The Holmes Family: April/May '03

I’m not sure that everything from the last two months can be included in one prayer letter. The first item is something I’ve anticipated publicizing since I was in Bible college and especially for the last several months—we’re finally full time! Glory to GOD! Hallelujah! God called me to preach almost nine years ago, and this is the first time that I’ve been without a secular job. I resigned my position at the city of Gulfport on Tuesday, May 20th, so that we can dedicate ourselves to raising financial support for our ministry. The next blessing was one that Sabrina and I did not know we would be writing, but she and I are both ecstatic over the news that we are expecting our first little one! Amen! Praise the LORD! Please pray for my wife while she is with child and for a safe delivery (due December 20th). If all goes well, then this will be the first grandbaby for both sides of the family to spoil!

Before we actually began full-time deputation, we participated in three more meetings. At a church in Mississippi just an hour from our hometown, we took part in a missions conference in April. It was special that a missionary from the Ivory Coast (very close to Nigeria) was the main speaker. Sabrina gave a wonderful testimony during the international supper on Saturday night, and I enjoyed preaching in their junior church on Sunday morning. I was excited also to preach at a church in Louisiana that took us on for financial support before the service was even over. Our first meeting for full-time deputation was a missions conference in Louisiana at Sabrina’s hometown. On Friday night, we showed our Power Point presentation for the first time and also sang during the

service; I had a great time driving the bus for their ministry during that weekend. At the end of May, Sabrina and I were glad to be involved with the Summer Missions Institute for Training in Evangelism (S.M.I.T.E). I was the team counselor for a group of four teenagers who conducted a Bible club for five days at a housing project in Baton Rouge. By the end of the week our team had seen fifteen young people get saved, and Sabrina had personally led four people to Christ!

We are certainly hoping to make a trip to Nigeria as soon as possible, preferably this summer. Please continue to pray for wisdom and God’s direction in our plans. Our excitement over the last two months definitely would not be possible without the help we have received from God’s people—thank you!

The following is a letter of recommendation from our close friend, Evangelist Dr. Mike Wells, founder of International World Wide Evangelism, based at Grace Independent Baptist Church in Ocean Springs, Mississippi:

July 10, 2002
To Whom It May Concern:

I want to recommend to you Missionary Mark Holmes and his dear wife. Over the past twenty years that I have been in the ministry, I have seen hundreds of young men and ladies graduate from good Bible colleges. Without a doubt, two of the most consistent soul-winners and consistent Christians that I have had the privilege of meeting and personally getting to know is this dear man of God and his wife.

This couple has proven themselves as sincere, dedicated servants of our Lord. They are not novices. They have proven their faithfulness through the sacrificial years of Bible college. Then, after graduating from Bible college, they proved their love and devotion in faithful service to our Lord as Bro. Holmes became the assistant pastor and bus director for Pastor Dan Carr at the Faith Baptist Church in Gulfport, MS. Under his ministry as bus director, the bus ministry grew enormously, breaking all previous records. This couple is quickly becoming veterans. There is no question that God will use both Bro. and Mrs. Holmes on the mission field. Please strongly consider supporting the Holmes family monthly. This will be mission money that is well invested.

His for others and your friend,
Dr. Mike Wells

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. Over 30 churches have been started by those who have been trained or ordained by their ministry, including the most recent, Grace & Glory Baptist Church in Abuja. 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 and annual youth camp; a full curriculum DVD correspondence college 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

April/May '03

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