Jeremy and Sandra Barker Prayer Letter: Great Needs, Greater God!

We have purchased plane tickets for the baby’s birth in the U.S., and we found out a few days ago we are having a boy. Lord willing, we should arrive back in the country on February 7. Please pray for our residency permits here in Nigeria, as the government has recently made things more difficult to renew and has more than tripled the cost. Our permits expire in December, and we will likely have to request an extension due to the processing delays. If it’s not resolved before we travel, it will add an extra degree of difficulty for all of us when we return.

I have identified an area on the western side of Owerri as the location for our own independent work. This is the capital city of the only southern state in Nigeria without an independent Baptist church. There are over 6 million people who live in Imo State, with over 1 million residing within its capital. The need here is great.

There is also a good deal of funding needed. While God has blessed with the estimated funds needed to start in a rented building, there are numerous long-term advantages for the church to have its own building on its own land. While labor costs are affordable, most building projects here rely on roughly 90% of foreign imported material, which increases the cost. Land is also much more expensive in the city, with 2 plots typically going for around $50,000. However, the area is much more densely populated, easier to find, and with better roads, making it a lot easier to get to; it would also be much safer for our family.

After speaking with Dennis Zuofa, who is the architect who oversaw the construction of the church building here in Port Harcourt, as well as all of the buildings used by the church plants that have started from it, I would put the total cost for a church building on its own land in Owerri in the $75,000 range. This is not a final number by any stretch of the imagination, as that would not be possible with the cost of material always in flux, as well as land going up at times overnight and the exchange rate being highly volatile (the dollar has dropped in value 11.3% here from May till October of this year); it is, however, an educated initial cost estimate.

Please pray for our three-year-old son Henry, who suffered boiling water spilled on his chest and hip recently; he is managing the pain but is a long way from recovery. I’m also being told our 2010 minivan that we left in the U.S is not working. Please pray that when we have it repaired, it will be reliable for our time back in the States. Please pray for our health and safety, especially for Sandra and the baby. God bless.

Working hard to bring fruit to your account,

Jeremy, Sandra, Carina, Barrett, Henry, Alex, & Joanna Barker