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Mark Hernandez, transport director for the Adult Rehabilitation Center in Stockton, Calif., has more than a job–he has a “ministry on wheels.”
Working at the ARC gives him opportunities every day to mentor and supervise program beneficiaries. A former drug addict and ex-convict, Mark completed the ARC program five years ago. He is quick to recognize when a man is having problems and, more than anything, he understands their need to enter into a personal relationship with God. He encourages program beneficiaries to walk to the mercy seat to “release their garbage and leave it there.”
Mark explains, “When The Salvation Army took me in and showed me a new way of life, I seized it.” Today he shares his testimony with the men who come into the program: “My name is Mark. But before coming to the Stockton ARC, it should have been ‘Less’ because I was homeless, jobless, dopeless, Godless, and I could have cared less. I thank the Lord that today my name is Mark!”
Mark says when he was a beneficiary, he wondered, “Is a new life really possible for me?” He learned that all things are possible through the grace of Jesus Christ; his relationship with Christ has completely changed his life.
Mark’s “ministry on wheels” extends to donors. He seizes opportunities to pray with those who give items to the Army because of a change in a family situation through death or divorce. He tries to help such hurting people “find some closure” in the midst of their struggle.
For the past four years, Mark has served as recruiting sergeant at the Stockton Corps and for the past two years as an adherent class teacher at the ARC.
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