Holton was blessed to be brought up in a Christian home where faith was not simply a matter of attending church on Sunday morning but was a vital part of everyday life. Knowing from an early age that he would serve God in whatever vocational capacity he found himself, Holton received a more specific sense of call while celebrating the Lord’s Supper at a Montreat Youth Conference as a sophomore in high school. It was at that moment when Holton felt the Spirit of God move within him to affirm that some area of Christian ministry would be his calling. In the years that followed, Holton continued to be actively involved in the local and greater church in numerous ways.
Michael graduated from high school in 1980 thinking that he wanted to become a physician. But one semester of college Chemistry at the University of Virginia was enough to let him know that seven more years of that would in all likelihood kill him. It was not that he couldn’t do the work. It was just that he absolutely hated it. He took a New Testament course in place of Organic Chemistry in his second semester along with his first psychology course. He fell in love with both and ended up double majoring in both psychology and religion. But make no mistake: the University of Virginia is a secular institution and the social life there did anything but support a disciplined spiritual life.
Mark Lampley was born and raised in North Carolina by long time, faith-filled Presbyterians. He was blessed to be a part of an extended family that was Christian and a loving family of faith at Shelby Presbyterian located in western NC. Born to Dr. Charlie Lampley and Mabel Baird, he was baptized as an infant by Rev. George Webb and became Confirmed as a teenager. He and his elder brother, Chuck, fully participated in sports of all kinds, and enjoyed family trips to hike, ski, camp, and explore throughout the country. Participating in school and youth group leadership opportunities and becoming an Eagle Scout shaped and equipped him, by God’s grace, to graduate from Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC....