Ignite Life Center Informant Preaches Why Local Church Is Actually A Cult

This is the full interview of the Ignite Life Center whistleblower who was labeled as the Primary Informant in the July 5 article where themselves and another Ignite Life Center informant called out Assemblies of God CEO Doug Clay. In a two-hour in person interview, the Primary Informant used Biblical Christian theology to show their fellow Christians that Ignite Life Center is in fact not teaching the word of God that would be considered just and true by traditional Biblical Christian theology.

Q: How long were you going to the Ignite School of Ministry 

A: I went to the Ignite School of Ministry for a year, I was a first year student. I left years ago. 

Q: Were you from Florida or are you coming from an affiliated or sister church from out of state?

A: Okay so it's like this, Ignite Life Center is the church that the Ignite School of Ministry is a part of. They are from a Pentecostal denomination of Christianity called the Assemblies of God. The church that I was coming from was part of the same fellowship and denomination but there was no direct affiliation. I had a mentor who was familiar with Ignite’s head pastor Mark Vega and the Ignite School of Ministry. The Ignite School of Ministry play’s a huge role in the Assemblies of God, especially with their youth camps and other affiliated camps with Assemblies of God. 

My mentor was familiar with the ministry of ISM and Mark Vega. They were saved under his ministry in 2007. They mentioned to me if I had a call to ministry, ISM and Mark Vega would help me fulfill that call. So that’s how I ended up at Ignite.

Q: What was the reception, or your perception of the Ignite School of Ministry when you first started going and how did it change over time? 

A: To my understanding, I’m not sure if you’re familiar with Christian theology or not?

Q: Not much. 

A:When you become a Christian, God saves you from your sin and His wrath through His Son Jesus Christ. He gives you eternal life and you’ll spend eternity with Him and not in hell. When God saves you, He gives you a new heart and love towards the things of God. At the moment of conversion the Holy Spirit comes and lives inside of you giving you that new heart as I was previously explaining. Thus marking you with His anointing and sealing you until the day of Redemption. 

Within the pentecostal denominations, they believe in charismatic theology which is a new branch within Protestantism, barely just over a hundred years old. The Assemblies of God and Ignite are associated with Pentecostalism and adhere to Charismatic Theology. In their eyes the anointing from the Holy Spirit is something you must work for and attain. Once you’ve attained this anointing you were marked and made special by God to be used by Him. This thought process finds no ground in Scripture, often misquoting and proof texting Old Testament passages without considering their historical context. Now AG and Ignite may deny this on their position papers. However, in their orthopraxy, they practice things way definitely and point to the latter as I just previously mentioned. When I came into the Ignite School of Ministry I looked at the leaders of Ignite as very anointed people who are chosen and sent by God, I thought God used them mightily in all areas of life and how dare anyone question their anointing and their authority position because this is God’s man and people so how could you question God himself?

Q: Would you feel like to question Mark was to question God? 

A: That’s the way he’d see it. This type of theology that you see in Ignite Life Center and ultra charismatic pentecostal denominations, they believe that they speak directly for and from God; so to question their authority was to question God Himself. That is not what the Bible or biblical Christianity teaches. 

Q: I’ve heard other whistleblowers call it a cult, would you?

A: Absolutely, it is a cult, one hundred percent. It’s a theological cult. Like that other anonymous interviewer said, it's a cult because they make you isolate yourself from your family. Ignite would expect you to choose them over your family. The Bible does teach that you have to choose Christ over everybody because that's your Lord and Savior but Ignite would take that to an extreme and say you’d have to choose them and their ministry over your family. That is not what the Bible teaches. 

Ignite is a cult. They have manipulative and controlling tactics. To give you more context, something in Christian theology that is viewed as heresy is called the “Shepherding Movement” 

The Shepherding Movement came about in the 1970s and early 1980’s which was heavily associated with pentecostalism and Dereck Prince one of its founders which is someone Mark Vega would call a “powerhouse in the kingdom.” Yeah, the kingdom of darkness. The gist of it is that everything you do has to go through the pastor. Every life decision from who you date to marry, or when you sell your house. The pastor has the right to say how your life is operated and governed. If you don’t do what the pastor sees as wisdom from God then you are shunned and ostracized by that pastor and you’re rebelling against God. That’s called the Shepherding Movement with them utilizing heavy shepherding tactics that are not found in scripture as I previously mentioned, they expect you to choose them over the Chief Shepherd who is Jesus. You and I can have an understanding. Do you choose the earthly shepard or you the Chief Shepherd who is Jesus, what is the answer?

Q: I’m not very religious, but obviously, I get what you’re saying. 

A: The Chief Shepherd who is Jesus, but they’d expect you to choose them instead. Hopefully it's not too much information.

Q: No, no, I’m wanting to get as much information, I have like two or three pages worth of questions here so talk as long as you want I appreciate it. 

A: I’m an open book, whatever you wanna ask me, ask me. 

Q: Would it be Mark acting like he’s directly talking to God one-on-one or would he be more casual about it?

A: When you say: talk directly to God, what do you mean by that?

Q: Would he act like God was talking to him like he’s hearing his voice?

A: Yes , it's what we call in Christian theology a direct revelation. In biblical Orthodox Christian theology God doesn’t give direct inspired revelation as He gave to the apostles or prophets, because they were the first waves of Gospel preachers and the foundation mentioned in Ephesians 2:20 was just being laid as you will. They were the first wave of Gospel Preachers and personally called by Christ Himself and gave direct authority to His Apostles. Apostle meant in the ancient days “one who is sent out” and if Caesar sent out his apostle to give a message to the hearers it was as if Caesar himself was giving that message and if any harm came against that apostle, it would be considered direct harm to Caesar himself. That’s the kind of direct and infallible message/revelation that Christ gave to His Apostles to proclaim, that kind of direct and infallible revelation is not given anymore. There is no one alive today that can fit the qualifications of an Apostle, one of those qualifications is that they would’ve been with Jesus during his entire earthly ministry and you know. That was 2,000 years ago, you get the point.

