Pastor Noel Melendez grew up in the inner city of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and was the sixth out of twelve children.  He attended St. Stephens Catholic Church and served as an altar boy.  Though his life long dream was to become a professional baseball player, at age sixteen he decided to register in the Armed Forces.  One year later, he realized that military life was not for him.  When leaving Ft. Benning, he thought surely he would never come back to this place again.  Little did he know that one day he would be living next to Ft. Benning, in Columbus, Georgia. 

            Noel moved back to Connecticut, but living in the inner city of Bridgeport was extremely difficult.  One day a drug dealer approached him and offered to pay $400 a week if he would deal drugs.  Believing that this was the answer to all of his problems, he accepted the offer. 

            Noel began living the wild life…drinking alcohol, taking speed, valium, crystal, and smoking marijuana.  His lifestyle was anything but what he had dreamed it would be. Eventually these addictions lead him to cocaine.   As sin always does, it consumes the sinner with a hunger and a thirst for more sin, until finally there is nothing left but destruction.  The Bible says, “For the wages of sin is death…” Noel became so addicted to cocaine that he was spending $600 a day to support his habit.  His income began to increase, until he was making $4,000 a day, or more, dealing drugs. 

            Noel was spending money as fast as it came in, and living the “high life” of a gangster; or what he thought was the “high life”.  He would carry his 357 magnum around and kick down doors to take what he thought rightfully belonged to him, and he would pistol-whip anyone that got in his way.  Little did he know that one day his soul would be in torment and terrible bondage, and that he would be living in the depths of hell itself. 

            In 1983, Noel was shot with a twelve-gauge shotgun in his left leg, and the pellets went completely through his hip.  He now realizes that it was only by God’s grace that he did not lose his leg.  His friend that was with him, however, was not so blessed; his shotgun wound cost him his leg.  He also witnessed his close friend being stabbed to death.  She was only thirteen years old!  for he had no fear of anyone.  As a drug dealer, he was becoming more and more paranoid of the people around him.  His continuing use of cocaine was causing blood clots to pour from his nose.  As the days went by, he was sinking lower and lower into sin.  He did not know that he was caught in Satan’s web. 

            When looking back on his past, Noel strongly believes that God’s hand was truly upon him.  One of the “top men” in the drug business signaled to him that he was finished, by moving his finger across his neck.  He then put out a contract on Noel’s life.  After this incident, in July of 1987, he had no choice but to leave Connecticut.  He went to Keene, New Hampshire to visit his brother, trying to find a way out of this lifestyle.  However, he only found more drugs, as his brother was also addicted to cocaine.  The conviction of the Holy Spirit was heavily upon his life, and he would begin to cry at times, but he did not understand the tears.  The emptiness within was growing, and his soul was crying out for help.  There seemed to be no answer. 

                    Noel then decided to go to Killeen, Texas where his youngest sister lived, only to find that she was addicted to cocaine as well.  His sister was in the U. S. Army, and little did he know that the Military Police already had plans to arrest her.  As God so arranged the circumstances, Noel was arrested for dealing drugs, instead of his sister.  He was convicted and sent to the Texas State Penitentiary in Sugarland, Texas for seven years.

                  However, the Lord had a different plan for Noel’s life.  While serving his sentence, on August 24, 1987, he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.  He was transformed immediately by the supernatural power of God, and totally delivered from all of his addictions.  He became a brand new creation in Christ Jesus in one moment of time! 

                  When looking back, Noel remembers how the Lord had shown him, that he would not be imprisoned very long.  This event came to pass very quickly.  Within three and a half months after entering prison, he was released, and commissioned by the Lord to go and preach the gospel.   After leaving prison, he went to Corpus Christi, Texas, where he attended Victory Outreach.  There he learned all about the Lord. 

