Fred & Lydia Holcomb

Flight Instructor, pilot/mechanic

Fred grew up in a small town in upstate NY, with Christian parents. He made a profession of faith as a child and grew up attending Christian school, but only went through the motions to “check off the boxes” of Christianity; he did not allow Jesus to be Lord of his life. Even though he was far from the Lord at the time, through God’s sovereignty, Fred attended Word of Life Bible Institute in Schroon Lake, NY, not far from his home. Fred grew in his faith that year, but still struggled with allowing Jesus to have his whole life.

Lydia, originally from south-central PA, grew up as a pastor’s daughter and chose to place her faith in Jesus as a young adolescent. She had many Believers pour into her life and developed a growing faith. Following high school, when she didn’t know what to do for further education or a future career, the Lord used some circumstances to point her toward a year of Bible college at Word of Life Bible Institute.

Fred and Lydia met and ended up on the same ministry team their first semester there at WOLBI and began a sincere friendship, which is still ongoing today. During their year there, Lydia got her first taste of cross-cultural missions through a ministry trip to Brazil, where she felt God calling her to mission work. After completing their Bible studies in NY, they both continued on to Liberty University, in VA, where Lydia completed a degree in Elementary Education. Fred was undecided in his major and eventually chose to leave college for the work force and began working in construction. The best friends happily married in May 2000. During the first half of their marriage, the distractions and weeds of life took center stage and kept them both from living a very intentional life with the Lord. They participated in church and in many good things but didn’t realize, until much later, that they were holding onto the idol of living the comfortable life. In 2009, the Lord and His bigger plan began taking shape in their lives as, with a two-year-old at home, Lydia delivered triplets four months early. Their lives changed forever while experiencing the highs and lows, in the very same hours, for five months in the NICU with three micro-preemies. In God’s mercy, He met and carried them in that journey and they eventually brought three progressing babies home, for a total of four boys age two and under. They saw God in a new light, as Healer and Sustainer: as a mighty God. Three years later, God would use a back injury from his construction work to pull Fred’s eyes further from the world and its cares and directly onto Himself.

Aviation had never been on Fred’s radar but through a series of clicks on a website, when needing a new occupation, God put an unexplainable burden on Fred’s mind to look into it, and specifically, into missionary aviation. Neither Fred nor Lydia knew what it was or would mean for them but, in June 2012, God used a series of divine appointments to point the couple onto a path of learning, wrestling with God, prayer and fasting and a surrendering to His will. God undeniably pointed them to pursue mission aviation then led Fred to find a young mission aviation training center in Missouri, called SOAR, where he could work as an apprentice in aircraft maintenance and receive flight training at cost from volunteer flight instructors. The family of six, with a fifth baby on the way then, found this cost-effective option suited them very well, and in December 2013 they moved to begin Fred’s training. While at SOAR, God provided so specifically for costs of flight exams, his A&P examiner’s fee, a gifted sea-plane certification, even coverage for the family’s heating costs one cold winter and gifts of meat for their freezer from a generous, neighboring farmer. They saw God as Provider and trustworthy.

While praying for where God wanted them to serve through aviation, after a period of years planning to minister in Papua New Guinea, God closed a door, shifted their plans, and brought an opportunity to the forefront for a six-month internship with MARC. With the COVID pandemic winding up and hindering the traditional route of visiting the organization for candidacy, and with God’s provision and peace, the family packed up and moved to Alaska in May 2020. During the internship, they sought discernment for whether this was where the Lord wanted them to stay and serve. Ministry in Alaska was a new idea to Fred and Lydia, but the more they learned about the need to transport the Gospel across the state and even right here in their local community, the Holcombs chose to stay and join MARC on staff. They are grateful to God for the open door and to have a part in MARC’s ministry. They desire to love God with all their hearts, souls, minds, and strength and serve Him in the opportunities that He provides, for His kingdom and glory.