Now the Bible has been completed and the only revelation we have is the written Word of God that came through the foundation of the apostles and prophets which is all the very words of God and the standard for all Christian rule and practice. However, when people in this movement believe that God speaks outside of the bible and that God speaks directly to them outside of the scripture. This belief constitutes them for hearing and speaking directly for God because God told Mark Vega this or this is what God said according to Mark Vega therefore it must be true. This is considered direct revelation and traditional Christianity would deny that because our revelation has been finalized and summed up in pages from the Bible. By the way, Mark Vega’s direct revelation is fallible and has been proved to be fallible.

Q: Do you have any knowledge of their celebrity connections because I’ve reported on them being connected to Mariano Rivera, and now Preston Bailey and the Basketball cop, is there any more insight you have on that?

A: Yeah I’ve met Mariano Rivera. 

Q: Really?

A: I've actually been to his house and he has a very cool garage with cars on the bottom and cars hanging above his cars. 

Q: Wow. 

A: He’s a superstar, one of the greatest pitchers of all time. He’s a nice, humble and very gentle guy. He’s always had the Ignite School of Ministry students in his home. I sat across the table from him. I’m not a baseball guy so I’m not really star struck but some baseball guys are like “Oh my God.” He’s a super nice person but I’ve always believed that Mark Vega took advantage of that relationship. I don’t think Mariano really knew that Mark Vega took advantage of him. 

From my understanding Mariano gave Mark Vega some money to help him build his nice house up in High Springs. Did you hear about that?

Q: No I didn’t know he helped him build a house.

A: To the best of my knowledge, it's not concrete but what I’ve heard is that Mariano gave Mark and Lisa Vega between $50,000 and $100,000 for that house. They’re very good friends. I believe the friendship is genuine on Mariano’s part but not Mark’s part. The thing is that Mark Vega is an extorter who sees and takes advantage of your weaknesses. He plays on it to gain advantage over you. Have you read the book 48 Laws of Power?

Q: No I haven’t. 

A: I suggest everybody read that book. I read that book and everything that Robert Greene talks about is what Mark Vega does. People who read it will see and be shocked, he takes advantage of your weaknesses, and extorts your armor to gain advantage over you in the guise of pastoral instruction and care.

Q: How do you think a guy like Mariano Rivera, a big superstar who won the World Series five times and played for the Yankees, like I’m not a baseball guy either.

A: I’m a football guy brother. 

Q: How does Mariano get taken advantage of by someone like Mark Vega? 

A: I think Mariano has a good heart and good intentions. His Mariano Rivera Foundation does a lot for kids. It's unfortunate that his name and reputation is being associated with this garbage because I don’t think Mariano or his wife are bad people. I think they’ve been taken advantage of and deceived by some dude from the Bronx who shouldn't be where he is. As hateful as that sounds, God forgive me if I’m saying that from a place of hate. 

Q: I think it's more from a place of defense for the people he's hurting. 

A: That's a good way to say it. Mariano and his wife are good people, they’re pastors of a church in New Rochelle, NY I believe. They’re good people but in my opinion I think they’ve been taken advantage of. 

Q: I got an interesting anonymous email recently which referenced Mark’s wife Lisa Vega and his son who was arrested Chrsitian Vargas. It did not absolve them of responsibility or excuse any alleged criminal actions but it did say they were victims of Mark Vega too. I was wondering what you think about that, do you think all of the administration members under him are victims in a certain way?

 A: Yes, I believe they are victims but also perpetrators, as crazy as that may sound. 

Q: No, what I always say to people is that the more time passes after the abuse the more the line blurs between perpetrator and victim. I get what you’re saying completely.

A: The reason why some of them are victims and perpetrators is, well I hate to say it but they don’t read the Bible. As simple as that may sound, a lot of them don’t study true biblical doctrine enough to see heresy or tell the difference between false teachings and biblical teachings. They are victims in the sense of not thinking for themselves yet at the same time, Mark Vega being as smart as he is, he’s gonna know which people to pick on because he knows who are the yes-men who don’t really read the Bible. In a sense they are victims but at the same time they are perpetrators because they’d do whatever they are told to do. They act as an extension of Mark’s actions per-se. If he told his Ignite School of Ministry and staff to shun or disown people and not talk to them then they would do that themselves. They should be held liable for that but at the same time they don’t know any better because they’re victims. They’re also perpetrators because they’re enacting what Pas- I don’t wanna call him a pastor, they're enacting what Mark Vega would do. Does that make sense?

Q: Yeah. Did you ever have any interactions with the perpetrators, Gabriel Hemenez, Chrisitan Vargas, and Noel Cruz. 

A: Yes, I was very close with a lot of them. Gabriel Hemenez was a very close friend of mine. Christian Vargas, Mark’s stepson, I wasn't really that close with him but I was close with Gabriel Hemenez. 

Q: Did you just say Vargas is his step-son?

A: Excuse me, adopted son. From my understanding Christian is technically Mark’s nephew. 

Q: Oh.

A: Lisa Vega’s sister had Christian and from my understanding there were some unfortunate things that transpired and Lisa’s sister couldn’t take care of him anymore. I’ll give them credit, it was very kind of Mark and Lisa Vega to step in and raise Christian. I could be wrong about them adopting him legally but that is not Mark and Lisa Vega’s biological son. He’s technically their nephew. I will give them credit for taking it upon themselves to raise him as their own, despite all of the horrendous things they have done to people, I do give them credit for that.

Q: Have you seen their new Ignite School of Ministry website?

A: Yeah.

Q: Did you see they had a picture with Hemenez on there? It's like they’re owning it at this point. 

A: I think honestly, knowing how they operate, Mark Vega, Esther, or Nicole told one of their congregants to update their website and they just chose a random picture without thinking it's the perpetrator that Ignite is in a civil lawsuit over. 

At the same time they put up Mariano Rivera’s son Jafet Rivera as well, and he unfortunately had a little bit of trouble while at ISM  and he was also an Ignite poster boy. To my understanding Jafet and Mark had a falling out, but I don’t know what it was about. 

