Her husband had lost his job, and she needed help with food. John-Michael brought her to the Highland Park CAN food pantry. There Vernon Liverett told him about the Tuesday community dinner.
"It is a free meal," Marroquin thought, "and I am going because I need fellowship."
He also needed a church.
In 2004, while living in Houston, Marroquin was diagnosed with a neurological illness. It shook him, but it did not drive him from his faith. At first, he admits, he lived in denial. Then a friend challenged him to take the Bible seriously.
"Read the Bible. Do everything in the Bible that it tells you to do," his friend said. "I guarantee that in one year your life will change. What do you have to lose? If everything in that Bible is true, you have everything to gain."
Marroquin accepted the challenge. In 2006, he joined Grace Community Church in Houston. Faith became more than Sunday worship. He studied the Bible, prayed daily, and tried to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.
His life changed. He received a job promotion to general manager, responsible for about 30 accounts. His income grew. So did his faith.
He joined the church choir, though the first rehearsal tested more than his voice. He stood in front and sang with everything he had. One of the men soon approached him. "John," he said, "you might want to go sit in the back."
Marroquin stayed with the 268-member choir. He had come to sing for the Lord. The Lord began by working on his pride.
The illness did not disappear. Stress made it worse, and John-Michael eventually left the corporate work he had once considered a success. "God removed that," he said. "He wanted me to go somewhere else, and I followed Him."
That somewhere else was the road. Marroquin began training for a commercial driver's license. In Waxahachie, discouraged by a test he was afraid he could not pass, he stood outside and prayed. "Lord, why am I here?" he asked. "Where am I supposed to go? What am I doing?"
When he turned around, he saw a woman who was also a Christian. She later became his second wife. They married in 2015, drove together, and talked about God with people they met along the way. Not everyone wanted to listen. They spoke anyway.
In 2016 he was hospitalized while on the road, a year later his wife’s health problems brought an end to their time driving together. So, Marroquin went to work for Greyhound. He drove interstate routes from 2017 until 2022 and called it the best job he ever had. Another surgery brought his years behind the wheel to an end.
His marriage ended too. The divorce was hard. He drifted from the life he believed God had called him to live and searched for a church where he could belong. The search brought him to Baptist Temple when a friend needed groceries. He came for food and found fellowship and the connection to God he always longed for.
"I was led to you by God," he said. "I feel the presence of God here."
When asked what God had placed in his heart, Marroquin did not hesitate.
"To minister," he said. "To spread the gospel, the Word of God, and share it with others. His amazing grace, the testimonies that we have, the things that I have seen. I can say today that everything in that Bible is true.”
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