After a few years of interruption due to COVID-19, we are sending our NINTH team to South Africa to support our partner church HOPE BAPTIST CHURCH in Pretoria, South Africa. We are excited to bring an update on all of the work that has continued in these past years.
team: Keith & Kathy Matney, Linda Briseno, John Herr, Steve & Joy Waller & Hannah
The majority of the team is on its way back to the US.
But Linda and Joy got one more chance to worship at Hope Baptist Church today. It was a special missions Sunday, and Pastor Julius had invited some of the Campus Crusade for Christ team to come and share information about how all people (kids, students, and adults) can get involved in sharing the Gospel with others. They shared also the importance of The Jesus Movie - did you know that it is available in an app now and translated into over 200 languages? An easy way to share the story of Christ anywhere you might find yourself in the world.
PRAISE: there were many new people in attendance on Sunday, including a couple who had come during the week for glasses. Also, a man named Max who made a profession of faith - he brought his son with him!
Here are some clips from the worship today:
Here are the videos of the baptisms from Saturday (yesterday) and Pastor Julius iterated that he will host baptisms in Sunnyside until everyone has had a chance to come forward to participate.
After some more time to fellowship with Julius and Cintia and some of their family, Linda has been successfully delivered to the airport and will be on her way to Phoenix soon.
Thanks for reading and we hope to see you read the blog again on an upcoming trip - or better yet, we hope you join us next time!
Also, special thanks to FSBC Fountain Hills (now, Cornerstone Family Church) for donating many glasses as well. It is so great to work in partnership with other churches!
Not sure we could have pictured a better way to end the week than a baptism - but it was a great blessing to be able to baptize some individuals from our eyeglass clinics this week. A short walk from the church, we met at the Sunnyside Community Pool, a very large city pool.
We met with six individuals who committed their lives to Christ, including a family of three. Even better, Pastor Keith, John and Steve were invited to baptize these individuals. It was a great celebration and exclamation point for the week.
When we returned to the church, we got ready for a pastors' breakfast and devotion led by Keith. Steve then said a few words about financial stewardship, and then John led a session geared toward pastors and counseling. The session was two-fold: counseling basics for pastors as they counsel the people of their church, and also an opportunity to discuss trauma and issues pastors themselves face. The session went very long as there were a lot of questions - and again, it is a well-received discussion as it is uncommon for pastors to have access to this kind of content.
The session was also a perfect example of the initial vision of Hope Baptist: if the people of Sunnyside/Pretoria can be reached, we can reach the entire continent of Africa. There were pastors there from Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Togo, DRC, Cameroon, and South Africa.
The team got ready to fly out late this evening and will be heading home to Phoenix.
Pastor Julius mentioned to me this evening that as he has reviewed the contact cards that we collected from the eyeglass clinics at Hope Baptist, he estimates there to be around 75 professions of faith and requests for baptism from the week. This does not include the people from Olieven. He will hold another baptism event next Saturday.
Prayer requests:
- pray for those individuals baptized today. They will have an opportunity to attend a series of classes similar to our "Next Steps" class. (Names: Boss, Julius, Silver, Julia, Jasmine & Steve)
- pray for the pastors and their ministries who were in attendance today
- pray travel mercies for the team who is leaving today, and pray travel mercies for Linda who leaves tomorrow, and Joy who leaves in a week.
- pray for the future of Hope Baptist Church and the ministries that it is involved in and will develop over the next years.
- pray for ways that you can be involved with God's work in South Africa. You will not regret answering the call to participate. Please reach out if you have any questions!
The final suitcases of glasses finally arrived! Thank you for praying - it arrived about an hour in to our final clinic today and Pastor Julius will be able to hand them out in other upcoming events.
We were at Hope Baptist Church again today for the glasses clinics. We saw over 200 people come through and we estimate over 25 professions of faith today. Praise God! Our conversations were encouraging, enlightening, and humbling - the daily lives of people in this part of the world are quite different than ours, and in other ways they are quite the same. The predominant prayer requests that heard this week were related to: searching for jobs (the unemployment rate in SA is around 34%, with the rate over 60% in young males), illness, alcoholism, family issues, parenting decisions, safety, etc.
We returned in the late afternoon to start the evening session. John Herr had made himself available to hold counseling sessions for individuals who had signed up during the week. Of course, we don't have details but according to Pastor Julius they were for a life-changing purpose.