Q: Was everything legal?

A: Yeah, from my understanding Jafet battled sexual sin in the past.

Q: Oh, okay. 

A: This is all to my understanding. I think he decided to leave.

Q: Do you know how old he was? He was an adult?

A: Yeah, he was an adult. 

Q: And to your knowledge, was everything consensual with other adults or was he doing something….? 

A: It was always consensual, yeah it was, he was dating a nice young lady and it was all consensual to my understanding. He was in an actual relationship with her. They broke up and to my knowledge he decided to leave after that. Jafet was a nice guy and a humble man who tried his best to walk in Godliness but I just think he struggled a lot and Mark Vega put a lot of pressure on him. That’s the thing about Mark, he puts pressure on you to be perfect. There is no grace, it is all law in that church. When you enforce law and tell them to live under the letter of it there is going to be an arousement of sin. 

Let me give you an example in case you ever become religious. If you ever become religious, there are two things I always tell people to be aware of and watch out for. If the church has a man-centered theology, that means they put man as a primary pedestal in their teaching and if there is a lot of sexual immorality and rampant sexual sin. 

When those things are happening in a church you need to run in the other direction. When the Bible’s not being taught correctly you will always have a high-view of man and a low-view of God.

One thing I want to highlight is that Mark Vega is a master manipulator. He is one of the greatest communicators I’ve ever seen. Just because you have Charisma doesn’t mean you’re speaking for God. Like I said, if you wanted to make life decisions you would have to consult him because he spoke for God. 

In the Ignite School of Ministry there was a young man and girl. I’m gonna leave the names out. She graduated after I left and this man most likely consulted with Mark and staff to marry her. They got married. This man was a phenomenal chef and he got hired to be the personal chef for Mariano Rivera. Long story short, one of Mariano’s sons, Mariano Rivera III was sleeping with her behind the chef’s back. 

Q: Damn. 

A: Mariano Rivera III would go and have sex with this woman. Her husband had no idea until it all came out. I don’t think it was gonna work out. The Bible gives grounds for divorce on two things: Infidelity, or if you marry someone who isn't religious and they abandon you. According to the Bible you then have the right to divorce. When that happened they went their separate ways. The guy went to another city, but here comes this women, back to Ignite with a false sense of freedom right after sleeping with Mariano Rivera III who is also a married man. She is up on stage declaring her marriage is going to be restored. The point that I’m driving home is that Ignite doesn’t have good judgment or any type of conviction in their leadership

Q: That’s insane. 

A: As a Pastor, I’m not gonna have a woman who just committed adultery multiple times on a stage saying God’s gonna restore her marriage, it's unwise, you don’t do that.

Q: I would think he doesn’t want to have a marriage after that?

A: From my understanding the divorce is finalized. That’s what happens when you listen to Mark Vega. When you listen to man instead of God that's where your life can end up. When you listen to man, not God; that's what happens. When you listen to your earthly shephard instead of Jesus Christ, I want this in the transcript. When you listen to man, not God, you’ll marry the wrong person and she’ll screw your employer and you’ll get a divorce and move away while she's on stage saying your marriage is gonna be restored. That’s what happens when you listen to Mark Vega. It wasn’t restored by the way. 

Q: Do you know what happened with Mariano Rivera III after. 

A: I have no idea. 

Q: That’s something. 

A: Yeah, it's very crazy. 

Q: Something former Ignite School of Ministry students always tell me is how horrible the work trips were and how they misappropriated funds and I was wondering if you’ve known anything about that?

A: Not that I know of, someone I knew had knowledge that sometimes Ignite would do shady things with their money. Regarding the work trips, I was told we were doing fundraising for the Ignite School of Ministry. We did the Kentucky Derby, as one of the anonymous whistleblowers said, and New York and New Jersey trips. We went to Orlando for some of the Assemblies of God Fl Multicultural district conferences. We did things like that to raise funds and there was nothing inherently wrong with that but I know they’re not financially transparent and when a church isn’t financially transparent it's a red flag. We were overworked for hours especially during the superbowl, waking up at 5:00 am and getting out at like 12:00 am at night. The leaders were verbally abusive and picked on us. This one guy, Mark’s mini me, Joel Vara, he would always pick on the guys and was just kind of a jerk. 

Q: What’d he do?

A: Hazing, verbally abusive. “Aren’t you a Christian, aren’t you supposed to be Christ like. Don't Galatians 5 say to live by the fruit of the spirit with love, joy, peace, genteness, and goodness.” I mean come on. 

Q: Yeah, all the things he is doing. 

A: All the things he’s done are the opposite of that. 

Q: Yeah, exactly. 

A: Yeah, I mean come on, that's hypocrisy. I’m not saying you have to be sinless, cause the Bible does teach that Christians can’t be sinless in this life, but if that’s the fruit you’re displaying in your character then you shouldn’t be in a ministry. 

Q: Is there anything you want to say to people at Ignite, or anyone in a similar situation, to help them get out and see a way to abandon Mark Vega without abandoning Christianity?

A: I’m glad you asked that question. I want people to know this: Your position with the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is not dependent on Mark Vega. That is dependent on your relationship with God and there is light at the end of the tunnel. Your Christian faith is not based on Mark’s anointing but it's based on Christ himself and what he has done for you on the cross. It's based on God's Word and God’s Word alone. God’s Word is the final authority. What God has spoken in the Bible is the Word of the Lord, not Mark Vega’s word. A lot of what Mark Vega and Ignite teaches is a contradiction to what God’s word is directly says.

I will say to the people who are still at Ignite Life Center, you and I read the same Bible, we have the same access to the Bible. If you choose to stay there it is not out of ignorance, it is because you love man more than you love God. However, I do absolutely believe there are true Christians at that church. Do I believe some of them are being deceived? Absolutely. If you are a true Christian according to the Word of God, John 10:10, the True Shepherd will lead you out of that deception as he has led me out of that deception. There is hope and grace for you, but you and I know that if you are still there after everything that has come out then you should be held responsible as they should be held responsible. You and I have the same Bible and you’re loving man more than you love God. 

