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Category Archives: Prayer Letter
August 2017 Prayer Letter
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June 2017 Prayer Letter
Dear Pastor and Friend,
Mother’s Day at Soweto Baptist Church was great. There were 31 mamas present, 15 of which were first time visitors. One of them, Mama Thandiswa, made a profession of faith. Three of visiting mamas have faithfully attended our services since that special day. Thank you to all who prayed!
On the 27th of last month, we had our first Preacher’s Fellowship. There were more than 25 men who came from the churches here in Port Elizabeth who are being prepared to share the Word. We had an awesome time of fellowship and training. God is raising up a generation of laborers who are committed to faithfully proclaiming the Gospel.
Bekah and I celebrated 9 years of marriage on the 30th of May. Many talk about how good their wives are, but mine has demonstrated it over and over again through the years. She has followed me to 3 countries, learned 2 languages, birthed 5 kids, and helped start 2 churches; and done all of that while putting up with me. I am a blessed man!
Please continue to pray for several families on our team who are trying to obtain the papers necessary to work here in South Africa. The Kings, the Bergeys, and the Coffeys, all are having serious issues getting their visas approved. The system here has changed and is not near as conducive for missionaries and volunteers to stay long term. This has already cost them thousands of dollars and much time. Please pray for wisdom and peace for these families as they face these issues.
Other Prayer Requests:
- Friday, June 23 we will host a Youth Conference at Soweto Baptist Church. All of the churches established by Project South Africa Missionaries will be invited.
- In just over two months, we will be taking a short 4 month furlough. Our calendar is almost completely full and we are excited to see many of you very soon.
- The OGTC Camp 2017, June 19th-23rd at Sand Mountain Bible Camp; This is for any high school / college age student interested in missions. This camp is where I surrendered my life to become a missionary in 2004. All campers will have exposure to young missionaries, missions training, plus all the fun and excitement expected in a summer camp. There will be over a dozen missionaries attending as keynote speakers and counselors. I highly recommend this event!
Thanks again to all of you for your faithfulness to lift up our ministry in prayer, and for the financial support that allows us to do what we do. May God bless you richly for all that you do!
Sincerely,
Jeremy and Rebekah Hall
May 2017 Prayer Letter
God continues to grow his Church. Soweto Baptist Church is a year and five months old now. It is unbelievable how quickly time has passed. There is still so much work to be done. We have seen several saved since our last letter; one of the more exciting decisions for me was a 19 year old young man who has been faithfully attending our church for over 8 months now, Aphelele Nyodi. Several of you have been praying with us for him since he began coming. Just last week, Sunday April 30th, he made his decision public and followed the Lord in baptism. Also baptized in April was 15 year old Likamva Teyisa, and 17 year old Yolisa Banda (on the right)
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Easter weekend was really exciting at Soweto. Our guys worked very hard and their work paid off. There were 20 first time visitors for our special service and we had over 150 in attendance. Also that day, we had 7 of our young men stand up and give 2-3 messages. All of them did an incredible job and are showing great potential.
Also, last month we received a shipment of 100,000 tracts from Chick Tract Publications. These are now being distributed between the churches here. Soweto Baptist Church has already passed out several thousand and seen several visitors come as a result of their work. Thank you to all those who made this possible.
Other Prayer Requests:
- This month at Soweto there will be two special services, Mother’s Day Service on 14th, and on the 21st we will have a Family Day (Picture Day).
- There are only three weeks left in our Bible Institute, pray that all our students finish strong.
- Our calendar is almost completely full for our upcoming furlough. We only have a few Wednesday nights available, and 2 Sundays in November. If you are interested in us coming by your church, please contact me asap.
Thank you so much for your continued support and prayers!
Sincerely,
Jeremy and Rebekah Hall
March 2017 Prayer Letter
It is hard to believe that the first quarter of 2017 is almost over. February was a productive month. We had a few hick-ups getting our Bible institute started. Immigration did not want to release our materials. After a two week delay, classes were finally able to commence on February 7th. This semester the students are studying an overview of the Poetic Books, the OT Books of History, and James. Classes will continue through May 14th.
Last month, at Soweto Baptist Church, we had a special movie night. We showed the “Jesus Film.” There were more than two dozen visitors. At the end, we gave a simple Gospel presentation and four people stayed longer to receive more information and make professions of faith.
We also had a very unexpected trip to Johannesburg last month. My sister-in-law’s brother, Gavin Theron, passed away from a brain aneurysm. He was only 33 years old. He was a good friend, and we were actually invited to go up this month for his wedding. As you can imagine, this has been very hard on everyone. Please remember Corli (my sister-in-law), Corne (his fiancé), Thersia (his mother), and all the family in your prayers.
Our furlough plans are coming along well. We still have several services available. If you would like for us to come by and give an update, please contact us. Again, this is going to be a very short furlough (4 months), Aug 23-Jan 3. Our main purpose is to raise some additional funds, so if you know of any churches interested in supporting church planting in South Africa, we would appreciate your recommendations.
This month at Soweto Baptist Church:
- We continue with our weekly homiletics class. There are currently six guys participating. Several of them will be preaching in a special midweek service at the end of the month.
