JESUS CENTERED MINISTRIES INC

The testimony of Mark Shoemaker and history of Jesus Centered Ministries I was blessed to be raised in a home where my mother and father took me to church every time the doors were open. As a matter of fact, I was going to church 9 months before I was born. I had already heard so much about the Bible by the time I was born, when the doctor slapped me on the bottom, I turned the other cheek. : ) Seriously though, I was raised in church at Beaver Dam Baptist Church in Halls, TN. I was in Sunday school about every Sunday and in the RA's. For those of you who don't know what that is, Royal Ambassadors – that's sort of like AWANAS now. And at the age of nine I joined the church and was baptized. But there was a problem because no change took place in my life! No change of my desire to want to live for God and not myself! When you are born again, there is change that takes place and you begin to want to live for God. 2 Cor. 5: 17 My teenage years were lived in secret to who I really was. My outer appearance to my family and church was different from what my friends and schoolmates knew to be true of me. I went to church and was a part of what my family was doing, but that was not who I truly was. My High school class of ‘79 had a motto and it describes who we were. Sex, liquor, beer and wine, we're the class of '79. That pretty much sums up my teenage years and into my early twenties. You see, I had the head knowledge of Jesus and knew there was more to life! I was miserable because I knew there was more to life, but I didn't have it! I would come home after drinking all night and I can remember lying on the couch one night crying out to God because my life was so empty. So all I knew was if I went to church maybe I could find the answer there. 1983 I joined another church, but I still had no change, because they didn't question my salvation since I was coming from another Baptist church. I quit doing all the bad stuff and started doing church stuff, but I emptied myself of the bad and didn't replace it with Jesus! I just replaced it with religion! I ended up after 6 months of religion worse than I was before. In July of 1986 I was moving back home because I had had to move out from where I had been living for the past couple of years. And on that very day, after eating dinner with my mother, my brother Charlie went outside and found our father laying in the yard. He had a massive heart attack while working outside in the heat. God showed me how quick life is over, even when you're not expecting it! I started going to church with my mother, but at the same time I hadn't given up my lifestyle during the week. On Oct. 31, 1986 I was headed home from being out drinking all night. I was actually going home to clean up and change clothes to go to work. As I was driving home it began to rain, and about a half of a mile from home I lost control of my car and hit a tree. I think God pushed me off the road to get my attention. But if the car had hit the tree on my side instead of the passenger side, I probably would not be here now. God worked it out to where I would walk away unharmed that morning. But He got my attention and showed me how quick my life could be over!! On Nov 2, 1986 I decided to go back to church, and the pastor was preaching on the Second Coming of Christ! That night I surrendered my life to the Lord and my life was forever changed. I got that change that takes place when you are born again! John 3:3 & 2Cor. 5:17 One year later, in 1987, I surrendered to the call to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, to the surprise of many, and many who never thought it would happen, because I was voted the most unlikely candidate to become a preacher. 1990 - I went to Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Memphis, TN, barely being able to read. God did a miracle in three and a half years, and I graduated with a B average!! And ALL the glory goes to God!! 1991 - I went on a mission trip to Russia and saw the great need for the gospel to be preached. People were begging for a Bible and for us to come to their town and preach the gospel. In the next two years I served as a youth pastor and finished seminary. 1993 - God called me to start Jesus Centered Ministries here in Knoxville. As an inner-city ministry we were going into the housing projects preaching the gospel, showing evangelistic movies, and preaching in churches, preaching revival services, or just filling in for pastors. And we were facilitating churches in inner-city mission work and encouraging them to get involved in this area of need. In March of ‘94 I went back to Russia and saw that the need that was there two years prior was still there and just as strong. So I came back to the US already making plans to return to Russia. In April I went back to Russia for 25 days, preaching in the schools, churches, and on the streets. We saw 1627 people pray to receive Christ, and handed out about 6,000 Bibles in those 25 days. God began to show me the call He gives to us; not just to those around us, but to those around the world! Acts 1:8 After being in Russia for 25 days, I came home, and a month later I met a young lady by the name of Debbie Cartmill. Four months later, on Oct. 29, 1994, we were married. I was 33 years old at that time. Some people have asked me, why did you wait so long to get married? Well, all I can say is you have to search when you are looking for the best! And I eventually found her!! 1995 - We were given three houses by the Monday Foundation and we started the JCM housing program. The houses have always had two purposes; 1. We help people with low income rent, and for some in our program we save money for them to help them get into their own house in 3 to 4 years. 2. It helps bring income into the ministry to do ministry. 1996 - God sent us to Romania. In 18 years we have helped to build 5 churches and are a great means of support in the NW part of Romania. We support pastors, hold crusades, revivals, medical clinics, and Bible clubs for children, and work with the poor and homeless. In 2012 we helped to open the first Christian orphanage in Satu Mare, Romania, and they now have 25 children in 2015. James 1:27 “Pure and undefiled religion before God is this; to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” That's the reason I like this part of the ministry so much, because it's pure and undefiled religion before God! 1997 - We started facilitating churches in foreign mission work. This is a big part of our ministry now, because we are able to help churches and individuals get involved in missions not only here in the US, but also outside the country; in places like Romania, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. It will change your life! 1999 - God sent us to El Salvador and then to Nicaragua, and we do the same type of ministry there as we do in Romania. We now have 7 missionaries serving in Nicaragua. Cheryl and Alan Spence, plus we have the Price family there. Cheryl has 12 Nicaraguan children living with her, and David and Tamara have 1 living with them. Together they have 13 children in their care. Plus all the other medical care that takes place day in and day out through the ministry there. Two years ago we hired Pastor Pedro Espinoza as Director of Operations & Church Planting in Nicaragua. He, his wife Maria, his three daughters, and one son live in Leon. Right now he pastors Community Christian Church, and we have started three church plants. And then in 2005 - God gave us a blessing of a son; Benjamin Anthony Shoemaker was born into the world. And I believe it was through the prayers of people praying for us around the world, because we had already experienced 10 miscarriages. He just turned 10 this year, and he got saved on the 27th of July, 2012, and I got to baptize him on August 12. Praise God for that event in his life and in our life! This is the ministry that God has called us to, and we are continuing with ministry now here in Knoxville, Nicaragua, and Romania. This has been the progress of our walk with God for the past 22 years in ministry, and 29 years since my personal Salvation. Jesus Centered Ministries, Inc., PO Box 7111, Knoxville, TN 37921 www.jcmmissions.com 865-406-6275 Updated September 2015