Mark Nelson was told he had AIDS and his organs were failing. 22 days in a coma later, he walked out of the hospital undetectable and engaged to be married.
What if the moment that sent you into 20 years of destruction happened at age 13 — inside a church?
In Episode 116 of Healing and Made Free, Janet Boynes sits down with Mark Nelson, co-founder of Exchange Ministries in Orlando, Florida, for one of the most dramatic healing testimonies this podcast has ever featured.
Mark grew up in an Assembly of God home, on fire for God at 11 and 12 years old, doing street evangelism with his youth group. Then at 13, a well-meaning but misguided pastor pulled him aside, accused him of being gay, performed an impromptu deliverance, and told him to "get out and don't come back."
Mark made an inner vow that night: he would never return to church. He kept that promise for 20 years — and during those years, he lived a full gay lifestyle, worked inside two presidential administrations, and eventually was told by his doctor that he had full-blown AIDS with a viral load of over 4 million copies and a CD4 count of four.
His organs were failing. Doctors told his family to say their goodbyes. His family came to the ICU and started speaking Scripture over his comatose body.
Twenty-two days later, Mark woke up. His viral load was undetectable. Eight months after leaving the hospital, he was married.
In this conversation, you will hear:
• How time with mom and distance from dad shaped Mark's identity as a boy
• The pastor's mishandled deliverance at age 13 that sent Mark out of the church for two decades
• The power of inner vows — and how they open doors for the enemy
• What life looked like working for Jeb Bush while secretly living a gay lifestyle
• Franklin Graham preaching John 3:16 — and why that day was the beginning of the end of the gay life
• The AIDS diagnosis, the failing organs, and 22 days in a coma
• What Mark experienced spiritually between life and death during that coma
• The nurse no one had seen before — and never saw again — who untied his hands from the hospital bed
• How he emerged from the coma undetectable — and married his wife eight months later
• Exchange Ministries and the work they're doing today for men and women leaving the LGBT lifestyle
This episode is for parents who are praying for a prodigal. It is for anyone who has been wounded by the church. And it is for anyone who believes their situation is too far gone for God to reach.
He reached Mark in a coma. He can reach anyone.
Connect with Mark Nelson and Exchange Ministries: ExchangeMinistries.org
Janet Boynes Ministries: janetboynes.com
25 min
Jun 23 202638 min
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