- Youth meetings have begun again on Friday night. Missionary Stephen Underwood and Thamsanqa Olifant are lead this meeting.
- 10,000 new tracks have been ordered and shipped and we will soon begin distribution.
- Rebekah continues to meet every Tuesday with several “mamas” for basic discipleship.
We praise the Lord for you and your participation in our work. Your faithfulness to pray and give means more than you know.
Thanks again,
Jeremy and Rebekah Hall
Coffey Family April 2017 Prayer Letter
Prayer Request
- Camp Rhino- Currently, we have raised $29, 188 to purchase property for Camp Rhino. Praise the Lord! That’s almost 30% of our goal. We do hope to raise $4144 more during these last few days of April to put us at $33,332 to stay on pace to raise $100,000 by the end of the year. I believe it will come in.
- Churches in Port Elizabeth- Pray the Lord does a great work in all the 6 churches we are associated with in South Africa.
- 102,000 Gospel Tracts- These tracts donated to our ministry arrived at the end of March. Pray for souls to be saved through them.
- More Laborers- As I travel I’m praying the Lord would lead many others to work with us in Southern Africa. The need for workers is real.
- Our Family- We’re having a great time on furlough and are looking forward to the next 8 months, but we are a little sad about having to leave Tyler, our oldest, behind when we leave.
Someone asked this past month if we planned to change our focus from church planting to camp ministry when we return to South Africa. My answer to that is, “Absolutely not.”
I want to make sure it’s clear that our purpose with Camp Rhino is to accelerate our church planting efforts, not do away with them. Camp Rhino will offer traditional summer camp opportunities, but our main focus in what we are doing is to train young people for the work of local church ministry.
Camp Rhino will enable us to be in continual contact with young people through the several weeks of camp during the year, and also on the weekends with our mentoring programs. This won’t be the kind of camp where we see the teen once a summer and then look for them to come back next year. This is a year round camp that will assist all our churches at keeping their young people plugged into the things of God.
I’m looking forward to getting back to South Africa to start Camp Rhino, but I’m just as excited to getting back so we can start more churches.
I want to send a special thanks to Chick Publications for providing 102,000 Gospel tracts for our ministries in South Africa. We are excited that each of the churches will have plenty of literature to distribute over the next several months.
Coffey Family March 2017 Prayer Letter
Prayer Request
- New Life Baptist Church in Kwadwesi & Pastor Sipho Bonga and his wife Zukhanya. Pray that God will continue to bless them and the church while our family is traveling here in the States.
- Bible Institutes- Missionary Kevin Hall is leading the Bible institutes in 3 of the churches in PE. Pray for him and the students as they are trained in the word of God.
- Children Books- We are currently in the planing stages for a children book series that will promote Biblical principles dealing with world missions with an African safari theme.
- More Laborers- As I travel I’m praying the Lord would lead many others to work with us in Southern Africa. The need is great and the need for workers is real.
CAMP RHINO
I remember growing up and attending summer camp almost every year from the time I was 12 years old. Even after getting out of high school, I still attended camp as a worker.
The thoughts of starting our own camp next year brings a lot of those great memories back. I remember the fun times I had, the friends I met, and the powerful preaching that pointed me closer to Christ.
Summer camp plays a big part in the life of the average church youth group in America. It’s a time to unplug from the things of the world, and hopefully be more connected to the things of God. Many decisions for Christ have been made around a camp alter or camp fire.
With Camp Rhino, our hopes are that young people in South Africa will have those same opportunities and even more. Camp Rhino will be a refuge to South African youth who have little spiritual encouragement by their surroundings and community.
Currently, we are on pace to raise the $100,000 we need to purchase property for the camp. Please continue to pray the funds to come in. Soon we’ll be back in South Africa reaching more with the Gospel of Christ.
Would you like to invest in the future of Camp Rhino?
Possible Breakdown of Church Sponsors for a one-time donation between now & December.
- $8333- 9 Sponsors
- $4,166- 18 Sponsors
- $2083- 36 Sponsors
- $1041- 72 Sponsors
Maybe the Lord would have you commit to raising one of these amounts before the end of 2017. Let me know if you want to sign up to be one of our camp sponsors.
Coffey Family February 2017 Prayer Letter
Wow, already in February. I believe this year is going to fly by. We’ve experienced great services and meetings from the moment we landed in the states. The feedback we’ve received from Camp Rhino has been amazing. Our goals for January were met and even exceeded.
So far over $10,000 was sent in or committed to purchase the needed land.
A few thing to pray about this month:
- Churches- Pray for New Life Baptist of Kwadwesi & the other 5 churches we work with in South Africa.
- Sponsors- Pray we continue to meet our monthly goals so we can stay on tract to raise $100,000 to purchase property for Camp Rhino.
- Property- Pray we find the right piece of property to start our camp. Possibilities will be emailed out from time to time so you will be able to look & pray over them.
- Architect/ Engineer- Pray we will find someone who will help us design and layout the architectural plans for Camp Rhino.
