Mark's story
Mark Colebank never expected to become a Christian, let alone spend his life teaching the Bible. He was an atheist in college, and he was won over not by an argument but by seeing the love and joy his Christian friends had in following Jesus.
What followed was decades of ministry: planting churches, going to seminary, pastoring, teaching. He learned the Holy Spirit from studying the Bible for almost 40 years, teaching the Experiencing God study 15 times over the years and believing that what God does in the Bible, he will do today. For much of that time, Mark still believed that trying harder was the answer.
Seven years of doctoral research, spent asking why so many churches have a form of godliness without its power, led him to do a deep study of Jesus' last night with his disciples in John 13–17. There he found what had been missing. Revival is simple, though never easy. Only sin blocks the Spirit-filled life of love, peace, and joy, and sin is dealt with by applying the Gospel daily. The power of the Spirit comes by losing your life.
That study became LOSE to Win.
Ministry and experience
Mark has taught the Bible for more than thirty years. He helped plant house churches in New England in his twenties, directed a Sunday School in a Baptist Church in his thirties, studied at seminary in Alberta, pastored a church in British Columbia in his forties, and taught workplace seminars. He holds a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), and his doctoral research at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary focused on discipleship that transforms rather than merely informs.
Today Mark serves as an elder and small group coach at The Summit Church in the Raleigh-Durham area. There he works with group leaders in a church of over ten thousand people, helping them build groups where people commit to one another and grow, not just gather.
Mark also works as a web developer and IT professional. He is a self-supporting disciple maker of exactly the kind his books describe: an ordinary working believer who makes disciples without a church budget or a staff title.
Mark and his wife, Lynn, married in 1998 and live in Wake Forest, North Carolina. They have three grown children, John, Sarah, and Jenna.
Books
LOSE to Win: Dying to Self to Live in the Power of the Holy Spirit walks through John 13–17 and shows four things the Spirit does in a believer. He teaches, he produces the fruit of love, he gives gifts for serving, and he convicts and draws those far from God. Around those four, the book builds a plan any ordinary Christian can follow: L.O.S.E. (Listen, Obey, Serve, Evangelize). It is written especially for Discipleship Group leaders.
Following the Holy Spirit: Listen and Obey is a six-session study of John 14–15 for three or four friends around a table. Each session includes group questions, daily readings, room to write, and the H.E.A.R. method for hearing God in a passage. It is the first study in the LOSE to Win discipleship series, with studies on Serving and Evangelizing to follow.
Invite Mark
Mark speaks at churches, trains small group leaders, leads weekend seminars and retreats, and coaches small online groups through LOSE to Win. His topics include the Holy Spirit, dying to self, reading the Bible to obey, and building Discipleship Groups that multiply.
Contact about speaking or coaching →