Q: Do you think it's possible for any of the leaders under Mark Vega to get out of Ignite and turn to a better side?

A: Yes but I would not put them back in a ministry. As an Elder-Pastor of a church with knowledge of what had happened I would not put them in any type of ministry for a very very long time. 

Here's the thing with the Assemblies of God and any other pentecostal denomination, there is really no formal training being administered. They take some courses and a few tests to get credentials and that's it. Now you're able to preach and teach in those denominations like ILC, but it doesn’t mean you know the Bible. It doesn’t mean you know how to preach correctly or know Greek or Hebrew. Not that knowing those languages is a requirement to be a Pastor but you should have a thorough education to know how to be a minister of the Gospel. Taking a few courses and tests doesn't make you qualified. There’s more qualifications according to 2 Timothy and the book of Titus to be an Elder-Pastor. How do I know this, I took the same courses. I know what Mark Vega’s restoration period could be like if Assemblies of God held him liable. A two year restoration process, you sit down with other pastors in your area, they counsel you and make you read a few books, boom you’re back out there to preach again. That's not real restoration.

Q: Is the entirety of Assemblies of God corrupt because it doesn't seem like Vega has any authority or anyone he answers to. 

A: In Chrsitian theology, what we call the study of how the church is governed, it’s called Ecclesiology which is the Greek word for church. It's what the New Testament writers put down in Greek. I’m not a college educated man but you are a college educated man. 

Q: Ehhh, I mean, community college. 

A: You’re college educated, right so the Greek root word for church is “ecclesia”, from which we get the terms“ecclesial” and “ecclesiastical” hence, Ecclesiology. Assemblies of God is a fellowship for the churches that are under the Assemblies of God banter. These churches have autonomy to a certain degree. The ministers are licensed in levels, like level one, two, or three, with three being an ordained minister. Mark Vega is an ordained minister with the Assemblies of God but Ignite Life Center is not a church that is part of the Assemblies of God. If Ignite Life Center was a church that is registered under the Assemblies of God then the Assemblies of God would have every right to step in and remove Mark Vega and take over Ignite Life Center because it would be directly under the subdivision of the Florida Multicultural District which is also known as the Spanish district. 

Q: They’re not a part of the Assemblies of God? But if you go on the Assemblies of God website Ignite is listed as a district affiliated church?

A: Affiliated is the key word. Not registered. 

Q: There ya go. 

A: For example, if I was getting ordained as a Assemblies of God Minister and I wanted to plant a church, I have two options, I can register/plant my church under the Assemblies of God for supervision, accountability and oversight or I can plant my church independently of the Assemblies of God without any supervision, accountability and answer to no one. My credentials as an Ordained Minister will still be under the Assemblies of God and my church would be affiliated, but my church would not be registered under the Assemblies of God denomination.

Q: Okay, that makes more sense. 

A: You gotta remember affiliation and bonafide registration are two different things.

Q: Do you think there’s any more cases or perpetrators that we haven’t seen yet?

A: Yeah. 

Q: Do you know of anything specifically?

A: No, but Jesus said whatever's in the dark will come to light, and look what's happened. Mark Vega and his minions ostracized and shamed people. You don’t understand, if you were found in sexual sin you were ignored. It's a cult, cults do that. Christianity does not do that. 

Q: Would Ignite have a stereotypical confession booth situation?

A: No, that’s only with Catholics. Protestant churches don’t do that.

Q: Would people tell something in confinement to Mark, like pre-marital sex or something, and would he use that against them? 

A: Let's say for example I was found in sexual sin. Mark would tell the whole staff, so the staff would treat you differently and shun you. Somehow, the Ignite School of Ministry students would find out, so there was no such thing as ministerial confidentiality. When he should’ve been confidential about people’s sins, he wasn’t, but when he should’ve broken confidentiality for legal reasons because kids were being molested, he didn’t. He kept that under wraps. Do you know why? Because it would’ve brought a bad reputation to Ignite and Mark’s name. Mark loves man’s approval, and he loves his reputation at Ignite more than he loves God. He loves deceitfulness more than he loves truth. When they came to him about underage sexual molestation, he should’ve automatically reported it to the authorities. This is common knowledge for all people of the cloth.

The pastor who I was under back home would never reveal my sin when I confided in him. All he told me was that if I was gonna harm myself or others, or if there was anyone underage sexually, then he would have to report it to the authorities by law. Mark Vega never did that but he broke confidentiality on things he should've been quiet about and told the whole church. You see the hypocrisy. 

Q: So in that anonymous message I got that I mentioned earlier, it had also alleged that Mark Vega has some friendships with some people who are high-up in the Assemblies of God and he uses that to avoid accountability. Do these names ring any bells: General Superintendent Doug Clay, Superintendent Abner Adorno, or Assistant Superintendent Pedro Marrero. That’s who this person was saying got Mark out of trouble. 

A: That’s correct and I believe that. When everything first came out I emailed the Assemblies of God and told them what happened. The pastor I grew up with fitted every qualification in the Bible to be an Elder Pastor. He was a mentor, a good friend, and an older gentleman who’d been with the Assemblies of God for about thirty years. I told him what happened and he told me to reach out to Doug Clay’s office. I did and his assistant directed me to the Florida Multicultural District. It used to be called the Spanish District, which is what Vega is affiliated with; with Hispanic pastors in Orlando and Tampa. Doug Clay’s administrative assistant directed me to those people, CC’D them in the same email I sent Clay’s office and they never got back to me. The only thing I could think of is its cause they’re helping him get out of trouble. Even with the Gainesville Police Department (GPD) nothing has transpired. Where are the cases? Mark has connections. 

Q: Has Mark Vega ever offered gifts to make leaders do what he wants or coerce a situation. 

A: I don’t think he’d reward people with gifts, but with time. He’d invest a lot of time into you. He’ll gain influence over you and put you on a pedestal. He’ll make it seem like you’re next in line to receive his anointing. That’s how he’d take advantage of you to coerce you into doing what he wants you to do. 

