One aspect of Missionary Mark Holmes’ ministry is training young people how to evangelize children through the use of Bible Clubs. This training ministry is called SMITE, which stands for “Student Missions Institute for Training in Evangelism.” Camps are held to train teens and young adults how to conduct these Bible Clubs. Mornings are filled with teaching and training. In the afternoons of the camp, the campers go out, organized by groups, to conduct Bible Clubs in the local neighborhoods. In the evenings, they have singing, games, and preaching. Camps are held yearly, and there are different levels of instruction based upon how many years a camper has participated.
In 2018, our church first partnered with Missionary Mark Holmes’ ministry to conduct a SMITE camp in Ghana. This was a great help to our church and to all who participated. We held our second SMITE camp the following year. Due to COVID restrictions, we were unable to host a SMITE camp in 2020 or 2021.
But then last month, we had the joy of conducting our third SMITE camp. Brother Holmes sent three men from Nigeria to help us conduct the camp: Pastor Adewale Adesina, Pastor Peter Akinwumi, and Evangelist Babatunde Ajayi. Our team missionaries, Charles Osgood and Micah Christiansen, were also involved in the teaching. Brother Osgood and our staff man, Stephen Opoku, helped organize the entire week.
Seventy-one of our own teens and young adults attended SMITE camp. They were joined by 39 more campers from Lighthouse Baptist Church in Tema, pastored by Missionary Fredrick Kearney, and from three of our daughter churches, which are led by our graduates Jonas Osei-Owusu, Rexford Aning, and Kingsley Addai. In the afternoons, these 100 campers divided into teams and conducted 18 Bible Clubs all throughout the community. Because of their efforts, about 971 children attended the various clubs, and 427 children made professions of faith. In one of the featured images above is one of the campers, Felicia Owusuwaah, with some of the children who have started coming to our church as a result of one Bible Club held during SMITE camp.
In addition to God blessing the efforts of these campers, He also worked in their hearts during the week. Many of the campers made life-changing decisions for the Lord. Several Bible Clubs have already been started as a result of the training that was received. Thank you for your continued prayers!
God bless,
Ted Speer
Pastor and Team Leader