Reverend Mark S. Davis, his daughter Lauren and wife, Diane.
I was born on January 25, 1965 in Hendersonville, NC to Schuyler and Peggie Davis. I have one younger sister, Elizabeth (Beth). Both of my parents are now with the Lord.
I was very blessed that both of my parents were strong Christians. They nurtured me in the Lord and were very active in church. At the age of eight I received Christ as my Savior, and was baptized a few months later.
After graduating from high school in 1983, I entered the University of North Carolina at Asheville with the intention of attending for two years, then of transferring to North Carolina State University to major in forestry. While in college I was active in a campus ministry called Baptist Student Union (BSU). About halfway through college, however, it seemed that the doors to forestry were closing. Reflecting on my experiences in BSU, I began to feel what I thought was a call to campus ministry. Prayer and counsel confirmed this call. I reentered UNCA and changed my major to psychology, graduating in 1989.
I then entered Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. My time in seminary was often hard, but hard times lead to growth if you respond correctly. In late 1991 I hit bottom. But it was a blessing because God revealed much about my life on which He and I needed to work. I focused really hard on emotional and spiritual growth, resulting in much closer fellowship with God and the beginning of truly experiencing abundant life. I graduated from seminary with a Master of Divinity in 1992.
During my last year in seminary, I served as a volunteer Assistant Campus Minister at the BSU at NC State. The following year I served an internship as an Associate Campus Minister at the BSU at Virginia Tech. At the end of that time, I had received no job offers, so I was forced to move back to Hendersonville with my parents. However, I did volunteer for four years at the BSU of my alma mater, UNCA, as an Assistant Campus Minister.
From 1994 to 1996 I was on the staff of First Baptist Church of Asheville, NC. My official job title was a little lengthy, but basically I served as the recreation director. It was a large church with an active recreation ministry. During the last eight months of my time there I also filled the role of acting Minister to Senior Adults.
At some point in 1996 I began to feel called to the pastorate. In 1997 I moved to Buena Vista, VA to become the pastor of Neriah Baptist Church, where I served until 2004. In 2005 my family moved to Monterey, VA, where I took the pastorate of Highland Baptist Church. I pastored at Highland for nearly eighteen years, leaving in 2023. In the meantime I have been working for a lawn service.
During my first year at Neriah I met the woman who would become my wife, Diane Bowman. We married on August 7, 1999, and our daughter Lauren was born to us on August 11, 2003. Diane is an elementary school teacher, and Lauren just completed her sophomore year at Regent University. I am blessed beyond measure to have such a wonderful wife and daughter!
As a pastor I emphasize giving priority to the two greatest commands: to love God with all you have, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Being the two greatest, they should be our priority. I believe that the five major Biblical purposes of the church and of each individual are to worship God, to fellowship together as believers, to grow as and to make disciples, to share the Gospel with the lost, and to minister to one another, to the community and to the world. Every person, not only church leaders, is responsible for fulfilling these purposes.
Loving God with all you have necessarily includes worshiping Him. I mean true worship, in spirit and truth, not just going through the motions of a worship service. It needs to come from the heart and from the spirit. The Holy Spirit must be free to work as He wills, including through the expression of all the spiritual gifts He gives to believers. The fruit of true worship is obedience to God. We are enabled to surrender totally to Him and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Praying together is vital to the ministry of the church. To fulfill the purposes of the church, the church must gather together regularly and call on the name of the Lord for transformation and for spiritual power. To do the things of God we must be empowered by God.
There are many people who are saved but are not experiencing abundant life. That was true of myself at one point. But Ephesians 1:3 tells us that we have available to us every spiritual blessing in Christ. These blessings especially include knowing who we are in Christ and what He has created us to do. With all my heart I want to lead others in knowing how they can have the joy and fulfillment of a closer and closer walk with God and be empowered to fulfill His call on their lives. To God be the glory!