January/February '26

The new year of Providence Baptist College & Seminary saw us welcome five new students just before conducting the 9th Commencement [pictured] of our institute and college. 38 men and ladies received diplomas and degrees, bringing the total number to 237; so far, our graduates have started 60 churches. Missionary Daniel Lang’s special visitor from Michigan was our guest preacher, ministering at Truth Baptist on Sunday morning and teaching a special marriage seminar in the afternoon, something we pray will become a tradition. Also, in January, we hosted the director of Global Baptist Church Planters, Austin Reed. Our partnership with GBCP has spanned more than a decade, and it was a joy to introduce Austin to some of our new churches and have him preach in our seminary and Grace & Glory’s missions emphasis weekend.   

February began with the privilege of preaching in the 22nd Anniversary of Faith Baptist Church of Ogbomoso. Pastor Timothy Ojo welcomed Missionary Evangelist Don Wattenbarger and me for the celebration and a multi-day Pastors’ & Workers’ Conference [alumni delegates from Providence pictured]. Later that same week, we traveled by road to Jos for a Soul Winning & Leadership Conference; on Sunday morning, I preached for our missionary friend, Graham Young, at his new church, and Bro. Don helped officiate the first commencement of our Hausa language Bible college. Pray for the seven graduates as most of them will soon be planting churches in the northern region of Nigeria. The same day I arrived from Jos, we were thrilled to welcome Joseph, his fiancée Joy, her mother, and my wife’s mother for a nearly two-week visit. What a pleasure it was to introduce our soon-to-become family members to our neighbors, friends, and co-laborers while we visited an orphanage, Bible clubs, house fellowships, and special services for them in both churches. As our crew of relatives were departing, Missionary Evangelist Jim Belisle was arriving to help the seminary students to do a week-long outreach to five local area churches. Each day for a full week was filled with soulwinning, street preaching, school ministries, and an evening evangelistic service with baptisms after. Grace & Glory’s new church plant was particularly blessed to see 70 people saved during the outreach.

A six-year process involving several Nigerian agencies and the generosity of various law enforcement offices in Louisiana has culminated in our ministry having 370 bullet-proof vests available to donate to officers of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) [pictured with an Assistant Inspector-General]. Using the code for “officer needs assistance, Signal 63 Ministries, founded by a preacher in Sabrina’s home church, Bill Graham, sourced for the donation and much of the money needed for shipping. Since 2019 (delayed significantly by Covid and various security designations), we’ve made efforts to link the NPF to Nigerian Customs and the National Security Administration to get the necessary documentation to bring the vests into the country. Now, we will have the opportunity to present these needed life-saving instruments in several different states where security crises have caught the attention of international news outlets. With this letter, we’re praying that you will assist us in distributing these donations. We are planning ceremonies where the vests will be officially “handed over” and the Gospel will be preached to hundreds of police officers. The estimated cost for each of these ceremonies is projected to be about $950. Please pray that we will have the funds needed and that many will receive Christ as Saviour!  

November/December '25

Conferences/Camps

At the beginning of November, I traveled with Missionary Evangelists Jim Belisle and Denton Bell for a special meeting in Ibadan. I was honored to preach the anniversary service at Independent Baptist Church of Ijokodo, which had been planted 38 years before by my missions mentor who eventually hosted our survey trip, Missionary Mark Sigstad. At the anniversary and during that Tuesday’s pastors’ fellowship [seminary alumni pictured], touching tributes were made of Bro. & Mrs. Sigstad, who graduated to Heaven in July. At the end of the month, a Thanksgiving service was held at Truth Baptist Church as the start of our Spirit Renewal Meeting with Evangelist Paul Schwanke [pictured]; this was the second time for him to preach a revival and teach two days at our college. Victoria and I had our flight to Tanzania while Bro. Schwanke was departing for America; the 2nd S.M.I.T.E. in Morogoro was a great success, and we are privileged to partner with the Wyatts in these youth camps.

