Greetings to our faithful friends, from South Africa! We are thrilled to be back home, and serving the Lord with our church family at Fellowship Baptist Motherwell.

        We were blessed with an amazing furlough, and saying goodbye to friends and family was hard. However, we are excited about what the Lord is doing here in South Africa. On our first Sunday back, we had a full house with many new faces. At the invitation, one precious mama accepted Christ as her savior. We had never met Mama Noncedo before, and after hearing her testimony, I’d like to share a bit with you.

        The week we were to leave on our furlough, a few troublemakers in the community tried to stir up trouble, and “close our doors.” There was a community meeting. In this meeting, our church and myself were accused of many different lies. I had to answer against the accusations and it seemed nothing ever came of it. It was stressful and discouraging, but we surrendered it to the Lord.

        We thought that was the end, but God was working behind the scenes. After we left, there was talk of burning the church down. We had no idea, but Mama Noncedo did. She told us that, although she wasn’t yet a Christian, she knew this wasn’t right. She decided to make Fellowship her church. If they were going to destroy it, they would do it with her inside.

        After attending for the entire six-month furlough, the church never got burned down, but Mama’s heart had been changed. She was ready to be saved on our first Sunday back. Praise His Holy Name! Today my wife was able to share the gospel with her daughter, and we believe she will soon accept Christ. What Satan meant for evil, God used for good!

        We are very thankful to missionaries Brandon Byerly and Ashley Taylor for helping while we were away. They did a fantastic job, and our church matured with their help. Pray for the Bylerys as they move to another church to help.

        We were able to speak to a few pastors about the possibility of mission trips. We are looking to book these trips in 2025 and 2026. If you are interested, you can contact me at 865-978-0485 or [email protected]. We are also wanting interns as well. We are looking for any young people interested in helping/training with a veteran church planting missionary from anywhere to 3-6 months. Thank you for your continual prayers and support.

Updates:
- The young men have matured in the Lord and are continuing to grow.
- We have had many new visitors in the last few weeks
- New discipleship classes started and special events planned.
- Preaching through the book of Matthew
- One woman accepted christ our first Sunday back

Prayer Requests:
​- Two more partnering churches so we can get back to 100%
- Our Pastor and his family due to the loss of his mother. 
- Souls to be saved.

Updated Contact Information:
Josh Sullivan
2335 Pennsylvania Ave
Maryville, TN 37804
865-978-0485

Merry Christmas from the Sullivans. 

         As we draw close to the end of our furlough, we reflect on the wonderful year God has blessed us, particularly the last six months. The first half of our furlough was spent with light traveling, and getting to reconnect with family and our church. We praise the Lord for those that invested in our children, and the faithfulness of old friends. We have spent the last three months with a heavy traveling schedule. Although a bit exhausted, we are so grateful. In October and November, we were blessed to be a part of eight mission conferences and got the opportunity to report back to many supporting churches. It was a joy to teach in many children's classes and schools and be fed by some wonderful men of God. Our hearts were stirred to do more for worldwide evangelism. God's people are amazing, and we are very excited to have so many new friends. 
      
        Meanwhile, back in Africa, Fellowship Baptist Church is doing wonderful. We couldn't be more pleased with how God has blessed us in our absence. Our people have been faithful and seem to be thriving. The last two weeks have been spent at teen camp and junior camp. We haven't gotten a report back yet on salvations; however, we had a great group of kids attend. We are also proud of our older teens, who are now helping as counselors. 

        Please be in prayer for one of our young men named Elethu. He is currently in "Initiation School". This is a cultural process where boys spend about three weeks out in "the bush," to become men. There are many spiritual challenges that go along with this. Please pray that Elethu will glorify God through this process, and with his life. 

        We want to thank you all for the Christmas gifts, and extra offerings this holiday season. We are humbled by your generosity. It is a great blessing not only to us but also to the ones we love in South Africa. It is always fun blessing others for Christmas. 

        We are very excited about our next term. We have about 5 meetings left before we leave for South Africa on January 6, 2025. There have been a total of 9 churches adding us to their missions program. We are praying for 4 more over the next month. Thank you so much for your continual prayers and support for our family. We pray you have a blessed Christmas and New Year. 

