On the 14th of May, Truth Baptist Church celebrated an anniversary 17 years to the day that it was founded. It turned out to be our largest attendance on the property, with about 400. We were glad to host Evangelist Doug Neary of A Look at the Book Ministries for the commemorative service, and I used the occasion to announce the rebirth of our bus ministry, as three buses were used that day. On the last Sunday of May, one of our supporting pastors, Bro. Ben Lang of Temple Baptist Church in Muncie, Indiana, preached the 8th anniversary service for Grace & Glory Baptist Church. There were 158 in attendance, including 53 visitors.
At the beginning of May, I was privileged to have an evangelist friend pay for Noah (my third son) and me to join him in visiting Missionary Kevin Wynne’s work in Mexico City. We were truly challenged by the ministries and focus of the largest independent Baptist church in the world. It was an honor to speak in a couple of their Sunday school classes and teach in their college of nearly 300 students. The trip was special for Noah as he made some new missionary-kid friends and also won several people to Christ during their church-wide soul winning.
Other notable events of these two months included the completion of our 26th semester of Providence Baptist College & Seminary. Six students have finished their training, and 30 more are now serving in 12-week internships at their home churches and various other host ministries. Sadly, Chindo Solomon was our first student to have his schooling cut short by a disease that ended his time on this earth. On May 24, I preached to a full auditorium in Chindo’s hometown, and several hundred people who gathered for his funeral heard the same Gospel that he preached faithfully during his years as a student pastor at one of our local-area church plants. Lastly, the first two weeks of June was the survey trip for Coty and Allyson Powers, who quickly befriended our family when we “met” through social media contacts a few months ago. Please pray for them as they continue to raise support to come to Nigeria fully as missionaries.
Our June ended with another trip to Kumasi to partner with the FBMI Team Ghana in conducting their 4th Student Missions Institute for Training in Evangelism. This camp was unique, in that it was their first graduation for 12 of the students who were faithful to each of the first 4 years. There was a record total of 120 registered from several churches; they conducted 19 five-day Bible Clubs, with 1,335 children enrolled and 626 personally counseled for salvation. I was happy to have Victoria and Brian join me for this great week.
Believing God,
Mark Holmes