{"id":6956,"date":"2023-06-20T13:45:24","date_gmt":"2023-06-20T17:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=6956"},"modified":"2023-06-22T12:48:53","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T16:48:53","slug":"man-who-was-once-a-powerful-drug-lord-gives-his-life-to-christ-and-becomes-a-pastor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2023\/06\/man-who-was-once-a-powerful-drug-lord-gives-his-life-to-christ-and-becomes-a-pastor.html","title":{"rendered":"Man Who Was Once a Powerful Drug Lord Gives His Life to Christ and Becomes a Pastor"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Delaf\u00e9 Testimonies \/ YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Paster Herman Mendoza is doing the Lord\u2019s work. Today, he is the lead pastor at Iglesia Promesa Internacional, a Spanish-language church located in New York City. He serves as the director of <\/span>PowerHouse Kids Ministry<\/span><\/a>, a ministry whose purpose is to share the love of Jesus with over 2,000 NYC children. He is also a talented speaker, speaking at engagements for The 4\/14 Window Movement, which seeks to reach out to children globally. Yet, early in his life, Mendoza did not appear to be the sort of person who would become a pastor. Speaking with\u00a0<\/span>Mission delaf\u00e9<\/span><\/a>, an initiative that seeks to archive powerful testimonies of Jesus\u2019s interaction in people\u2019s lives, Mendoza discussed his former addiction to drugs and drug lord-style life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite being the youngest of five sons and the child of immigrants, Mendoza grew up seeking community. He began to notice the community in the growing gang culture in the Queens area. \u201cI wanted to kind of fit in and be a part of that culture during the time. So I got involved with some young people in the community, which were local gang members, and I was introduced to marijuana, basically [at] 12 years of age. \u2026 I had two other siblings that were also sort of involved with me,\u201d he recalled. He began drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana. By 13, he was a member of a gang. He was surrounded by violence and drugs, including witnessing a friend being shot. The friend later died. Mendoza would go on to use cocaine. He then began selling cocaine to feed his addiction. His parents sent him to the Dominican Republic to live with his grandparents in the hopes that he would turn his life around. However, he came right back into gang life when he returned to New York. He continued selling drugs, making a lot of money, and even spending some time in prison as part of a deal to avoid a more severe sentence. \u201cI was a fool … and I went right back into what they call in the streets, \u2018the game,\u2019\u201d he said in a prior interview with\u00a0<\/span>The PureFlix Podcast<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He soon found himself in jail again. One of his brothers was also at the detention center, but something had changed in him. \u201c[My brother] looks at me, and he just extends his hand up to me, and he says, \u2018Hallelujah, praise the Lord.\u2019 And I look at my brother with indifference. I\u2019m like, \u2018What is he talking about? Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. We\u2019re in jail. \u2026 He\u2019s lost his mind.\u2019\u201d His brother revealed he had been praying for Mendoza\u2019s salvation. Mendoza was then facing a potential 18-year sentence, and his brother invited him to a chapel service. \u201cAnd as I\u2019m sitting in the back, the pastor said, \u2018There\u2019s someone that\u2019s been telling God that He wants peace.\u2019 He said, \u2018The peace that God can give you surpasses all of your understanding. You know who you are. God can change your life.\u2019 I just felt this peace come on me. And I knew it was for me. I was like, \u2018Man, how does this inmate know my story?\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mendoza gave his life to Christ that day, setting him on a journey to pursue an education in theology. He eventually became the head pastor of the detention center chapel. He was sentenced to five and a half years in prison, which he spent preaching and completing his Bible studies. He continued to tell others about Jesus after his release, traveling the globe to tell other people how Jesus had changed his life. Eventually, he wrote a book about his life entitled\u00a0<\/span>Shifting Shadows: How a New York Drug Lord Found Freedom in the Last Place He Expected<\/span><\/em><\/a>. \u201cTrust God in all circumstances. The Bible says that \u2018We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us\u2019 in Philippians 4:13. And I think once we apply that principle and say, \u2018God, sometimes things are beyond our control and beyond our strength and beyond our ability, but I\u2019m going to seek after help,\u2019\u201d Mendoza said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paster Herman Mendoza is doing the Lord\u2019s work. Today, he is the lead pastor at Iglesia Promesa Internacional, a Spanish-language church located in New York City. He serves as the director of PowerHouse Kids Ministry, a ministry whose purpose is to share the love of Jesus with over 2,000 NYC children. He is also a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":7025,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nMan Who Was Once a Powerful Drug Lord Gives His Life to Christ and Becomes a Pastor<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pastor Herman Mendoza was once a drug dealer before he turned his life around to become a pastor.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2023\/06\/man-who-was-once-a-powerful-drug-lord-gives-his-life-to-christ-and-becomes-a-pastor.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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