        

      Hello friends. We hope this letter finds you well. It has been an eventful few weeks for our family. I am reminded of Ecclesiastes where we are told that there is a time for everything: a time to rejoice, and a time to mourn. We have experienced both as of late. Life is full of ups and downs, but one thing is sure, our time is short. We must get to work! 
I Corinthians 15:34 "Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame."​

      Our hearts were broken to hear of the passing of one of our young ladies, Sisipho Mapu, a couple of weeks ago. Sisipho was saved at a young age and has been faithful to the Lord for five years. She was attending Bay Baptist Bible College, and we knew God was going to use her life in a mighty way. However, God in his infinite wisdom, has chosen rather to use her death to bring Him glory. There were over 400 people who attended her funeral, and we trust that souls will be saved and lives will be changed as a result of her testimony. 

      We have been traveling all over the southeast for the last few weeks. We have been blessed to have been in 8 different states, including a quick trip up to New York. Traveling is not something we enjoy per se, but with every church, it is always worth the trip. We leave with our hearts full from the fellowship with other believers. We have been privileged to teach about South Africa in mission conferences, and the excitement to share the Gospel is contagious. We are so thankful for our partners in the ministry! Would you pray about how God wants to use you to reach the world with the Gospel?

      We were in Greeneville, TN when Hurricane Helene arrived. We have partner churches in Greeneville, TN, Asheville, NC, and Augusta, GA that have all been greatly affected by the hurricane. Please pray for them as they try to navigate through all the destruction. 

      Praise Report:  One of our supporting churches in New York has given to help us with our return flights. Tickets have been purchased and we will return to SA in January.  We have also been able to add five new partners in the last 3 months. To God be the glory! We are praying that the Lord will allow us to have 6 more so we can be fully supported when we return to South Africa. 

Dear Pastor and praying friends!

      We have had an exciting few weeks of traveling! It was a joy to be in churches in California, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, North and South Carolina all this month. We loved seeing old friends, and meeting new ones. Thank you to everyone who graciously had us in.  We praise the Lord for one church partnering with us this month. Will you help us pray for 11 more partners so we can get back to 100%? 

      Exciting things are still happening while we are away from FBC Motherwell. Our young men are doing a wonderful job leading our youth program, and we are averaging over 25 young people on Friday nights. We had one man attend the first annual men's conference at Camp Rhino, and several attended a leadership conference this month. 

      We were excited to hear that one of our faithful young ladies named Tina was able to lead her first person to Christ! The joy Tina had as she told us about it was contagious. We pray others will follow Tina's example, and learn the joy of telling others the good news of the Gospel. Miso has also been able to schedule a bible study with a young man from his school. Please pray for him as he seeks to boldly proclaim Christ. 

        Our family has thoroughly enjoyed being back with our home church in between travels. Our oldest daughter, Mallorie, was able to attend teen Camp in July,  and our boys are loving their "junior boys," Sunday School class. We are thankful for the opportunity for others to pour into our children. 

Hello Pastor and praying friends!

      We hope you all are having a wonderful summer, with Independence Day celebrations and vacation Bible schools. We have been stateside for about 3 weeks, and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed catching up with family and friends. That being said, June was packed full of events and sad goodbyes.

      We tried to cram all the events we could into the last few weeks before we left. We started off June by hosting a VBS during the kids’ winter break. Our theme was “Noah’s ark,” and we had over 100 kids every day! The Lord blessed and we had 7 kids trust Christ as their Savior.

      The next week, we sent our teens and juniors off to camp. They heard amazing messages, and came back encouraged to serve the Lord. We saw one young lady from our church accept christ at Camp Rhino. 

      Lastly, we had a special anniversary service for our last Sunday in South Africa. There was a sweet spirit in the service, and a delicious meal to follow. We left thanking God for our faithful members. Please pray for our people in our absence and for those who have responsibilities in our church. 

      In the last few weeks, we were blessed to be with Bible Baptist Church in Palm Harbor, Fl, Fellowship Baptist Church in Maryville, TN and First Avenue Baptist Church in Hilliard, Florida. The cyber failure caused us to miss some flights and we had to cancel some meetings. We are thankful for Pastor Bradley Collins and his church allowing us to present our work in Asheville, NC.  Please pray for us as we begin to travel all over the U.S starting in California this weekend. 