Family News

New and old traditions were kept during Thanksgiving and Christmas. For the second time, our family traveled about five hours by road with the Langs and Ms. Pat Hamburg to celebrate Turkey Day hosted by the Youngs (who worked with us for nearly two years) in Jos. The week was filled with great fellowship, a chili cookoff, football games, and an old-fashioned holiday dinner. In December, our family used Christmas Eve for gift exchanging and a special breakfast, because Christmas day was fairly busy with a morning service at Truth and then a missionary fellowship at our home with chili and gumbo. Sabrina and I stayed up very late that evening so that we could be on a video call to witness our oldest, Joseph, proposing to his now-fiancée, Joy Waddington [pictured]. We are thrilled to soon “officially” have Joy as a part of the Holmes family. New Year’s Eve allowed us to welcome our second son Brian for his first visit back to Nigeria, just in time to fulfill another tradition of spending a few festive nights at an area hotel.

Current Events

Nigeria continues to be highlighted in the news as the world is increasingly made more aware of the persecutions and regional conflicts occurring through the country. Especially during this time, please consider our City of Refuge; this ministry to persecuted peoples is now rehabilitating 13 families who have been affected by the insecurity in surrounding areas. Through our work, 11 former Muslims have been enrolled as students in our Bible college, and we have seen the first graduates leave Abuja and plant churches in 3 areas where no Baptist church had been started before [congregation in Adamawa state pictured]. Pray that we can get a few offerings or monthly supports for this ministry, since the requests for help have been increasing. We’re grateful for your partnership!

Our S.M.I.T.E. Tanzania camp was featured in a newsletter from Missionary Jerry Wyatt, host of the camp: 

September/October '25

Exactly fifteen years ago last month, Dr. Darrell Moore [pictured with Victoria and me] came to Nigeria to visit my family and see our work. He preached a missions conference for Truth Baptist, taught church multiplication in our seminary, and made a dream of mine come true. During my college days, Bro. Moore was my bus division leader and became “Dad” once he learned the story of my father’s passing when I was 10. He inspired me to leadership as a young preacher, counseled me through many major decisions, and called my children his grandchildren. I would often contact him on his birthday (the day before mine) and Fathers’ Day, and I got to visit him one last time in the hospital on the week before Memorial Day during our furlough. At the beginning of July, Heaven gained a faithful servant, and, though I can no longer go to him for advice, what I’d already learned from my friend, mentor, and father-figure will never die. 

As Nigeria has been a frequent focus of recent news reports, we are grateful to many friends, family members, and supporters who have reached out to check on our well-being. The unrest and insecurity in surrounding areas has disturbed some of our church plants and many relatives of our members, but it has not reached our city. We request continued prayer for peace in Nigeria and comfort for families distressed by the regional conflicts. We also invite you to see how our work has attempted to help those who have been affected by persecution with our City of Refuge ministry and consider an offering or monthly support. Click on the “City of Refuge” page on this site. 

The middle of September saw my family return back to the field after final services in our home churches and two other missions conferences. At Truth Baptist church, during the months of September and October, a successful vacation Bible school was conducted, a pastors’ appreciation day was enjoyed, and the following new record was set: 814 people gathered for special Sunday where Bible club kids and their parents were invited! It is a joy to once again be serving alongside Missionary Daniel Lang; our ministry enjoyed hosting his brother and sending church pastor in October before Bro. Daniel filled in for me in Port Harcourt to help host one of our six annual pastors’ conferences. 

About 18 months ago, we requested help through our prayer letter for several of our preachers to have motorcycles. Supporters helped us to buy six “okadas” that each went to a church planter or the pastor of more than one work. We already have 7 more scenarios where this means of transportation could accelerate the starting or the multiplying of a ministry. For anyone that is willing to partner with us for the $850 that it costs for a motorbike, we will gladly send an individual report of each purchase. 

July/August '25

During this summer, it has been exciting for our family or ministry to take part in five S.M.I.T.E. camps in some way. Our previous prayer letter highlighted the Summer Missionary Institute for Training and Evangelism in Louisiana. At the beginning of July, the 2nd Annual S.M.I.T.E. New England [staff and preachers pictured at supper] was conducted with almost all our campers returning from last year and an encouraging number of new students participating this year. Three camps [Abuja graduation pictured below] in four weeks were held in August in Nigeria with the following results: a total of 383 campers from over 50 churches conducted 77 Bible clubs with more than 4000 children enrolled and above 2200 confessing Christ for salvation. My great thanks goes to our S.M.I.T.E. Africa Director, Pastor Adewale Adesina, for leading these institutes once again in my absence. 

