$2000 for Camp Rhino from Ohio

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Sunday morning I reported back to a faithful supporter, and Sunday evening I presented our ministry in a new church.  Both churches surprised me when they each gave $1000 for Camp Rhino.

Calvary Chapel Baptist Church in Minster, OH has faithfully supported my family since 2001.  I enjoyed seeing Pastor Robert Warnick, and the Assistant Pastor Cory McGuire and all the great people of Calvary Chapel.

In Eaton, OH, I caught up with some old friends, Andrew and Jaclyn Stensaas.  Amy and I met them when we were in college together at Crown many years ago.  Pastor Andrew and his family are doing a great good there at First Baptist.

With the $2000 from Sunday, we are now over $73,000 in total for Camp Rhino.   Praise the Lord.

 

Marriage Retreat

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Our home church hosted a marriage retreat this past week in Atlanta, GA.  They booked a hotel and conference center for the retreat only about 30 minutes away from the church.  After all our traveling it was nice to have the retreat so close.

I’m glad to know we have a Pastor and church staff that cares enough about about the our lay and missionaries families enough to invest in our marriages. You can check my blog for divorce attorneys.  I was really challenged to care for and be more tender toward my wife.  Coincidently, I have been listening to two audio books on marriage that went along very well with this conference.  If Only He Knew and From this Day Forward were really helpful.  Needless to say, I have a lot of changes I need to make in order to be a better husband.  I encourage you, take time to learn how to be a better spouse. I thing I do know despite my many mistakes, I’m married to the most amazing person I have ever known.

Please continue to pray for my meetings.  I fly out to Ohio today to present my ministry in a new church and report back to a faithful supporter.  When I get back on Monday, I’ll be driving to the Wilds Camp from Atlanta to check out their ministry for a couple of days in preparation for starting Camp Rhino.

Breaking the $70,000 Mark for Camp Rhino

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On Sunday and Monday of last week, July 23-24, I had an opportunity to preach at the Summer Family Bible School hosted by Liberty Baptist Church in San Jose, California with Pastor Stan Smith.  This is the church where my good friends Ross and Sue Pyle now work. They previously were missionaries with us in South Africa.  Each night  from Sunday to Thursday, the church took up an offering to help with Camp Rhino.  By the end of the week, over $5,000 was given to help with the camp.  With this incredibly generous offering, we have now broken the $70,000 mark for money donated or committed to purchase property in South Africa next year.  It’s hard to believe we’ve come this far.  Only $30,000 more to meet our original goal of $100,000.  Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support.

Wolf Mountain Camp in Grass Valley, CA

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I want to first apologize for the duplicate emails that occasionally come out.  I’m trying to fix that on my blog and will hopefully have that squared away this week.

Amy and I arrived back from our trip to California late Tuesday night.  We had a great time visiting three churches and spending time with dear friends who worked with us in South Africa.  Through a mutual friend, we were also able to get connected to the ministry of Wolf Mountain Camp.  After a 3 hour drive from San Jose, we met up with Director Jon Moore who graciously took time out of his busy camp schedule to pour into our lives all things camp ministry.

His emphasis on building relationships and doing certain things well really aided in our thinking about the ministry of Camp Rhino.  It’s hard to explain how helpful the hours we spent at Wolf Mountain were.  I’m grateful as well to have one more camp expert added to my list of emergency contacts for when we dive head first into camp ministry next year.

Here are just a few of the many insights he gave during out time with him:

  • Our camp is a facility that implements a philosophy.
  • We do food as much as we do preaching & we want to do both well.
  • The process of camp just takes time to work.
  • A good counselor is one who speaks from a platform of example with the motivation of love.

If you are anywhere near the Sacramento or North California area, I encourage you to check out Wolf Mountain Camp for yourself.  They are definitely serving a needy area of our country.

Before I sign off, I would like to recommend a book that Jon gave me before leaving the camp last week.  It’s entitled “The Value of Camp” by Walt Brock.  It was a joy reading and gave me ideas and insights concerning camp ministry that I hadn’t even thought about. Click on the link to find out how to get your own copy.

Update from San Jose, California

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We’ve been in the San Jose and Sacramento, CA area since Friday of last week.  Ross & Sue Pyle, former missionaries to South Africa, made it possible for us to be in this part of the world.  They have graciously opened their home in San Jose to Amy and I and have been wonderful hosts.  The Pyle family are great friends of our who we first met and worked with in South Africa.  I’m not so secretly trying to get them to come back to South Africa soon to help us with Camp Rhino:) .   They really are great people to be around, and we have thoroughly enjoyed our time with them.

