The Holmes Family: November/December '05

January 11, 2006

The significance of the date on this letter is to let you know that yesterday we sent a twenty-foot sea container with all of our household items to Nigeria. Something for which we had planned during the last eleven months has finally come to pass! A special thanks to my sending church who made sure that I had plenty of manpower for the loading of our belongings and to many of our supporting churches who donated things which we requested at various times.

It's a girl! Victoria Noel Holmes

was born at 9:20 pm CST on Wednesday, December 14th, in Women's Hospital of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She was quite healthy at seven pounds and twenty inches in length, and, of course, very beautiful! Our girl arrived by C-Section, so Sabrina is recovering slowly, but better than the first time. Both sides of the family are very excited to have their first granddaughter!

During our stay in the U.S., the Lord has allowed me to accomplish several things for our return to the field. We now have

purchased a three year lease on land with unfinished buildings [pictured] for our ministry and two years on a home for our family; both are in the Abuja Federal Capital Territory, where we’ve been working for the past five months. With God’s help, Sabrina and I plan to begin a church as soon as we arrive again in Nigeria, and I will continue to work with Bro. Gensaw on the Bible Institutes that have been started. Eventually we want to purchase the church property and complete the structures (originally designed to be a hotel) in order to start a full-time day college for the training of pastors.

This week, my father-in-law, an Exxon Mobil employee, is returning to the U.S. from his second two-week trip for orientation that is preparing him to work in a foreign country.......Nigeria! He will be starting his six-month contract in Africa within the next couple of weeks. It has been a privilege for Sabrina and I to already have her brother, Ricky, and now her dad, Brian Hopkins, visit us on the field. Also, my pastor has discussed with me about possibly being with us in September, and there is another pastor that wants to bring seven young men with him for a trip in November. I know for a fact that we will not get tired of having guests in our part of the world; so, pastors, make plans to come and stay awhile sometime!

Sabrina

and I are trying to return to Nigeria with the kids on February 22nd; I am currently working on all of our visas. Please pray that this paperwork is easily obtained and that our container will be cleared with no trouble once we arrive in Africa.

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

November/December '05

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