September of next year will be three decades since I enrolled in Hyles-Anderson College. During my time as a college student, two names were continually put before us as modern-day missionary heroes, Rick Martin and Kevin Wynne; God has graciously allowed me to “rub shoulders” with both men. During my last year of college, part of my first missions trip was to visit Rick Martin’s work in the Philippines; in 2014, First Baptist Church in Hammond gave me the high honor to preach with Dr. Martin in FBC’s first-ever Missions Conference. Just two years ago, I had the privilege to visit the ministries of Dr. Wynne in Mexico, and, in the middle of March this year, he sent staff members for a special two-week trip that involved Truth Baptist Church, our PBC&S students, and seven church plants. After breakfast each day, one of the seven churches hosted the guests and seminary students for several hours of soul winning, street preaching, market evangelism, school ministries, and Bible Clubs. An early dinner was served around 3:00 p.m., and then an outreach service was held for those invited earlier. It was amazing to see the involvement of scores of church members who showed up during regular working days to join our Bible college students in reaching the people of their area. Each church got to see immediate results, with dozens of adults visiting in the evening services and several baptized each night, and everyone rejoiced as an average of 200 people were saved daily in the total efforts of the services and other activities. In the middle of the two weeks, we had Evangelist Hector Avila, Dr. Wynne’s son-in-law, preach a special Police Appreciation Day, where over 100 adult visitors were present, and 4 were baptized. Grace & Glory Baptist Church followed up their outreach day with a Spirit Renewal Meeting preached by Evangelist Bill Stafford. Many who were reached the previous week returned to the revival services with visitors of their own!

Additional highlights for Truth Baptist Church were experienced over these two months, starting with a one-day retreat conducted by our newly formed men’s fellowship and featuring the Christiansens’ sending pastor, Bro. Chris Droullard, who visited for over a week. On Easter Sunday evening, the church did a send-off for our second son Brian, as he will be staying back in the U.S. this summer to enroll in Pensacola Christian College. Easter Monday (a national holiday in Nigeria) began our 16th Soul-Winning & Leadership Conference, keynoted by Missionary Evangelists Denton Bell, who brought his family and a friend, and Curtis Hall, who also brought a friend to visit our ministries.

Still more high points included the 6th S.M.I.T.E. held in Kumasi with FBMI’s Ghana Team at the end of April; this camp continues to grow, with 150 campers this year and 19 graduating. The results from 26 Bible Clubs were 1,846 enrolled and over 800 being counseled for salvation. April 13-15, a Soul-Winning and Leadership Conference held in Aba; I had the privilege of traveling with one of our college faculty members (and his wife), co-founder of Grace & Glory Baptist Church, for this special meeting. Please continue to pray for our auditorium building project; the doors and entrance steps have been completed, and we are still hoping on funds for the ceiling, floors, pews, and P.A. system.

Believing God,

Mark Holmes, written 5 May 2025
WhatsApp +1.228.209.4625
vimeo.com/missionaryholmes has a brief video update based on this letter’s events[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]