the perfect end to the week...

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!