Mark E. Killam

Mark Eugene Killam went to be with Jesus on March 29, 2026. He is survived by his wife of almost 65 years, Carol Jenkins Killam; their three children, Suzanne Carol Killam Kiesling, Gregory Mark Killam, and Jason Scott Killam; their five grandchildren, Daniel Christopher Kiesling, Samuel Mabry Kiesling, Joshua Scott Killam, Abigail Marie Killam, and Jacob Steven Killam; and their two great grandchildren, Hannah Elisabeth Kiesling and Judah Daniel Kiesling. He is also survived by his brother, John Carl Killam.

The oldest son of three children, Mark was born at home in Hickory, Mississippi, on April 27, 1940, to Mark Henry Killam and Edna Pauline Mabry Killam. Mark’s father was a Navy veteran of World War I. To give his children a better education, he relocated to Meridian, Mississippi.

Mark met his wife Carol in Meridian in an afternoon select choir while a senior in high school. It was also where he accepted Christ as Savior in a Methodist church revival. Mark and Carol married in the summer of 1961 before his senior year at Mississippi State University (MSU). They often said that they married young and God grew them up, forging a strong bond together that never broke.

Mark graduated from MSU in 1962, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Business while serving as a student pastor for a circuit of four churches.

In 1962, he began his studies at Asbury Theological Seminary (ATS), and he and Carol welcomed their first child, Suzanne, into their family in September, 1963. In 1966, Mark graduated from ATS with a Master of Divinity degree and received the President’s Award in Preaching upon graduation.

Mark pastored churches in his home state of Mississippi from 1966 to 1981, where their first son, Gregory, was welcomed in 1967 and their second son Jason was born in 1970. He transferred to the North Texas Annual Conference, where he served at First United Methodist Church in Carrollton, Texas, from 1981 to 1985, and then was called to First Covenant Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from 1985 to 1989. He served as an interim pastor at Evangelical Covenant Church in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1990, and as a church planter at Resurrection Covenant Church in Lilburn, Georgia, from 1990 to 1991.

In 1993, Mark answered a call to Grace Covenant Church in Arlington, Texas, with his stated goal “to help the congregation focus on her reason for existence, namely, to glorify the eternal Triune God by making contemporary disciples of Jesus Christ.”

Mark also had a great heart for missions. He served in short-term mission work in Korea, Ecuador, and India.

Mark’s entire ministry was spent with a passion for preaching, teaching, and discipleship. In several scrapbooks that were created for his retirement, the body of believers at Grace Covenant described Mark’s true self as a “servant leader - having a passionate devotion to serving the Lord through serving people, a shepherd who took tender care of his flock, sincere devotion, a man who treated all people with kindness, and a man who did his best to be like Jesus.”

In his own words written for a high school reunion biography, Mark’s retirement activities included “amateur guitar strumming, a growing love of woodworking, and a budding attempt at writing for individuals who have little or no experience reading the Bible but who want to.”

Mark never anticipated that his budding effort in writing would result in authoring a 751-page commentary on Matthew. When Mark was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis in 2021, he and Carol’s prayer was that God would allow him to be cognitive and well enough to complete this task. God answered that prayer. “The Gospel According to Matthew” was given to his alma mater, Asbury Seminary, and was published in 2025 through Asbury’s academic free press, First Fruits. Mark considered this his final gift to the Lord for the purpose of making disciples.

Carol, his wife, says he was an incredible husband. He loved and cared for her with a great love and respect up to the day of his death. He was a wonderful father and mentor to three children - loving them, playing with them, and teaching them to follow the Lord. He lived to see the third generation bring up children to love God.

“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” 3 John, verse 4.