Paster Herman Mendoza is doing the Lord’s 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 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 Mission delafé, an initiative that seeks to archive powerful testimonies of Jesus’s interaction in people’s lives, Mendoza discussed his former addiction to drugs and drug lord-style life. 

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. “I 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. … I had two other siblings that were also sort of involved with me,” 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. “I was a fool … and I went right back into what they call in the streets, ‘the game,’” he said in a prior interview with The PureFlix Podcast. 

He soon found himself in jail again. One of his brothers was also at the detention center, but something had changed in him. “[My brother] looks at me, and he just extends his hand up to me, and he says, ‘Hallelujah, praise the Lord.’ And I look at my brother with indifference. I’m like, ‘What is he talking about? Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. We’re in jail. … He’s lost his mind.’” His brother revealed he had been praying for Mendoza’s salvation. Mendoza was then facing a potential 18-year sentence, and his brother invited him to a chapel service. “And as I’m sitting in the back, the pastor said, ‘There’s someone that’s been telling God that He wants peace.’ He said, ‘The peace that God can give you surpasses all of your understanding. You know who you are. God can change your life.’ I just felt this peace come on me. And I knew it was for me. I was like, ‘Man, how does this inmate know my story?’”

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 Shifting Shadows: How a New York Drug Lord Found Freedom in the Last Place He Expected. “Trust God in all circumstances. The Bible says that ‘We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us’ in Philippians 4:13. And I think once we apply that principle and say, ‘God, sometimes things are beyond our control and beyond our strength and beyond our ability, but I’m going to seek after help,’” Mendoza said.