Home Safe!

What a journey we have been on. Without your prayers, we would not have made it, without a doubt. We are so grateful that our church partnered with us in both generous giving and persistent prayers. The timing of our trip to Burundi was critical as the church leadership was under major attack. We were able–by God's grace–to confront those causing division and see the church experience a renewed presence of the Spirit. We left a transformed Vineyard that has a powerful mission for Africa. We had some major attacks on our health, but by your prayers, the Lord has delivered us and protected us from Covid that was all around us. We are safely home after over 30 hours of travel and slept in our bed. which was wonderful. 😁 We look forward to worshiping together this Sunday at the Vineyard.

Much love from Kim and Jamie, your grateful pastors.

The Journey Home Has Begun!

Pastor Kim and Pastor Jamie are in the air over Africa. Be praying for safe travel, peaceful transfers, and grace on their bodies as they fly. Here is their flight schedule (in our local times) so you can be praying:

Arrive in Frankfurt, Germany at 11:40pm
Flight from Frankfurt to Newark, New Jersey 5:05am to 1:15pm (tomorrow)
Flight from Newark home to RSW 3:55 to 6:48pm

An Update on our Pastor's Covid Tests

Never thought I would be grateful for a bad cold! We are both negative on the Covid test. We had a divine appointment with the Doctor making all of the stress worth it. Thank you for praying for us we love you all 😁

-Pastor Jamie

Prayers Needed!

We are both having a rapid Covid test at 4:45 [10:45am in Cape Coral]. Kim is having body aches and may have what I have. Praying for negative results and healing.

-Pastor Jamie

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As we hear results from their test, we will update everyone.

An Update on Pastor Jamie

Hey everyone! Just in case you missed Pastor Charles' update at service today, we wanted to let you know that Pastor Jamie is feeling better. Thank you for all of your prayers, they make a difference!

A Prayer Request from Kim and Jamie

Hey everyone, we are in South Africa, and we were able to make all of our flights. But Jamie has come down with really bad food poisoning and had a rough night throwing up. Please be praying for him to recover quickly.
-Pastor Kim

The flight out of Burundi is taking off!

Goodbye to Burundi! We had an amazing missions trip with so many God stories. Please pray for our safe travels as we head to South Africa and Charles heads back to the States. Much Love, Kim and Jamie

Ways to Pray:
Pray for safe flights (Jamie and Kim have 3 flights and Charles has 4) over the next 30 hours.
Pray for good connections - some flight schedules have changed making connecting flights very tight, especially when dealing with customs.

A Message from Pastor Kim:

Thank you so much for all your wonderful prayers. I could feel them greatly. God did a breakthrough for many women and shattered the lies of the enemy. Women were weeping as God was setting them free. Many were filled with the Spirit of God rejoicing in the favor of God upon their lives. It was your prayers that caused this breakthrough and you all were here with me.  Thank you so much and we are not done yet.  Pray for Charles and Jamie as they will be sharing tomorrow morning service.

Much Love, Kim

Ways to Pray:
Pray for tomorrow's Church services that Pastors Jamie and Charles will be preaching at.
Pray for the final conversations and connections that the team will have in Burundi during their last 48 hours there.
Pray for grace on flights coming up on Monday.

An update on the next few events for the missions team:

Hey everyone, we just wanted to reach out to you to send you a schedule update/prayer request. Charles will be teaching at a youth conference in just a couple of hours (11:00 a.m. our time). Pray that God gives him the right words to speak to this generation.

Pastor Kim will be speaking at a women's conference (Saturday in Burundi, overnight for us in the states). Be praying for grace on her and the Holy Spirit to impact the lives of these women that will be receiving.

Ways to Pray:
Pray for the youth and women's conferences that are happening over the next 24 hours.
Pray for rest and recovery tonight after the youth conference. They have had non stop meetings and teaching sessions since arrival last Friday.
Pray for grace on flights coming up on Monday. One flight has already been cancelled and rebooked.

An Update from our Pastors:

"Things are better but we are spent 🤪 Speaking again tonight and we are empty praying for new strength."
-Pastors Kim and Jamie

Ways to Pray:
Pray for tonight's worship and speaking–that God's presence would be evident and His grace would be on our Pastors.
Pray for rest and recovery tonight after the worship. They have had non stop meetings and teaching sessions since arrival last Friday.
Pray for grace on flights coming up on Monday. One flight has already been cancelled and rebooked.