After the New England camp, I was thrilled to take part again in FBMI’s Missions University in Hammond, Indiana. Having the opportunity to teach and influence a group of missionaries [men in Africa pictured] is one of the favorite blessings that God has given me over the years. The weekend following, I had the honor of driving my mission board founder and his wife, Dr. and Mrs. Mike Cox, to Toronto to preach together in a missions emphasis weekend. This is the most time I have gotten to spend with my “parents” since the last time they visited Nigeria late in 2019. The first nine days of August gave me the longest time that I’ve ever had alone with my three youngest kids; we went to five different churches in Texas and had a mini-vacation in San Antonio, highlighted by a trip to Sea World, paid for by one of our very kind supporting pastors. 

Sabrina and I are so thankful that we could have a furlough long enough to both enjoy Brian’s graduations and also get to see him begin his time at Pensacola Christian College during the third week of August. Our third child became the first one that we actually helped move into a dorm room, and Brian is already adjusting well and participating in all that PCC has to offer in his pursuit of a secondary education degree. We are especially grateful for your prayers as our family navigates this new season of life. 

May/June '25

On the first day of May, Sabrina, along with Victoria, LaDonna, and Aaron, arrived back to the U.S.; Sabrina’s mom and Joseph were joyfully waiting to pick them up in Louisiana. Brian, Noah, and I [pictured] enjoyed an extended layover for a couple of days to do some sightseeing in London for Brian’s senior trip. The rest of May was filled with two graduations and a senior recital for Brian [pictured with Aaron below] and another music recital in which all my kids participated. For the first time, every member of my family was involved in the Summer Missionary Institute for Training and Evangelism at the end of May in Louisiana. 

As soon as S.M.I.T.E. ended, Sabrina and I departed for several meetings in the Midwest while Brian and Victoria started a four-week Bible Club Blitz with over twenty other S.M.I.T.E. graduates and staff. A highlight for Sabrina and me was to meet Juliet [pictured below], the Langs’ new baby; please pray for this dear family that works with us to have a safe transition back to Nigeria in July at the conclusion of their furlough. Also, in June, I had the opportunity to participate in a pastors’ conference at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Mexico City after a couple of meetings in California.  

June 1st marked 20 years since Sabrina and I started our first term in Nigeria. Both Truth Baptist and Grace & Glory celebrated their anniversaries (19th and 10th respectively) in the month of May, and Providence rounded up another semester in time for our students to begin their required internships during the break. Our television ministry also added another program in June, which now makes 8 weekly half-hour programs in 6 languages airing to a potential audience of 100 million people. 

June 22nd became a milestone for Truth Baptist Church, as it was the first Sunday for regular services in our new auditorium [above]. We were waiting for the ceiling to be completed and the full public address system to be installed; thankfully, we had already celebrated a few special services (a dedication, Easter Sunday, and our pastors’ conference) before my family’s furlough. We wish to especially thank everyone who has given so generously up to this point. Please continue to pray that the remaining works (bathrooms, baptistery changing rooms, an office, floor tiles, and benches) will be accomplished soon.  

It has been our great joy to partner with Christian Media International for the last 4 years. Recently, our ministry was featured in their newsletter: 

March/April '25

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 college year, part of my first missions trip was to visit Rick Martin’s work in the Philippines; in 2014, First Baptist 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 [Bro. Honorio pictured beside Missionary Christiansen and Saka village chief] 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 3pm 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 four were baptized. Grace & Glory Baptist followed up their outreach day with a Spirit Renewal Meeting preached by Evangelist Bill Stafford [pictured with our seminary students]. 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 [pictured with Missionary Israel Thompsons], 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 1846 enrolled and over 800 being counseled for salvation. On the 13th through the 15th of April was 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, 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.

Highlight from Bro. Curtis Hall's recent prayer letter:

Around the middle of the month I traveled to Abuja, Nigeria, to be with Missionary Mark Holmes for Easter Sunday and for his national Soul Winning and Leadership Conference. Bro. Holmes is building a new 650-seat auditorium, and we were able to hold services in it though not yet completed. There were thirty-two senior Pastors, another thirty assistant Pastors, Missionaries, and Evangelists, 40 Seminary students, plus numerous lay people that came from all parts of Nigeria to attend the conference. Many decisions were made and eight men surrendered to be Pastors the last night. Special thanks to Church Bible Publishers for providing me with some beautiful leather Bibles for kids in the Baptist Heritage Orphanage just outside Abuja, Nigeria. They also provided forty soul winners New Testaments for the Seminary students.