Q: What exactly is an anointing?

A: The anointing is very simple. Christians are anointed through Jesus Christ; Christians receive an anointing through the Holy One. The anointing is not expressed by an outward ceremony as the old testament did. An anointing is through the sharing and gift of the Holy Spirit. At the moment of your salvation you as a believer are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and joined to Christ who is the Anointed One with a capital A and O. The biblical definition of the anointing is “expressing the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit upon Christians who are Priests and Kings unto God.”

Q: Have you ever seen any of the leaders emotional, upset, or crying over something Mark had said to them?

A: No but I know there were times. 

Q: Did anyone ever tell you about one of those situations?

A: To be honest with you it's been so long but I know there were times. Oh, I remember, it's kind of sad to say but I laughed about it. But this is how Mark would talk to people, he was very vulgar. Not in the sense of cussing but in the sense of being unkind to people. There was a gentleman with small teeth, I don’t know why but I think he was born with a condition where his teeth are small. He was a part of the production team and another student told me that Mark communicated to him, “Hey baby teeth, wake up” because I guess he was delayed with something on the sound? Not sure. But the student who ran sound communicated this story to me back then. That’s how he’d talk to people. Another example is when he was telling people to stay sexually pure he would tell the male students "Some of you are so horny that if you were able to, you would put a hole in your mattress and wake up in the morning like that.” Like, “men, you wake up with morning wood or a hard-on and would wanna penetrate the bed.” Things like that.

Q: That's wildly inappropriate to say around young people. 

A: Yeah, like older teenagers to people in their early 20s. Around students, it's especially inappropriate to talk like that as a Pastor. Paul says in Ephesians 4:29“Do not let any unwholesome or unworthy talk come out of your mouth.” Or “Crude joking.” Crude joking refers to sexually inappropriate jokes and talk that should not be coming from Mark Vega or any minister, Pastor, or Elder Pastor. Jesus did not talk like that nor should his pastors talk like that. Not even any Christians should ever talk like that but Mark would say those things on a regular basis. 

Q: Yeah, that reminds me of the last interview, saying he was like making sexual jokes about Lisa and things like that.

A: Yeah, yeah, he has.

Q: Yeah, things you really wouldn’t wanna see from anyone, especially not a Pastor.

A: Yes, I mean don’t get me wrong, if it’s in the confines of your own marriage behind closed doors just you two like sexually joking with each other.

Q: Yeah, well that’s different

A: Yeah that’s my point, maybe if you wanna use a little vulgar language while you're intimate, that's okay there's nothing wrong with that. Seriously, that’s God’s gift to mankind. The book of Hebrews says the marriage bed is undefiled. There’s nothing wrong with that, it's between you and your wife or husband, you can get freaky to the glory of God behind closed doors, seriously. But don’t be talking about that kind of stuff like that around young adults. If you know somebody who's struggling with alcoholism are you gonna talk about that around them?

Q: No.

A: But do you think it's wise for a pastor to make those remarks to young men and women who are struggling with sexual sin and came to find freedom? 

Q: I get what you’re saying, for him to be like “You’re so horny,” it’s like you’re making all young men out to be uncontrollable, and that makes the situation worse for everyone. 

A: On top of that he wouldn’t let you date unless you were a third year student. Adult students who were old enough to make their own decisions were told to not date because their focus should be on God. I understand where it's coming from but when you put that law unto people it rallies them to do the opposite. 

Q: Did you ever work around Ignite Refugio or did that ever crossover with you at the Ignite School of Ministry. 

A: Not for me, no. Another thing I wanna say for the record is that I had a very close proximity to Mark Vega and people can interpret what that means. I’m not saying this as someone on the outside looking in but as someone who was on the inside. 

Q: But you don’t wanna say how close you were to protect your identity?

A: That's correct

Q: Why do you want to be anonymous?

A: Everything. 

Q: Do you think they-

A: Yes.

Q They’d do something bad to you or your family?

A: They would, yeah. You can label the headlines “Another Ignite Whistleblower” or something like that.

Q: Yeah, I can let you take a look at it, in case there’s anything that could put you or them at risk. That’s what I do when things are this serious. 

A: I appreciate it. 

Q: Were you there at that meeting after Hemenez got arrested?

A: I was long gone before Hemenez’s arrest. And Hemenez did not only sexually assault kids but he sexually assaulted another man on a bus ride. He fondled him in his sleep. This man, according to my knowledge; Ignite coerced the situation and it didn’t get reported to GPD. He was over 18. They coerced this man saying, “Oh you must have liked it because you didn’t stop him.” Knowing this man he would’ve killed Gabriel Hemenez. I know him and he doesn’t roll that way whatsoever. They coerced him into not pressing charges. It's a fact that they knew Gabriel Hemenez did that and still put him in leadership at the Summer Internship. That's a fact which cannot be disputed. Witnesses could testify to that in court and I would if it comes to it because that's a bonafide fact. You have to understand that is how they operate. They’ll coerce you using scripture out of context to have their way. 

Q: That’s just so sickening.

A: Yeah it is sickening isn’t it?, they coerced the victim and put Hemenez back in leadership. You don’t understand Mark Vega’s manipulation tactics. He is so manipulative, that same victim is still at Ignite because him and Mark Vega patched things up. Mark is very dangerous. 

I will say that Mark Vega and most of the staff are false teachers. I will defend that statement with biblical scripture. You cannot deceive me. People like Mark Vega, their heresy is in hypocrisy. It's how they say to live your life compared to how they live their lives. Teaching false things about the gospel and living your life in hypocrisy is a sign of a false teacher. False teachers are not gonna be blatantly out there. They will be very subtle. That’s what makes a false teacher, but especially Mark Vega, he’s dangerous because he is not out there. The way Satan operates is subtle. A small minority of heretics are the ones who are blatantly out there for you to see, for you to notice. Most heretics who are false teachers aren’t gonna be out there. 

