[1][2] He started his religious career at the age of sixteen around 1895 around the same time as a meeting with famed evangelist Samuel Porter Jones with whom he would be closely connected.
[13][14][15] His most popular address was called 'Holcomb's Horse Race" or "They're Off", a lecture in which he drew upon the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to condemn divorce, anarchy and alcoholism among other vices.
[21] In 1945, he preached throughout Central and South America and made a return in the early 1960's to hold revivals in Lima, Peru and Buenos Aires, Argentina.
[23][24] Despite a 1955 heart attack, he remained active into the sixties, often involving himself in the political issues of the day like racism and the election of John F. Kennedy especially regarding his Catholicism.
[6] Holcomb was embroiled in controversy in 1908 over some uncouth remarks made at a Cartersville, Georgia, revival meeting.
[27] Discussion continued throughout February with both Sam Jones Jr., son of Holcomb's former mentor, and the Tabernacle Association program committee (composed of Cartersville ministers) springing to his defense.
[36] Holcomb was assigned to the Tampa, Florida, Hyde Park Methodist Church pastoral position in 1926 and served there until 1929.