January/February '25

Since April of 2023, our ministry has been raising funds and building on a new auditorium for Truth Baptist. On the last Sunday of February, the first-ever morning service was held in our “church on the hill,” and we were honored to have with us, for his first visit since 2011, Pastor Mike Wells of Lone Star Baptist College in Texas [pictured with Pastor & Mrs. Saheed]. Though that occasion was a milestone with several visitors and an attendance of 470, the building is not yet ready for the church to fully move in until we can complete the flooring, doors, electrical, PA system, and entrance steps. Please pray with us and consider investing further in a place that we believe will allow our church to grow even more.  

At the beginning of February, Missionary Evangelists Jim Belisle and Don Wattenbarger [pictured together with host pastors Ojo and Akande] helped me to take part in two pastors conferences at Ogbomoso and Jos in a span of eight days. These Soul Winning & Leadership Conferences (SWLC) are two of six that we conduct annually, having a total representation of 120 churches every year. In every SWLC since our first in 2008, I have made it clear that Dr. Wells was the human instrument that God used to help start and keep them going by regularly providing material and by introducing us to guest preachers (like Bro. Don) who have made multiple visits over the years. Recounting that story again in Bro. Wells presence on February 23rd, we used the occasion to honorably name our college hostel building the “Wells Dormitory.”

Other highlights for the first two months of 2025 included another orientation for a new semester of Providence Baptist College & Seminary [alumni pictured in Ogbomoso], where we welcomed seven new students for a total enrollment of 40. The last weekend in January was a missions emphasis time for Grace & Glory Baptist, our second church plant and the home of Pathfinder Baptist Foundation, which continues to be an influential example for the cause of the Great Commission among our independent Baptist churches.  During the last few days of February, our staff conducted a successful youth conference with several speakers and many important decisions made during the preaching services. Once again, check out www.vimeo.com/missionaryholmes, which has a brief video based on this letter’s events, along with many other updates. 

November/December '24

November began with a successful Soul Winning & Leadership Conference held in Ibadan; I was thankful to have Missionary Evangelist Denton Bell with me. Just a week later, I was again in Nigeria’s second largest city to welcome a fellow board member of Christian Media International along with a pastor friend of his. These two men came and saw our media studio [pictured], introduced a pastor from Malawi to the potential for getting the Gospel out on television and social media, and explored ideas on how to plant more sustainable churches. Evangelist Tunde Ajayi joined me to help host the men in both Ibadan and Abuja; we had a wonderful time “showing off” our ministries and brainstorming on how to increase our effectiveness. 

November was full of highlights for Truth Baptist Church. Besides having the CMI visitors as guest preachers, our missionary and staff wives successfully hosted a two-day ladies spectacular. Then, on the 24th, we experienced the biggest Sunday ever in our ministry. TBC’s pastors, staff members, missionaries, deacons, and other faithful men partnered with our seminary students to conduct 18 outreach services in areas where we have Bible clubs, bus routes, or house fellowships. In all, 882 attended, and 55 were saved! The evening service [students and pastors pictured] was a victory celebration filled with encouraging testimonies.  

My family had some memorable times together after (and in the midst of) the busy season of ministry. Our Thanksgiving included a five-hour drive to Jos, fellowship with other missionaries, and a stay at the Youngs’ home in their new place of service. Graham and Olivia served with us for nearly two years and are now focused on learning a language and planting a new work in Plateau State. December included more chances to have missionary fellowships, a cantata and Christmas service at Truth, and a family tradition of a hotel stay around New Year’s Eve. The climax, though, was an unforgettable two-week trip to Tanzania [family pictured]. 

The Holmes Family has now been a part of conducting a Student Missions Institute for Training in Evangelism (in the U.S., it is “Summer Missionary…”) in six countries. During the first week of December, the Christiansens joined us to board two flights, a taxi van, and a train to work with fellow FBMI Missionaries, the Wyatts and the Morrows, along with their great families, excellent staff, and spirited teens to host the first-ever S.M.I.T.E. in Morogoro. After some meetings and training on Saturday and enriching services with a joyful Christmas fellowship on Sunday, the S.M.I.T.E. was held with more than 50 people involved [pictured], 523 children enrolled in five-day clubs, and 212 saved! The next week, two adventurous nights at a safari camp were enjoyed by our family and the Christiansens. At almost the same time, our Nigerian staff was laboring for the 4th S.M.I.T.E. and first graduation in Kenya; they had nearly the same results with 50 campers for 10 clubs, over 500 enrolled, and more than 200 saved.  

