Freshman move-in day at Olivet Nazarene University is still an unforgettable day for Mark Holcomb, but not for the usual reasons. As he was moving into Chapman Hall, he saw a student driving a Public Safety golf cart down the sidewalk. The Public Safety officer was chasing him on foot and not even close to catching him. That was Mark’s first indication that Olivet was definitely the school for him!
While he was a student at Olivet, more unforgettable experiences set the tone for the rest of Mark’s life and ministry. God confirmed his call to ministry at a Fall Revival service during his sophomore year. Also that year, he met a freshman girl named Terry Hodge, a baton twirler. “Our first date was for Homecoming that year,” Mark recalls. “We got married after we graduated, and we’ve shared 44 years of ministry and family together.”
Sports broadcasting also became part of Mark’s life while he was an Olivet student. He met Gary Griffin ’81, and they did play-by-play radio broadcasts together for Olivet Tiger football and basketball for two years.
“Students are shaped by faculty members who are engaged with the students,” Mark says. “Professor Jim Boardman and Professor Ray Moore were two of those professors for me. They counseled, mentored and taught me. As a resident assistant in Chapman for two years, I strived to do the same for the students on my floor.”
Mark graduated from Olivet with a bachelor’s degree in Christian Education and a minor in Radio Broadcasting. He also holds a master’s degree in Religious Education from Nazarene Theological Seminary. In 1990, he was ordained as an elder in the Church of the Nazarene.
For 22 years, Mark served as a youth pastor in Kansas, Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. In 2000, he was elected to the Global Nazarene Youth International (NYI) Council and served on the USA Canada NYI council from 2000 to 2009. He was elected NYI Global Vice Chair in 2005, USA Canada NYI Council Chair in 2005, and NYI Global Chair in 2009.
In fall 2004, Mark joined the Olivet faculty and taught in the School of Theology and Christian Ministry for 15 years. He developed a Master of Ministry in Youth Ministry degree program, and he helped shape the current Master of Ministry in Family Ministry degree program.
“The greatest honor of my ministry life came in the spring of 2010 when I was named chaplain at Olivet,” Mark says. “I served my alma mater in this role until 2022. What a blessing to give back to the place that had shaped me.” In 2018, Olivet recognized his service for the Lord with a Doctor of Divinity degree.
“People fall in love with the community aspect of Olivet,” Mark says. “They want to invest in it and be a part of it. Graduates want their kids to experience the Olivet way of education, ministry and life.”
Mark’s Olivet connections now extend to the family he and Terry have built together. They have two daughters, Kristin ’06, who is married to Luke Sanders ’06; and Kelli ’08, who is married to Christopher Bowman ’08. They are also grandparents to seven grandkids: Brayden, Bradley, Bella and Boone Sanders; and Jackson, Oliver and Vivian Bowman.
Mark and Terry currently live in Reed City, Michigan, where he serves on the church board at Reed City Church of the Nazarene. He now does sports broadcasts for his local high school and also coaches the varsity girls basketball team. As the Director of Spiritual Life at Eagle Village, a primary care facility for at-risk youth, he continues his commitment to having great conversations about faith with people who are struggling.
“The definition of Christian has changed in some places in our culture, but it hasn’t changed at Olivet,” Mark says. “Our society and culture need places like Olivet, where people can disagree and still be kind and gracious to one another. When you’re kind and gracious, God works in the disagreements and brings us together. Together, we are modeling what Christian truly means, and we don’t have to change what we believe to do that.”
Learn more about how you can become part of Olivet’s mission for many years to come. Contact campaign director Susan Wolff at swolff@olivet.edu or call 815-928-5776 to schedule an appointment with a member of our team.
