Bishop Marcus D Holley was born in Brooklyn, NY on Aug. 17th to the late Deacon John T. Holley and Reverend Barbara A. Holley. As he was raised in church, Bishop Holley learned about the Lord at an early age. As a toddler he attended the Pentecostal House of Prayer under the leadership of Bishop Lucille Allen. From there he came up in Greater St Stephen’s United Church of God under the leadership of his Pastor and Father, His Grace Marvin D Williams Sr. It was at St Stephen’s, he matriculated through the Living Waters Bible Institute under Dean Joyce Decosta, securing an Associate’s Degree in Theology.
Bishop Holley later moved to Greensboro, NC in 1992 and married Carla A. Burnett whom he met while visiting Atlanta, Ga. To this union was born one child, a daughter Cai’la M Holley, and they have also been favored with another daughter (his niece) Shakina Haynesworth and a son, (husband) Jonathan Haynesworth. Upon coming to Greensboro, Bishop became a member of Mt Zion United Church of God under the pastorate of Reverend Bernard J. Curry.
In 1993 he founded Praise Ministries and traveled abroad singing, teaching, and preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Bishop Holley later served as the interim Pastor of St Matthew’s Holiness Church in High Point, NC from Dec.2002 – Oct.2003. He was later selected as the Sr Pastor in October of 2003. The church has since grown at the local level and now also stands as a covering for Inspired Women of Destiny Outreach Ministry (Evangelist Melodie Golden), Fresh-Manna Teaching Ministry (Pastor Mary Long), and Evangelist Bianca Richardson, RAW Truth Ministries (Overseer William Cromer), and additional ministries as well, thus Greater Saint Matthew’s Fellowship Ministries was born.
Bishop Holley continues to serve as a personal adjutant to his Pastor, Bishop and Father, His Grace Marvin D Williams. He serves with Bishop Williams in the United Churches of God Inc., and the Eagle Christian Fellowship International with Bishop Matthew Washington. It is by the blessing of Bishop Williams that Bishop Holley now serves as a leader within the St. Paul’s Kingdom Connections Inc. Fellowship of Churches under the anointed leadership of Bishop Howard B Kennedy III and Bishop Anita L Shivers-Kennedy. Bishop Holley serves as the Southern Jurisdictional Bishop, Executive Board member, Minister of Protocol, and the Chairman of the Presbytery Board for the Fellowship. By God’s grace and favor, he was consecrated to the office of Overseer in the Lord’s Church in May of 2012, by Bishop and Apostle Kennedy. It is now by this same grace and favor per the Lord’s leading, Bishop Howard and Bishop Anita Kennedy did consecrate Marcus D Holley to the sacred office of Bishop in September of 2016.
His motto is simple,” If you step out in Anticipation, God will always be there to catch you.” He believes that the only true way to minister to the Church is to REACH, TEACH and EMPOWER the individual.
Grace, Mercy, and Peace; be unto you…