Dear Pastor and Praying friends.

      May was an exciting month for us at Fellowship Baptist, as we had a lot going on. We started the month by celebrating our "mamas" at our first women's conference at Camp Rhino. Somewhere around 60 women, from all of our local churches came together to celebrate, "How sweet He is!" I was told it was a great blessing to all who attended. 

      Our church also dedicated the month of May to host our first Family Conference. We were so thankful to have Pastor Sipho Bonga come and preach five fantastic messages on parenting, marriage, and everything else the Bible says about family. Pastor Bonga and his wife are raising three children for the glory of God, and in a culture where marriage is an anomaly, we were thankful to have a national tell our people, "It can be done!" We averaged 35 adults every Thursday night in May. We were glad to also have Lighthouse Baptist Church join and learn with us. 

      We finished out the month by helping to host Fairview Baptist Church from Athens, Tennessee. They brought a group of about 25 people and were such a blessing. Pastor Matt Herrel and a few of his people came and helped us decorate our children's church, and get ready for our upcoming vacation bible school. We also were blessed to hear some wonderful preaching, singing, and testimonies. Thank you for coming Fairview!

      We will be leaving for the States in a little less than a month. Emotions are a little scattered, as we are excited to see family and faithful supporting churches, but also sad to leave our home and church family. We would appreciate your prayers over the upcoming days. 

      One of our biggest concerns in leaving for furlough has been leaving our very young church. However, God has met the need and given us peace. We are thankful Missionary Brandon Byerly and his family have agreed to work at our church while we are away. While we are not yet in a position to put in a national leader, this will help to keep our church running in our absence. The young leaders we do have now have some smaller responsibilities and I am looking forward to seeing how they will respond to the challenge. Please pray for these young men: Elethu, (19), Masilakhe (18), Masiwakhe (18), Miso (17). We also have been blessed with three single missionaries who will help with our children's church,  women's discipleship, and girl teen classes. Amanda Baine, Ashley Taylor, and Michelle Geiger will help in those situations. The Lord is faithful, and we trust Him to continue to build His church. 

       We still have a few available openings if you would like for us to update or present in your church. 

April Prayer Letter 

      Hello from the Sullivan Family. It has been a busy time since our last prayer letter, and I’m excited to share what God has been doing through your faithful prayers and support.

      We ended March by celebrating our Risen Savior! The Lord blessed tremendously, as we had 100 in our service, 55 of those being adults. Our mamas prepared a delicious traditional meal, and we had a great time of fellowship. 

      In April, we were blessed by a new church member, Mama Nomalungelo. She is one of the rare few that has come to our church, having already made a profession of faith. however, after some discipleship, she realized she had not been biblically baptized. She didn’t let pride stand in her way, and told us she needed to be baptized the right way. It was a joy to watch her follow the Lord in believer’s baptism. We also saw two others baptized this month. We enjoyed having Pastor Ryan Hayden and a group from his church visit for a couple of weeks. His preaching was a huge encouragement to our family. 

      May started our “family conference.” Pastor Sipho Bonga will be with us, along with a few national churches, every Thursday this month. We are excited for our people to hear about biblical marriage and parenthood. Please pray for this meeting. There are very few traditional families in our area. Most of the people in our area are not married and most young people do not grow up with aspirations of being married. This is obviously an attack from Satan to distort God's plan. We covet your prayers as we battle this way of thinking amongst our people. 
​
       “SAMP,” our new media ministry, is finally beginning. It has been a learning process for me, but we have begun recording and posting messages. We also want to thank Pastor Doug Horton for donating to this new ministry. We are hoping to get a recording studio together in the near future! 


Prayers & praises: 

• we want to thank God for giving Pastor Mxolisi Dama miraculous healing from Meningitis and complications this past month! 
• We also want to Praise God for providing a vehicle for us while we are in the States. Jehovah-Jirah! 
• We only have 6 short weeks before we bring our furlough. Please pray with us for the ministry here while we are going.  
• I am still looking to fill a few openings in Florida and Eastern Tennessee/North Georgia area, if any church is interested in us coming by. 