2 Peter, chapter 2, verses one through three. This is what Peter says to the early church. “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly” See that, secretly. “They will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality.” They will follow sensuality because Mark Vega and most Pentecostal churches promote and cultivate an atmosphere of expectancy and emotion. Things like getting riled up and waiting for the Holy Spirit to move produces sensuality and emotionalism. That’s the mark of a false teacher. That’s what Ignite has done. The verse continues, "and because of them the way of the truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.’ I’m not a theologian; I'm a Christian who reads the Bible and studies it. Some of the people there know better, but there is also a spiritual component when people are deceived. I believe wholeheartedly that Mark, Lisa Vega, and Nicole Gomez know they’re deceiving people and leading people astray. I think they are all deceived to a degree because the Bible says those who are false teachers are “deceiving others and themselves being deceived.” (2 Tim 3:13). But deep down, they know what they are doing is false. I believe people like Adolfo Gomez, Esther Ombeon, Eric and Maria Godinez, and Nick Bruce are deceived and believe what they’re doing is God’s work. I think Mark, Lisa, and Nicole really know what they’re doing. 

Q: How do you think Nicole is different from some of the other leaders?

A: Nicole is his  golden child. He helped her out of a lesbian lifestyle. Not to be disrespectful about Nicole or hurt her feelings but when you meet and talk to her you can tell she has masculine mannerisms because she comes from a lesbian lifestyle. It is what it is. I know Christian men who aren’t homosexuals anymore but sometimes still have feminine mannerisms because they came from a homosexual lifestyle. I don’t judge them, they themselves are trying to find freedom in what they and I believe is a sin, however, Nicole is Mark’s golden child on what he wants people to act like. He wants mini-Marks; yes-men. He hates “No.” If someone is agreeable it's easier to deceive them and lead them astray. 

Q: When they were telling people they didn’t want them to be gay would they threaten them with blasphemy or damnation. Like how would they do it, how would they talk to gay people?

A: I think their intentions were pure and you may not understand it because you’re not a Christian or a religious man. They would try genuine methods to help people overcome their homosexual or lesbian sin and I think they had good intentions, however, I think the methodology was always wrong. When somebody is a homosexual or lives a gay lifestyle, yes the Bible calls them to turn away, repent, and trust in Jesus the Lord and Savior, but at the same time it takes time to overcome that sin. It takes awhile for the Lord to free your heart from that and I think Mark and his staff really tried with good intentions but bad methods. 

It's a real misjudgement of who they’re putting in leadership. There was a young lady who was a lesbian and they were making her date Nicholas Bruce who is one of the staff pastors. They thought her and Nick Bruce dating would free her of homosexual tendencies but she left Ignite and she’s now living a lesbian lifestyle. 

Q: Oh, good for her. 

A: I don’t agree with that, with her sexual orientation and her lifestyle. She was a great friend and person and I love her. I may not agree with her choices because the Bible condemns that lifestyle but I love her though. However, she left and that's super sad. I’m giving examples like that because it goes back to lack of judgment from Mark Vega and the leadership team. Their lack of judgment is what causes these things to happen. Their lack of judgment caused the sexual abuse coverup. 

Q: Did you ever notice any red flags about Hemenez, Cruz, or Vargas in your time there?

A: Vargas not really because I didn’t know him. With Gabriel, not to sound hateful, or condemning because I don’t condemn people. I love them. I may not always agree with their lifestyle choices but God loves them. He doesn’t agree with their sin but nevertheless. I always had a red flag because, not only was Gabriel coming from a homosexual lifestyle, but from my understanding he’d been molested himself. The reason why I say that is because in Christian theology when they’re trying to come out of that lifestyle and sin you don’t put them in a leadership position or give them any affluence/influence and put them up on stage. Like they put him up on stage like “Look how God delivered Gabriel Hemenez from homosexuality, eh, he’s still struggling with it." You don’t do that. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not condemning the man cause it's the sin not the sinner. I’ll acknowledge that I’m not perfect. I won’t be until I go up to heaven with Christ. I will say that all day, however, there’s certain sins in Christian theology where within the practice or governance of the church there are certain things you don’t do. One of those is to put somebody on a pedestal when they just came out of a very sinful lifestyle. Does that make sense?

Q: It does remind me of a thing they had at Ignite called the Unbound conference. Ignite was protested there for it by local activists a few years back, in 2018. 

A: I was there for the Unbound conference by the way.

Q: Were they doing what you just described at the Unbound Conference?

A: Yeah they were, they were putting ex-homosexuals up on a pedestal saying God saved them and delivered them. Don’t get me wrong, I agree with the Word of God that homosexuality is a sin. I appreciate the intentions behind it, like God can free you from that sin, especially someone like me who came from a very sexually promiscuous background. I agree with the intent behind Unbound but I don’t agree with putting people who recently came out of that sin and putting them up on a pedestal while they’re still struggling with it. 

Q: Were they trying to, I guess “save” Hemenez from being a pedofile? Or, were they presenting it as him just being gay while not revealing he is a pedofile?

A: No, because from my understanding in 2018-2019; I didn’t know anything at that time, I didn’t know what had transpired with Hemenez and Vargas. They weren’t revealing that. I do not know if they knew he was a pedofile at that time. 

Q: I think they may have known based on the civil lawsuits, they say they knew back to 2019; Unbound was in 2018, so not confirmed but that shows they withheld knowledge while he was at the summer internship with kids. 

A: Okay, see that I wasn’t aware of. From my understanding they only thought that he came from a homosexual background and God saved him and they were putting him on a pedestal, but I wasn’t aware, nor did I ever expect Ignite knew what was going on, I didn’t know that. 

Q: At a recent sermon I saw he’s still making new programs even with all this shit. He’s starting up “Ignite Brazil” and I forget the name but something they called an advocacy program for immigrant families. What do you think his intentions are?