                  Noel was ordained as a Minister in Waco, Texas at Mighty Wind Worship Center on February 1, 1990. That same year, he went to Orlando, Florida to attend Benny Hinn’s Church.  As the service was closing, Benny Hinn said, “Wait a minute, wait a minute.  The Holy Spirit just spoke and said, ‘ Every minister from out of state needs to come up here,‘ he is going to release the nine gifts of the Spirit upon you. ”   Noel rushed to the altar, as he was so hungry for the things of the Lord.  He was never the same after this prayer, and instantly the nine gifts of the Spirit began operating very powerfully in his life! 

                Mary Lou Melendez, the wife of Pastor Noel Melendez, grew up in Columbus, Georgia in a beautiful antebellum home.  She was a typical southern girl with a proper upbringing, and attended a Baptist Church as a small child, later to join the Methodist Church.  Her lifestyle included dancing lessons, horseback riding, cheerleading, and elite social clubs.  While attending the eighth grade at Columbus High School, she fell from a moving automobile onto the pavement, and suffered a fractured skull.  She went into a coma and the doctors did not know if she would live.  Two weeks later she was out of the hospital, but she had to learn to walk all over again.  Three months after the accident, she was back at school, and even participated as a cheerleader in the last football game of  the season.   Mary Lou knows now that the Lord brought her through this very trying time of her life. 

            After attending Andrew Jr. College, she moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 1968, where she attended Massey Business College and Fashion School.   This college had a reputation for being a wild school.  While at this college Mary Lou was introduced to a different lifestyle than she had ever known.  One roommate was smoking marijuana, while the other roommate was planning her fourth abortion.  When she told her parents the situation, they requested that she be moved with roommates of good moral character.  She was moved into another room with very fine and upstanding girls.  Although, what her parents did not realize, was that they would not be able to protect her from the enemy of her soul, as she had never had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Mary Lou was totally unprepared for what she would one day experience.  Her first encounter with the powers of darkness was when she was introduced to the astrological sun signs.  At that time, she thought it was very foolish.  She did not realize that she was being allured, and had no way of knowing that years later she would be trapped into the mystical world of Satan through Astrology. 

After Mary Lou finished Business College, she began working for labor attorneys, as a single girl in Atlanta.  She was attracted to this party lifestyle, which seemed so glamorous at the time!  The Bible does say that sin brings pleasure, but it is only for a season.  She became fascinated with Astrology, and began to long for the weekends so that she could party and drink.   She began smoking more and more, until finally she was smoking three packs of cigarettes a day.  Eventually she even tried marijuana, which she had strongly resisted for ten years.  The evil powers were consuming her, little by little, and her conscious was becoming seared, as with a hot iron.

In 1972 Billy Graham came to Atlanta to hold a crusade.  Mary Lou decided to walk forward that night in response to the invitational call.  She did not understand what this was all about, nor did she know anything about a sinner’s prayer.  She only knew that her life was not what it should be, and deep inside she was crying out for help.  However, nothing changed inside of her because there were many things that she had to walk through, before her heart could be committed to the Lord.  That night the Lord saw her respond to his call, but so did the enemy of her soul.  This was the beginning of a downward pull of Satan toward destruction in her life. 

           In September of 1977, she was invited by a friend to enroll in a Parapsychology School, which is also known as Metaphysics or New Age.  Only much later did she realize that demons were teaching their doctrine at this school.  She did not know that behind those walls lay hell itself, with almost everything the enemy of her soul had to offer, in one neat little package.  The entrapment used on her was, surprisingly, the Bible, which was being taught to portray the school as being “reputable”.  It was not until her teacher performed an experiment on her mind, that she began to feel uneasy.  One day she had seen a book on “Black Magic” in her teacher’s office.  The conviction of the Holy Spirit came upon her strongly, but she did not know what was happening to her until much later.  She was told that students in the next room were moving objects with their minds.  Other students were talking about experiences of God healing them.  Mary Lou did not realize that this was the counterfeit god, because she did not know the true and living God.  She also heard a comment by one of the students, that if they were living in another century they would be burned as witches.   At this time in her life, she was under so much deception that, unknowingly, she became a disciple of Satan. 

