Dr. Mark & Sabrina Holmes2023-05-23T12:32:01-05:00

DR. MARK HOLMES FAMILY

SERVING IN NIGERIA SINCE 2005

ABOUT

Mark Birthday 08/02
Sabrina Birthday 02/23
Mark & Sabrina Wedding Anniversary 08/04
Mark Jr. Birthday 12/04
Victoria Birthday 12/14
Brian Birthday 08/20
Noah Birthday 02/03
LaDonna Birthday 07/03
Aaron Birthday 09/10

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. Over 30 churches have been started by those who have been trained or ordained by their ministry, including the most recent, Grace & Glory Baptist Church in Abuja. 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 and annual youth camp; a full curriculum DVD correspondence college 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.

What We Believe

Our Statement of Faith is consistent with…

The church from which we are sent: Faith Baptist Church in Gulfport, Mississippi

The mission board with which we are affiliated: Fundamental Baptist Missions International in Hammond, Indiana

The college from which we graduated: Hyles-Anderson College in Crown Point, Indiana

For more details, visit fbcgulfport.com, fbmi.org, or hylesanderson.com

Faith Baptist Church
fbcgulfport.com
8467 Canal Rd.
Gulfport, MS 39503
(228)863-6993

CONTACT

234-80-532-3148-7
225.910.6337
P.O. Box 11491
Garki-Abuja, FCT 900-001
Nigeria
P.O. Box 11491
Garki-Abuja, FCT 900-001
Nigeria
missionaryholmes.blogspot.com

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You can financially support our family and ministry by giving here online, or you can mail checks to FBMI, 507 State Street, Hammond, IN 46320, and designate your giving to Missionary #90.
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LATEST

Mark and Sabrina Holmes Prayer Letter: Unexpected Gifts

Mark and Sabrina Holmes Prayer Letter: Unexpected GiftsIn the middle of March, we received not only an amazing opportunity but also a well-timed answer to prayer. White Oak Baptist Church in Stratford, Connecticut, arranged for Sabrina and me to be their special guests during the church’s annual Missions Conference. I spoke six times in four days, met several new missionary and church friends, enjoyed the fellowship and activities, and was honored by the generous gifts and royal treatment that my wife and I received. Sabrina had been praying that we could see our oldest son before his upcoming August visit, and we were able to take three days before the conference to visit Joseph, tour his school, see relatives, and soak up some “tastes of home” in the Baton Rouge area.

For the first time since 2014, we were thrilled to host our pastor friend, who helped me conduct our initial six Soul-Winning & Leadership Conferences (SWLC), Bro. Ken Shinn of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Columbia, Mississippi. He joined Missionary Evangelist Curtis Hall for Truth Baptist Church’s 14th SWLC in Abuja. We welcomed pastors and workers from more than 40 churches, and for the first time, there was a full day dedicated to well-received lessons and sermons on marriage. Bro. Hall then joined me for the 5th SWLC that we have held in Aba, Abia State. There are now ten different churches that have hosted our special meetings, which are designed to help independent Baptist churches throughout Africa’s most populous nation.

Other highlights for these two spring months included the hosting of potentially new missionaries to Nigeria, the Barker family. Then, a first-ever two-day seminar was held for preachers who are currently reaching their local prisons or who desire to get access to inmates in their area for preaching and discipleship. Great Easter services were experienced in both churches where our family is involved, and an ordination was accomplished for one of our institute graduates and a longtime Truth Baptist Church member who now pastors in a nearby village. For our seminary, a four-day AWANA (Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed) training was conducted, and students were able to participate in a ten-day outreach to a church more than a twelve-hour drive away, where, through their efforts in soul-winning and Bible Clubs, more than 700 people were saved.

Unexpectedly, we received a sizable investment from an anonymous donor for the building of a new Truth Baptist Church auditorium on the other side of our property. For years, we have sought permission from government authorities to use an already-existing foundation for our first church. During the expansion of our seminary hostel, the development-control department finally approved our plans. It should take about $60,000 to add pillars and a roof to make the area usable on Sundays, and we have already received one-third of what is needed! There is still much work to do on our previous project (plumbing, electrical, ceilings, and flooring), but please join us in prayer and consider donating as we take the steps to add a needed building that will truly help our church to grow.

Believing God,

Mark Holmes, written 15 May 2023
WhatsApp +1.228.209.4625

May 23rd, 2023|Tags: , |

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