May 2024 Update

Dear Friends,

It has been several months since our last update around Thanksgiving. I apologize for our sporadic communication. Life and ministry are busy and full. We certainly appreciate your ongoing support for us personally that enables us to do what God has called us to do here in George, South Africa.

As most of you know, we are engaged in three primary areas of ministry—church planting, theological training, and community upliftment and outreach through a missionary-cooperative non-profit organization. Below is a short update for each of these areas of ministry . . .

Church Planting. Life Fellowship Church is now 5 years old and the Lord continues to grow His people through the ministry of the Word and through the fellowship of the body. At the beginning of April, we began a study of the book of Romans we are calling, “Romans: Not Ashamed of the Gospel.” We are building our study around this theme: The gospel reveals that God justly justifies the unjust so that we might offer our lives in worship to Him for His eternal glory. I challenged our church family to pray that, through our study, God would work in the lives of non-believers to cause them to believe the gospel, and that the Lord would recapture the hearts, minds, and lives of believers with the glorious message of the gospel. We ask you to pray this for our church family as well!

Theological Training. The Biblical Leadership Institute is the tool we are using to train men who are interested in ministry as well as believers who simply desire to grow in their relationship with the Lord and deepen their understanding of His Word. I had the privilege during the months of February and March to teach our Biblical Preaching course. The Lord used the opportunity to teach this course now for a second time to grow my own passion for preaching His Word, and He gave us a really good group of class participants who have a sincere desire to learn how to better preach and/or teach the Word. It was a real joy to watch one of the young men we are training preach his very first sermon soon after the class had finished. Your prayers for our students are very much appreciated!

Inspire George Non-Profit Organization: We want to praise the Lord that the church building project for the Bybel Baptiste Kerk in the township community of Pacaltsdorp has begun. We are grateful for several churches in the United States, a US-based foundation, and a South African donor who have contributed to this project. The church building and adjacent house for Pastor Alfonso Katts and his family are scheduled to be done by the end of 2024.

Please pray for the Foundations Theological Institute gap year program which is slated to begin in January 2025. We are partnering with several other missionary families to begin this one-year Bible intensive program designed to nurture young adults in their walk with the Lord and their desire for future ministry. The Lord has provided a property in town that will be able to house male students. We are in the process of renovating the facility, but we have had some struggles with the local municipality. We ask you to pray for these issues to be resolved quickly so the renovations can proceed. Please also pray that the Lord would provide funds to purchase the property next to our Inspire George Ministry Center that could serve as a residential hall for female students.

We have also begun a youth ministry initiative designed to minister to the teenagers in the five churches connected to the Inspire George non-profit, as well as to reach young people in our community. We are encouraged by the opportunity every other Friday for the teenagers to play games, to fellowship, and to study the Word together. Please pray for the continued development of the Inspire George Youth Group.

Ministry Needs and Personal Needs . . .
With so many ministry opportunities here, there are several projects we are working on for which we need to raise funds. First, we are trying to raise $15,000 to help Pastor Boyce Saleni and the Thembalethu Baptist Church fix some water drainage issues at the front of their building by leveling and paving the front portion of their property and fixing their security fencing. Second, due to an increase in crime, we are needing to revamp and upgrade the security system at the Inspire George Ministry Center—a $5,000 project. Third, we are trying to add some furniture to our Inspire George Business Center so that we can expand the number of people that will be able to use the facility—a $3,000 project. Finally, we have approximately $5,000 worth of ongoing maintenance and operational expenses associated with running a non-profit organization on an annual basis.

On a personal level, we are in need of increasing our support this year due to inflation, college expenses, and some extra travel this coming year. Please pray that the Lord would provide additional support, either by way of one-time gifts or ongoing support, and that we would trust Him with these needs.

We continue to be encouraged by all that the Lord is doing here. It is His work, and He deserves all the praise for what He is doing. We can’t thank you enough for your partnership in helping us do what God has called us to do here in George, South Africa.