In January, I had t-shirts printed up to give to everyone who donates to Camp Rhino. I’ve mainly given these shirts out at church services and pastor’s conferences, but am now making them available on-line as well. If you would like to make a donation please let me know. I’ll get a t-shirt to you ASAP.
Would you like to invest in the future of Camp Rhino?
Possible Breakdown of Church Sponsors for a one-time donation in 2017:
- $8333- 12 Sponsors
- $4,166- 24 Sponsors
- $2083- 48 Sponsors
- $1041- 96 Sponsors
Maybe the Lord would have you commit to raising one of these amount during 2017. Let me know if you want to sign up to be one of our camp sponsors.
January 2017 Prayer Letter
This month we saw several people place their faith and trust in Christ for salvation. Mama Plaatjies is one of those people. She is the grandmother of a young man I have been working with for over a year. She has been visiting off and on for several months. On New Year’s Day she finally made the decision to surrender her life to Jesus. Since then she has turned into an evangelism machine. She has brought several visitors, one of which trusted in Christ last week, Mama Nobakhe. Today (Jan 29th), I had the privilege of baptizing both of them after our morning service.
Rebekah is staying really busy with basic discipleship classes. She meets faithfully with the ladies of Soweto on Tuesdays, and then with the younger girls on Saturdays. Of late, her classes have shown much fruit. Along with the ladies mentioned above, today I also baptized three other young ladies with whom she has been working. Also, this morning after the service Rebekah dealt with another young lady who has been attending our church, almost since the beginning. Seventeen year old Yolisa trusted in Christ and will be following the Lord in believer’s baptism next weekend.
Furlough August 23 – Jan 3:
In just 7 months, we will be returning to the states for a very short furlough. We will be there from August 23 – January 3. We are going to use this time to try and raise some new support, as well as spend some time with family and friends. When we arrive, it will have been over 1,400 days since we have stepped foot in America. A lot has changed in my own personal life, in the lives of our children, and in our ministry. To God be the glory for all the things good that have happened!
Booking meetings stateside, along with travel arrangements, setting up housing, making sure we have vehicles to drive when we land, these are a few of the things I have been working on in my spare time. Fortunately, the Lord has blessed and already provided several of these things. I have also managed to squeeze in a few calls late night and I have booked several meetings so far. If you would like for us to come by your church and give an update, or if you know of a church that may like for us to come by and present our ministry, please write me at jhsouthafrica@gmail.com.
At this moment, the most overwhelming thing on my plate is our church. Soweto is still far from being ready for our absence. As you can imagine, we are stepping up the pace and spending lots of extra time with the guys (and girls) in preparation. A few have already begun to step up, and several are being prepared to preach and teach in our absence. Some guys you can specifically pray for are Mxolisi, Athule, Aphiwe, Matthew, Thami, Luxolo, Miyanda, and Sethu. These guys are the backbone of our little church and if this thing is going to continue strong in our absence, then God is going to have to do some mighty works in their lives over the next few months.
As always, thank you so much for your faithfulness to pray and give so we can work here in South Africa. May God bless you for all that you do!
Sincerely,
Jeremy and Rebekah Hall
December 2016 Prayer Letter
Dear Pastor and Friend,
Merry Christmas! We are about to celebrate our 4th Christmas here in South Africa. After all these years, in Peru and now here, you would think we would be used to Christmas in summertime. Chimneys, hot chocolate and bundling up to go visit family during the holidays are things we associate with Christmas. Here, the people have summer holiday and the beach on their mind when they think of Christmas.
Many churches here close their doors in December and do not open again until the end of January. As you can imagine, this ideology is something we are not comfortable with at all. We actually have several different outreach events planned to counter the decline in attendance that normally happens in summer. One in particular, which you can continue to pray with us about, is “Project 7.” We are encouraging our people to take 7 gospel tracts for the week and give out one per day. They are to pray over it and the person who will receive it.
Last week we had our 2nd annual youth camp. We had 93 campers and 20 workers. The campers came from several churches around town. Each camper heard a total of 23 Bible based messages throughout the week. God worked and 4 young people trusted in Christ for salvation. Many other decisions were also made.
Also last month, we had the opportunity to have one of our supporting pastors, Tony Howeth, come for a visit. Pastor Tony was my youth pastor growing up. He preached our first Missions Conference at Soweto Baptist Church. He also preached our 1 year anniversary service on December 4th. The conference was well attended and our people were blessed.
Other Prayer Requests:
- Our nephews,Tyler and Chase, left for America today. They will be missed greatly. Tyler will be going to the OG Training Center and begin his formal training to serve as a foreign missionary. Chase will be joining his family on furlough.
- Pray for the spiritual growth of our leaders at Soweto; Matthew, Mxolisi, Aphiwe, Aphelele, Athule, Thamsanqa and Luxolo
- Upcoming trip to Johannesburg. Several of the guys from Soweto will be accompanying me as we go to Joburg and try to be a blessing to another church. Hopefully will be able to put a new roof on their church building. We will also take advantage of this long trip to plan out our yearly calendar.
As always, we thank you so much for your faithfulness to pray and to give to our ministry. We pray God blesses you richly for all that you do!
Sincerely,
Jeremy and Rebekah Hall