John was born in northwest Georgia in the mid-30’s in the rolling hills of the Appalachian Mountains. Dirt roads, outhouses, no phones, ice boxes, bare light bulbs hanging from the ceilings, but family was strong. Church was very important. Any time the church doors opened; his family was there. Mother played the piano, and dad was a deacon and sang in the choir. It was our second home.
We were very poor, but the kids didn’t know it. There were three children, a girl first and then two boys. John went one year to the local high school but transferred to another for four more years. It was the last year of only eleven grades in Georgia schools and John graduated the first year after they changed to twelve years of school.
He felt the call to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ at the age of ten and continues to serve the Lord to date. Unfortunately, he did not have a good grasp on what that salvation meant or what was expected of him after the call. Years later, he started to realize what accepting Jesus as his Savior really meant and asked the Lord to baptize him with the Holy Spirit. This came with the power to be a witness of Jesus which means that he was given power to do the same miracles Jesus did. It also came with another language that the bible calls speaking in tongues. He has experienced numerous healings, the first being a serious heart defect. Then came knee problems, skin cancer, broken foot and Covid. Glory to God.
He won a four-year scholarship to Georgia Tech in Textile Engineering, but only lasted three years. His study habits were not good because high school was surprisingly easy, and he maintained honor roll status with very little study time. John had wanted to fly airplanes for some time and tested for the Air Force’s Aviation Cadet program. This was a forerunner of the Air Force Academy. He qualified for either pilot or navigator and waited for a class assignment. This came in September 1956. A little over 26 years later, he retired as a full Colonel. His last major achievement was directing the build of a new airplane for President Jimmy Carter.
A few months after flight training, John was stationed in Savannah, Georgia. Within two weeks after arriving, he met a beautiful Georgia Peach named Beverly. She loved the Lord and joined John in serving Him. They were married on Valentine’s Day, 1959. Through many moves and multiple bases, John retired in December 1982. They had three children, a boy, Jeff in 1960, a girl Lauren in 1963, but she had serious problems and only lived three days. Then, a year later, a second daughter, Jennifer, came along with the happiness of two people. We called her Happy Holcomb. Both children were in missions work for a while. Jeff in Argentina for a year where he worked with a new band in the church. Jennifer was in Belgium for three years working in television. Both have two children and continue to serve the Lord.
John and Beverly settled in the Charlotte area, but Beverly developed bad lungs and had emphysema and COPD together. She was on oxygen 24/7 and they had to find a dryer, less humid climate. Their daughter was already in Fort Worth, Texas which was a little better than Charlotte for humidity. She lasted about four years in Texas and went to be with Jesus and our daughter in November 2010. John still misses her every day!
After the military, he worked a few years with insurance and mutual funds, but in 1993 went to work with MorningStar Ministries in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was General Manager and Conference Administrator for the first few years. Afterwards, he did counseling, deliverance, and general ministry. He was ordained in 1994.
In the early and middle 80’s, the Lord gave John many words for the future of the church. Most of those words center around the scripture, Ephesians 4:4-6. “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were on one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.” If you notice, there are many ONE’s in this scripture. When there are that many one’s, we need to take heed. There is ONE body! And so, here is John’s VLOG by the name of, “It’s All About the Body.”