About Us
The main purpose of this ministry is to help fulfill the Great Commission of winning souls for Jesus Christ as stated in Gods Word: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to all creation." (Mark 16:15)
I felt that the Lord Jesus Christ, through His Holy Spirit, gave me the desire to win souls through a variety of ministries; through tract distribution, street witnessing and through the Internet.
Our volunteer staff are committed, God-fearing Christians who have the same desires as mentioned above. I want to thank them for their faithfulness and hard work in sharing the Gospel message of salvation through Jesus Christ.
My desire for those who are lost is to come to the knowledge that by accepting Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, they can be saved. For those who have ears to hear this message of life, my desire is to communicate that Jesus Christ obediently gave his life as a sacrifice to pay for the sins of the whole world. He volunteered to die a humiliating, painful death by being nailed to and hung from a wooden cross until all life had passed from His body. This He did as a faithful response to the promise of His father (God) that He would be raised up (or raised from the dead) on the third day following His death by crucifixion. In turn, each of us is now offered the hope that through our Faith in this promise, we will someday be raised from the dead (and for those who are alive when He returns, caught away in the air to join them) by the very same power, victorious over death, and be led by Jesus Christ our Lord to live with Him forever in heaven.
In conclusion, what is my factual basis as I say these things? Please read with me the following quoted passage, penned by the Apostle Paul in his first letter to the early Corinthian church. In a modern Bible, we can read these words in First Corinthians, Chapter 15, Verses 49-57. "And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." God bless you!
Sincerely in Christ,
Mark Howard
My Story
I was born in Cudahy, Wisconsin to my parents, Mark Charles Howard and Vivian Lee Howard. My family, including my brother, Chuck Howard, moved from Wisconsin to California in 1966. We have lived in various cities throughout Southern California; mostly in Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa and Santa Ana. My sister, Linda Howard, was born in Anaheim, California.
My childhood is full of many good memories. My dad and I were very close. He worked at an auto body shop in Garden Grove, and eventually started his own shop in Huntington Beach; however, his true passion in life was flying, so he became a flight instructor. I recall going flying when I was about eight years old. It was a beautiful day; partly cloudy skies, and I asked my dad if we could go flying. It was a school day, and he said, "Lets do it." So we went flying, and it was such a thrill to be up there in the airplane with my dad. He even let me fly it. My mom was a great homemaker. I can remember her cooking some really tasty meals and keeping the house clean and in order. My parents were divorced when I was eleven years old due to my dad's drinking problem and mental problems. He spent a lot of time in mental hospitals and jail.
That same year, my mom encouraged me to accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior at a Baptist Church in Anaheim, California. They showed a film on the rapture and the great tribulation. My mom had to support my brother and sister and me, so she went to school and became a medical assistant, and worked for various doctors in Fountain Valley and Newport Beach, California.
I remember having a playful childhood, with several friends. I liked to play "catch", ride bicycles, hike, collect coins, swim in the summer, at the beach and in the pool. I started running in 1978 at Davis Intermediate School in Costa Mesa, California. I began as a sprinter; however my coach told me I looked more like a distance runner, so he timed me in the 1320 yard run. I remember my time was 3:52. My coach set a goal of running the 1320 by the end of the season in 3:32. With a great coach, a lot of hard work and a God given talent, the goal was met, and I became the district champion for the Newport-Mesa Middle Schools finals. I was so excited, because I had never done so well in anything like this in my lifetime. Also that year, in 8th grade, the real shocker was that I made Honor Roll.
I started running cross-country at Costa Mesa High School, my Alma Mater, in the fall of 1978. Also, I ran the mile and the two-mile in track in the spring of 1979 and through all four years of high school. I made several new friends on the cross-country team, and developed a close relationship with Coach Joe Fisher. We had our summer running camp at his property in Idaho. The memories of those good times will always live on. We had the most successful cross-country season in the fall of 1980. We won all of our invitational races from Dana Hills to Mt. San Antonio. We were Boys Varsity Sea View league champions, and the best team in Orange County for boys varsity cross-country. My personal record in the 3-mile in high school was 14:50.
From 1979, my Sophomore year of high school, off and on until 1987, I worked as an usher, concessions clerk, cashier, assistant manager, projectionist and manager trainee at the United Artist Cinemas on Sunflower & Plaza Drive in Santa Ana, California, along with several teammates from the cross-country team. We saw a lot of free movies and ate lots of popcorn. I graduated from Costa Mesa High School in 1982.
My dad died on November 29, 1982, while I was away at college at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas, running for Coach Joe Fisher. The pain and grief of losing my dad was unbearable, so I did some soul searching. I wanted to know what happens when you die. I met a fellow student on my dorm room floor, and he introduced me to a Christian club on campus. The club members bought me a Bible, and they helped guide me through the Scriptures and prayer to rededicate my life to Jesus Christ. Soon after that I fell away from God and lost my running scholarship at Fort Hays State In April of 1984, I rededicated my life to Jesus Christ at Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, California. I attended there from 1984 to 2000. In August 14, 1993, I was married to the most beautiful, loving, faithful, godly woman in the world, Kirsten. We met at the College and Career Bible Study at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, California in 1991. We had a great honeymoon in the Pacific Northwest. We visited Seattle, Washington, and also Vancouver, Victoria, and Whistler Canada, and the Oregon coast. We have traveled throughout the United States from New York to Florida.