Pastor Keith held a session with a group who were interested in learning about worship leadership. The session was well received and it was very touching to hear how comfortable people are to be vulnerable. Someone asked the question: how can I lead worship and stand in front of everyone when my own life is falling apart? Questions of worthiness seem to be universal, don't they?
Steve and Joy pivoted to teach a session that was originally meant to be for "marriage enrichment", and instead taught tips on communication, intentional time, and true partnership to some couples, young adults and youth. They discussed how to harness their strengths and bring them to their relationships in marriage, friendship, and business using these tools.
It was a really great day!
By the way, I meant to also mention that yesterday Pastor Keith had an opportunity to be interviewed for the oldest Christian radio station in South Africa. It is a station for which Pastor Julius records a weekly sermon and discussion. It has over 4 MILLION listeners!
Prayer requests:
- praise God for the arrival of the suitcase of glasses!
- pray encouragement and support for the new brothers and sisters in Christ
- pray for needs to be met in this community
- pray that the team leaving tomorrow can pack up easily and return to the States on time
Another special day as we celebrated Cintia's actual birthday!
Very early up and out of bed to go on a game drive in Pilanesberg National Park. If you have never been on a game drive, it is an event left largely up to chance. You never know what you might see.
Luck was on our side today as we got a chance to see white rhinos, black rhinos from a distance, giraffes, and LIONS. Such a cool experience to see them up close.
After a few hours out in the reserve, we returned to have a wonderful breakfast outside and then get on the road. A stop over at a local market about an hour outside of Pretoria to buy some gifts, and we were back in the city.
We have not been able to track the missing suitcase down unfortunately. Julius expects maybe over 300 people to come to the clinic tomorrow in Sunnyside, and so after some deliberation, we decided to purchase more glasses. We stopped by several stores that ranged from kind of a Dollar Tree equivalent to a Walgreens equivalent and feel confident that we will at least not have to turn many people down. It's not ideal but we want to be able to have the fullest day tomorrow.
Keep praying that the glasses turn up - Pastor Julius will be able to use them when and if they arrive. We haven't given up hope yet!
Tomorrow we will be back in Sunnyside at Hope Baptist Church for another clinic and in the evening sessions with couples, worship leaders, pastors and their wives.
Prayer requests:
- encouragement for Julius and Cintia in this next year: that they remember to take time out with each other amid a busy schedule.
This trip was always going to be a little different from others in that we decided we would take some intentional time to not only relax as a team but also spend the time in a relaxing setting with Julius and Cintia. The pastor’s life is always a hard one - but pastors in non-American dominant cultures tend to have demands on their time that goes even above and beyond.
So early this morning, we headed out to Pilanesberg game reserve. South Africa is home to some of the most beautiful game parks in the world. They are very large (the largest of which is Kruger National Park) and so many animals can be seen.
We got to the area called the Lost City (ever see the movie “Blended”?This is the same resort where it was filmed). Everyone had some free time to explore the area… some golfed (Lost City Golf Club), some roamed around the resort, some spent some time relaxing, and some sampled delicious food.It was a really great afternoon.
We went on to check in to a resort that is located inside of the Pilanesberg park - it has a large watering hole in the middle of the property around which all of the bungalows are placed and many animals can be seen there.
I forgot to mention, that this week we happen to celebrate the birthdays of John Herr (today),Cintia Mbu (tomorrow), and Keith Matney (Sunday).So of course, we had to do something very special.The hotel arranged for us to go out to a ‘bush braai’, a bbq outside in the bush in a ramada. The food was so good!
The resort helped us arrange a special time to celebrate the lives of these three sweet people.Take a listen here - it’s long but worth it:
Isn’t that amazing?Everyone was very surprised and all the birthday people said that they felt so special. Cintia was so happy!
On the way back, a huge African elephant was blocking our path and we couldn’t get in the gate for a few minutes.#stuffyouonlyseeinAfrica
Prayer requests: oo
- pray for rest, safety and health for our team.
- thank God for a time to enjoy His creation and spend time with the team.
- pray for Pastor Julius and Cintia as they get to have a little break - pray they are encouraged by our team with friendship and some fun. Pray also that they not become overwhelmed with the work and take rest regularly
Thank you for praying for sleep! The entire team was better rested for this day.
