Mark grew up in Gallup, New Mexico. He was raised in a Christian home and attended Christian schools. He had accepted Jesus as his Savior, but as he says, “God was luggage I took with me. I carried him around, but I was in charge.” When Mark left for college at the University of California –Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1989, his family suggested that he get involved in InterVarsity. Following that advice changed his life.
During his freshman year, Mark was part of a Bible study that explored how Jesus related to the poor. After reading about how Jesus fed 5,000 people, the members of the study went into the city and gave out sandwiches to the homeless. This type of direct application was a new experience for Mark. He began to question how he was living his life as a Christian. After an intensive study of the Gospel of Mark at Campus by the Sea, InterVarsity’s training facility on Catalina Island, Mark decided that Jesus would be the center of his life and not just a piece of luggage carried around in case of emergencies. Mark turned control of his life over to Jesus.
Since Mark graduated from UCLA in 1994, he has followed Jesus wherever he has led. Mark spent several years in Albuquerque, New Mexico, ministering to college and university students. He married, lived in Gallup for a few years helping his family and preaching at local churches, and then moved to Denver where he helped pastor a church whose congregation is primarily Native Americans. In Denver, Mark began to learn the richness of his paternal culture, Navajo, and the value that God placed on Native American people and the worship they offered him.
However, Mark realized that he had to know the Navajo people and their culture better so that he could more effectively lead other Navajos into culturally authentic worship, encourage them in their Christian faith, and provide opportunities for them to participate in world missions. So, nearly two years ago he and his family moved to the Navajo reservation in Arizona, living in a traditional one-room hogan. Mark makes his living as a computer consultant while learning about his ancestral culture, including how their rites and celebrations might be used in worship that is honoring to Christ and the gospel. Mark is often invited to speak at churches and conferences, sharing from Scripture and showing how to effectively minister to the Navajo people. When he speaks in Anglo-European churches, Mark often works with the congregation on issues of reconciliation between the people of the congregation and Native American Christians.
From a history major at UCLA to living on a reservation in Arizona, God has led Mark to live with the Navajo people, preach the Word of God, and live in dependence on him wherever he leads.
