Coffey Family March 2016 Prayer Letter

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Since the start of our Friday youth meetings this year we’ve seen several young people make professions of faith.  We’ve also had a few adults this past month trust Christ as well during our main services.  We praise the Lord for those who have been changed by the truth of the Gospel.

This past Saturday we started having a Saturday service in a city called Jeffery’s Bay about 45 minutes outside of Port Elizabeth.  Jeffrey’s Bay has around 30,000 people and a family who lives there asked us to start having services.  We’re working with this family in the hopes that a new church can be started in the next few months.  Pray the Lord opens doors and gives us wisdom in the coming days.

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We are in need of more space for both the children’s and teen’s ministries right now.  Finishing our basement is one of the top priorities.  Several new boys from 9-12 years old have started coming faithfully, we just need a better place to teach them.  For children’s church, we have about 20 kids crammed into an small room.  We really don’t have room for any more.  This room is also right next to our main auditorium which has been causing some noise problems.        

Prayer Request

  • New Saturday service started in Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa.
  • Youth Meetings and Discipleship classes going on at New Life   

More Highlights

  • Josh & Meagan Sullivan, our teammates on deputation, just had their third baby, Silas Elliot.   
  • Jeremy & Bekah Hall are doing a great job at Soweto Baptist Church.  They’ve had a high day this month of 90 people.  Their new building looks terrific.
  • Pastor Babalo and Wells Estate Baptist Church are growing and doing very well.  We finally have a piece of property (pictured below) for the church and need to have a structure built on the property by the end of March in order to comply with the community requirements for designated church property.  Pray we can get all the money raise and labor completed in time.

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Needs 

  • $2500 to complete the basement area for New Life Baptist Church.  This would almost double our meeting space. 
  • Approx. $4500 for Wells Estate’s auditorium on their new land. This would include the slab and a 12m x 15m building.

 

Coffey Family February 2016 Prayer Letter

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Prayer Request

  • New Church Plant in Soweto and my cousin, Jeremy Hall, as he leads the church-  All the money needed for his new church building came in.  The building is almost finished and looks terrific.  The last two Sundays, they’ve had around 80 people.  The building is filling up quickly.
  • All our kids have started at new schools this year.  Pray for them as they get accustomed to the new way of doing things. 
  • 3 South African Pastors we work with, and for more young men to give their lives. 

Needs 

  • $500 for printer and paper for Gospel tracts and Bible Institute Booklets

4 adults trusted Christ as their Savior our very first Sunday of 2016. Two of them were family members of some of our church people.  We are continuing to pass out hundreds of Gospel tracts and invitations each week.  Please pray for more souls to be saved.    

It’s hard to believe January is already gone.  We are hoping to see great spiritual and numerical growth at New Life this year.  Our plans are to take our furlough in December, and the pressure is on to get things set before the end of the year.  I wish we could slow down time a bit. 

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Pastor Sipho and his family are doing well.  We also have three key young men that have been very faithfu and working hard to help us in the ministry.  Each of them  play a part in each service, and are actively involved in going door to door.  As a team, we are hoping to see a lot more discipleship groups set up soon.  We want to get as many plugged in as possible to make sure they grow in their faith. 

Please be praying for our Friday youth meeting that we started back up since our summer break.  This meeting draws much more young people than our traditional services and we hope to see many come to Christ.  Several have already showed a lot of interest in making salvation decisions.

More Highlights

  • One of our young men have started piano lessons.  This is the start of the training for a better music ministry.  We have a long way to go, to say the least. 
  • This week Holly Pearson, a young lady from our home church, will be visiting.  She’s been part of the great support team back in the states. We’re very grateful for people like her who have stayed connected with our ministry here. 

December 2015 Prayer Letter

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Dear Pastor and Friends,

I am writing this prayer letter as we return from Cape Town on a survey trip with Jason and Ashley King. It is incredible to see the need for the Gospel all over the country of South Africa. We are passing through dozens of towns, each with their own township, and hundreds of thousands of people with no Baptist Church. The Kings are hopeful to arrive here in August as church planters. If your church is looking to support a church planting missionary in 2016, I would recommend you have them come by and present their burden (mjasonking@gmail.com). 

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We thoroughly enjoyed our first annual BFWE Christian Youth Camp this month. We had 78 campers and each camper heard 23 message by 10 different speakers! And all of them want to come back next year! Many decisions were made to follow Christ and his will for their lives. Please pray for these young people.

