Pubdate: Mon, 25 Dec 2000 Source: Corpus Christi Caller-Times (TX) Copyright: 2000 Corpus Christi Caller-Times Address: P.O. Box 9136, Corpus Christi, TX 78469-9136 Feedback: http://www.caller.com/commcentral/email_ed.htm Website: http://www.caller.com/ Author: Dan Parker PASTOR KNOWS FIRSTHAND THE PROBLEM OF ADDICTION Once A Heroin Addict, Flores Now Runs A Recovery Center As a teen-ager, Jose Luis Flores was a gang member with a $100-a-day heroin habit. Today, Flores is clean and sober. And he's more. He's a pastor who operates New Life Fellowship Home in Corpus Christi, where he works as a volunteer helping people with alcohol and drug problems recover. "I do it because I had no hope when I was on the street, and I wanted to pay back to God," said Flores, 50. "I wanted to give back to my community what I took from my community." Flores was 13 years old and living in Puerto Rico when he started using heroin. At 17, he moved with an uncle to Chicago, but his life didn't get any better. He got involved in the city's gangs and continued using heroin. Eventually, he found himself living in an abandoned building. Flores walked to a park one day to look for drugs. He found something else. "Somebody was preaching in the park to the gang members, telling them there was a way out of drugs and alcohol and out of gangs," Flores said. "I stopped and listened to him. He converted me." The preacher, whose name Flores can recall only as Galan, was a former gang member and drug addict who worked for a Chicago rehabilitation program. "He related to me, because this message he brought was a message of hope, and he was not just reading out of a book," Flores said. "He was talking about his own life." Galan told Flores he should leave Chicago to get out of his gang. Flores heeded the advice. That year, in 1973, he traveled to San Antonio and joined Victory Life, a program that reaches out to people on the streets "with a message of hope that Christ can deliver them from drug addiction or gangs," he said. Finishing the program in six months, Flores then attended Latin American Bible School near Los Angeles and became a minister. In 1981, Flores came to Corpus Christi and founded New Life Fellowship Home. With five locations around the city and a main home at 1207 Craig St., New Life each year treats about 1,000 drug addicts and alcoholics, free of charge, with a specific recipe for recovery. "Our main thing is, we use the Bible," said Flores, who also is pastor of New Life Church. "The problem of drug addiction is not the drug. It is sin. When you get right with God, then you have no desire to commit sin or commit crime." Juan Lopez was a heroin addict 17 years ago when he came to Flores for help. It worked. "He showed a lot of patience with me, and that has allowed me to endure, to grow," said Lopez, now 53, who helps Flores rehabilitate other drug addicts. "It's a blessing he's been here," Lopez said. "He's an example. I see how he lives and works with his family, and these were things that had not been taught to me, and that has helped with me." Flores has been recognized as part of the 10th annual Caller-Times/Channel 6 Jefferson Volunteer Awards, which celebrate community volunteerism. Nominations are accepted throughout the year, and a community panel each month selects four honorees to be featured in articles and on Channel 6 News. In April 2001, 10 Jefferson Award winners, selected from among the volunteers featured throughout the year, will receive bronze medallions minted by the Franklin Mint for their efforts to enrich their communities and the lives of their neighbors. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D