The Holmes Family: November/December '16

November was momentous for Sabrina and me in that it was our first Thanksgiving in the U.S. in over a decade. Our family thoroughly enjoyed spending the holiday with both sets of relatives. Christmas was extra special as all three of Sabrina’s siblings with their spouses were together in her home area. The four families, including fourteen children, surprised my mother-in-law with a new piano for her rebuilt house. Please pray that her home renovation from the August flood damage will be completed soon.

It has been a great privilege for the first time on a furlough to have someone “fill in” for us. Bro. and Mrs. Sidney McGuffee [pictured with the SMITE guest preachers and our youth camp caterer] arrived towards the end of July and stayed in our home through mid-December. At the beginning of this year, upon revealing in their home church a calling to become missionaries in Nigeria, they began raising support to minister in West Africa. Bro. McGuffee had been a supporting pastor of our ministry from the beginning, was instrumental in starting our Student Missions Institute for Training in Evangelism, has preached at Truth Baptist Church and in school ministries for the last five months, and ultimately wishes to work with our ministry and help with church planting and the starting of more youth camps throughout the continent. We ask you to pray for Bro. Sonny and Mrs. Dianne as they continue deputation through June of next year.

Through over 40 meetings on this furlough, it has never gotten old for me to testify of how God has blessed our family and work, especially in the area of multiplication. To date, 32 churches have been started by those who have been trained and/or ordained by our ministry. The recent acceleration in church planting growth has been made possible by organizations such as C.O.R.E. Missions. Centered On Remote Evangelism [CORE group that visited in May pictured] works closely with missionaries to determine how they can be assisted in reaching their areas for Christ. Currently, CORE is desiring to support eight national pastors through three missionaries in Nigeria (including four with us), as well as working in fifteen other countries. Your potential support of CORE Missions directly benefits our work, so please visit www.coremissions.org for more information.

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 '16

1 comment:

Ministry Pages

All Updates

Profile

Contact Us

Who We Are

Where We Are

What We Believe