The Vehorn children have grown up in South Africa and are now scattered in the USA and Africa.
Luke, born in Bennettsville on November 4, 1979, has spent eight years in America earning a BA degree in Studio Art from the College of Charleston. While pursuing his art in the Charleston area, Luke has worked most recently as a firefighter with the Isle of Palms Fire Department.
Abbey has been in the Mt. Pleasant area living with Luke for two years, and is presently working at Snee Farm Country Club. She was married to Dan Morris (son of retired UMC minister Bob Morris) on March 25, 2007.
Lauren has completed a year of study in Interior Decorating in South Africa and plans to remain in South Africa to pursue her future there.
The Vehorns request your prayers for their entire family which has enjoyed and endured a very different history in Africa.
In 1988 the Vehorn family (Ronnie, Janet, Luke, Abbey and Lauren) left the USA for a very troubled South Africa.
Arriving while the nation was in the death throes of the apartheid regime, the Vehorns pioneered a church planting ministry in rural villages of the Eastern Cape.
The largest tribe was the Xhosa speaking people of that region. The Vehorns began their work in areas where there was no mission input and only a syncretized version of the Christian faith.
The first church planted was in the village of Thornhill which is today a thriving congregation.
The mission model followed by the Vehorns was simple, and an attempt to adhere to biblical principles at all times.
During each church plant over the 19 years of work the Vehorns would begin with evangelistic outreaches resulting in conversions and the formation of a church.
From the church membership local pastors were trained and then released after years of working with the Vehorns as primary pastoral leaders.
In November 2005 the fourth church planted was released into the hands of the local leadership couple. In addition to planting churches and training leaders the Vehorns undertook in all the villages to provide a home for the leadership family, to build a facility where the church could meet for worship, study and fellowship, and to address local economic development issues. These aims have led to the construction of a preschool, the establishment of a milling industry, and promotion of several enterprises aimed at producing support for the local leadership families.
The four churches planted by the Vehorns continue with the vision of planting additional churches in villages of the Eastern Cape highlands. An additional five churches are now supported by the African leadership team raised and released by the Vehorns. Even though the Vehorns have worked for nearly 19 years, they do not see an end to their time in Africa. Their ministry has broadened to include contact with other Xhosa leaders and churches in the area. Their ongoing aim is to enlarge their influence through work with present leaders and congregations. There has been an attempt to develop their home farm in South Africa as a viable agricultural unit with the current focus being on 80 acres of irrigated alfalfa lands.
The Vehorns report, "We ask for your ongoing support for the work and the workers in South Africa."