Coming back to God and fulfilling the call – a Film maker for Christ

Hello, as a young boy I could never imagine that one day I would be homeless and drug addicted. I grew up in Wheaton, MD ten miles outside Washington DC.I still live in the area today. My parents were loving but never had money to do anything, my dad was a police officer and my mom stayed home with the four children. Both my parent’s fathers were alcoholics and today my mother is also. I grew up dreaming of playing pro football and started to see how that dream might come true in high school; I was
named the outstanding player in my region as a quarterback. Being 5″9 in height the recruiters were not beating down my doors.

After graduating high school the dream began to fade and the lure of fast money and women began to be my new high. Growing up a Catholic I knew who God and Jesus were but never knew what a relationship was all about. With my life going out of control, Jesus Christ came into my life and struck down like Saul of Tarsus in my sleep. I woke up filled with the Holy Spirit and crying at the side of my bed. In the dream God gave me a glimpse of what his calling was in my life but I didn’t understand it at the time. I remember thinking to myself how did God know where I was filled with pain and heartache.

Two weeks later peer pressure and the lust of the world began to creep back into my life. I sat in my car and told Jesus I didn’t want him in my life right now. I will never forget that day, God’s spirit draining out of my body as water runs out of a faucet.

God presence was gone from my life and things went from bad to worse. A very short time later I found myself homeless and drug addicted. Living on the floor of a construction office with my clothes in trash bags, I would take showers at times once a week, I had finally hit rock bottom. Nearly three years had past and I would listen to Christian stations on the radio longing for what I had but didn’t know how
to get it back. On July 16th, 1994 at 9:30 am I became a born again Christian. The Holy Spirit came upon me as I was lying in my bed. Today I am 45 years old and married with five children. Two weeks after that day I went to a local book store and bought a Bible, I haven’t put it down since that day. Each year this calling on my life began to become clearer, I would hear God’s small voice speaking to me “Film these true stories like you that I would be glorified”! About 5 years ago I signed on at a local TV station to take classes to produce these films. To date I have produced over two hundred films. The films are true stories of men whose lives have been transformed through Jesus Christ overcoming a wide variety of issues. The films currently air on four local TV stations across the metro area, an online. The web site is www.goodnewsfilms.com.

My passion is to tell some lost person about Jesus Christ, especially the 16 to 24 what can be the lost years when a person is searching for purpose and identity. my life went out of control because i didn’t
have the structure and discipline i needed that only jesus christ can give. I spend about two hours a day in prayer and God’s Word and have the Bible’s to prove it, and know this is the only way anyone can be victories in all areas of life.

MARK STARNER

WWW.GOODNEWSFILMS.COM