The Holmes Family: September/October '22

On the first weekend in September, I had the honor of preaching in the church Missionary David Maskey [pictured with graduates from a previous SMITE] started nearly thirty years ago in the southeast part of Nigeria. That Friday was the conclusion of our 7th Student Missions Institute for Training in Evangelism for that church. 130 young people from 16 churches enrolled to learn about how to conduct children's Bible clubs; they ran 26 five-day clubs with over 1300 children enrolled and nearly 700 professing salvation. On Sunday, a baby dedication was held for the family of the church’s national co-pastor; Pastor Royal and his wife are both graduates of our seminary.

Every semester for the last two years, our Providence Baptist College & Seminary students have done a concentrated evangelistic outreach to benefit a local church outside of Abuja. Earlier this year, they went to Praise & Glory Baptist of Makurdi, Benue State. Their soul-winning, street preachings, and film showings yielded 105 salvations during the week; that Sunday, ten of their converts visited the church, and six were baptized. The pastor, our graduate, remarked that “the vision of the college to have these outreaches is very instrumental in church planting.” This semester, for six days in October, our students traveled to Cross River State to help our graduate, Pastor Michael Solomon, at IBC Ogoja. These trips have proven to be great experiences for the current students [pictured after a soccer match] and are mentioned often by our graduates.

Our four new missionary couples [pictured at our home for Thanksgiving] have fully jumped into being involved in our ministry training schools and local church plants. They are busy with soul-winning, pulpit supply, church visitation, school outreaches, prison ministry, Bible clubs (and follow-up on parents of the Bible club kids), discipleship programs, home Bible studies, youth meetings, and college chapel preaching, along with our regular schedule of attending church services, staff meetings, conferences, and camps. The most exciting to me, though, is the number of new institutes that have been started this year with their involvement. In nine different Bible-believing churches during 2022, our Temple Baptist Institute curriculum has been introduced during weekend programs, mainly conducted alongside Evangelist Tunde Ajayi. The weekend program consists of outreach with the church members, sermons that encourage more members to train for the ministry, planning sessions with the pastor to determine the best course schedule, and sample classes to introduce the institute concept to everyone. We are already seeing the effectiveness of these programs to get more people equipped for service.

Now that the roof is on our seminary dormitory building, we are moving to the next phase of our plans for the second floor. Recently, about $8300 came in, allowing us to do some finishing work on the flooring and walls [plaster work pictured] to get the building ready for the ceiling (estimated at $7000) and floor tiles (likewise costing about $7000). The remaining windows and doors will cost about $5000, and then we will move on to the various plumbing and electrical works. Already we can begin using some of the space, but we would be glad for any additional donations to help us complete the project. Thanks so much for praying!

Pastor Timothy Adesina, host of our Ogbomoso S.M.I.T.E. at Berean Baptist Church, writes of his appreciation for the camp:

What a blessing it was for us as a church this year as we hosted SMITE 2022 on our church property again this year. It was hosted amidst fear, as a result of our recent experience [of riots] in Ogbomoso within the last week of July and first week of August. But even when we were full of fear, we decided to trust in the Lord, and we went ahead to host the camp for the second consecutive time. We saw God move greatly as there are many decisions for the Lord among the campers themselves, and, in the Bible clubs, many children were recorded saved. We praise God for what he used the preaching of His word through His men to achieve: souls were saved, commitments were made, and many young men surrendered to serve God. What a great time in the presence of God! We owe every blessings to God; thank God for everything. Also, God took care of our fears, and no injury was recorded, even the kitchen department reported no accident. We praise God for all the great things he has done. Congratulations to the SMITE team, headed by the founder, Pastor Mark Holmes, and the Africa Director, Pastor Wale Adesina. Looking forward to doing it again next year, God willing.

Who We Are

Mark Joseph Holmes was called to the ministry at the age of fifteen, five years after he was saved. He went to Hyles-Anderson College to receive his training and graduated summa cum laude in 2000 with a degree in Pastoral Theology. During Mark’s senior year, God placed on his heart the desire to reach the people of Nigeria, so he spent an extra year in preparation by taking missions courses. Mark served on the same bus route each college year, as captain for three years.

Sabrina Michelle (Hopkins) was saved at the age of eight and surrendered her life to God five years later. While at Hyles-Anderson College studying music education, she served in the Bible Club and deaf ministry and also traveled one summer with a tour group. After graduation with a Music Education degree, during the year before their wedding, Sabrina taught fourth grade at her home church’s Christian school—Central Baptist in Baton Rouge.

As newlyweds, Mark and Sabrina served at their sending church where Mark oversaw the bus ministry and helped in the youth department, Sunday schools, and junior churches. He was privileged to start a children's church and young adult class during his two years of service, and he also regularly preached at a prison ministry and taught for a local Bible institute. Sabrina taught private piano for two Christian schools; she played often in the church services and also taught the beginner Sunday school class. Mark and Sabrina started full-time deputation at the end of May, 2003. Mark Joseph, Junior was born on December 4th of the same year.

In June of 2005, the Holmes family began their first term as Fundamental Baptist Missions International missionaries in Nigeria. Soon, Truth Baptist Church along with Temple Baptist Institute was started, the church now averaging 220 on Sundays with 42 graduates from the ministry training school. Property with buildings was purchased, and Providence Baptist College & Seminary opened its doors in August 2009 and has now produced 30 graduates. 35 churches have been started by those who have been trained or ordained by their ministry, including one of the most recent, Grace & Glory Baptist Church in Abuja, in which the Holmes family is also involved. Mark and Sabrina have returned to the U.S. for the birth of: Victoria Noel 12/14/05
Brian Michael 8/20/07
Noah Preston 2/3/12

LaDonna Elizabeth 7/3/14
For nearly a decade, Truth Baptist Church has been the home of a national pastors' conference, an annual youth camp, a full curriculum DVD correspondence college, and the City of Refuge recently became their newest ministry.

Where We Are

The Niger River is Nigeria’s most remarkable physical feature, as well as the source of its name. Formerly a British colony, Nigeria gained its independence in 1960 and became an independent nation of three culturally distinctive regions and at least 250 different language groups—more than any other African country. Home of the world’s largest black population, it is estimated that almost one out of every six Africans resides in Nigeria.

Upon independence, Nigeria inherited a currency that was more valuable than the U.S. dollar at the time. Yet the country has consumed itself with the sell of oil and other natural resources and all but abandoned its agricultural sector, leading to Nigeria’s diminished currency value and heightened reliance upon imports and aide from other countries. Military coups, ethnic tensions, a thirty month “civil war” that claimed over a million lives, and economic corruption have been the driving forces behind Nigeria’s instability of the last forty years. In 1998 a democracy was established, ending fifteen years of military rule.

Baptists have enjoyed a presence in the country for over 150 years with the Southern Baptists growing their own national convention and an estimated Baptist population numbering more than 3.5 million people; the former President of Nigeria was a claimed Baptist. However, Muslim influences are growing greater, indigenous beliefs are still popular, and many existing Baptist churches have abandoned biblical doctrines. There is a great need to reach the rest of the more than 170 million people of Africa’s most populous and possibly most influential nation.

The Holmes Family

September/October '22

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