Ann Nunnally hugs the children after presenting them with handmade dresses from America .
Ann Nunnally presents the “ grannies ” with four suitcases of handmade dresses for the children .
Nunnally ’ s ministry , Encouraging Word with Ann Nunnally , began training ministers to go and establish satellite churches in a number of townships in South Africa .
2019 was a big year for the group . It was a year of development and deployment . The group upgraded the main church allowing the satellite churches to attend a yearly conference and worked to deploy their 21 trained ministers and get their facilities in shape .
The satellite churches are nothing like the facilities members enjoy in the United States . Most of the church buildings are dirt floors with four walls made of aluminum siding . There is no AC , bathrooms , or even running water . It is simply people coming together to worship God .
But , Nunnally is seeking to change that and give these people a place that they can come and worship without being worried about the rain or where they ’ ll go to the bathroom .
“ My goal is to build a
church building every year . Now , that ’ s not like our church buildings . That means it has a concrete floor , it has brick or block walls . It will have a roof so it doesn ’ t rain in on them . It will have two nice outhouses . There will be no water , no heat , and no air conditioning . But they think God has come down and graced them with a mansion , because it ’ s not dirt floors and it ’ s not aluminum siding walls and it ’ s not small . It ’ s big enough that they can all fit in together and it ’ s amazing the creativity . They ’ ll take fabric and drape it on the ceilings and bright colors . They ’ ll just make it pretty .”
Though they had to take a break in 2020 and 2021 during the pandemic , Nunnally got back to work quickly in 2022 , training and sending out more ministers . She just recently returned from South Africa where she was able to graduate seven new minsters .
Now the group has 34 trained ministers in South Africa with 12 satellite churches stemming from the main church .
They also began work on their first well , in an attempt to provide water to their satellite churches .
The team was even able to establish a satellite church in the country of Lesotho , a small country that is located within the borders of the larger South Africa .
But , much of this work would not be possible with out the support Nunnally has received from the community of Thomasville , who have come together around the ministry to provide support to people a world away .
“ I ’ m just excited and I ’ m thrilled that so many people in the community have come alongside the ministry to encourage and to finance and to help build buildings and train students . It ’ s just a real star in the Thomasville crown , I think . That we care about a people so far away . So many people have just become my partners in this venture and I just thank them graciously .”
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