An enjoyable benefit to partnering with pastors in our ministry-training schools or hosting multiple pastors annually in our conferences and camps is being invited to participate in ordinations and other special days for those on whom I’ve been privileged to have a small influence. Two such occasions took place on the third and fourth Sundays of March, as I had the honor of being on the council of two ordinations in Port Harcourt and Kubwa-Abuja. It is thrilling to see pastor friends ordain their own preachers and to have any part in the training and sending of these men.
Our efforts to expand the reach of the Soul-Winning and Leadership Conferences continued in March, when Missionary Evangelist Don Wattenbarger of Bibles Beyond Boundaries joined me to conduct a regional meeting, hosted by Missionary David Maskey at Independent Baptist Church of Port Harcourt. Once Bro. Don and I returned to Abuja, he left the next day on a three-hour drive with several of our students to visit the Liberty Baptist Church of Gidan-Waya, which Bro. Wattenbarger’s home church helped to start. We then enjoyed having the guest evangelist preach in both Truth Baptist and Grace & Glory Baptist Churches on Sunday.
The two churches I am overseeing continue to mature in unique ways. On Sunday evenings in April, I presented the Series One lessons of the Foundations of My Faith discipleship material at Truth Baptist Church. There was an average of over 90 adults and teenagers in attendance for each session, and 56 completed all 4 lessons. We are continuing the studies for another 16 weeks during our prayer meeting service on Thursday nights. Sabrina has started a Ladies’ Bible Study on Saturdays for Grace & Glory Baptist Church. She is planning through the lessons for this group to grow into an outreach and discipleship group.
One of the great heartaches of serving in a third-world country is to witness the plight of widows, especially those who were once the wife of a pastor. Considering the immense challenges these women face once their husbands pass on, it is likewise extremely encouraging to see a widow survive and excel on her own while also rearing children. One such former pastor’s wife has succeeded in building a house for her and her two children. I would like to help her establish a business to allow her to be more self-sufficient; $2000 would provide a borehole (mechanized well) that could supply clean water for her family and also be used for selling water to the entire village where she lives. Sabrina and I would greatly appreciate any help towards this!
Believing God,
Mark Holmes, written 24 May 2017
