Dear brethren,
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I am grateful that you are taking time to read my report on how God is working in our ministry his wonders to perform.
Family
Jenna, Zoe, and I are doing well. There is a great excitement in the house as we praise God for each day that he carried us through and protected our unborn child. We are already fighting over names, but I have decided already, as head of the house, that, if it is a boy, I will name him.
The Lord is really blessing us in our devotions as we are reading through W. Phillip Keller’s A Shepherd’s look at Psalm 23. Please pray that the Lord will continue to work on us and grow us into the likeness of his Son.
Outreach
We really started off the year with a bang, as we went into the community with some help from The Great Commission Camp, who annually sends out a team to help us with door-to-door and street preaching. Our community is predominantly a coloured community, so when they see white people with tracts in their hands they clear the deck! Their immediate conclusion to this is, “Jehovah’s Witnesses! Run!” Someone in the community told me that they were so relieved when they saw these guys were with me.
In the meanwhile, some brothers and I also started with our weekly outreach in our community and this time I managed to get some photos.
Juju (not his real name, and, unfortunately, I do not have a picture of this young man) is a gangster and one of the guys responsible for shootings in our area. He also loves to gamble and normally in the middle of the street forcing cars to go around them. One day, as I was passing by, I asked them to “do their thing” on the sidewalk or somewhere else. Some of the guys apologised for the inconvenience but it was Juju who refused to move and was disrespectful. His friends pled with him to let it go and to step aside but he refused. I took a good look at him and went home praying. A few days later, I passed there again and they were in the street again as normal. I warned them that they were terrorising the community and that God will deal with them. When I saw Juju, I told him, “Young man with the red shirt, I prayed for you; I brought you before the Lord!” Juju became outraged asking how could I do such a thing! “He cursed me!” he told his friends with eyes filled with fury mixed with fear.
All of this happened almost a year ago. Last week the brothers and I decided to go out and share the gospel with the guys hanging out on the corners. As I was greeting them, I noticed that one of them was extremely hostile to the “gate crash” so I asked him what was wrong, not recognising that it actually was Juju (I only learned his name that day). He replied, “You know what you did! Don’t act like you don’t! You said you brought me before the Lord and a few days after that I was shot!”
Oh my, I had some explaining to do! Long story short: I gave him the gospel and explained to him the grace of God and the consequences of sin. We had a long talk going back and forth but, in the end, he invited me to come over to his house so he could hear some more. As I was busy talking to him, I could see how the Lord was using this history to establish a friendship and an opportunity for the gospel. Praise be to the Lord! Please keep Juju in your prayers.
Above is John. He abandoned the faith. A pastor told him he would get a job if only he would come to Jesus. Please keep him in your prayers.
The three guys in the middle (above, from left to right: Gladwin, Franco, and Reggie) were hanging out in front of a “drug house” so we took the liberty to share the gospel with them. The young man with the glasses is Shascion. He is a recent convert and has joined me on our Friday outreach.
Prayer Requests
- Pray for my meetings with Juju and that the Lord will save him.
- Pray for our month of corporate evangelism and that the Lord will give us lasting fruit.
- Pray that the Lord will raise up more elders in the church.
- Pray for my family and for the continuous protection of our unborn child.
Thank you for taking time to read this brief report.
“For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16)
Yours in his service,
Quinton Maneville