San Antonio Rescue Mission

At 63 years old, Pete is a walking miracle. He had a complete heart transplant in 2024 and came back to serving weekly at SARM earlier this year. He began preaching at SARM about 30 years ago and oversees Monday night chapel service. He represents Faith Bible Church. “I think the Rescue Mission is the biggest blessing that God has ever sent me. My father was one of the first ones to come from my church. As a young man he brought me here.” At the time, Pete found it hard to love men who lived on the streets due to his work ethic. But as he began to interact with them, he understood what they had gone through. Some had been in prison and had nowhere else to go. He says, “Jesus hung around with publicans and sinners. If Jesus were here today, he would be doing the same thing as I am.” An experienced bicyclist, Pete was in great shape and never experienced any heart pain. But in 2024, he started feeling weak and unable to ride. The doctors told him his heart was pumping at only 8%. The normal heart function is about 65%. During three months in the hospital waiting for a donor heart, Pete says, “they lost me four times.” He prayed and asked the Lord for a favor - that he could see the rapture. Then he had a dream three separate times that he would in fact experience the rapture with his family. After the dreams, he felt confident that that Lord was keeping him alive for that. He kept saying to his doctors, “You’re about to see miracles. You don’t know the God I serve.” In a 10-hour operation, doctors put a 31-year-old man's heart into Pete. Just before the operation he told the doctor, "You are going to see God work in a strange way. This heart is for God’s glory.” Afterward, the doctors were amazed at his progress. “I am a messenger of God. My job is to bring the message of His love to these men at SARM." Pete says. He loves getting to know the men each week. One time he said to them, “Did you know Jesus was homeless?” He told them that in Matthew 8:20, Jesus said, "Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." Pete concludes, “I see rescue here…. Rescue is the right word for this place. I’ve seen a lot of changed lives here. That’ s why I know that I am in the right place…I love being here.”