The Holmes Family: January/February '06

Our 20th prayer letter finds us back on the field of Nigeria. On Sabrina’s b

irthday (Feb. 23), we were able to return to Africa after a successful two-month doctor checkup for Victoria the week before. Knowing not when we would be in the U.S. again, it was difficult to say “Goodbye” to loved ones this time, but we are encouraged by the prospect of Sabrina’s father being able to visit us sometime next month, as he has a work assignment in Nigeria. Our last church service in the States was at our sending church; my pastor asked me to preach and afterwards presented us with a very generous love offering to go towards making repairs on our newly-rented church property.

Upon arrival to Abuja, we immediately found ourselves in the midst of a giant program that Bro. Gensaw [pictured] was

conducting with the recently completed film, Delivered from Hell, which I had mentioned in a previous prayer letter. As a part of their visitor’s campaign, Pilgrim’s Independent Baptist showed the movie for nine straight nights in different areas of the Federal Capital Territory. To view a church-produced motion picture broadcast from a PA system mounted on top of a van and shown through a projector on an eight-foot square white tarp, the people came in crowds ranging from 400 to 4000, and, by the end of the promotion, over 16,000 people had heard the Gospel message through this unique production!

Cock-a-doodle-doo: I’ve always had the picture in my mind of the sun rising on a serene farm setting while in the distance a family rooster dutifully wakes those who are sleeping in their comfortable home. Not long after our return to the Gensaw home, that scene was noisily destroyed early one morning as the children’s fowl had been placed in a cage situated directly outside our open bedroom window. Thankfully, this rooster was prophetically named “Chicken Soup” by Bro. Ron’s oldest daughter, and, the next day, Mr. Soup was in someone’s bowl!

Victoria [pictured at 4 months, then 6 months with me] certainly has me already “wrapped up” with her beautiful smile;

Sabrina and I are still trying to bring out that first laugh. Meanwhile, Joseph has become quite a tattletale. He seems to enjoy “telling on” his father, not realizing yet that Mommy and Daddy are on the same team!

We are still praying for the safe passage of our container; the shipper has determined that our belongings may arrive about a month late (at the end of March). Repairs are busily being made to our house so that we will hopefully be ready to move in once we receive our shipment. We will soon be having the first class for the newly named Temple Baptist Institute (as a tribute to the church and institute of the same name in Mississippi who is sponsoring our schooling endeavors)

[TBC Pastor J. Stephen Crane and his dad pictured]. Bro. Gensaw is planning a short trip to the U.S. in March for Pastor’s School; therefore the start of our church is being delayed so that we can oversee Pilgrim’s Independent Baptist Church while he travels. Please pray that the Truth Baptist Church in Nyanya will be able to have its first service in early April!

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

January/February '06

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