God knew I needed to write this column on Rev. Mark Vincent this morning, so He let me “accidentally” run across this that I had written in my Bible. Beside John 12:25-26 was this notation, “1/16/05, Mark Vincent.”
That scripture says, “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am
, there shall also My servant be: if any man serve Me, him will My Father honour.” I don’t remember exactly what he said in his sermon, but it must have been significant, as I rarely mark a passage with the preacher’s name!
Born Dec. 28, 1962, to Glenn Vincent and Wanda Vincent, Mark J. Vincent was reared in the Agricola Community, where his parents owned and operated the family business, Vincent’s Ace Hardware. After his high school graduation, he went on to Mississippi State University, earning his Bachelor of Business Administration in May 1985.
Mark and Janine had attended school together from seventh grade through high school, were friends through his sister LuAnn, and had become close through LuAnn’s death in 1981. They were married Aug. 24, 1984, after Janine graduated from Mississippi University for Women.
He and Janine became owners of the family hardware store and operated it until he surrendered to preach and entered Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth,
Texas, receiving a Master of Divinity with Biblical Languages in May 1999.
His mother, who had been a primary leader in his spiritual journey, died when he was 25, in 1987. Her strong, godly life continues to have an effect on his life and decisions. Another person, a man from Newton County, was also a strong influence in young Mark’s life, as Rev. Bryce Evans was his pastor during those formative years. Rev. Evans’ father, Herman Evans, died in a car accident at the age of 29, and his mother, Merle Evans, was seriously injured. This greatly affected his life, as well as the crippled hand and leg he had from having contracted polio at a young age. Nevertheless, his faith grew, he attended Mississippi College entered the ministry, and even taught at Clarke College for a time after marrying Joan Davis from Bayou La Batre, Ala.
Rev. Evans earned a degree in speech and eventually began the Speech and Hearing Clinic at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Ala. This gave him opportunity to pastor Agricola Baptist Church in nearby George County, Miss. Here, as Mrs. Vincent told me, “Mark Jubal Vincent and William Bryce Evans were placed together by God’s divine intervention… Bryce Evans and Mark Vincent will always be humbly grateful for the opportunity for their paths in Christ to have met at His cross!”
Bro. Mark told me he was saved and baptized by Bro. Evans when he was 12 at Agricola Baptist Church, with his life being molded and shaped by the loving ministry of his parents, the pastor from Newton County, and the church. He began feeling a call to preach when he was 14, saying it was a process that culminated with a full surrender in 1996, when he and Janine went through an Experiencing God for Couples event with Henry and Marilynn Blackaby. Coincidentally, I remembered that the original Experiencing God course had also been instrumental in causing Clarke-Venable’s previous pastor, Rev. Stan Buckley, to surrender to the ministry!
The Vincent children came over a 10-year span, with Chelsey LuAnn being born June 20, 1988, Monica Janine on August 5, 1991, and John Mark on June 24, 1998, while they were in Texas preparing for the ministry. Chelsey is an Instructor/Coordinator of The Learning Center at Mississippi State University, and is working on her PhD at MSU, while being active at First Baptist Church, in Starkville. Monica is a nurse educator at Choctaw Regional Medical Center in Ackerman and is married to Jordan Smith, who is an educator/baseball and football coach at East Webster High School. They are active at First Baptist Church, Mathiston, Miss. Both will complete their masters in 2018. Their son, John Mark, is a sophomore at East Central Community College. He is a student intern and active member at Clarke-Venable Baptist Church, with intentions of serving full-time in Christian Minist
ry.
Bro. Vincent pastored Oak Grove Baptist Church in Burleson, Texas, from October 1998 through November 2001, then First Baptist Church, Charleston from November 2001 through June 2004, before coming to pastor Clarke-Venable Memorial Baptist Church, in June 2004 to the present time. Since becoming pastor in 2004, until now in 2017, the church has grown from 720 members to 1,020, and there have been 255 baptisms! I love the individual baptism testimonies, with Mark and Janine calling each one a “spiritual marker,” to remind the person of the faithfulness of God.
Bro. Mark’s work during the first year here was concentrating on his pulpit duties and “loving the people,” as Janine reported. My husband Royce remembers when Bro. Mark drove a gasoline truck to the Coast as part of the hurricane recovery efforts of the church in 2005.
The Vincents oversaw the recovery work with the church, as it was the hub for meal distribution here in Newton County, as well as sending food and other items to the Coast. Their simple philosophy for the church came from Henry Blackaby, “Find out where God is at work and join Him there.”
Perhaps my finding the scripture Rev. Vincent used Jan. 16, 2005, was just the Lord letting me have a significant passage to go along with my understanding of Bro. Mark’s having his priorities straight. I got this idea from his wife Janine when I asked if he had worked on his doctorate. She said he had begun working on it but decided that he needed to stop and pour his time into his family and the church.
Evidently he has done a good job at that, since all three of their children are dedicated to the service of the Lord, with the family reportedly being very “close-knit;” and his work with the church, the community, and even the Mississippi Baptist Convention has led to his recently being elected as President of that Convention!
