The Holmes Family: February/March '04

After spending five weeks north of the Mason-Dixon Line, it’s been

very nice to get back to some warm weather recently! Sabrina, Joseph, and I were able to go conveniently to several meetings in the North since we were already planning to attend Pastors’ School. During that week at First Baptist Church in Hammond, Indiana, Bro. Ron Gensaw (missionary in Abuja, Nigeria) [pictured holding 1 yr. old Joseph] was there, and I excitedly worked out with him several details of our survey trip. We are greatly anticipating the visit to his work for the several days that we will be in Africa, if the Lord allows it. Sabrina and I are praying that the co-founder of our mission board, Dr. Mike Cox, and his wife will be able to accompany us.

So far, two churches have pledged to help us specifically with costs that we will incur because of our August trip. Additionally, a church in Iowa met a need and a “want” during its missions conference at the beginning of March. We had several things that needed repair on our Caravan, so members of a prayer group pitched in to get the vehicle fixed and running better than it ever has. Also, not long after we arrived for the four-day meeting, the song leader took me out to shop for a digital camera! He used his income tax refund to pay for a top-of-the-line machine that was even more than what I had desired to take on our survey trip.

Also in March, a pastor in Oregon make it possible for us to have our first meeting out West when he provided for our airfare (Joseph’s first time on a plane) and our hotel accommodations. After three days of challenging preaching, enjoyable activities, and delicious meals, we went soul-winning on Saturday. I joined one of the assistant pastors, and during one of our many visits, I was able to share the Gospel with a Muslim teenager at his door. The boy’s father was sitting in the living room, and he allowed me to keep talking with his son who soon bowed his head and asked Jesus Christ to save his soul! I was reminded once again that God can overcome any challenging situation.

A missions conference cancellation recently allowed Sabrina and I a chance to surprise her

parents by coming to her hometown of Denham Springs, Louisiana, a week early; my mom drove the short trip from Long Beach, Mississippi, to be with us the next day. It seems that our relatives [Sabrina's parents pictured] cannot get enough of spending time with Joseph and spoiling him! We’re privileged to have most of April and May scheduled so that we’ll be able to stay with family often. Currently, God has blessed us with a total of eighty-five meetings scheduled in Mississippi and Louisiana alone! I am busily working to book meetings through the end of the year, with prayerful plans to be on the field of Nigeria by January.

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

February/March '04

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