Mary Lou was experiencing nightmares regularly, and was constantly being driven by some unknown power to participate in these paranormal experiences.  Looking back at all of these occurrences, she knows now that the conviction of the Holy Spirit was upon her life daily.  A friend told her she was going to hell if she did not get out of what she was in!  This pierced her heart for a moment, as she knew it was true.  However, because of the deception over her mind, she continued on with her sun signs, transcendental meditation, reincarnation, etc.  On one occasion she bought several books on Eastern Religions, but when she arrived at her home, she found another book which she had not purchased.  The title of the book was “Escape from Witchcraft”, and she had no idea how this book came into her possession. 

Mary Lou later realized that two death curses were placed upon her life.  The first curse was from a psychic in the parapsychology class.  She was told that she was going to die in a car accident on a trip, and was paralyzed with fear!  She knew that this type of phenomena had occurred to others in the class, so she did not take this lightly.  Arrangements had already been made for her to go on a trip to Montgomery, Alabama to a Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship meeting that weekend.  She was so filled with fear that she would not leave her home!  Mary Lou did not know that her enemy, Satan, was trying to destroy her. 

The second curse came a few months later, from visiting King Tut’s tomb in New Orleans.  She became deathly ill and her eyes looked sunken into her head.  While walking down Bourbon Street, she felt such a deep loneliness inside, and experienced the chains of sin weighting her down.  The wind was blowing on that cool winter night, and her feet felt so heavy, she could barely walk.  Looking back she realizes the irony of it all.   In was in New Orleans, where voodoo and witchcraft were so rampant, is where the Holy Spirit revealed to her the emptiness of her soul, and the sinfulness of her life.

After returning to Atlanta from New Orleans, Mary Lou was still deathly sick.  A few days later, a friend “just happened” to invite her to go to church.  It also “just happened”, that in this church the Spirit of the Lord was moving mightily.  On January 15, 1978, she visited Mt. Paran Church of God on a Sunday morning.  For the first time in her life she heard a Pastor speaking with much sincerity, and his name was Dr. Paul L. Walker.  When she heard that he would be giving his testimony that night; she knew that she had to go back to this church, and that nothing was going to stop her!  She did not know that the power of the Holy Spirit was drawing her on this journey, and that her destination would soon be made known to her. 

At Mt. Paran that night, she heard Dr. Walker pouring out his heart to the congregation, and this touched her deeply.  The people were singing, “Surely the Presence of the Lord is in this Place”, and she thought she must be in heaven.  Mary Lou had never seen such peace and joy as she saw within these people, and she did not understand why they were so different.  She felt the love of God surround her for the very first time in her life.  She desperately wanted what these people had, and wondered where they had been all of her life.  As she listened intently to this Pastor, who was speaking about how the Lord had healed him; she thought well, if the Lord healed him, then he could heal her.  At that very moment, she was instantly healed by the supernatural power of God! 

            One week later, she accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior, and the Lord completely turned her life around.  She was delivered from alcohol, nicotine, the occult, and a lifestyle of sin.  Mary Lou continued to go to Mt. Paran for four years, and grew stronger and stronger in the Lord.  She returned to Columbus, Georgia in 1982 to take care of her mother, who had suffered a stroke.  Before her mother went to be with the Lord in 1990, she had experienced four miracles from God.  The scripture God had given Mary Lou, “The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty”, would forever be written upon her heart. 

In 1988 Mary Lou served as Treasurer in Women’s Aglow, an international ministry for women.  From 1989 until 1991 she served as President of Women’s Aglow.  She completed Bible College in May of 1993, and received a Master Diploma in Pastoral Ministry.  The Lord has also given her songs, and she sings for the glory of God. 

           On August 25, 1995, Mary Lou was ordained as a Minister.  She served as the Co-Pastor with her husband at Winds of Praise Ministries, Inc. in Columbus, Georgia from January of 1999, until the church moved to Pinellas Park, Florida in May of 2001.  She is presently the Co-Pastor at Winds of Praise Ministries, Inc. She teaches and preaches the Word of God and is currently evangelizing with her husband.