It started in 1996 when my mother dropped me off at the men’s home. Immediately I knew I was introduced, not just to the church, but to a family. A family that cared and really wanted to see the change that God was going to be able to do in my life. My original plan was to go to the home and just get off drugs. I had no idea that God was going to introduce me to the bigger picture for my life. I remember the first time I stepped into a God’s Anointed Now Generation service. I remember seeing all the young people worshipping God. After service they were all talking and having a good time with each other. For me, just that was so different. There was no drugs or alcohol involved, but at the same time it was something I definitely wanted to be a part of.
Growing up I played a lot of sports. I learned about discipline and leadership there. And as I became a part of God’s Anointed Now Generation, I had more of an understanding of why I experienced some of the things I did when I was younger. It was because God was setting me up to be a part of the ministry of Victory Outreach. I remember watching our leadership from a distance, men like Pastor Sonny Arguinzoni Sr., Pastor Sonny Arguinzoni Jr., Pastor Phillip LaCrue, Pastor Al Valdez, and I thought to myself, “How awesome would it be to one day be on the same level as these men. It was in the G.A.N.G. that I discovered that there was a calling on my life. That all the events in my life, were leading up to that day, for me to discover who God was, and the plan that he had for my life. I learned how to love people, how to serve the underserved, how to fall in love with the ministry of Victory Outreach, and how to love the leaders that God placed in my life. More importantly, I understood that if God had done it for them, then he was going to be able to do it for me.
I always had a relationship with my pastor, Pastor Sonny Arguinzoni Jr., but in 2003 is when I really felt his leadership influence in my life. I later learned that it was because he saw the call of God in my life and in my wife’s life. So the discipleship went to a whole other level. God was preparing us to be able to go out and take our own city for God (East Las Vegas). In 2007, my family and I had arrived in our city, the city of Las Vegas. Everything that we had learned under our pastor and pastor’s wife’s leadership and all of our experience in God’s Anointed Now Generation were now going to be put to the test. In the year of 2021, we’re able to see the faithfulness of God. What a beautiful journey it has been, from the men’s home, to the G.A.N.G., a G.A.N.G. Regional, a G.A.N.G. Rep, to a Senior Pastor, to a Regional Pastor. We have been able to see God use our lives, and many others that have been reached to build a beautiful, loving, and thriving church.
Pastor Mando Garcia (East Las Vegas)
