Mark Oliver never thought he’d go into ministry. A classically trained jazz musician turned investment advisor, he didn’t see his life moving in a different direction. But as a faithful follower of Christ, Mark knew one thing to be true: When God called him to go and give – wherever and whatever it might be – the only response was a simple and confident, “Yes.”
“I accepted the Lord in 1973,” Mark recalls. “At the time, I thought my faith was about helping me be a good man. I didn’t see any ministry purpose for myself other than just being a good witness with the way I lived.”
After marrying his wife, Carol, welcoming their three children, and settling down in Pennsylvania, that’s exactly what Mark did. He focused his energy on being a good husband, a good father, and a good man. Life, as he knew it, was going to according to plan.
But all that changed after one unexpected encounter with God in 2015.
“I heard the Lord speak to me clearly: ‘Mark, I want you to retire from your position, sell your home, and step into ministry.’”
For Mark, the call was clear: follow the Lord’s leading into a life of generosity and service to his people. But before he could take even one step in that direction, he had to share it with his wife.
“For as long as we’ve been married, Carol’s helped me to live with greater faith,” Mark says. “When I told her I wanted to quit my job and sell our house to go into ministry, I wasn’t surprised by her response.”
That day, Carol simply said, “Wherever it is God has called us to, I’m for it.”
A step into ministry
That answer became a mantra of sorts for Mark and his wife as they followed God on this new path to ministry. Quickly, they listed and sold their home, just as Mark retired from his career as Vice President of Investments for a Fortune 500 company. He attended ministry training in the United Kingdom, and when he returned to the United States, God called the Olivers somewhere new.
“I started serving in ministry with a church in West Palm Beach,” Mark says. “Specifically on Tamarind Avenue, there’s a lot of need. Drugs, gangs, poverty, broken families – it’s a heavy stretch of that area.”
They set to work pouring into the community, asking the Lord daily to show them the needs and provide a way to meet them. This included everything from supplying meals and financial assistance to caring for children and families in the community to supporting local nonprofits and ministries. For Mark, it was all with one goal in mind: to share his faith through giving what he had to serve others.
“Every day there’s a new opportunity to be generous.”
A path to generosity
And when a friend in ministry connected Mark to the National Christian Foundation (NCF), he knew they’d help make that kind of generosity possible.
“NCF is so proactively supportive of how we want to give,” Mark says. “They’ve thought of all kinds of ways to help us step into what God has called us to do in terms of generosity.”
With generosity as a hallmark of their lives and faith, the Olivers knew they’d need the support of an organization like NCF to make the most of their giving in this season of ministry.
“Barely a week goes by that a need doesn’t come across our plates. We prayerfully consider each one, and when God says, ‘Give,’ we set to work on figuring out what to give, how to give, and what NCF can do to help us make it happen.”
Providing a home
Responding generously to God’s call to give is how Mark first met Delita. Serving as a mentor to her sons, the two got to know one another well. So, when she found herself in an unexpected crisis, Mark is the one she called.
“The house she was supposed to have fell through,” Mark recalls, “and she didn’t know where her family was going to live.”
That night, Mark did the first thing he knew to do: encourage Delita to turn to God.
“I asked her to pray, trust in the Lord’s provision, and remember that he alone would provide a home for her family.”
At this, Mark pauses. “At the time, I had no idea I would be the one God would use to help build it.”
Wherever God called, the Olivers were committed to following. So, when they felt the nudge to help Delita get into a new home, they set to work doing whatever they could to provide. They connected with Max Torres, who helped them find partners to support the endeavor, seeking out contractors, builders, and suppliers to work with them. They set Delita up with a fixed payment on her mortgage and financial assistance to get her started. They also enrolled her in classes to help her learn to manage her finances wisely once she moved in.
“We moved forward by faith,” Mark says. “Every time we thought we hit a limit financially, God provided a way forward. Every time we got stuck in construction, God sent the people to move it along. Every time we needed support to do a specific job, God made a connection for us.”
And when Delita and her children moved in, they did so with a heart full of gratitude for all God generously gave them to get there.
“There were some challenging moments and tough times,” Delita recalls, “but we overcame them with the Lord’s help. We literally watched our home being built from the ground up. We watched God provide for us.”
Faithful builders
That experience prompted Mark, Max, and their team to launch Faith-Full Homes. This ministry gives them a chance to do for others what they did for Delita. It’s a way to serve the people in the community – not just providing a place to live but by offering the support they need to grow in knowledge, community, and faith as they do.
“We want to help create Christian community by building homes, building trust, building relationships, and ultimately building faith,” Mark says. “Our prayer is that we’ll be able to generously bless every person we serve.”
The Olivers and their team have a vision to continue building for those who can’t afford homes on their own. Their goal is to help the members of the community who not only need affordable housing but also the support of an entire system working to set them up for success as they move in. And that’s exactly what Faith-Full Homes intends to do.
“We’ve had great faith in this season, and now, we’re trusting God to multiply that as we continue building and giving to the community.”
Mark had no idea where the road would lead when he followed God’s call into a life of ministry. But now, standing in the midst of all God is doing, it’s more than he could’ve ever asked for or imagined.
“Everything we have is from God. Everything we do is in the joy of Jesus Christ. Truly, this has been the richest season of our lives.”