Hello Pastor and Church,


2 Peter 3:18 "But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen"
   In comparison to other months, February was not particularly eventful. Our family dealt with a couple of weeks of sickness. However, as I reflect on the last few weeks, I am thankful. We have had several faithful people, eager to grow in grace and knowledge. Our Sunday school has grown, and we are finishing up discipleship classes with several. Lord willing, we will be baptizing shortly.
 
What we have been up to: 

• We hosted our first “friend day,” at the beginning of the month, complete with ice cream sundaes! 
• An older gentleman accepted Christ as his Savior. 
• Our son Silas turned eight years old.
• Camp Rhino hosted its first young adult camp. We were able to send two young ladies. 
• We have enjoyed having Pastor Ryan Hayden and a group from Bible Baptist church here with us. The preaching has been such an encouragement. 

   Update on our Audio/Video ministry: We are still in the beginning stages of this new ministry. We have received $150 of the $1350 committed donations for it. But, we have still been able to purchase three microphones and video editing software. Please pray we can begin to faithfully record all services so that the Gospel can easily steam in our area. 

​​Prayer Requests: 
- We leave for a 6 six month furlough in just three months. Please pray for our church to continue serving the Lord faithfully in our absence. 
 - Please pray for God’s provision in finding a vehicle once we arrive.


  

Dear Pastor and Friends.

We blinked our eyes and we’re already a month into 2024! Here’s what we’ve been up to the past few weeks: 

• We had a wonderful week at Camp Rhino with our teenagers! There were 110 kids who came and heard the gospel, played a lot of games, and ate really well! We were able to send 16 teens from our church this year. It was a blessing to hear how God worked in their hearts. 
• Our kids went back to school , and kicked it off with a combined youth service at our church. Each month the likeminded local churches come together for a youth meeting. January was our turn to serve the youth. There were 100 teens in attendance and we saw the Lord save a soul! 
• Our church partook in the Lord’s Supper for the first time. We praise the Lord for giving us some saved church members. 
• We are excited about our upcoming furlough starting in August. If you would like for us to come and give an update or present our ministry please contact me. 

      Lastly, God has given me a burden for a new ministry opportunity! After discussing the lack of biblical resources in IsiXhosa, we are excited to start, “SAMP,” or South Africa Media Project. Our goal is to record every message, lesson, testimony ect, from our local churches, and get them online. Eventually we want to grow this into radio and podcasts. God provided the funds for some recording equipment, but we are now hoping to raise the funds for a centrally located recording studio the land has already been provided. If you are interested in donating or hearing more about this project, please let me know! 

We pray you have a wonderful February. 
1 John 4:16 - "And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him."

      Exciting Furlough update: Our family will be taking a short 5 month furlough towards the end of this year! After prayerfully considering the effects of being gone an entire year would have, we have decided to break it up into 2 parts. We will be in the States from September 2024-January 2025. And then again in the spring of 2026. 

      If you are interested in learning more about our ministry here in South Africa, or would like to have us back for an update, please let me know. We would love to see you!

      December was an exciting month with anticipation of celebrating our Savior's birth. Here in South Africa, December is also part of our 6 week summer break. So you can imagine, we squeeze alot into these few weeks! In between all of the festivities and traditions, we were able to spend a week at Camp Rhino with 18 of our junior kids. Everyone had a wonderful time, and we had multiple professions of faith. Please pray with us as we follow up with them and begin discipleship. We were also able to host Tim and Jessica Johnson, as they were here to survey South Africa. During that time, my wife and mrs. Jessica were able to lead a 14 year old girl to Christ. Lord Willing,  the Johnson's  will be returning with their family to serve as full time church planters in the near future.  

      My wife and I always want to put a huge emphasis on "giving" with our children, but this year was extra fun because we were able to involve some faithful members of our church. One-hundred "blessing bags," were put together, and handed out around our community with gospel tracts. We are praying to see fruit from this small endeavor. Thank you so much to those who gave us special Christmas offerings.  We don't take your love and kindness for granted. 
 
      I baptized 5 people in December. These are folks who have been faithful to our discipleship lessons, as well. We're excited to see what God has in store for 2024!