it's time to reach out

Hello faithful blog followers! I can't believe I'm saying this already, but the lecture phase of CPx is finished. The past three months have absolutely flown by, full of wonderful encounters with God, growing relationships with the other students, and amazing time spent ministering in Red Hill. Now, with our heads full of theoretical teachings and our hearts full of faith and expectations about how God wants to out-work that in the world, we are packing our bags to take this show on the road.

Tomorrow morning at 06:00 my team is heading to Cape Town to catch a bus to Jeffrey's Bay. We will stay there for two days with our sister ministry, LXP, waiting for two other team members before heading to the Transkei. We will be there for about three weeks in the cities of Umtata and Coffee Bay. The Transkei, now called the Wild Coast, is the region in the Eastern Cape where the Xhosa were forced to live under the apartheid government. It is an impoverished area with strong beliefs in ancestor worship, witchcraft, and other traditional religious and cultural practices. HIV/AIDS is very prevalent, which leaves many orphans and child-headed households. Jobs are very scarce, so most men go to the cities to find work, often resulting in troubled marriages and broken families. Please keep these issues in mind when praying for us!

Our ministry in the Transkei will be focused on following up with people met by some of my team during previous outreaches and encouraging them to continue growing in the Lord. The model for growth we believe in is studying the word and praying together in small, simple churches that meet in homes and other places. This is based on the way Jesus and Paul spread the gospel in the New Testament; sometimes they would only be in an area for a few weeks, but the believers they left were equipped to continue learning from scriptures with the help of the Holy Spirit, and were motivated to share what they learned to continue spreading the gospel. The church in Thessaloniki we read about in Paul's book 1 Thessalonians is a great example of what we're praying for! In addition to encouraging the believers there we are believing God for new churches to be started through those contacts. We will also be researching and praying about the possibility of a long term base for All Nations in Transkei. It's a dream of Floyd's to have a base in that area, much like the one we have here at Africa House.

At the end of May we will leave Transkei and head into the mountain kingdom of Lesotho, which is one of the small, independent countries in South Africa. Our time in the "kingdom in the sky" will be spent working alongside former CPx student, Godfrey. He works with vulnerable children and plants simple churches in his home town, Butha-Buthe. His ministry has had a powerful impact in the area, but he is the only one working full-time there so he will really benefit from the encouragement and support our team will bring. Lesotho faces similar struggles as Transkei in terms of HIV/AIDS prevalence and lack of job opportunities. We will work closely with Godfrey's vulnerable children to disciple them in following Jesus and planting more simple churches in the community. We are very expectant about our six weeks in Lesotho, believing God for many lives transformed by the gospel and lasting impact in the community through simple churches.

I am personally very excited to have this amazing opportunity to spread God's glory and see people brought from death to life by the power of Jesus Christ. Please keep us in your prayers as we go out. My team members are Bruce, Petrus, Pattiswa, Bethany, and Lucas. Vuyani, Nicholas, and Gawie will also be with us in the Transkei. Our prayer is for safety, unity in the team and lasting fruit that comes from obedience to God as he leads by his Holy Spirit. Please pray for the other CPx students as well. Their outreach locations include Zimbabwe, Springbok (South Africa), Mozambique, and two teams in Zambia. In addition to the specific requests mentioned above, we would all appreciate your prayers for financial breakthrough. Many of the students are still trusting God for the rest of the money they need to pay their CPx fees, so we are starting our outreaches with only 80% of the projected budget in the bank. Each team has prayed about heading out without all the money in and we've got the faith to trust God for the rest of the money after we head out. We'd love it if you'd stand with us in this!

As sad as it's been to say goodbye to one another as we prepare to leave, we are so excited to hear stories of what God does in the different teams and outreach locations. We will all reunite in Cape Town at the beginning of July for two weeks of debriefing our outreaches. I will do my best to keep you updated over the next two and a half months. Thank you so much for your love and support. Blessings!!!