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1996. It's just another hot day in Orlando, Fla., another day when poor
choices fester and tempers flare. The result for 16-year-old Jonathan Melendez
is a rapidly accelerating life-or-death crisis.
Lying on a hospital bed, his mother standing nearby, he's still trying to
figure out how a shotgun got mixed into a teenage brawl. His buddy was up
against a tough scrap. Jonathan felt it his duty to back him up. But when the
fists started landing, someone pulled that gun. Jonathan caught three bursts of
scattershot in his back and legs.
And, dear God, his stomach is on fire! Problem is, every time Jonathan thinks
of God, he is reminded of his own rebellion and the faith he has all but turned
from.
When the doctor hears of the abdominal pain, Jonathan is given a CAT scan. The
discovery of internal bleeding renders emergency surgery his only hope.
Perhaps, as she stands near her son, Milagros Melendez remembers another
hospital some 10 years earlier when she was the patient. She was so sick. She
remembers the look of concern on her husband's face. Staff Sgt. Roberto
Melendez had recently moved his family to Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. He and sons
Robert, 9, and Jonathan, 6, felt helpless.
An Army chaplain came to the hospital to support the family. Chaplain John
Houser prayed with Roberto and Milagros. She soon recovered. Roberto took note
of the miracle in his wife's health, as well as the Christian faith she had
demonstrated. Soon, he began taking his family to Fort Leonard Wood's Lieber
Heights Chapel where John and Barbara Houser pastored.
The Melendez family's faith journey led to a baptism at Lieber Heights Chapel.
Chaplain Houser baptized Staff Sgt. Melendez. Then, with Houser officiating, a
joyful Melendez baptized Robert and John.
Flash forward to 1996, and Milagros Melendez is desperately praying for
Jonathan as her son is prepped for surgery. What does a mother say at such
times? She knows Jonathan has not followed the faith he proclaimed at his
childhood baptism. How can she get through to him, make him realize he is on
the edge of eternity?
Through her tears, she urgently whispers, "Ask forgiveness." In desperation,
she repeats the appeal.
She is still pleading when the surgeon enters the room. The doctor hesitates.
"I'm not a religious man," he says to Jonathan. "But do what your mother says."
If you talk to Chaplain Jonathan Melendez today, he will take you to that
moment. You might miss a word or two from the story if the satellite connection
throws the phone line a spike of static. Melendez's 2011 tour in Iraq has him
ministering to young men and women who stare into eternity every day.
"Tears were running down my face as they put the anesthesia mask on my face,"
he says, recounting his Orlando ordeal. "Just before I fell asleep, I knew I
was at peace with God, and I knew my life was His and that I would serve Him if
I lived. When I woke up, I had lost 2 feet of my small intestine. I had 20
holes in one leg. I was a mess. That was my wake-up call."
Melendez sensed God's calling into chaplaincy ministry during his years in
Bible college. He never forgot how Chaplain Houser's faithful ministry to his
family reshaped their destiny.
"He was an instrument of God in my father's life, in our whole family, really,"
Melendez says. "He discipled us. As a new believer, my father was finding his
way. Our family was just beginning our walk with the Lord."
For his part, Chaplain John Houser had no idea how impactful his ministry had
been in Melendez's life until the two men met at an Assemblies of God
Chaplaincy conference this summer in Springfield, Mo.
"He said, ‘Chaplain, I'll never forget when you baptized me,'" Houser recalls.
"He said, ‘When I finally got my life straight with the Lord, I remembered you and
how you really cared for us.' This was probably one of the most amazing things
that has happened in Barbara's and my ministry. It's what the Bible says - just
plant that seed. You never know what's going to come up. I think this is a
hundredfold this time."
Retired from the military since 1999, Houser has transitioned to prison
ministry and is now the senior chaplain at Kirkland Correctional Institution,
South Carolina's largest prison and the state's reception and evaluation center
for all inmates in its corrections system.
Kirkland houses 1,900 to 2,000 men, but because it enters all inmates into the
state system, it represents a migrating population of 16,000 to 17,000 men
every year.
"Our goal is that before every one of these men leaves our prison, he has a
witness for Jesus Christ," Houser says. "And many of them have made professions
of faith."
Among Houser's ministry team of 45 trained inmates, most are Spirit-filled.
"The warden has allowed us to set up a program where they go out every night
and pray and conduct services with men in migrating population inmate dorms,"
Houser says.
Houser will celebrate 30 years of chaplaincy ministry in 2012.
"The calling God put on our lives has never changed," he says of himself and
Barbara. "The same gifts that worked at Lieber Heights Chapel in Fort Leonard
Wood also worked at Fort Benning, Ga., also worked in Germany, also worked at
Camp Humphreys, South Korea, where I was senior chaplain. Just allow God to use
you and use the gifts He's given you."
He pauses.
"And I see the same fire in Jonathan Melendez."
After enjoying a brief visit home in the summer for the chaplaincy conference, Melendez will spend the rest of this year in Iraq. Christmas will most likely find him sweating in body armor as he moves from ministry site to ministry site.
But with the holidays, he will warmly remember last Christmas with his mother,
brother and family, wife Maria and children Naomi and Josiah.
"We were able to watch the video of that baptism service again," he says.
"There I was as a kid, and Chaplain Houser's ministry and his service to God in
the Army in many ways are the reason why I'm here serving in the chaplaincy
myself."
If you are looking to impact this world in ways you never thought possible - check out Chaplaincy Ministries.
Incredible ministry in unexpected places.
CHAPLAINCY MINISTRIES // U.S. MISSIONS / ASSEMBLIES OF GOD
1445 BOONVILLE AVENUE // SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI 65802
(417) 862-2781 // CHAPLAINCY@AG.ORG
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