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We officially started Soweto Baptist Church on November 29th. The Lord blessed with 28 in attendance for our first service and we were able to baptize 11 young men who I have been working with for the past several months (Aphiwe, Zolani, Soli, Athule, Aphele, Luxolo, Khanyiso, Likhaya, Sethu, Ntsika, and Miyanda). Our second week we saw an increase in attendance, up to 48! God is blessing and we are expecting to see some incredible things in 2016. (watch the video at https://vimeo.com/147233980)

We are almost to capacity in our current building with those who the Lord has already given. We currently have $1,000 toward our building fund. We are still needing $11,900 to build. With the new building we will have a seating capacity of 120 adults. Thank you to those who have already given.

We want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. You all are in our thoughts and prayers this season. Thank you for all that you do!

Sincerely,

Jeremy and Rebekah Hall

Coffey Family December 2015 Prayer Letter

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  • The last day of the year; it’s hard to believe.  2015 has been a great year.  We praise the Lord we were able to start New Life Baptist Church.  We have a superstar group of supporting churches and individuals that have been with us all along.  We truly don’t deserve you. 

2015 JBay Teen Camp

We finished strong this year with our Christmas day service with 10 first time visitors in attendance.  Over the past two weeks we have placed a Gospel tract on every house in Kwadwesi.  Several thousand homes were given the Gospel, along with being reminded there’s a lighthouse in their community preaching Jesus.  All of this is because of you being used of the Lord. 

As we change our focus from more language learning to church planting we are even more excited about what the Lord has in store for New Life Baptist Church this  coming year. 

Continue to pray for lives to be changed.  We are in a routine of going door to door 4 to 5 times a week with our team which is usually between 6 to 10 people.  There’s potential to reach a lot of people this coming year  with the Gospel. 

Prayer Request

  • New Church Plant in Soweto

More Highlights

  • Our first teen camp was a great success.  I say success because every teen made it back without injury or death, and we had a teen girl from our church trust Christ as her Savior. 
  • Jason and Ashley King came this month for their survey trip.  We are looking very forward to having this family back full time towards the end of the year. 

 

Needs 

  • $1550 was given to cover the remaining cost of teen camp.  Praise the Lord.
  • $6,000 has been given to start Soweto Baptist Church.  We have $4000 more that needs to be raised in the next few weeks.  We hope to see construction begin next week.  It’s been a joy seeing the young guys and girls of this church grow in their knowledge of the Bible. 
  • $500 for tracts.  Since we are going through a couple of thousand tracts a week now, we have decided to print our own tracts using a nice Ink Jet printer.  This amount will help purchase a new printer and supply tracts for 2-3 months

Coffey Family November 2015 Prayer Letter

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Praise the Lord, we had 4 Baptized last week and will have 1 more  baptized tomorrow.   We just completed the construction of our baptistry and are happy to put it to use.  We are starting to gain traction in the area of faithful people making the right steps in their Christian life.  As our core group is faithfully attending services and discipleship classes, real growth is taking place at New Life Baptist.   

Josh and Meagan Sullivan have been here for the last 6 month’s as interns working with our teens, and also going through language school.  They left this week to start full time deputation to come back to South Africa as missionaries.  Pray for them as the work to get back.  We are praying the Lord will bring us many more young families to help reach the people of South Africa.  The opportunities here are wide open.  Maybe you would consider coming to help. 

December begins summer holidays where many people go back to their homeland for a month or so.  Our Bible Institute will be put on hold until January, but we will use this time to really invest in the young people that won’t be traveling.  We pray, that as we begin, the summer with our teen camp, many of these young people will make life changing decisions that we can build upon during the summer months. 

Prayer Request

  • The Sullivan Family as they raise support to come back to South Africa
  • New Church Plant in Soweto
  • Teen Camp (Dec. 7-11)

More Highlights

  • Pastor Tom Hatley from Fellowship Baptist in Maryville, Tn, visited this month with his daughter and another member from their church.  Pastor Hatley has been a great friend in the ministry.  He was a great encouragement during his time here.
  • Pastors Austin Gardner & Robert Canfield from my home church visited this month, along with my mission’s Director Jeff Bush.  They were a help challenging our people and all the preachers to be men and women of the Book.

Needs 

  • $1550 for youth camp.  Three families will be trying to raise this amount to cover the cost of our very first teen camp here in Port Elizabeth.  (120 campers approx.)
  • $10,000 to start Soweto Baptist Church.  We have a small building but are already in need of more space.  The group that will leave from New Life to start the church will already fill up that space.

