Category Archives: Updates

Coffey Family July 2015 Prayer Letter

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Prayer Request

  • The start of Bay Baptist College
  • More laborers
  • VBS this coming week
  • Language learning
  • Plans for ministry expansion in the next few months

God has blessed New Life Baptist Church.  Our best Sunday this past month we saw three people (one older lady and two teens) come forward and put their faith in Christ.  The following service all three of those people were back in church.  The week before that Sunday we had a high attendance in our Friday youth meeting with 25 teens.  Josh and Meagan Sullivan, our six month interns, have been a big help in the teen meetings since they arrived at the first of June.  We are already looking forward to them being here as full time missionaries.   

Wells Youth Meeting - 1

With best weeks also comes the not so best as far as church attendance.  Usually here in South Africa the not so best weeks are during Holiday time, the time students are out of school for winter break.  Although this is a usually a low time for attendance in all our churches, it’s a great time for extra evangelistic events and mentoring time with our young preachers in training.  This past week our pastors held a week long Youth Meeting (pictured above) at Wells Estate Baptist Church were they saw 5 people make professions of faith.  Also this coming week we will have a children’s VBS type program from Tuesday through Friday.  One of young guys, Yanga Gentzu, will be to gain some good ministry experience as he is preaching every day. 

More Highlights

  • Hannah Peabody will be leaving this week after finishing up her 1-month internship.
  • Amy and I celebrated our 15 year anniversary on June 24.  We’re actually doing more of the celebrating part next week hopefully.
  • Emilee, my oldest daughter, turned 13

Needs 

  • We praise the Lord that all the financing has come in to finish phase 1 at New Life Baptist Church and for the Pastor’s apartment at Madiba Bay Baptist Church.  We are so grateful for those that helped with both of these projects. 
  • Please pray that the Lord would direct us in the right area to buy property for our future training center.
  • Baptistry for New Life- $350

Update June 14-21 New Website

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We have a new website!

We will no longer be using www.sullivansinsouthafrica.weebly.com. We can now be found at projectsouthafrica.com.

Please forgive me for not posting in a while. With the new update to the website it took us awhile to get ready to post. Much thanks goes to Trent Cornell for setting up our new site!

Pastor Sipho and I have started a youth night which occurs every Friday night. It is an hour-long and we will play games and fellowship for half an hour and then I will preach for half an hour. The kids really seemed to enjoy it the first week and we had about 10. This past Friday the Lord blessed and we had 25 kids from the township come! I am preaching on “The Whats of Christianity” This past week I taught on “What is a Christian?” and I preached the gospel. There were 3 teens who had questions about salvation and three people made professions this past Sunday.   Pastor Sipho will preach this week.

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to preach at New Life Baptist Church. This is the church we will be attending and serving in for this internship period and I am the youth pastor. Please also pray for Wells Baptist Church , which is in the Wells township and Madiba Bay Baptist Church, which is in the Kwazakheli Township.

There is nothing better in this World than to serve God. It is our reasonable service and i cant think of anything else I would rather do with my life.

Please help us pray for:

– That we can get our visas extended

– We can continue to progress in language school.

– Salvation in our youth class

Update from the Sullivans

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Busy, busy, busy!

In our two short weeks here, we have had a lot going on! First and foremost, we know for us to have any successful ministry here, we must speak to people’s hearts. In order to speak to their hearts, we MUST learn their language.  With that being said, the majority of our time goes into language school.

On an exciting note, We have been given the opportunity to  start a youth class at New Life Baptist Church. We had our fist service this past Sunday, and were thrilled with  10 in attendance! We look to grow this class through “youth nights,” every Friday, and Sunday school.

We have finally got moved all the way into our home and its nice to finally have our own vehicle to drive around. Driving here is difficult,  we are getting accustomed to driving on the opposite side of the road.

I got the privilege  to preach at New Life this past week. God has allowed us many opportunities to serve him and we are undeserving but thankful for the chance to serve our Saviour. It is our reasonable service.

Please help us pray for:
– Salvation for the lost in SA
– A young man to train
– Our new Youth class
– Language Learning
– Preparation for deputation.

Coffey Family May 2015 Prayer Letter

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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

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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

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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.

New Life Kwadwesi Building Update

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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

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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.

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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.

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