We headed out this morning to a township called Olieven, where Hope Baptist Church has started a mission church called Olieven Baptist Church. It is a completely different kind of locale than the inner city where Hope Baptist is located.
By the time we arrived, there were already people waiting in line for glasses. We saw a little over 150 people today, not including all of the little kids who came along for the fun. The physical needs of the people in this area are not insignificant. Many face extreme poverty, health issues, potential dangers of various kinds, and family challenges that come from lack of resources available. In South Africa, it is very difficult for people from other countries to find work of any kind or qualify for any assistance. We believe that over 12 people made professions of faith.
I asked one of the female leaders at the church "Pastor Brenda" (they call the wife of the pastor by this name), if she felt that our presence made an impact. She said absolutely. The people are encouraged once they learn that we are American that people would travel such a long distance to come to meet them. She said that reading glasses are very expensive and the need is great. The church leadership team will follow up on every contact card that we collected.
Prayer Requests:
- many of the people we spoke to today are looking for jobs - we heard requests of all kinds.
- Steve spoke to a young boy, Wesley (age 11) who asked for prayer for protection of his family because where he lives is 'very dangerous'.
- many people who came required very serious medical help (glaucoma, eye diseases, long distance vision issues, etc.) - pray that they are able to get the help they need... also pray as we brainstorm ways to help in the future.
- the people who made decisions today that they continue to grow in Christ and find support in the church family at Olieven Baptist.
- Olieven is getting ready to launch a NEW MISSION in the next couple of weeks in Roodpoort a few miles away. What great news! Pray that the groundwork that they continue to lay in the next weeks brings much fruit as they get started.
After going out to Olieven, we returned to Hope Baptist Church where we were once again greeted by the children and youth from the after school program. What fun it is to watch them engage with their teachers and sing - and BONUS: they were so happy to see us all (Steve has especially built up quite the fan club). Before arriving to the church, the team purchased several hundred pencils, erasers and colored pencils as we had noticed the day before that many children did not have a pencil. They were very happy to have them - the volunteers and staff in this program are tireless in this often thankless work.
This evening John returned to Olieven with Pastor Julius to teach his marriage enrichment class to the couples at Olieven. He had a great turn out and many people were blessed. These classes are very important as they are not frequently available to people here, and they bring a biblical perspective on the roles of husband and wife, which sometimes override traditional cultural roles.
Early morning tomorrow as we head out to Pilanesberg for one night!
Prayer requests:
- continued safety and health
- Safety on the road: Keith is doing an excellent job of driving all of us around in our van - it's not a small feat to navigate driving on the opposite side of the road while maneuvering around loads of other vehicles driving in sometimes very unpredictable ways, busses, broken down vehicles, and pedestrians walking everywhere (today we saw someone walking across the freeway!).
- inevitably on such a trip, there is a lot going on in everyone's mind as we process the events of the day. We are all experiencing some heaviness as we think about it all - there are so many needs here.
- pray for the lost suitcase to be delivered! It has shown the status "in progress of delivery" since Sunday and we believe it is Johannesburg - we just haven't seen it yet!
Today was a full, full, full day. To the brim. And also running over...
An early start brought us to Hope Baptist Church by 8:30AM to prepare for the reading glasses clinic. The entire team was full of anticipation of what God might have in store for us today - and maybe full of a little anxiousness. Everyone hopes to get "it" right - "it" being the process of potentially leading someone to a profession of faith in Jesus. We as believers understand the gravity of that decision point, but also reminded ourselves that it is merely an opportunity to talk about the love of Jesus and the difference He has made in our lives. Focus on the relationship and not so much the process.
In case you're curious, the flow of the clinic is as follows:
1. People come and receive a number to hold their place in line.
2. One by one, they come to a table where individual volunteers (us and some local pastors and volunteers) are seated.
3. We invite the person to fill out some contact information, and then guide them through some talking points:
- Do you believe in God?
- Do you belong to a church?
- If you were to die do you know for certain you would live in eternity with Jesus?
- Can we pray for you / with you?
- Have you been baptized?
4. We pray with or for the individual and then bring them to another waiting room to be fitted for some reading glasses.
The goal is to spend some time making a connection and give Julius and his volunteers an opportunity to follow up with them at a later time. The other goal is to help the person make a profession of faith if they are interested in pursuing a life changing relationship with Christ.
