa. She’s applied for her visa in DC and hopes to get it back any day now. Please pray with us that she won’t have any problems obtaining her visa and will be able to take off without a problem.
Katie came on a short-term mission trip just a few years ago. She had no plans at all in being a missionary and she almost wasn’t even able to make the trip. God worked during that short trip and now she’s coming back full-time.
We are very excited to have her here. She’s a very capable young lady that will be able to assist us in every area of our ministry. We can’t wait to have her here.
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.
This past week I’ve been reminded how we’re not alone on the field. We have been very encouraged by the outreach and support of God’s people during this unexpected time.
For those who didn’t see our Facebook post, our home was broken into early Tuesday morning while we were asleep by three men who were carrying knives.
Thankfully, no one woke up while they were in our home, but unfortunately the guys got away with about $5,000 worth of equipment: including my laptop, 2 tablets, the camp sound system, and our power generator among other things.
My office- I’m blaming the messy desk on the robbers:)
We are upgrading our security system which we believe will be a big deterrent for future break-ins.
Pray we can replace all these items as soon as possible. Everything that was stolen was used on a regular basis here for the ministry.
We want to thank those who have already reached out to let us know they want to help. You all have been a great blessing.
Wednesday was the end of our last camp for the summer, our 2022 Junior Camp. With school schedules starting sooner due to so many missed days last year because of you know what, we packed our camps a little closer together this year.
In total for the past 3 camps, we had 81 boys and 61 girls attending those two teen camps with 19 making professions of faith in Christ. We also had 107 children attending Juniors Camp with 54 professions of faith.
Junior Camp 2022
We really appreciate all the prayers and support so many of you give.
We are still needing sponsors for the camps that have already taken place. We are about $3000 short of covering expenses for these last three camps.
Girls Teen Camp
We are also badly needing more beds. We need at least 3 sets of triple bunk beds for our campers and 10 sets of normal twin-size bunk beds for our counselors, which we will also use for our Bible college students. I hope to get the exact prices out for those this next week. We are planning on building our own bed frames to save on cost and for better quality.