An Update from Pastor Charles:

"We are heading off to the Pastors home for dinner with their leadership team (which is the equivalent of our Church Council).  

Today I had the honor to meet the ambassador to Nigeria–Elijah–he sat down and talked with us for 10 to 15 minutes. I had a couple of the young men from the worship team, Arnold and Frank, come hang out with me at the hotel for a pizza. They both talked to me about the complications for young men and the opportunity that they have to work here in Burundi. It seems like most of the young men and ladies go to school and go to college, yet there is no work for them anywhere, even after they graduate. Frank told me he is number 5 out of 10 children in his family. He and most of his siblings don't have jobs. They learn to take care of each other, and when one makes a little bit of money they bring it home to the family. They desperately want hope for their family in the future. That's what I will be speaking on Friday night. Please pray."
-Pastor Charles

Ways to Pray:
Pray for the team as they meet with the leadership of the Church tonight.
Pray for them tomorrow as they visit another Church plant in the morning.
Pray for a worship service at the main Church tomorrow night.

A better update from the team about their work today:

"Today Jamie met with the church planters and he had the difficult challenge of addressing some divisions that were rooted in the church and some leaders mostly around women in ministry.  

I met with the youth team and spent an amazing day getting to know them and trading ideas and ministering to each other. They are in need of a new youth leader and please pray that God will speak to the young man called 'Baptist' to take a step of faith and join in with the youth.  

I also met with the children's team and we learned about their children's ministry and some of their big challenges to teach over 60 kids in a small 15 x 15 room for two hours. We are now at the evening service and Jamie will be teaching on hearing God."
-Pastor Charles

Ways to Pray:
Pray for Jamie and Kim as they are meeting with different ministry leaders in the Church.
Pray for Charles as he works with children's ministry and youth leaders.
Pray for grace in the evenings for the team to be able to rest well before the next day (remember they are 6 hours ahead of us).

A Word Picture about the trip:

One of our members at the Church had this picture of the team during their journaling time this morning. The Burundi team confirmed this is exactly what they see happening around them. 

"I saw a picture of a hole/den with many snakes. And in the image a hand reached in and cleared out all the snakes. It did not get bit or injured. I felt it was God’s mighty hand ‘cleaning house’ in very broken areas. It was miraculous and healing. 

The passages that came to mind regarding this picture and praying God gives wisdom, discernment and care as you minister to the broken people. 
Acts 8:9-24 Simon the magician believes 
Acts 16:16 slave girl delivered from demonization 

I am praying for the leaders at the Burundi church that the time of soul care and ministry would be very renewing for the soul. They would encounter the freedom of Jesus Christ is powerful new ways and be encouraged and submitted to God’s plans."
-MJ

Ways to Pray:
Pray for Jamie and Kim as they are meeting with different ministry leaders in the Church.
Pray for Charles as he works with children's ministry and youth leaders.
Pray for grace in the evenings for the team to be able to rest well before the next day (remember they are 6 hours ahead of us).
Pray for technology grace as well, our plan had been to send out more pictures to you, but today we have barely been able to get messages back and forth, no pictures are going through currently.

 

A Quick Note from Pastor Jamie:

"We are experiencing some intense spiritual warfare here! Big breakthrough today but much more work to be done. So grateful for the prayers."

Ways to Pray:
Pray for Jamie and Kim as they are meeting with different ministry leaders in the Church.
Pray for Charles as he works with children's ministry and youth leaders.
Pray for grace in the evenings for the team to be able to rest well before the next day (remember they are 6 hours ahead of us).

 

An Update on Ministry Events

"Monday is being spent meeting with some of the leaders who have planted churches already and some who hope to. Our goal today is to talk about the importance of relationship and being connected to leadership. We will also teach them about Journaling. We need your prayers for God's wisdom as we have a small window to talk about so much.