From Jerry Wyatt III, veteran FBMI Missionary in Tanzania, and our host for S.M.I.T.E.: 

The second week of December, Missionary Mark Holmes and his family along with Missionary Caleb Christiansen and his family traveled from Nigeria to Tanzania to help us hold our first ever SMITE training camp. The Devil fought hard the entire week but we also saw God’s hand at work. During the course of the week, over 500 children were registered as having attended one of the 10 Bible Clubs around the city. We ran these clubs from Monday through Friday. What a blessing it was to see our young people being trained to lead these clubs and being taught how to win children in their neighborhoods to the Lord. After the second night of the camp, one of our young men came up to me and said, “Pastor, it was amazing! When we went to our Bible Club this evening, children who were at the club yesterday and were saved were waiting for us to arrive. They had gathered some of their friends and had a whole group of children waiting for us so we could tell them how to trust Jesus as their Saviour. These children were excited to bring their friends to hear the same Good News that they had been told. The young man told me that he had never seen anything like it in his life! There were actually several amazing stories just like this one. Please keep these young people in your prayers pray that they will continue with this same zeal for reaching the lost with salvation. All 10 of the clubs will continue on a weekly basis. [pictured: Bro. Wyatt and Victoria share the same birthday]

September/October '24

Through our affiliation with Christian Media International, we have been operating a fully equipped audio/video studio in the southwest region of Nigeria for three years and are now televising seven weekly Gospel programs in six languages. As a way for CMI to fulfill humanitarian efforts through missionary partners, Impact Others explores more unique ways to spread the message of salvation. Working with Impact Others, multiple widows’ meetings have been conducted, often bringing in over 200 ladies for a Gospel message and a gift of various foods and toiletries; furthermore, the ministry of benevolence has funded a new business for several of these ladies to help support their families. An orphanage with which we partner has received assistance through IO, and, recently, we were given support to enable three churches to do boreholes on their properties; as a result of these mechanized wells, not only is clean water provided to parishioners but also a tap is opened for the public to use, and we are regularly hearing testimonies of people gladly listening to the Gospel and receiving Christ when they come to freely draw water from the church. At the end of September, one of the beneficiary churches held a commissioning service [pictured] in our honor to thank CMI for their new borehole. Also, Sabrina and I had the privilege to make a quick trip to Egypt [dinner along the Nile, pictured below] in the middle of October to see more Impact Others projects with CMI’s founder and their CFO. 

In the middle of September, my son Brian and I honored the invitation for me to preach the missions conference at Colorado Springs Baptist Church. Pastor Jason Brockman and I were roommates during my freshman year at Hyles-Anderson College, and we have kept in touch for nearly thirty years. I hardly saw Brian throughout our week in the U.S., as he thoroughly enjoyed himself with the pastor’s family and the church’s youth group, while I had several great opportunities to fellowship with men of God during meals and church services [missionaries pictured with the pastor]. We went home with suitcases full of gifts and snacks, checks for our building projects, and delightful meditations of a friendship rekindled and potential partnerships established. 

Truth Baptist Church’s working relationship with Port Harcourt Independent Baptist Church provided the remaining highlights of the last two months. Just days after the S.M.I.T.E. at PHIBC, our TBC members and seminary students conducted a Vacation Bible School during the second week of September before schools here began a new year. A high attendance of over 500 was recorded during the three-day event. Two of our longtime members were married [ceremony pictured] on the third Saturday in October, and, on the third Sunday of October, as the founder of Truth Baptist, I encouraged our members to hold the first ever Appreciation Day for the three pastors on our church staff. Each Sunday School class came up with their own gift and presentation at the end of the Sunday morning service; the great participation of the church and obvious delight in the pastors has ensured that this day will become an annual tradition at TBC. A Soul Winning and Leadership Conference at PHIBC capped off the month of October as Missionary Evangelists Jim Belisle and Denton Bell joined me for the special meeting of churches with a missions emphasis; for this particular conference, there were a record number of churches (25) represented. 

