4KIDS announces new president

4KIDS announced Andrew Holmes as the new 4KIDS president effective immediately. Holmes joined the 4KIDS team in July of 2018, launching the organization’s Family Advocacy Ministry Program and later excelling in the role of director of community engagement.

Holmes was voted unanimously by the 4KIDS Presidential Search Task Force, 4KIDS board of directors, and executive team. Leading the task force was 4KIDS board chairman and professional executive coach, Karl Sprague. “Four months ago, I made a promise and a commitment to [this community] that we would honor you and God with our thoughtful and detailed process in finding the next leader for 4KIDS. This task force went through weekly meetings for months, and came to a unanimous recommendation,” Sprague said to the 4KIDS staff as they announced Holmes as president.

In his time with 4KIDS, Holmes has become a pivotal leader in strengthening church relationships by serving the church in innovative ways. Holmes explained, “My greatest focus as the drector of community engagement has been defining our posture with our church relationships and shifting the lens of asking churches for their valuable resources, and instead serving the church with the unique tools and resources that God has blessed 4KIDS with.”

Prior to 4KIDS, Holmes served as a founding team member to launch a Digital Substance Abuse Treatment Program. He later moved into the financial services sector where he served in leadership roles within two Miami-Dade County-based financial groups.

Holmes also served as a child protective investigator, where he first experienced firsthand the crisis vulnerable children are facing every day. Holmes explained, “When I began working in the field, I didn’t really understand the plight of kids in foster care, or the depth of brokenness that existed in our community. Through countless investigations, the one defining moment came when I held a little girl after pulling her out of a storage unit. I knew then, ‘God, you built me for this. You built me to bring hope.’”

The announcement of Holmes’s presidency was met with enthusiasm from the entire staff, former 4KIDS presidents Kevin Enders and Pastor Doug Sauder, as well as members of the 4KIDS Board of Directors. Longtime 4KIDS leader and current Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer, Tom Lukasik said, “Andrew is a sponge, always learning and growing and that’s what makes him so ready for this role.”

Holmes’s closing statements to the staff included, “Together, I know we won’t miss a beat with what has been built. We will continue to grow on the foundation of foster care to be a holistic resource, we will step into that with grace, wisdom, and the scale to what it means to care for the vulnerable.”