Ministry Begins at Home: Mario Flores Made Spreading the Good News a Family Affair

Mario Flores (MSW ’25, BA ’19) was 10 years old when a neighbor invited him to church. After hearing the Good News, Flores went home and shared the Gospel with his parents and three siblings. There’s no way of measuring the number of souls the Flores family has saved since they began ministering together, but the tradition is continuing into the next generation. Flores has dedicated his life to bringing people to Christ, and he and wife Breanna are raising their four young children to continue the mission that began in his heart all those years ago.

“I can look back and see that the Lord has always had his hand on my life and I’ve been set apart,” Flores says. “I embrace that I’m the Lord’s in everything I do. I always find my hope in the Lord, in my family and in my community.”

Service drives Flores, whether through coaching basketball, planting a church or being a social worker for Farmersville Unified School District. He works tirelessly in pursuit of growing God’s Kingdom, but never looks at it as a job. “To me, this is not work; it’s a lifestyle,” he says. “I love what I do and it makes everything I do special.”

Following the path set before him

Flores, 37, completed his Master’s in Social Work (MSW) at FPU in May. As an older student earning his B.A. in Business Management with a focus in organizational management at the university, he brought the wisdom only learned through experiencing the joys and struggles life brings. The MSW program was brand new when he applied for the 2021-22 school year and was awarded a full scholarship. With a resume that includes pastoral and restorative justice roles, he’s tackled issues like substance abuse, mental health and gang violence. It was during his graduate studies that he saw how his diverse work experience fit so well together.

MSW Program Director Sonia Pranger, Ph.D., says FPU seeks to not only prepare students to work in the public and private sectors, but adds a strong emphasis on ethically integrating faith and practice that sets it apart. Flores credits the university for guiding him along the path the Lord set before him. “FPU helped identify my gifts, my passion for serving, and helped me find my community and embrace my style of learning,” he says. “FPU uses a model for finding out how others learn and helping them excel. They helped me find my way to what I’m doing now.”

It’s been evident from his admissions interview through the completion of his master’s that Flores is a servant-leader, Pranger says. “He has fully invested his time in becoming all that God has called him to be,” she says. “I feel incredibly blessed that a pastor and person like Mario is in our program.”

Finding where he was meant to be

Born in New York to parents Justo and Norma, immigrants from El Salvador, Flores didn’t learn English until his family relocated to the South Valley community of Pixley when he was 6. He moved to Tulare his sophomore year of high school and attended a couple different colleges before eventually enrolling in FPU’s bachelor’s degree completion program. His first post-college job was in the wine industry, which was what he’d long planned to do, but while walking to measure a wine mixing tank in July 2018, he heard the Lord tell him his time at the winery was coming to an end. Two weeks later, he was approached by one of his former basketball coaches about a local church in search of a youth/ associate pastor, and Flores’ ministry career began.

Ordained by the Alliance of Reformed Churches, Flores spent three years pastoring Tulare Nazarene Church before he was recruited by Tulare Community Church to become a church planter. He’s been bi-vocational for the past 10 years, working full-time in education while moonlighting as a pastor. On Easter Sunday 2020, Tulare Community Church East Campus began meeting in the Flores home. “The crazy cool thing about God is that a year later, we moved into a leased building and it was a beautiful thing,” he says. Flores helped grow what is now Hope City Church to more than 200 members before stepping down as lead pastor when he felt the Lord calling him to return to FPU to pursue a graduate degree.

Loving, learning and sharing the Good News

Flores took 24 units to complete his master’s degree, in addition to working on his counseling and administration credentials. In the meantime, he was hired as a social worker for Farmersville Unified School District. Pranger says Flores has been a terrific example of how social work and faith work together. “Much of his vocation has been in the church and I see his faith and ministry coming to life in his courses, internship, and work,” she says. “I anticipate God continuing to use Mario in a variety of ways, but with a much broader reach to help the most people.”

Meanwhile Breanna, to whom Flores has been married for 10 years, works for Tulare County Younglives, a ministry that supports adolescent parents, and her husband works alongside her. With the help of their four children, all under the age of 10, and Flores’ parents, the family prioritizes serving the Lord and their community together. “My parents, family and mentors have poured into me in so many ways,” he says. “Any good, healthy ministry you don’t do by yourself. We’re firm believers of discipleship and have a good, healthy community around us.”

The reason for doing what he does is simple, Flores says: “I want people to know I love Jesus. My greatest joy is to share the Good News with the next generation. I want to teach them how to break generational curses and see revival through relationships.” Working in ministry is not without its challenges, but Flores says that in seasons of discouragement, the love he has for what he does keeps him moving forward.

While Flores has crossed one finish line by obtaining his master’s degree, he doesn’t see this as the end of his educational marathon. He plans to study for his Ph.D., with a goal of one day returning to FPU as a professor to give back to the place he says has given him so much. In every job he undertakes, he does so with the mission of leading, guiding and empowering. “My heart is always to bring revival in our community,” he says. “I want to be a change agent and make things better.”