El Bethel:
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Faith Restoration Centre:
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Nokaneng:
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Hope for Africa:
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Rock of Ages:
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Week Four has begun and we already have some prayer requests:
Marcel and team at Rock of Ages in Hammanskraal have asked us to pray for good weather and that all will go well today. They did not have much chance to speak with the church workers yesterday so they are not sure what to expect today. Fransie also tells us that the church has welcomed them and that the team is getting to know each other and doing really well. She said they will be relying on the Lord for holiday club activities as the people on the team don’t consider themselves “up-front” people.
Tim at El Bethel has asked for prayer for spiritual warfare in the church and community.
Also, please pray for energy and strength for all the teams in this final week. Many of the trailer ministry volunteers and chaperones who are out this week were also out last week, and were very tired when they returned Saturday. Please pray that they will find refreshment and renewal in the Lord.
Remember, the easiest way to keep up to date with this blog is to follow us on twitter: www.twitter.com/ignitetheflame
Jean at Spitzpunt reports on what God is doing: Our holiday club ministry has seen kids saved and exposed to the gospel daily. Our big screen events have been amazing. We’re basically having church services every night. God is totally blowing our minds! We’re seeing people saved and exposed to the gospel. We’re tired, but so excited!
The team from Marapyane Baptist Church writes: we feel so blessed in this community. The church has supplied volunteers that are excited for the vision and have already run with the programme. It has been so encouraging seeing God’s hand at work. We have a solid 60-70 kids a day and are learning many African phrases, as well as interesting meals (chicken feet and cabbage!)
Ephraim reports from Elim Stinkwater that they had 30 kids Wednesday and they are enjoying the holiday club program. All the leaders are very active. There are few local leaders but that has not been a barrier because the kids understand English. They are planning a big soccer tournament today. He requests prayer for relationship tensions between pastors in the area.
Many wonderful things to report from the teams today:
Greg spoke with Alex and he reported that the program in Pampierstad is going very well. The local volunteers are great and are integrating into the program well. They are having 150-180 kids each day for the Holiday Club and 70-90 for the soccer. They said the trailer ministry programs are working well and the program is impacting the community. They have asked for prayer for low energy because they are so busy and not having enough time to sleep. Also for sickness as Richard is getting over an illness and Hank is sick today.
Bruce received this update from Trailer 8 at Mt Carmel Baptist, Mabopane (Jason): They had 215 kids today. 29 new commitments yesterday! No altar call today, but they plan on doing one tomorrow. Monday night they expected big turn out for the Brazil game, so showed many kids the Jesus film before that which kids liked. Afterwards jason set up the big screen, and then turned around and every kid had disappeared. They had a soccer tournament yesterday – all the guys Jason’s age came off the street and played with them, and about 5 of them came to HC today. Team dynamic is good.
Bruce also received this update from Trailer 9 – Wintervelt (Marcel): They had 200 kids today. Sideline ministry is good-many kids respond. Kids loved the goals that were used for the first time today in soccer. Big screen soccer is not popular, however, the kids love the Jesus film.
Kurt from the Phake Team reports that they are having regular attendance of 100 kids per day. It’s a joy to see the relationships building between the kids and the local church leaders! We thank God for His provision and protection so far this week! A fire is being ignited in Phake!
Just received this from Kelsey with the team at Marapyane Christian Fellowship: There numbers have increased daily, the kids are super-excited and especially loved the crafts Wayne’s guys brought today. God is really workingat unifying our team. The church volunteers are starting to take over! There is one kids who has been coming who belongs to a ZCC church and two of the guys from the Coastal team have been strongly ministering to him and he has been very receptive. Praise the Lord! Praying he will be saved by the end of the week. Learning a lot and having lots of fun.
23 June 2010
Eastside Community Church
Dear Riaan,
Thank you for partnering with us again this year. We found your manual extremely helpful and really appreciate the time, effort and talent that went into it. Thank you, also for sending us Easter eggs, soccer balls, clothes and blankets. They were much needed and really appreciated by the 500 children that attended.
Your kindness and willingness to be involved is much appreciated.
God Bless,
Lots of love
Craig and Gina
Community Ministries
Muldersdrift
Uitenhage Baptist Church is a church with whom we have a partnership. They are situated in the Eastern Cape near Port Elizabeth (see map below).
We have assisted them with the running of their annua Holiday Club since 2008 and this year they ran with our material on their own
Attendance:
To our knowledge we registered 150 children who attended the Holiday Club. This is incredible for us as we see God’s hand in it all. We did our first holiday club in 2006 with 50 children and we see how God is working in our community of Uitenhage. The English community is relatively small so we were really blessed this week seeing so many children attending!
Reaching kids for His Kingdom:
To our knowledge between 20-30 kids were “saved” during the course of the week. Many of our Grade 8 leaders led children to Christ for the first time which was really exciting!
Leaders:
This year we had a team of 20, including myself and the sound guy. So basically 18 leaders/directors for the club. I was relatively happy with the amount as once again we look back and see God’s provision. However, we wouldn’t have been stretched so much if there were more leaders! Although it is always good to be challenged. We had quite a few “new” leaders i.e. Grade 8’s who, were leading for the first time. This is really encouraging for next year as, we can build on it.
Music:
The music was really well received, the kids responded well to the music. By Friday they knew all the actions and the words to the songs! Once again it was wonderful to reinforce the bible stories by the music that we were singing.
Parents Evening:
This was really, really, well attended. As you are aware, Bruce, the mindset in Uitenhage is drop off the kids and fetch them in an hour! We have worked really hard with the help of Eastside to get away from this mindset, and once more we saw God’s hand in this. Most of the parents that attended do not worship at our church, so once more was a wonderful testimony to God’s goodness. Jacques led us just before the message in the song “God of the City” we lit candles the idea being that of evangelizing and holding a light to God’s word as well as spreading God’s word. It was incredible, as one felt the Holy Spirit moving amongst us.
Overall:
For myself, I feel really grateful to have been able to be involved with Eastside’s vision and to be able to bring the vision across to our own church. My prayer being that the WHOLE CHURCH would be able to catch the vision. Once more God answered this prayer and I really don’t think there was anybody in the church that wasn’t involved, from the décor, to the food, to the crafts, to the marketing, to the prayer to EVERYTHING! This to me was the biggest blessing! The church feel for 2011 we should once again have the Holiday Club in June/July Holidays! We would like to continue to partner up with Eastside, and it would be wonderful if your program is made available once more to us in March 2011! Not sure if you guys have thought that far yet!!
Jacques was a wonderful blessing to us and I am missing him so much! He paid for his flight and took unpaid leave and I trust that God will bless him abundantly! I will be sending a parcel up later this week to him and will include a DVD of photo’s should you need it.
We wish you and Eastside go with God’s grace for the rest of the holidays and that you will see great things happening for His Kingdom in the seeds that you have sown.
All the glory to God in the Highest,
Yours in Christ,
Tracey McEwan
Youth Ministries Director
Uitenhage Baptist Church
Below, a picture of some of the 3000 blankets we have been able to distribute thanks to donors.
KC, Joanne, Taryn, Gray & Thembani
While we’re not into the numbers game, it is exciting to take not of how many people have indicated that they would like to follow Jesus as a result of our ministry efforts. It is exciting to see how the Holy Spirit has been at work. We were praying that at least 1000 people would respond to the gospel and it looks like we are well on the way to seeing that realised! Praise God!
Commitments leading up to the Trailer Ministry: 250
Commitments during the trailer ministry (Week 0 – Week 2): 547
TOTAL COMMITMENTS: 797