November Prayer Letter

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Our God is worthy to be served and we count it as a privilege and honor to serve him in South Africa.

My family and I only have 3 weeks left here in South Africa. We are sad that we have to leave but we are also excited to get deputation started! We were privileged to take a trip to Cape Town the first week of October. God opened my eyes to the need all over South Africa. Khayelitsha is the biggest township in the Cape Town area. It has over 400,000 people with very few Gospel preaching churches. The need is tremendous!

We are currently in our last week of language school. When we return to South Africa this will be our priority.

My Pastor (Tom Hatley), his daughter (Abby) and another young lady from our home church (Torrie Sutton) will be arriving in South Africa in the first week of November. We are so excited to see them. Please pray for their trip. Pray that God will use it to encourage our visitors.

Pastor Austin Gardner and a few of his colleagues will also be arriving in the 2nd week of November please pray for them as well.

Prayer Requests

– Pray for laborers to South Africa.

– The young men who Pastor Sipho and I have in our discipleship.

– Our return to The States on November 20.

– Youth Camp will be Dec 6-12. We still need nearly $3,000 to take 120 teens to camp. The young people have been fundraising on their own but if you would be interested in helping please send money to P.O. Box 519 Braselton, GA 30517 (Att. Jeremy Hall/Youth Camp).

– New church plant coming in November. Jeremy Hall will be planting a church in the Soweto Township.

 

 

Coffey Family October 2015 Prayer Letter

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Prayer Request

  • More laborers for Southern Africa
  • New Church Plant in Soweto
  • Language learning
  • Youth Conference at Madiba (Oct 5-10)

As I sat with three teenagers at my home this week during a discipleship lesson, I was reminded about the priority of our ministry here in South Africa.  I’m excited about the people who were saved over the past few weeks at New Life Baptist Church.  I’m excited we have people in attendance that’s not just my family and Pastor Sipho’s family.  But the one thing that excites me the most is being able to sit around a table with some young people who seem interested in learning more about God’s word. 

Lisakhanya and Abongile, both 15 years old, were saved this past month.  Mvumelwa, who is 16 and also leads the music of the church, was  also there.  As they are learning the books of the New Testament this week and how to say Romans 3:10 & Romans 3:23 by memory, I see the future of a stronger church planting ministry in South Africa. 

I know investing in young guys is what it takes to build a ministry that will last.  Pray for our team as we seek to win and train more young men for the Gospel ministry.  Currently, I’m able to meet with around 10 young people who have showed interest in learning more of the Bible and of the ministry.

Needs 

  • $1550 for youth camp.  Three families will be trying to raise this amount to cover the cost of our very first teen camp here in Port Elizabeth.  (120 campers approx.)
  • $10,000 to help with the building for Soweto Baptist Church which will be started in December, Lord willing.  20 people who have been faithful to New Life will be going with my cousin Jeremy to start this church. 

More Highlights

  • 8 Saved at New Life this month
  • My wife Amy is now teaching two discipleship classes a week in Xhosa.
  • My sons are pretty happy about finding a baseball league here close to our house.  Luke is especially happy to have baseball back.
  • 8 Saved during open air service yesterday

October 2015 Update

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1st Annual Bay Baptist Youth Camp

Youth Camp: Our first youth camp is December 6-12. The cost to take 120 teens to camp is going to be $4650 ($38.75 per camper); which includes their food, camp facilities, and transport. Praise the Lord, we have had $200 given so far. We are planning to charge each camper R150 ($12) for the week. Fundraisers and work days will begin this weekend for the teens to help with their expenses. We are still needing to raise $3,010.00. If you would be interested in helping with this please send any money to P.O. Box 519 Braselton, GA 30517 (Att. Jeremy Hall/Youth Camp). Thanks so much for your consideration and for your prayers for this event.

Soweto Baptist Church

Church Building: Bekah and I are going to start our first church in South Africa, Soweto Baptist Church. We are needing $12,900 for the construction of a building (normally around $18,000+), if we are able to take advantage of the current exchange rate. We are blessed to not have to start from scratch. We already have land and two small rooms on that land, which will be connected by the new building, and serve as class rooms. The building will be able to seat around 120 people (1000 sq. ft.).

The Lord has already blessed our efforts in Soweto as we have been evangelizing and training many young men and women in the area. More than a dozen people have been saved and are ready to get baptized. Currently, we continue to transport around 20 people weekly to worship with us at a church started by my cousin, Mark Coffey, and Sipho Bonga in another area. We believe God will fill this building to capacity with new believers by the this time next year. Please pray with us that God would supply these funds while the rates are favorable (any donation should be labeled Jeremy Hall/Soweto Building Fund).

