One of the joys and goals of my trip to the Theological Education in Action conference was to connect with the men attending from the Durban Team. I really sensed that this took place. We had serious conversations as well as moments of dry sense of humor and hilarity. We would ask you to pray for these men as they continue in ministry in Durban and that the Lord will bless their many efforts and the folks that they work alongside in the Baptist Bible College-KZN and their churches.
Darryl Meekins is the only full time leader with the college and has been working hard to solve recent accreditation requirement changes. He also has been working at arranging the BBC-KZN online so that first year students can take a number of their courses through distance education, which is set up to be interactive as well as academic. I'll be learning more about this in the future and there is probably more to it, but it appears that some students have the obstacles of travel to take their courses and the online courses will help them. Pray for Darryl and Casey's involvement in ministry efforts with The Phoenix Fellowship. They are involved with assisting this church with ministries related to mentoring and training men for ministry, producing small group materials and HIV/AIDS abstinence training and ministry development.
Selvan Govender is lead pastor of Phoenix Fellowship. Selvan is a third generation South African of Indian descent and told me his parents were led to saving faith and that he has been raised in a Christian home and church environment. Selvan is a graduate of Baptist Bible College - KZN and has a great concern for discipleship/evangelism and the training of men and women for ministry. Selvan has given some of his time to teaching courses for the college. The Phoenix Fellowship began 10 years ago in a section of the city where people of Indian origin were forced to live as "non-whites". Today this section of Durban has a largely Indian population with Hinduism being the predominant religion in the community. They are presently in the middle of a building project as well and we hope to be able to arrange teams to serve alongside them to further this project. Pray for Selvan as he leads the Phoenix Fellowship congregation to reach out to their community with the true gospel message of life in Jesus Christ.
Bobby Hile is serving with his family in Ballito, South Africa to church plant and to connect in ministry efforts in the community. Their church plant has a strong focus on ministry to men and women in small group Bible studies. They also have a ministry called True Love Waits (TLW), which presents abstinence till marriage to students. Last year they spoke in 9 schools and have some members in the church involved in follow up as well as training for members of other churches who desire to begin this kind of ministry. Bobby is also a teacher with BBC. The Hile family is presently in the US on home assignment. Pray for their many travels and the many churches they will be speaking at.
Dale Marshfield served with his family in Durban since 1982 where he led church planting efforts and helped to establish the Baptist Bible College and The Phoenix Fellowship. In 2007 they returned to Harrisburg, PA in order to head up ABWE's International Theological Education network, which is a service- based ministry responsible for ensuring that all ABWE related Bible colleges, seminaries and ministry training programs provide theological education and ministry training of the highest quality. I will be working with a team that Dale is forming to prepare for the next Theological Education in Action conference and also on a task force that Dale is preparing to investigate further the options and barriers to accreditation for Bible colleges, institutes and seminaries that ABWE is involved with around the world.
You can find a link the Meekins' and Hile's websites and Dale Marshfield's ITE network on the sidebar.
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