July was an exciting month of Celebrations for us! Starting on the 4th, of course, we stopped and praised God for the opportunity to be born and raised in a free country. Where we were able to hear the Gospel from the time we were born. Next, our son Avett celebrated his 8th birthday. We are so thankful to be his parents, and we pray He will allow the Lord to use Him.
Next, came the celebration of our 1 year anniversary since we planted FBC Motherwell. We wanted to use this opportunity to reach the community, so we decided to have our first soup kitchen. We were blessed to receive a donation from Meagan's Father, David Witt, and were able to feed over 100 people. Not only that but each person who received a bowl of soup was given a gospel message beforehand. Please pray that the Lord will use his word to convict hearts for salvation. We were truly excited about this opportunity, and hope to do it again in the future. We finished off the month celebrating 12 years of marriage. We praise the Lord for how He has worked in our hearts and lives over the past decade, and we pray our marriage will bring Him honor and glory for the rest of our lives. A couple of weeks ago Meagan and I were able to attend a funeral for our friend, Mama Noxie. Her brother of 29 years passed away. It was a great opportunity to continue learning culture and language. But also an ever-needed reminder of why we are here. We see and hear about death after death after death on a daily basis almost. Our clock is always counting down, and we have to be vigilant in sharing the Gospel before it is too late. The past 2 Sunday mornings we had 41 and 42 respectively. So far in church planting, I have learned to praise the Lord in the good times. Thank you, Lord, for the great past 2 Sundays. We are also pushing our bible studies and we have seen an increase. I believe God is proving to me how valuable bible studies are. Many people may not necessarily have a desire to come to church but many do have a desire to learn more about God's word. If you ask someone if they want to come to a bible study most will say yes. We're thankful to watch as they continue to learn and grow. We will be helping to host Medical Missions Outreach this month. I believe there will be over 40 medical professionals coming and we will be holding a clinic. Pray for souls to be saved and the churches to grow through this process. This past month we have been blessed to help host several groups from the States, here in Port Elizabeth. So far we have had groups from Michigan, Ohio, and South Carolina. In the next couple of months, we will meet folks from Georgia, Tennessee, and a medical group from all over the United States. By the time we close out the year, we will have had over 100 professing Christians come to see another part of the world. A country that is starving for the gospel. We are praying when they leave, they will be able to claim Lamentations 3:51 which says, "mine eye affecteth mine heart." We are praying God will light a fire in their hearts, to get the gospel around the world. Can you imagine what a difference 100 people could make? It was on a mission trip in 2010 where God broke my heart for the billions in the world without a clear gospel witness in their language. If you or your church is looking to take a trip next year we would love to host you in the beautiful country of South Africa. It could change your life!
Since our last prayer letter, we have seen two professions of faith. I was also blessed to baptize two 16-year-old brothers. They have been faithful to church and our bible studies. Pray for Masilakhe and Masiwakhe as they grow in Christ, as well as Miso and Elethu (Njezza). I don't know if God will call these boys to ministry but either way, if Port Elizabeth will ever change it will be through men who choose to follow and obey God. Also, pray for my boys Avett and Silas and my family as we look to please the Lord. Last month we were encouraged by our special May meetings. Every Sunday in May our church had a guest preacher. I want to thank Pastors Kevin Hall, Lubabalo Sitole, Jeremy Hall, Sipho Bonga, and Mvume Johnson as they preached for us. We heard some challenges and clear gospel presentations from God's Word. I believe our people were helped and encouraged. We saw many visitors over the last month and I can say it was a success. In following up with our visitors we have started a couple of extra Bible Studies trying to get the Word of God into our people's hearts. Pray for us as we continue. Hello Pastor and Praying Friends,
March was a busy month for our church, but we are excitedly getting ready for an even busier few months in April and May. Easter is coming up, and we are preparing for services on Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. Here in South Africa, most churches meet on both days to celebrate our Savior. Pray for us as we try to invite hundreds to our services. We are sure to have many visitors who have never heard a clear presentation of the Gospel. The following Sunday, will be the first of our "Special Meetings in May!" Every Sunday in May we will host a different guest preacher. Pastors Lubabalo Sitole, Kevin Hall, Sipho Bonga and Jeremy Hall have been so kind as to come and preach for us. I am very excited for the people of Motherwell to hear gospel preaching by National Pastors. Please pray with us for lots of visitors, souls to be saved, and a lasting impact on the community of Motherwell. As we are slowly growing, we have began to look for a more permanent building. It was recommended to me by multiple missionaries to not build a large church in the beginning, but to start small and grow into a more permanent facility. We have been renting a small home that has worked for us until now. We are not a very large church; averaging only about 20-30 every Sunday. However, the home we are in now does not allow for growth. I have already viewed several places, and will continue to view more in the coming days. Help us pray that we can find the best location for a building before this summer. In February we were able to have our first baptismal service. We baptized 10 people in all, and had a wonderful service on top of that. The Lord is good and He will build his church! Pray for us as we try to follow His leading and get this church established for the thousands who live in our area. We were also blessed to see about 8 people who finished their Bible Challenge. The goal was to memorize Psalms 119:105 and come the church for 4 straight weeks. The people seem to really join in on this, and we look forward to more challenges in the future. Lastly, please remember our 'Youth Nights", every Friday night we have a time of fellowship with our youth. We play fun games and give a lesson. It is our heart's desire that through time, we will give them "life on life," discipleship and they will see the joy in serving Jesus. Please pray that God will raise up one of these young men to become a man of God. In January we were once again honored to be a part of Camp Rhino. Camp Rhino is a youth camp ran by fellow missionary, Mark Coffey. It allows faithful youth in our like minded churches an opportunity to go to a week-long retreat for their summer holiday. (Yes, summer is from Nov-Mar here in SA). What's more exciting is this was our first year to have youth from our own church, Fellowship Baptist, attending. We had 8 boys and 6 girls attend this year. After a week full of preaching, teaching, and discipling, there were 5 boys and 3 girls who made professions of faith at camp. We praise the Lord that our kids have an opportunity to see other true christians and to hear the Gospel from kids their age as well as other Pastors from around Port Elizabeth. I was honored to preach at both the girls and boys camps, and to witness all that God was doing in the hearts of these teens.
