A Changed Life Helps Change Others
by Sheryl Young

Samuel Lopez loves getting up in the morning.

As administrative assistant for the Texas Conference of the Free Methodist Church, Lopez looks forward to each day, using his bilingual skills (English/Spanish) and always looking for opportunities to tell people about Christ.

But it wasn’t always this way. Only six years ago, Lopez was an agnostic and a drug addict who thought he had no future.

“Back then, I started out my days feeling dreadfully ill from needing a drug fix,” he recalls. “First hooked on alcohol and cocaine, I eventually got addicted to heroine. After 15 years of doing drugs, it was so bad that I had no good veins to inject except for [in] my feet, so I started doing it there. …”

“The woman I was with for 12 years died of drug-induced kidney failure, and I knew this would be my fate too. Suddenly, I wanted to live.”

Q: What did you do?

A: In desperation I went to my family. They sent me to Teen Challenge International in San Francisco. It was a six-month commitment. I figured after 30 days I’d leave, but the people there began telling me about the goodness of Jesus Christ.
On April 19, 2001, at a revival, I asked the Lord to save me and promised that if He did, I would serve Him. Miraculously, He immediately delivered me from all addictions and gave me a whole new freedom.

Q: What brought you to your current position?

A: In 2003, I was attending a Pennsylvania Bible school, but needed a summer job to pay tuition. I had met Texas Conference Superintendent Macario Segura, and he told me of a landscaping job in Houston. While working in the heat and humidity of the sun, I began to doubt whether I had heard the Lord’s will for me.
It was then that Superintendent Segura told me of the assistant’s position and asked if I would do it. I prayed for a month, said yes, and then heard that the school in Pennsylvania was closing its doors anyway!

Q: Tell us about some of your duties with the conference.

A: We are responsible for uniting and strengthening churches through God’s Word, and planting new churches. I organize and arrange conference activities, doing the Spanish/English translating for Superintendent Segura, who serves his office with love and humility. I am liaison between various institutions within the denomination.

I also do community outreach in San Antonio, and because of my past, I minister whenever possible to people involved in drugs and alcohol. Many are teens and young adults who don’t realize the consequences and haven’t heard of the love of Jesus. Nationwide, one in 10 teenagers will become alcoholics.

Q: What else do you see for your future?
A:I’m currently studying to get a bachelor of science in Christian Leadership, and am interested in exploring the Faith Initiative opportunities open to churches. The Free Methodist Church can impact people’s lives tremendously by taking advantage of available resources.

Q: Can you say something for those who feel they’ll never overcome addictions?

A: My sister was already a Christian while supporting me during my struggle. But after seeing how God changed me she said, “Samuel, now I really believe in miracles!” There is nothing in human existence that compares with knowing Jesus as a friend, Savior and God.