My girls and I are so grateful for our Lord’s kindness to us in 2016, and the way in which He has shown that mercy to us through you. Your love has encouraged and supported us through a very full year. We invite you to praise Him with us and to pray for His success through us. Also, you know I love to pray for you, so if there is a particular way in which I can pray for you in 2017, please just ask.
Living Hope Church and Ministry
Our church, Living Hope in Sunnyside, Pretoria, is thriving. We have grown in so many ways; family love, beautiful conversions and baptisms, gospel communities, Biblical Counselling, continual outreach, many visitors, swelling attendance at our main Sunday service from approximately 90-120 at the start of 2016, to over 160 by the end of the year. There is a wonderful spirit in the church and we are delighting in the gracious hand of God upon us.
I am grateful to be serving alongside Joshua Mack, and rejoice to have seen the recognition of two additional elders at Living Hope Church this year. The Lord has blessed us with an extraordinary degree of harmony among the eldership, and we are taking remarkable steps forward as a team.
Josh began the ABTC (African Bible Training Centre) two years ago out of Living Hope Church, and I will be joining his teaching of Old and New Testament in 2017 with systematic theology. This course is for church members who are not yet ready for seminary, yet would like to learn more to become more useful the Christ in His church. The course is open to candidates from any church.
This whole year I have been studying and preaching through the Revelation. What a wonderful journey this has been for me. Much of 2017 will still be taken up with this study.
2016 also saw us at Living Hope Church erecting a wooden structure—the Bible House—on the edge of Sunnyside for the purpose of church classes and events. We are grateful to Safari and his family for extending us this privilege.
The Lord granted my eyes the privilege of seeing my daughter, Hope, baptised this year too. What a mercy!
SMTI (Strengthening Ministries Training Institute) received the happy honour of being recognised as an ACBC (Association of Certified Biblical Counselors) accredited training institution. In addition to this, SMTI became the core of the brand new ACBC Africa.
SMTI has now also been pursuing official accreditation in South Africa. If this process meets with success, we will soon be able to award an official Master’s Degree in Biblical Counselling.
Closely associated with this, I competed my personal ACBC certification exams, and have begun to accumulate the official observed counselling hours to complete my certification process as an ACBC certified Biblical Counsellor.
We have also been working on a proposed new “Rehabilitation Centre” called Village Mercy on the farm. Much of the paperwork has been completed, so we are now at the stage of raising support and suitable staff. The centre will be run along Biblical Counselling lines and will, to our knowledge, be the only such facility on the continent. I would love to answer your questions about Village Mercy.
Village Mercy, if the Lord is pleased to grant us success, will involve the sale of the family farm where I now reside, and will, Lord willing, see our family relocating to Pretoria to be more intimately involved in the churches in which we serve.
Personal and Family
What a joy it has been to know the Lord’s provision for us this year, largely through the care of people like yourself, who love the Lord and desire to give to Him by supporting us. We are so grateful for this provision throughout another blessed year! Thank you!
Early this year, the Lord graciously provided for our needs through an astounding gift in Euros.
The Lord also kindly answered prayer by providing for my own theological studies this year, a mercy for which I am deeply grateful.
Another astounding blessing was when our dear friends Isaac and Anna provided for Chyreece’s theological studies. She is thriving.
The Lord also provided through dear friends at Emmanuel Baptist, Sydney, for a new car for my parents. Through this kindness, the Lord also provided me with a newer vehicle when my father gave me his old car, which in turn enabled me to give away my old car. God has been so kind to us all through this transaction.
We were also granted the privilege of a trip to visit my brother Kevin, his wife Bernadette, and their sons, Vaughn, Calvin and Logan for the month of September. The Lord provided everything we needed and the trip was wonderful beyond words!
My father was grateful to have received the Lord’s provision for two successful cataract operations.
After significant discomfort for four years, the Lord also granted me a successful sliding hiatus hernia repair operation this year.
This year also saw my sister-in-law, Tanya, and her daughters Christi and Natalie’s surprise visit for my parents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary. What a joyful surprise! This visit also involved a journey down to Noupoort as I chauffeured them. We also celebrated our Lord’s blessing on my mom’s 70th birthday.
Various
2016 brought Dr Douglas Moo to South Africa in January. I loved his week-long exposition of the letter to the Hebrews.
I am also grateful to have completed the work on my evangelistic music album Pierced. The Lord provided for professional mastering. The album is available for free download from www.noisetrade.com. I would love to make some music videos for some of these songs, but lack the time, skill, hardware and software.
A beautiful reminder of God’s kind providential care was the engagement of my friend Stephan to Leanda on 23 January, and then their wedding later in the year.
I had the privilege of building a candle-making machine for Philip, and have enjoyed seeing the degree of success with which the Lord has blessed him in his venture.
Thank you for reading, for rejoicing with and for interceding for us in all of these wonderful details that have filled this year. As we eagerly anticipate the return of our great Lord Jesus Christ, let us live with a sense of urgency so that we may be unashamed at His coming.
With love and joy in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ,
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