The Holmes Family: May/June '07

As Sabrina and I made acknowledgment of our second year in Nigeria, Truth Baptist Church successfully celebrated its first Anniversary Service on May 13 with a record attendance of 217! It’s been the only time that we’ve eclipsed 200 during the morning service. Another part of our special month was the conducting of a public Film Showing on the 25th at the main soccer field in our town. The biggest one-day meeting in which our church had been involved saw our people excited to count over 300 spectators with more than 60 receiving Christ by the end of the night. I was very pleased to observe many of our young Christians distributing stacks of tracts to those who passed by the venue not far from our church.

After averaging 100 in attendance for the first time in April,

our regular turnout increased to over 150 for May and June. We also made a big deal of new members in the month of June. We featured two special Membership Services where 65 faithful folks joined Truth Baptist Church.

Our

fourth unique gathering of the two months was a Thanksgiving Service on June 24th. This is an annual event in most Nigerian churches when specific needs are presented and met, and a big offering is taken for the church. During our particular version, I revealed to the church that we had completed negotiations for the second half of the property we were purchasing. I then challenged the members to be willing to sacrifice and give for the building of an auditorium solely for Truth Baptist Church on the

newly acquired portion of our property [view of Nyanya pictured from the top of our plot]. To conclude, we took a special collection for purpose of a future auditorium.

This service also was the culmination of my recent twelve-week preaching series on giving. I initiated the use of envelopes for our members where they could record tithes for regular church expenses, offerings for the building, and missions money for Nigerian men who desire to start works in other nations. It’s our goal to see missions continue even on the mission field! Please pray for continued growth of the church and for traveling mercies as we plan to arrive in the U.S. on July 3rd for the birth of our third child.

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

May/June '07

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