Other Announcements and Prayer Requests:

  • Prayer works! One of the guys I asked you to pray for last month was saved last week, Zolani. And, as I expected, several others dropped their guard and made professions as well; 7 young men in total. Please remember them in your prayers; Ntiska, Aphelele, Athini, Soli, Khanyiso, and Sibusiso. I am meeting with these guys (and about 5 others) several times a week, outside of church services, studying the scriptures. God is raising up a good group of guys who we fully expect to be used for the furtherance of His Kingdom.
  • Youth Conference Oct. 5-9, at Madiba Bay Baptist Church
  • We have several good friends coming over for a visit; Pastor Tom Hatley with Fellowship Baptist Church will be here Nov. 3 -12. Also Pastor Austin Gardner, Bro. Jeff Bush, and Bro. Robert Canfield from Vision Baptist Church will be with us Nov. 11-18. If you or your church are interested in taking a missions trip please feel free to contact me.
  • November is going to be busy. We are moving! Only about 3 miles down the road. Pray this process goes smoothly.

We are extremely grateful that the Lord allows us to do what we do. We hope this letter allows you to see a little of what your investment is accomplishing. Your prayers and support are greatly appreciated and you are prayed for often.

Sincerely,

Jeremy and Rebekah Hall

September Prayer Letter

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God’s grace is undeniable in our life. He has proved to us he will take care of us. We owe him our life. He deserves praise and glory. I pray that my life will be glorifying to him.

We can now count down the days until we return to the states to begin our deputation. We are so thankful to those we have partnered with us for our short-term trip. Please continue to pray for:

– Young men to train and grow in the church
– To book meetings
– To be skilled in our pronunciation in Xhosa
– Church Growth
– New church in Soweto in November.

We have less than 2 months until our internship is over. We are sad that we only have a short time left, but we are thankful for the opportunity. We pray that we can make much of the time we have left and leave a help to the ministry here in Port Elizabeth.

I have been learning and observing how to train young men and we hope to leave a few men for Pastor Sipho to continue to train and invest in when we leave. The Lord has worked and we have seen more young people make professions of faith recently. Pray that they will get baptized and discipled.

Our Pastor (Tom Hatley), his daughter (Abby Hatley), and another young lady from our church (Torrie Sutton) will be coming on a trip to visit us in the first week on November. Please pray for them to raise all the needed funds. This will be the first trip for the ladies. Please pray that God will use them and show them what ministry is like in another country.

We celebrated my and my daughters birthday this past month. Mallorie turned 4 and was very spoiled by her family and friends. My wife and I are thankful that our children have acclimated so well to the country and culture. Our 1 year old son can understand Xhosa as well as he understands English.

Thanks to everyone for their prayer and support. We can be reached at any time thru Facebook messenger, whatsapp, and voxer.

 

August Prayer Letter

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Three Months have flown by and we only have 3 months left!

God is abounding in grace and he has showered us with blessings.

Prayer Requests
1. Visa Extension
2. Discipleship
3. Language
4. Teen Camp

Please continue to pray for the young men in Kwadwesi who are coming to church and discipleship. Pictured is (from left to right) Miso, Stephen, Themabani, and Vuyani. The boys have been overall faithful to most of church as well as visitation. We have also been doing a soccer program led by Jeremy Hall. The boys love this and they also hear a gospel message presented by one of the local pastors.

Our language is still very lacking but we are steadily learning new phrases. We have been working hard on our commands and this is a language focus. We can understand simple commands but it is much harder to repeat what we hear. Another focus is our pronunciation. We must be able to pronounce the words in the right way and not get in bad habits.

We are still waiting for our visas to be extended so please keep this in your prayers.

We are now booking meetings for 2015. Our goal is to have January, February and March of 2016 booked before we get back to the states.

Youth Camp:

Our youth camp is December 6-12. The cost to take 160 teens to camp is going to be $4650; $1500 for food, $2700 for camp, and $450 for transport. We are planning to charge each camper R300 ($25) for the week. That doesn’t sound like much, but considering most of the teens who will attend are probably being raised by an unemployed single parent or a grandmother, it’s almost impossible. We will be having several fundraisers and work days planned for the teens to help with their expenses. If you would be interested in helping us finance this camp please send any donation to Fellowship Baptist Church, 1102 Big Springs Road, Maryville, Tn 37801.