The Holmes Family — Renovation City Church

Meet Pastors Timothy and Jocelyn Holmes

It’s the murder of 52 Bronxites during the first 26 weeks of 2018 that led Tim and Jocelyn to fast and pray for our borough. Burdened by the weight of death their on hometown, they sought God’s voice for direction and hope. And it was in that place of prayer, fueled by the grief and reflection of death, that God began to birth the early seeds of church planting.

It started with an invitation to pray, and to invite others to pray alongside them.

As they listened to God in prayer, a beginning of a vision was born, to renovate. This is the same call that we see in Amos 9:14 that tells the people of God to ‘rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.’ It’s the same call we see in Jeremiah 29:7 that tells the people of God to ‘seek the peace of the city.’ It’s the idea that the city has worth, value, and dignity. The city, even as unholy the activities might be, is worth saving and redeeming. With the power of God, and the commitment of the people, it does not need to be demolished, but it can be repurposed. When a space is renovated, it is a declaration that there is good use of the space, and it can be used with more intention and purpose than it once was.

This was the vision God birthed in prayer, about the borough of the Bronx. In the midst of death, God showed my wife and I that there is still life, purpose, and beauty in the borough; and it can be repurposed for God’s glory.

That vision led them to pray and seek God for the borough of the Bronx.

What emerged from that time of prayer was increased faith that God is actively renovating, and will continue to renovate the people, families, and communities of the Bronx. And they desire to be part of the amazing ecosystem of faith communities that are working together to renovate what God has declared to have purpose.

Tim and Jocelyn are a product of the Bronx. They’ve been shaped by the people, the culture, and the church. We have experienced both the beauty and the brokenness of the Bronx. And the call from God to Tim and Jocelyn was to join His renovation of the borough. They believe that when the church is healthy the lives of each person within the church is restored, the communities we are a part of are reconciled, and the cities we live in are rebuilt to foster God’s shalom. And to do that, means we remove what is toxic, reinforce what is inherently good, and redeem what is broken.

This is the work of r e n o v a t i o n.

Renovation makes a bold claim, that there is still something worth saving, there is still purpose. We believe God thinks the Bronx is worth saving, and has purpose. Their desire is to join God, and the other co-laborers of the Bronx to renovate a borough that God has claimed as good.