The Holmes Family: June/July '03

Our first two months of full time deputation definitely treated us well. In June and July, we had

the privilege of presenting our work at twenty-four churches; Sabrina and I sang in all but two of them, and I had the honor of preaching for seventeen of the pastors. God has blessed by allowing us to add more than seventy other churches to our future schedule. While with a particular church in Columbia, Mississippi, the bus director and I were excited to win four souls to Christ on Saturday, and on Sunday, eight church members individually sacrificed so that the church could begin to support us financially on a monthly basis. Sabrina and I were humbled by their hospitality, their heart, and their unique way of giving.

Already we are seeing the evident hand of the Lord working through people for our ministry. Several months ago, I gave a prayer card to one of my former public junior high school teachers when I saw her for the first time in probably seven years. She commented that she wanted to contribute to our ministry in some way, and at the end of June, she called me and committed to give a sizeable offering towards our work. Sabrina and I visited in her home and learned that she was recovering from a recent surgery and also undergoing chemotherapy treatments. This dear lady sat in her living room and wrote me a check that helped us to pay for our laptop, video projector, several months of auto insurance, and other things that made our financial situation much easier. Also, Sabrina and I had been praying that we would have a van to use for when the baby comes in December (Lord willing). In the middle of July, my wife and my mom and I ate lunch with a good friend of our family, and she gave us the key to her 1996 Dodge Caravan that she was not able to drive anymore—an answer to prayer long before I truly expected! The stories that missionaries have about God’s provision always amaze me, and sometimes it concerned me that we didn’t yet have those great illustrations. I would imagine that God doesn’t want his servants to go all over the country without specific reasons to brag on Him!

Sabrina has been traveling very well with child and has not been sick even once. Please continue to pray for her, for our travels, and for God to make us a blessing to many churches and pastors.

The following is a letter of recommendation of our ministry from Bro. Jerry Purtell, the Louisiana director of Child Evangelism Fellowship, also the founder and director of Summer Missions Institute for Training in Evangelism (SMITE) that my wife attended for more than 10 years

Dear Pastor:

For the last 27 years I have directed the work of Child Evangelism in the Baton Rouge area of Louisiana. In doing this work I have trained and worked with some of the finest young people on the earth. And in the course of events God has called some of these young people into His special work.

Two of these young people with whom I have closely worked are Mark and Sabrina Holmes. God has called these two fine young people to the mission field of Africa. They both are sold out for God, and I know they have what it takes to get the job done for the Lord.

I would like to ask that you give this young man a chance to present his work to your church. In fact, you could save a lot of time and trouble and just take them on for support right now. I know that you won’t be disappointed in Mark and Sabrina Holmes.

Sincerely,
Jerry Purtell

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.

1 comment:

Mark Holmes said...: We learned recently that the dear lady who gave us the donation went to Heaven on September 24, 2008. Linda Matheny was loved greatly by her family, church, school, and community. We will miss her and will be forever grateful for helping our ministry to get started.; October 30, 2008 at 1:15 PM

The Holmes Family

June/July '03

1 comment:

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