The Holmes Family: September/October '13

Greetin

gs from Abuja, where in September we rejoiced in the success of our 4th Annual Student Missions Institute for Training in Evangelism. Truth Baptist Church welcomed two guest preachers from the U.S. [Pastor Jared Decker pictured with our asst. pastor, Justin, whom we were pleased to have at the camp following his accident] and 120 teenagers and singles from 11 churches. The first graduation of our youth camp was held this year with 23 young people having completed our 4-year training for conducting Bible Clubs. Twenty Bible clubs were run during the week, enrolling over 1200 children, with over 500 raising their hand for salvation. We thrilled to hear several testimonies of how the campers have taken the Bible club materials along with the training they have received and helped their home churches to reach more children.

For several years, my family has requested that I would be the one to conduct my grandmother's funeral whenever the time would come. The Sunday after our youth camp, my mom's mother, at the age of 92, passed away at a hospice in Houston, Texas. On Tuesday, I took Victoria with me to make our first "emergency" journey to the U.S. during a term in Nigeria. Though grieving the loss of my favorite encourager, the first person who ever taught me the Bible, I can say that with God's help the trip and the funeral could not have gone any better. It was refreshing to spend some time with family and friends (and partake in some Mississippi Gulf Coast seafood during my stay), and I did have the privilege of preaching in our sending church on the only Sunday night that I was there. Victoria [pictured with me after the funeral] was the perfect traveler, and we will never forget our special time together.

October was also filled with traveling and visitors as I made two trips to a southeastern state of Nigeria. One was to preach for a pastor friend's [Pastor Timothy Ojo pictured with his wife and a church member behind their celebration cake] 20th anniversary of ministry and the other for the 6th anniversary service at a church where one of our graduates is the assistant pastor. In the middle of the month, we hosted a representative of Global Baptist Church Planters, a ministry where I have recently begun serving as a partner; their support of two of our seminary graduates was instrumental in getting two more churches started earlier this year.

In November, Truth Baptist Church will begin to buy materials for our auditorium building project; please pray as we start the work. Personally, our family would like to make a couple of requests for our furlough that will run from mid-March through July of next year: we need a phone and a vehicle for traveling (we are familiar with BBTM as an option). We have been blessed during each visit to the States that different friends have saved us a lot of money in these two necessities. In fact, last furlough we were given a Taurus to own, which is perfect when I travel alone or with one of my children; pray with us that we can once again have access to a van or SUV for trips with our whole family.

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

September/October '13

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