A:  It doesn't surprise me because he wants to be international. His conscience is guilty and he wants to make his name known. He’s bigger on making his name known than God’s name known. He cares more about his reputation. Everything he does comes from a place of pride. He wants to make Ignite known at the expense of negating the truth of what has transpired at Ignite Life Center. The case that is most likely is Doug Clay and the other leaders are being coerced into believing Mark is innocent. Knowing who Doug Clay is and the personal connection my childhood senior pastor had with him back in the day and trusting my childhood senior pastors' judgment, there is no way Doug Clay is intentionally getting Mark out of it. The Florida Multicultural District is intentionally getting Mark out of it. Remember that Doug Clay is the Superintendent of the entirety of the Assemblies of God. He’s not really associated with the Florida Multicultural District because he’s a part of the caucasian portion of the Assemblies of God (AG), more specifically The Executive Leadership Team. If he was regular AG Pastor in Florida , then he would be a part of the Peninsular Florida District of AG, which is the caucasian district of AG. I think Mark is coercing Doug into thinking he is innocent, and it's not a big deal. Mark is fooling some of the Penn Florida District Assemblies of God leaders and the Executive Leadership Team (Which Doug Clay is a part of) and making them think it's not a big deal while Florida Multicultural actively tries to get him out of it. 

Q: What do you think needs to be done about this church in the Gainesville community? There haven’t been any pastors arrested yet and there hasn’t been a protest since Unbound?

A: People need to go public. 

Q: With their names?

A: Yes. They need to share their story publicly. Don’t get me wrong, I want this to be on the transcript. I’m not afraid of Mark Vega. I’m not afraid of Nicole. I’m not afraid of Adolfo. I’m not afraid of Eric. I’m not afraid of Esther. I’m not afraid of any of them. If they wanna meet with me face-to-face and talk about this. If they wanna debate if what they're doing is wrong, if they would like to discuss their errors Biblically and theologically, we can do it. But, I’m doing this anonymously to protect my family. Make no mistake, if I didn’t have to protect my family I’d share my name. Gainesville needs to speak up and there needs to be names to this story.

On top of that, Ignite Life Center needs to be shut down. The pastors need to repent of their sin, deceitfulness, and manipulation. They need to repent for how they hurt victims and pushed people out of the body of Christ. They need to publicly denounce all that they have done and repent. They need to ask Alachua County, Gainesville, the Assemblies of God, and all their victims for forgiveness. They need to sit down behind the pulpit and be discipled properly. Honestly some of them probably need to be genuinely saved. 

Q: What do you mean by save? What would we be doing to save them when they’re so far gone?

A: Even though I speak harshly and strongly I still love them. There were relationships I built there and I still love them and it hasn’t gone away. I’ve prayed for them and the love will always be there. But some of them act as if they are not true born-again believers. A born-again Christian doesn’t act how they do. A true Pastor doesn’t act how they’re acting. Jesus said, “You should know them by their fruit.” What the fruit has shown is that it's all deceitfulness and that’s the devil. They’re not born again, they’re children of wrath as [Paul] calls them in [Ephesians 2]. When I say they need to be saved that’s what I mean, it's a Christian term. Their fruit shows that some of them are not genuinely saved. According to the New Testament when you’re a born-again believer producing good fruit is a promise. It also says as a promise that if they never produce good fruit they don’t belong to Christ and aren’t born-again, they aren’t saved. 

Q: Do you think that charges and jail-time should be a contributing factor to saving some of them?

A: Yeah it’d help, but not with saving them spiritually. 

Q: Sorry I was wording it weirdly. I mean, do you think they should go to prison for what they’ve done?

A: Yes, I think it’d sober them to the reality of what they’ve done, however, if Mark and his team are listening to this, there is mercy, compassion, grace, and forgiveness in Jesus Christ. Even for the worst of sinners. That is true and that grace, mercy, love, forgiveness, and compassion is offered to them if they repent for their sin. That is true and I stand by that.

Q: That was pretty much all the questions I had written down. Thanks for talking to me. Was there anything more you wanted to add?

A: Do you think all the answers went well?

Q: Yeah and I think it's good to get a strong Christian perspective so people in the church can see they can leave Ignite without leaving their faith or Christianity. 

A: I know God has called me to be a Pastor, right now that’s not what I’m doing but I believe the Lord is preparing me. Right now isn’t the time, I’m still growing and learning and I’m not gonna be perfect but I would like to be a mature Christian Godly man before I step into that role. The Bible talks about how preachers who teach are gonna be held to a stricter judgment than those who are not Pastors and elders. If they know the Bible and understand God’s justice and wrath then they will know He will judge them very strictly. If justice is not served, if they never go to jail, if they somehow get out of this and justice isn’t served in this life then it will be served in the afterlife. As the Bible says, “Vengeance is mine declared the Lord and I will repay each man according to his deeds." That vengeance, that justice, the Holy hot wrath of God will be recompense and repaid to them in the afterlife if they don’t repent.

If justice isn’t served here in this life then it will certainly be served to them in the afterlife unless they repent for their deception and false teachings. That’s a promise. That’s not me, that’s the word of God and it's very serious. I’m taking it seriously as it is very serious. 

Q: What I don’t understand, like I get their reasoning and motive for the coverup of their sons, it's not okay but in terms of motive I can see why Mark Vega and Jose Cruz tried to cover for their sons, but what I don’t understand is why they covered for Hemenez who was a lowly volunteer when he did it, and an employee before that? 

A: Here’s the reason why. It all fundamentally comes down to their interpretation of the Bible. For example, hold on, I gotta pull this out.

Q: Hey, you’ll be a good Pastor.

A: I appreciate it... Here’s why they try and solve it in house how they do. 1st Corinthians chapter six, the Apostle Paul who wrote ⅔ of the New Testament under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, depending on how you read it the heading is called “Lawsuits amongst believers.” What Paul is talking about in verses one through nine is the Corinthians church in the historical context of believers throwing lawsuits against each other for simple things, like with ancient believers suing each over miniscule things like a lended mule or a wheelbarrow, like siblings quarreling. They were all bickering and throwing lawsuits and Paul was like, “Why are you having lawsuits and bickering. You settle the bickering inside the church. There’s no reason to do a lawsuit.” 