I weep for the victims and the families and friends of individuals lost in the terrorist attacks on the East Coast on September 11, 2001. Our country will never be the same. I pray this will be a wake up call for our country and the world to turn to God. I have visited 41 of the states in the United States. My favorite states are Hawaii, Colorado, and several eastern states, including Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and Delaware. We really enjoyed seeing Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. In Washington, D.C. we visited the Lincoln Memorial, the White House, the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial, the Smithsonian, and the U.S. Capitol Building. We visited Virginia and saw the Arlington National Cemetery and visited President John F. Kennedy's grave. We also visited Mazatlan, Mexico and had a wonderful tropical vacation, with an oceanfront hotel room.
I traveled to the Philippines in 1999 with my brother Chuck, to visit the children Kirsten and I sponsor through World Vision. I was a missionary in Bangkok, Thailand in 2002. Also, we spent a lot of time in Idyllwild, California. Our friend Stephen Gould had several spiritual advances during the week between Christmas and New Years. Kirsten and I have always looked forward to getting away from the hustle and bustle of Orange County; going up to the mountains and drawing closer to the Lord through praying, reading God's Word and just enjoying the beauty of God's creation up in the mountains. We have also gone there during the summer months; staying in the cabin and doing some camping also. I started my own window cleaning business in 1987, named Aloha Window Cleaning, and I also coached cross-country and track at Costa Mesa High School in Costa Mesa, California from 1987 through 2001. The Lord wants me to warn people that they need to accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior before they die to be assured to enter heaven and avoid hell.
I started coaching the Jr. High Track at Costa Mesa High School in 1995. In the spring of 2002 I decided to take a leave of absence from coaching to focus on ministry All my years of coaching were so rewarding in many ways. I have found that the lessons I learned from running and coaching are ones which apply to everyday challenges in life. I wanted to give back to the kids some of the many positive things I received from that.
Kirsten and I started attending Greenville Country Church in Santa Ana, California in March of 2000 and continued until April 2002. Greenville Country Church was founded in 1876 and is currently the oldest Protestant church in Orange County, California. I met a man there named Charles Covey. He has become like a father to me. Charles and I compiled a booklet on the history of the church. The title of the booklet is "Greenville Country Church - Celebrating 125 Years of Serving The Lord Jesus Christ 1876-2001". We donated one to the Costa Mesa Historical Society, the History Room at the Santa Ana Library, the Orange County Historical Society, Mesa Verde Public Library, Costa Mesa, California, the Costa Mesa Public Library on Park Street. Praise Jesus! The booklet has Scriptures about salvation, and how to make it to Heaven. We also made a mini-museum in the old Greenville church, celebrating the 125th anniversary, with old photos and the history of the church. E.C. Knott was a pastor at the church in 1889. He was the father of Walter Knott, who founded Knotts Berry Farm in Buena Park, California. Orange County, California historian, Stephen Gould, is an author of many books on Orange County history. We donated ten booklets to his ministry, Campus Outreach, on the campus of Cal State Fullerton, California. So far, he has sold two copies of the booklet to the California State Library in Sacramento, one copy to the University of California at Berkeley and UC Riverside, and The First American Title Company in Santa Ana, California.
My mom, Vivian Baker, and step-dad Harry are living in Hemet, California where they fellowship and perform ministry work at the Calvary Chapel Hemet in their retirement years. My brother Chuck Howard lives in Hollywood, California and runs a successful advertising agency. My sister Linda Howard lives in Lake Forest, California. She is a nurse. She has three children. My nephew Garrett and I have spent a lot of time together. His favorite place to go is Disneyland. He has a younger sister Ashley, and a younger brother, Ryan. My wife and I used to watch the kids at least once or twice a month when they were younger. It was a great bonding experience.
I crashed my car head on
into a brick wall drunk out of my mind at 55 MPH & my best friend
was killed. My dad died on November 29, 1982, while I was away at
college in Kansas on a running scholarship. I started drinking to cope
with the loss of my dad! My coach kicked me off the track team for
drinking too many beers, and getting out of control. I was close to
hitting bottom and I didnt even realize it. This is what the Bible has
to say about living a sinful life: Galatians 6:7,8: "Do not be deceived:
God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to
please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the
one who sows to please the Spirit will reap eternal life." In March of
1984 I was partying with some friends in the parking lot of the United
Artist's Cinemas in Santa Ana, California where I worked. At the end of
the evening I was driving home drunk out of my mind, and a friend of
mine named Brett Southard was a passenger in the car. I lost control of
the car and crashed into a brick wall. I lived but my friend Brett died.
This was a wake up call to me! Jesus Christ pulled me out of a pit and
has blessed me in so many ways! My sins are forgiven
and I have eternal life through Jesus Christ! The Lord put it on my heart to start a internet,
Gospel Tract & street ministry in 1999.
Praise Jesus, many people have made decisions to accept Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. To God be the glory! We also developed a Gospel tract to hand out to those who are lost and need salvation through Jesus Christ. We also donate our tracts to Christian ministries, Christian book stores & Christian churches. Jesus loves you! "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) How to be saved: Romans 10:9,10: "That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." God bless you richly!
Mark Howard
The Lord opened up a door for me to become a cross country & track coach at my Alma Mater Costa Mesa High School in Costa Mesa, California. I coached there 1987 through 2001. I no longer coach because the Lord called me into ministry work full time in 2001.
Mailing Address & E-mail
P.O. Box 4171
Costa Mesa, CA, USA 92628
mark@thewaytoheaven.org