Because of the new professions of faith made at camp and the others we have received over the last 7 months at FBC, I have been preaching "the fundamentals of faith," on Thursdays nights as well as our "Indlelela lokuKhula" growth discipleship materials. We received a gift from a church in Ohio and used their donation to purchase our baptistry. Lord willing, we will be having our first baptismal service on Sunday Feb 27. We are very excited and we covet your prayers on this matter. We have also finished the concrete job inside our new children's ministry shack. This will allow the children to nt longer sit in dirt and rocks but now have a slab to listen and play. This past month I have started a bible giveaway at our church. An individual must attend church 4 weeks in a row and memorize Psalms 119:105 -"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." - "Lisisibane seenyawo lam ilizwi lakho, Likukukhanya emendweni wam." We have had a lot of interest in this program and we have had about 7 people already receive their new bibles! We are praying this encourages faithful church attendance, and we can see some new faces from this promotion. Thank you for your faithful prayers and support. We could not be here with out you and we love you all! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Thank you to all of those who have faithfully supported our ministry in 2021. Your support keeps us here in South Africa. We also want to thank all of the churches who have given us Christmas donations. It means a lot to us that you would sacrifice for our family. The Lord is faithful and we always have a wonderful Christmas. At Fellowship Baptist in Motherwell, we were able to add on a "shack" to our building. This space allows us to have a better place for our children's program. Before this, my wife was meeting with the children outside. I have been in the process of adding a concrete floor. It has taken a bit longer than I expected but, Miso and Njezza have been a great help. We have learned together how to work with concrete. Pray for these boys. They are the most faithful to church and seem like possible workers in the ministry. They are both young and have a long way to go but, they are both growing and learning. This December, I was able to go on a survey trip to Mozambique with a prospective missionary. We were able to visit the city of Maputo. There are about 3 million people in this city and almost no gospel-preaching churches. I ask you to pray for Jacob and Christen Clower as they begin their deputation to Mozambique. Also, pray for more missionaries to be sent and souls to be saved. Here in South Africa, December is when everyone in the entire country goes on a "Holiday". A Holiday is when many people will take a vacation or see their families. This holiday time lasts an entire month. Sadly many of the people will even take a holiday from church. At FBC this month we have had some low numbers but, this past Sunday we had a visiting family. I love the family time we have but, I am also anxious for January. We are looking for a fresh start, new ideas, and much work planned at Fellowship Baptist Church. Thank you Pastor and praying friend.
My family and I are very grateful for the opportunity to serve our Christ in South Africa. We are doing well and the Lord is blessing. We planted Fellowship Baptist Church on Aug 1. We have been meeting for 12 weeks now and we have already seen the Lord work. We are excited about the future and covet your prayers as I continue to preach the Word. Since the church was started we have seen 2 professions of faith and have finished discipleship materials with two others. The last Sunday in September is a national holiday called, "Heritage day" in South Africa. Black South Africans really enjoy this day to celebrate their culture. It is always a lot of fun to dress up and show the people that we "Americans" are proud to live here in South Africa. We used the opportunity to plan a special day, with cake and fellowship after the service. We invited almost 500 people. It ended up being our highest day since starting! Over 50 people came with almost 20 adults. A first time visitor came and made a profession of faith. We Praise the Lord for such a blessed day. In South Africa this year, the first week of October was school holiday for the entire country. Because of this, my wife and I planned an impromptu VBS. Of course, most of the children had no idea what a VBS is, but we were glad to teach them. The kids enjoyed crafts, snacks, lesson time, and prizes for verse memorization. We started the week with 30 in attendance, and ended the week with almost 90 children! The Lord blessed our time and many children in Motherwell, South Africa heard the gospel for the very first time in their native language.
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