I am meeting with the youth team tomorrow morning and I would like prayer as we are the church are going to replace the youth leader. I met with Ory a young man that the church has been investing in. I will spend sometime with him."
-Pastor Charles

Ways to Pray:
Pray for breakthroughs in conversations with these young leaders who still have much to learn.
Pray for grace in hard conversations around the youth leader who will be transitioning off of the staff.
Pray for grace at the hotel as they have had several issues in their rooms (Jamie and Kim have had to move rooms once already) and facilities.

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In Case you Missed Sundays Update:

After arriving in Burundi on Friday, the team was able to meet with the Pastors of the Kinanara Vineyard: Clarette and Ananie. They continued meetings on Saturday as well as meeting other leaders in the Church.

On Sunday, Jamie preached to the Church, and worship together was amazing. They finished the day with a tour of the city, Bujumbura.

 

An update from the team:

"Thanks for your prayers throughout the last few days. We have spent today with Clarette and Ananie, the Senior Pastors of Kinanara Vineyard Church in Bujumbura. They are a great couple that all of you would love spending time with.

Please pray for us as we minister and preach tomorrow. Thank you so much for your prayers. Much love from your Pastors."

Ways to Pray:
Grace on meetings and Church services throughout the weekend.​​
Divine connections throughout the trip.
Leadership teachings that will be happening early this week.

 

After two days of travel, the team has made it to Bujumbura, Burundi! They are pictured here with Clarette, one of the Lead Pastors of the Vineyard that we partner with.

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They will spend the rest of today relaxing, and begin missions work tomorrow (remember that they are 6 hours ahead of local time).

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Ways to Pray:

Quick recovery from the weights of travel.

Divine connections throughout the trip.

Grace on meetings and Church services throughout the weekend.

 

A flight update from the team:

"Boarding our flight that is over 13 hours long to Ethiopia. Pray for grace!"

A quick message from Pastor Jamie:

"Several more Divine interventions to get us on plane! Heading for Washington D.C. Never felt the need for prayer more on a trip. Thank you so much for keeping us covered! :)"

-The Vineyard Staff

 

It's time to fly!

All of the team's visas and covid tests have been accepted by the airlines! Jamie said:
"Miracles happen and we have our tests, it was last second! We need all of your prayers."

In the morning they begin all of their flights, spending over 28 hours in airplanes and airports. Here's the schedule (times are in Eastern Time Zone so you know when to be praying. Burundi is 6 hours ahead of our time zone.)

Ft Lauderdale to Washington 6:30-9:00am
Washington to Addis Ababa 11:00am (Thursday) - 12:15am (Friday)
Addis Ababa to Bujumbura 3:00am-7:15am (Friday)

(They arrive in Burundi at 1:15pm local time on Friday.)

Ways to pray:
-Pray for safe travels across the three flights.
-Pray for good connections and rest in the layover times.
-Pray for easy passage through customs in Burundi (they have to take another Covid test upon arrival in the country).
-Pray for the rest of their day on Friday to be relaxing as they prepare to begin ministry and meetings on Saturday. (Including no jet-lag!)

Prayers Needed

Hey everyone! Pastors Kim, Jamie, and Charles are in Ft Lauderdale awaiting their 6:30am flight.

However, their airline has not accepted their Covid test taken on Monday due to the length of their flights to get to Burundi. We are working to get them new tests taken in Ft Lauderdale. Paperwork is also becoming an issue with one testing site.

Ways to pray:
-Pray for compassion from the testing companies to work with us to provide the proper documentation for the flights.
-Pray for grace with the airlines to approve the travel documents.
-Pray for safe travels beginning at 6:30am from Ft Lauderdale to Washington D.C.

Expect an email update later tonight or tomorrow morning with other flight times and ways to be praying.

Today we prayed over our team at our services. We commissioned them & invited God's presence over their whole trip.

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Prayer focus:

For Pastors Kim, Jamie, and Charles as they prepare for the trip. 

Pray for their families as they will be apart for some time.

Pray for grace on final preparations for the trip.

Pray wisdom on final planning for the training events they will be providing.

 

In less than a week our team will depart from Cape Coral to head to Bujumbura, Burundi, Africa for an 11 day missions trip

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Prayer focus:

For Pastors Kim, Jamie, and Charles as they prepare for the trip. 

Pray for their families as they will be apart for some time.

Pray for grace on final preparations for the trip.

Pray wisdom on final planning for the training events they will be providing.