July/August '24

Our furlough continued in July with a few Independence Day celebrations: fireworks at our sending church after the mid-week service, dinner at our pastor’s home the next evening, and activities at my
mom’s assisted living facility on the morning and afternoon of the 4th. The next week, our family did a mini-concert, ministry presentation, and Bible study for Mom’s friends at the Claiborne in Gulfport, where she has been living since just after Thanksgiving. It has been encouraging to see my mother improve in all facets of life over the last nine months. 

In mid-July, for the first-time ever, a Summer Missionary Institute for Training and Evangelism was conducted at a venue in the U.S. outside of Louisiana or Mississippi. Sabrina, her mother, and I, along with Joseph, Victoria, and Brian, were privileged to take part in New England S.M.I.T.E. [sightseeing in Philadelphia pictured after the camp], held on the campus of New England Baptist College. My pastor was the keynote speaker, and it was an honor to preach once on the same platform with Bro. Carr. We also were thrilled to have Sabrina’s home pastor (Bro. Bartlett) leading singing [pictured above during morning devotions], the founders of S.M.I.T.E. (the Purtells) teaching, and members of the Blitz team (from the Louisiana camp) helping us lead Bible clubs during the week. We’re thankful to Pastor Richard LeJeune and White Oak Baptist Church sponsoring the camp. A total of 51 people were registered and involved, and over 70 people were saved in the five-day clubs!

On August 8th, our family landed in Nigeria for a full month of activities. The week after we arrived, I was honored to be the keynote speaker for the Pastors & Workers Conference at Fundamental Baptist Church International in Kumasi, Ghana. Being with our FBMI Ghana Team is always an edifying time of fellowship, and it was a delight to teach and preach on the theme of Developing Leaders to the congregants who gathered from different churches for the morning and evening sessions [invitation during a youth session pictured]; Tuesday night was a high attendance of nearly 1000! In Nigeria, three Student Missions Institutes for Training in Evangelism [pictured below: blitz coordinator, director, level coordinator] were conducted in four weeks. A grand total of 475 young people registered, and they had 4726 children enrolled in 80 five-day clubs during the three weeks. On August 13th, a new semester of Providence Baptist College & Seminary began with 7 new students and 39 total men and ladies enrolled. Please pray with us for God to use our college students!  

May/June '24

Our family arrived in Miami on May 7th for a short furlough to celebrate Victoria’s high school graduation, firstly with a “senior trip” to the Florida Keys [pictured at Key West]. On 14 May, she walked at ABeka’s homeschool program in Pensacola, and the next week she took part in our sending church’s baccalaureate service and academy commencement in Gulfport [Victoria pictured with her Mom and Nana after her senior recital]. At the same time, Joseph received an associate’s degree in aviation maintenance from Baton Rouge Community College; he has already secured a good job with an aerial photography company at the local Hammond airport in south Louisiana while he continues to pursue his pilot’s license. So, we had one graduate from college, another complete high school, and our youngest (Aaron) finish kindergarten in the month of May! We plan to be home at the same time next year for Brian’s high school graduation. Noah (12) is at the perfect age to take part in both junior and youth camps this summer, and LaDonna turns 10 in July.  

During the week of Memorial Day in Louisiana, our family once again took part in the Summer Missionary Institute for Training and Evangelism [pastor Adewale's first time at Louisiana SMITE, pictured with Aunt Vicki Purtell, the founder's wife], a ministry of Sabrina’s home church. The week after, I had the privilege of being a keynote speaker in the 20th Deep South Youth Conference at our sending church. By the 2nd week of June, Brian and Victoria were off to travel with a child evangelist for three weeks of a Bible Club Blitz at churches in New Orleans, Walls (MS), and Harselle (AL). My month of meetings included travels to Charlotte, Maine, and St. Louis. 

While stateside, we have heard great reports from both of our churches in Abuja. Truth Baptist celebrated its 18th anniversary on May 12th with over 600 in attendance during a visitors’ month, and Grace & Glory Baptist held its 9th anniversary service on May 26th with nearly 200 in attendance. Our family will return to Nigeria on the first week of August in time for our seminary’s orientation, three youth camps in four weeks, and two more pastors’ conferences before the end of the year. 

One of the best tools that a pastor can have to multiply his efforts in planting a church (or even starting a second church) is to have a reliable means of transportation, most accessibly in the form of a motorcycle. Currently we have at least 6 situations where an “okada” could accelerate the progress of a new church plant or assist a pastor who is navigating the challenge of overseeing multiple works. We would be thrilled for any church to partner with us for the $700 that it costs for each motorbike. We’ll be sure to send individual reports on any purchase. 

