Dear brethren,
Please see below a ministry update from Grace Baptist Church in Daveyton, South Africa.
Thanksgiving
It is always humbling to think about your partnership in the gospel of Christ. We really appreciate your support and your prayers. It is my prayer that the Lord will fulfil his word in your life that says, blessed is the hand that gives than the one that receives.
Family
We are thankful to God for the gift of family. Our Son Zanecebo is more excited about his sister. He sometimes goes and wakes her up during her nap so they can play together. They really enjoy each other’s company.
My wife has been working on her driving learner’s licence. That went well, and she now has to move to the driver’s licence test. She is a bit anxious about it because she has failed it several times in the past. She tends to struggle with test anxiety when it comes to this driving test. We would really appreciate if you would pray with us, for the Lord to help her with this.
Personal Life
This time of the year is one of the difficult times for me. My body starts to be tired and sickness creeps in. I’ve been down with flu for the whole week. But the Lord has granted me his grace. I recovered well and also managed to use this time wisely. I’ve been listening to sermons. I’ve also had a good opportunity to read. I’ve been reading Brother Paul Washer’s book on the gospel message. I was greatly encouraged by it.
Church
Church life has been good lately. The Lord is sending some new visitors. One Sunday recently, we ran out of space for people. This was so encouraging for us. For many years we never had more than 25 people in our service.
Our intern has been doing well. He took over one of our Bible studies and has been helping with Bible hour and preaching. He is really appreciating the opportunity.
Our preaching class is doing well. The men I’ve been training are appreciating the class and are starting to realise that preaching is hard work. They’ve been so encouraging to me. It is my prayer that the Lord will raise some of these man to be elders in our church.
On the issue of the property, there has been some progress. We have finally received the deed of transfer. The only challenge has been meeting with the local leaders. It seems like they don’t want to meet with us. But some of the people in the community have been nice to us. They even promised to visit the church when we start our services in the new property.
Evangelism
The Lord is opening more opportunity in one of the schools, although this month one student committed suicide. This was not good for the school. They asked me to conduct the memorial service. I used this as an opportunity to share the gospel with the students and teachers. The girl who committed suicide was staying in the area around our church. This has given us the opportunity to help the family and to share the gospel with them. The brother of the girl has started attending our Bible study after the funeral. He has been asking good questions.
Conference
On 24 September we had our annual conference with eight likeminded churches who are from eight townships. This year’s conference was hosted by us in Daveyton. This conference really brings so much encouragement to our members. We had an attendance of 150 plus people. We had a good time of learning from God’s word and fellowship.
Prayer Requests
- Pray that the Lord will give me his strength to finish strong this year.
- Pray for my wife’s driving test.
- Pray for the Lord to bless our evangelistic efforts in schools, clinics and door to door.
- Pray for the community where we bought the land—that they will allow us to put a temporal structure.
- Pray for the people who have started visiting our church—that those who are not saved the Lord will open their eyes and those who are saved to find a home in our church.
- Pray for the family who have lost their daughter—that the Lord will use this to draw them to himself. Pray especially for her brother, Sipho, who is attending our Bible study.