Tomorrow, we will have the opportunity to present our ministry in their church where they are working in the Christian school ministry.  It’s encouraging to see the work their church is doing.  There truly is a need of more Bible preaching churches in California.

Last week, when we left Fort Bluff Camp, Director Dave Sekura handed me an offering that the campers had taken up for Camp Rhino over the past two weeks for $444.  He also gave us a special offering specifically from the camp for $500.  Not only did they go out of their way and gave of themselves to help us learn about camp ministry this summer, they also gave financially.   We we were blown away.

After camp, a good friend of mine, Pastor Andy Wallace of Hendrix Road Baptist Church in Florence, AL, called as well to let me know that their church voted to send us $500 for Camp Rhino.  With six months to go before we head back to the field, it’s exciting to see our goals met for the Camp.

We are truly humbled by the people God has placed in our path to make Camp Rhino a reality. I can’t thank you enough for all the prayers and sacrificial gifts.  You all truly are a great blessing.

Last Week of Camp

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The past few weeks have been very busy with camp.  We started off for our mission orientation at Sand Mountain Bible Camp from May 29-June 2nd.  We then helped out at Fort Bluff Camp during their junior week, June 5-9.  We then went back to Sand Mountain Bible Camp for our home church’s week of teen camp, June 19-23.  The past two weeks we came back to Fort Bluff Camp to help during their two teen weeks as well, July 5-9 & July 19-23.

I appreciate the leaders and staff of each of these camps.  They have been a great help and resource.   We have learned an incredible amount of things we will be able to use when we start Camp Rhino.

Pray as we finish up teen camp at Fort Bluff this week and fly out to San Jose, CA on Friday.  Our summer definitely hasn’t slowed down, and we are grateful for all the open doors.

I will continue touching base with other camp ministries to further our training and education for future ministry.

Over $60,000 has now been given for Camp Rhino

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It’s been an amazing week and a half for Camp Rhino.  One minute I’m informing folks of a special offering, and the next minute another offering was coming in.

-On Thursday, June 29th, my home church, Vision Baptist Church, gave $760 for the Camp Rhino.  This was the day after I announced that Northside Baptist Church in Pembroke, GA gave $1500.
-On Sunday, July 2, I received an email from Pastor Todd Hogue of Community Baptist Church in Curwensville, PA.  They gave their VBS offering for Camp Rhino which came out to be $1650.
-That night, while at White Graves Baptist Church with Pastor Will Allen, Pastor Allen took up over $1000 for the camp in a matter of minutes.
-On Monday, July 3, I stopped by Catoosa Baptist Tabernacle in Ringgold, GA to drop off some extra Camp Rhino T-shirts to Pastor Justin Gazaway.  He surprised me by letting me know during their VBS from the previous week, the children gave $3000 for the camp.  On top of that, the church voted to add $1500 to bring the total for Camp Rhino to $4500.
-On July 5, I received another email from Pastor Nathan Dorsey at Westside Baptist Church in Hampton, GA.  He let me know the church voted to give $5000 for the camp.
Needless to say, it’s been an overwhelming few days.  I’m in awe of the support and involvement of so many to help get Camp Rhino started.
I don’t have the exact figure at this point, but we are now well over the $60,000 mark.
Thank you all for your support and prayers.

$1500 from Pembroke, GA

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Yesterday, Luke and I drove about 4 hours over to the small town of Pembroke, Ga to report back to one of our supporting churches.  Pastor Spencer and the great folks of Northside Baptist Church have been faithful partners in the ministry from early on in our deputation.  It was great hearing about the new ministries they have started, how God continues to bless their faith promise, and how God blessed their family with a new adopted little boy.  He and Luke took to each other pretty well.

After my message the church surprised us with an amazing offering for Camp Rhino.  They gave $1500 to help with the purchase of the property.  It was such an encouragement.  One step closer.

Thank you all for your prayers and investment into our ministry.

Check out the Initial Design for Camp Rhino

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Now that we have passed the $50,000 mark in our fundraising goal (only $50,000 more to go:)), I wanted to give you a glimpse of what the future Camp Rhino site will look like.  Below is the initial design for the camp based on the first 5-year plan.  Once we actually buy property, we’ll have a better idea of the real Camp Rhino, but for now you can at least see the directions of our plans and dreams.  The $100,000 we raise this year will go toward the purchase of this property so we can get the project started.  We hope to have the property ready by July 2018 to hold our first camps.  If you’re interested in donating to help Camp Rhino you can click here.

June 2017 Prayer Letter

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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