March/April '24

Early in March, the members of Grace & Glory Baptist unanimously and joyously promoted Bro. Adewale Adesina to be their senior pastor. Since the middle of 2015, I’ve been co-pastoring two churches simultaneously, so it is a big change; I do continue to work with Pastor Adewale in the college, preach regularly at GGBC, and wear gladly the honor of “founder” of a strong and growing work in Nigeria’s capital city. In our first church plant, Truth Baptist, great growth has endured over the last 11 months. We are averaging over 350 on Sunday mornings [pictured, another full house], unprecedented in the church’s 18-year history. On the second Sunday morning of March, TBC members invited the parents of children from our 24 weekly Bible clubs, resulting in a record-setting attendance of 778 (over 100 visitors)!  

Truth Baptist’s Soul Winning & Leadership Conference (SWLC) was held on the first four days of April. We were thankful to once again host Pastor Ken Shinn from Columbia, Mississippi. Bro. Curtis Hall of BEST Missions brought with him from Arkansas Bro. James Abbey; Tim Currington [pictured with our Nigerian director and a PAI preacher from the Philippines], the director of Prison Alliance International (PAI) also made his first visit to Nigeria for the meeting. By successfully combining the conference with a training session of prison ministry workers from around the country, our 15th Annual SWLC recorded 54 churches represented, the highest number ever! [delegates pictured below during a day session] PAI has helped us expand a five-year-old prison ministry here to over 40 correctional facilities in 16 states. The next week, Bro. Hall and Bro. Abbey joined me to Cross River State for a great SWLC at Independent Baptist Church of Calabar. 

June 1st will be 19 years since Sabrina and I first came to West Africa, and the Lord has graciously allowed us to host more than 90 American visitors, several on multiple occasions. However, Nigeria’s procedure for a two-year (sometimes less) multiple re-entry visa is one of the most difficult in its application process, hindering more people from scheduling trips to see our ministry. Conversely, in April, four of our guests took advantage of a new visa-on-arrival; all I needed from them was their flight itinerary, passport data page, address, signature, and a photo for a 30-day visa that costs $260. Additionally, we just hosted three preachers from Rock of Ages Ministries, and they received from the Consulate of Atlanta (others have received from New York City and Washington, D.C.) multiple re-entry visas for five years! I’m writing all of this to encourage more our supporters to prayerfully consider taking a missions journey to Nigeria. 

Missionary Evangelist Curtis Hall of BEST Missions, gave an account in his prayer letter of his visit: 

April first found me in Nigeria, Africa, getting ready to kick off the Soul Winning and Leadership Conference for Missionary Mark Holmes and Truth Baptist Church in Abuja. It was a blessed conference! There were 68 Nigerian churches represented and 61 Senior Pastors in attendance along with several more assistant Pastors, and Evangelists. The 40 students of Providence Baptist Seminary in Abuja, which is a ministry of Truth Baptist, were in attendance as well. I was blessed to preach alongside Pastor Ken Shinn and Bro. James Abbey. While it was a Pastors Conference, appeals to the lost were still made at invitation time. There were 2 men and a young boy who all trusted Christ as Saviour. Glory! Many other decisions were made by the believers in attendance.

After the conference in Abuja, we rested for a day then Bro. Holmes, Bro. Abbey, and I traveled to Calabar, Nigeria, to preach a regional Soul Winning and Leadership Conference for Nigerian Pastor Nicholas Wayih and the folks of Independent Baptist Church. There were 14 Nigerian churches represented and 13 Nigerian Senior Pastors along with several other assistant Pastors. There were six people who trusted Christ as Saviour at this conference. 

During the conference in Abuja one day, Bro. Holmes made a statement about Nigeria, He said the new motto for the country should be, “Nigeria – It’s Not Easy!” This was my fourth trip to Nigeria, and I concur with Bro. Holmes. Most of the days in Abuja were over 100 degrees and on Tuesday it was 112 degrees. The churches do not have air conditioning and you feel blessed if they have ceiling fans or the church has power to run the fans. I tell you this to give you a plea, if you support a missionary in a third world country, pray for them, probably more than others. After each trip to Nigeria, I am always thankful for the times I minister in Southeast Asia and the States more and more.