The Holmes Family: January/February '22

With this ministry update, I am completing 20 years of writing prayer letters; we sent out our first mailing four months before starting full time deputation. Throughout our initial two years of fundraising and communicating in the U.S., we made it clear that our goals were ministry training and church planting, but we certainly could not predict that we would be able to report that 47 churches have now been started through those trained in our ministry. 12 more potential church planters [pictured bottom] received their degrees and diplomas as Providence Baptist College & Seminary conducted its 7th Commencement [pictured above] in January, bringing the total number of graduates through our institutes and college to 160. Missionary Evangelist Curtis Hall of BEST Missions did us the honor of being the keynote at the graduation, held at Truth Baptist Church, and then preaching a Missions Sunday [handbill pictured] for Grace & Glory Baptist Church.

Bro. Hall also helped us to put on the first of six Soul-Winning & Leadership Conferences planned for this year. Independent Baptist Church of Calabar welcomed 18 different ministries for their semi-annual Sunday through Wednesday meeting. In February, Missionary Evangelists Jim Belisle and Don Wattenbarger [pictured] conducted a Pastors and Workers Conference in Ogbomoso. There is no host church that works harder than Faith Baptist, and they always have the most preachers present. Lastly, our Truth Baptist Church in Abuja held the 13th Annual Soul Winning & Leadership Conference with both guest preachers. We were thankful to have about 35 churches represented, and, unique to this year, each session was interpreted into both sign language and Hausa.

Right after Christmas, I traveled with our co-pastor, Adewale Adesina, to conduct the funeral service of a trustee and founding member of Grace & Glory Baptist Church. The family was very happy that we were able to make the flight and additional two-hour drive into Abia state for the burial. That weekend, I had the privilege of preaching at a fairly new church plant of one of our graduates. Then, Pastor Thomas Adesoye gave me the honor of preaching at his Grace Independent Baptist Church in Uyo. Finally, it was a joy to visit the home villages of Truth Baptist’s co-pastor [pictured] and his wife, Bro. and Mrs. Emmanuel Okoh, before flying back the next day.

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 '22

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