Today we saw about 200 people and had to turn some away because of time (we are going back to that location on Friday). Our team prayed the salvation prayer with 5 individuals.
After a well-needed lunch (and finding an iced tea with the right ice for some of us) we went back to the church to help kids during a state run after-school program for children aged K-9. There were over 250 children there today. We all got an opportunity to brush up on our math and writing skills and help some kids out with their homework. For the younger kids, the second part of the session included a Bible Club time where the kids sang (and danced of course!) and heard a story, which today had a guest speaker: Joy. It was such a fun time!!
We flowed into the last session of the day: a marriage enrichment session facilitated by John Herr. There were about 6 couples as well as some single young adults, who all got to hear some very deep wisdom about the importance of communication and verbalization in relationship to God and also with each other in marriage and family.
I told you it was a full day! Everyone was completely spent and we returned to the guesthouse over 13 hours later with tired feet, physically exhausted but spiritually very encouraged and energized. God is doing such great work in South Africa and through Hope Baptist Church. The harvest is plenty here guys - prayerfully consider joining a future team to be part of it!
Prayer requests:
- safety and protection from fatigue... jetleg got the best of most of our night's sleep last night, and we are hoping for more hours of Z's tonight!
- we are going to a new location for the reading glasses sessions: Olieven Baptist Church, one of the mission churches started a couple of years ago.
- for the seeds planted today in the hearts of new brothers and sisters in Christ, but also for everyone else we encountered.
- oh and pray that the other suitcase still gets delivered!
Have you ever been guided through a warm up before worship on Sunday morning?
I think anyone who has had a chance to come to Hope Baptist Church gets excited about Sunday morning worship... you know that it is going to be unlike anything you'll get to experience in the United States.
Today was no exception.
Our worship leader gave us heads up that our worship should be heard through our voices and seen in our movement - and then led us in a bit of a warm up (maybe she didn't want any of us visitors to pull a muscle while we were dancing). So many wonderful songs and dancing (yes, dancing) followed bringing us into such a wonderful time of praise and worship. The songs ranged from very fast paced with lots of clapping and more dancing (you'll probably want to ask Linda and Kathy about how the spirit literally moved them around the sanctuary) to very slow and worshipful songs - some in English and some in different African languages. What an awesome treat to get a glimpse into how worship might be in Heaven.
A familiar hymn:
Our very own Pastor Keith was invited to preach - and he definitely brought the Word! He shared a timely message of how we are called to worship in spirit and in mind, and to illustrate his point, he then sang a song he taught our children's choir a while back in an African language as well as "Come Though Fount of Every Blessing".
While that was going on, Hannah and Joy got an opportunity to teach Kids Church to about 50 kids from ages 0-17 (all in one room!). Joy taught a lesson about friendship: how God invented friendship and how Jesus is a friend who will never disappoint us. The kids then joined in a fun craft of friendship bracelets and a laughter-filled game with a 20' parachute (which barely fit in the room).
The volunteers then served all of the church a delicious braai (BBQ) South African style of rice, pap (cornmeal porridge), beef, pork, chicken and sausages. Such a wonderful act of service for us and the whole congregation.
After some time to visit with Julius & Cintia, we made a quick trip to a small nearby mall and returned to the hotel to sort our glasses.
Some food for thought:
- our worship leader started the service today by saying: make someone feel comfortable with a smile on your face...
- at some point today, most of us were out of our comfort zone in some way (at least out of the dead center of the comfort zone) - and we discussed how the day was full and awesome. What blessing might you miss by not stepping into a new environment?
- over and over, this congregation amazed us with how well they served our team - including something I don't think any of us have experienced before: prior to lunch a woman (assisted by John) came by and helped us wash our hands by pouring warm soapy water over our hands and into a bowl. It was somehow both helpful and humbling at the same time. It conjured a similar image of Jesus' feet being washed by Mary. How can we challenge ourselves to serve others in a more Christ-like way?
Pray for:
- continued health, safety, and protection from fatigue - we are going to be tired tomorrow!
- the fourth suitcase of glasses still has not been delivered
- tomorrow, our first day of the eye glass clinics where we hope to have the opportunity to pray with many people to make decisions for Christ or encourage them in the Lord.
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