Ignite will interpret that passage to mean that anything happening in the church should be handled within the church even when it's something as gross as sexual crime. They take the scripture out of context and use it to keep things in house. Like, “Well the Bible says in 1st Corinthians 6 that you handle lawsuits in the church; no reason to report it to authorities.” That's what they're thinking. If people are reading this and disagree, then I encourage them to go to any New Testament scholar on BibleHub and they’ll agree with me. Not because I’m right but because they’re trained men who wrote commentaires spanning thousands of years agreeing on the same interpretation. 

Another verse they’ll take out of context is Romans Verse Chapter 4:17. The verse says, “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that do not exist.” They’ll quote that verse and say “Women and men of God would be able to call things that are not as if they were.” Like, speak things to existence. They take scripture out of  context. A popular one is “You are a little Christ, life and death are the power of the tongue ” That’s a verse out of proverbs. They teach that you are a Little God or Little Christ because you are able to speak things into existence because that's what Romans 4:17 and Proverbs says. That’s not what those verses mean. 

What those verses are talking about is that God made Sarah and Abahram have a baby beyond their years of age. They were close to ninety or one-hundred and God made them have a baby so that the Israel patriarch could come out of that. Man cannot speak things into existence. They always take the verse out of context that says “Life and death are the power of the tongues.” What that verse is saying is you're either gonna love eating the fruits of a tongue that speaks only death or you’re gonna only love the fruit of a tongue that speaks only life. That’s all that verse is saying. There is no creative power that is on equal footing with God. People take the scripture out of context and use it to justify what they want to justify. 

I will say this, if a church has a lot of sexual immorality in the form of kids being molested, people being assaulted, or premarital sex and infidelity, if all that is running rampant, it’s a church where most likely someone in the leadership doing it. There is most likely someone in the leadership who is either sexually molesting or walking out on their spouse.

Q: Do you have any suspicions on who that might be.

A: It's funny because Mark Vega would always talk about how women throughout the years would come on to him but he was always faithful to Lisa. He said that the anointing was a Aphrodisiac and it would attract women to him. 

Q: Yeah right, give me a break. 

A: He said that because he was a man of God and loved God more, that he didn’t step out on his wife. He told multiple stories that way. You and I know that a true man never kisses and tells. A true man would confide that to their wife and never go and tell everyone about that. 

Here’s a common denominator, Pentecostal leader Robert Morris, who is someone Mark Vega probably follows and loves because he was a very charismatic leader. Robert Morris always said that the Jezebel spirit came onto him and he stepped out on his marriage, leading him to be sexually involved with a young lady. He wrote that in his books and publicly taught that in his sermons. Recently, I came to find out that the young lady was actually a 12-year-old girl who he molested for years while he was married. This whole time Robert Morris painted himself as the victim. You know what Mark Vega always painted himself as when women came  onto him: a victim. The reason he paints himself as the victim is because he has a guilty conscience. Anyone who paints themselves as a victim is trying to alleviate their guilty conscience. 

Mark Vega loves the Rob Parsleys and Kenneth Haggens, or Charles Fox Parham who founded the Pentecostal movement. This movement has produced some of the worst sexual scandals. It has produced some of the worst theology and heretics in Christianity. Pentecostalism is the main problem with a lot of Chrisitanity’s issues we face today in the modern church and it's sad because when non-religious people like yourself see these things it turns you off Christ. 

Q: I hope you know I think of it more as exploiting a religion. 

A: Peter talks about that, how they’ll exploit you with false words and promises. Pentecostalism is only about one-hundred years old and it was all a big hoax. Parham believed that the gifts of Spirit still continued. He was saying that Agnes Osman was speaking in tongues and that she spoke real languages. Then they were saying she spoke Chinese and she went to the Chinese mission field and the Chinese people were like “We don’t understand that, she’s speaking gibberish.”She wrote on a piece of paper, claiming that it was Chinese, if you look at the picture today, it doesn’t take a linguistic scholar to tell you that ain’t Chinese, just scribbles. Then they had to change what speaking in tongues was. Parham and his students believed that tongues were real human languages (that’s the correct interpretation) but once they found that their speaking in tongues isn't a known human language but just ecstatic gibberish, they had to change their interpretation claiming they were speaking in the “tongues of angels” twisting 1 Corinthians 13:1. What I’m speaking about is all real bonafide history and documentation. That’s how Pentecostalism was started. 

It all started with a scam and Charles Fox Parham was a sodomite. He would take it up the anal cavity and give it up the anal cavity. He was arrested for sodomy because that was illegal back in the day. Pentecostalsim and all the leaders root back to a newer version of Christianity which is not biblical. Don’t get me wrong there are true believers who are Pentecostal and some of the churches have done good for the world but it's a small minority. Mark Vega and the worst of what Christianity has to offer comes from that theology. 

Q: So what you're saying is that there’s corruption in the root of this sect of Christianity and it's gonna trickle down?

A: In my opinion most of it is corrupt because it comes from people who don’t have good character. Look at the fruit of Parham’s character. We have Mark Vega coercing people and Robert Morris raping a 12-16 year old girl. He had a restoration period for two years and was back in the ministry being an elder at his church at 29 years old. That’s what Pentecostal theology does. They lack judgment of who they put in leadership. This part of Chrisitany is only one-hundred years old.

I’d rather base my faith on the apostles who were around in the first century. Pentecostal believers, of course some of them are truly good believers who’ve done a lot for Christianity, but I can’t get behind their theology. I used to be zealous about it and was the most Pentecostal person you’d ever meet, I was speaking in tongues, calling down fire, all that. Just like Mark does on Sundays, it's showmanship and not real. If you were healed in that service it was because God did it. God did it in spite of Mark Vega’s damning heresies .  

Q: Do you think it's possible for someone to feel like they're saved when they actually aren’t?

A: Absolutely. The Bible teaches that. Jesus said in Matthew 7 “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name heal the sick and in your name preach. Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of iniquity.” Some translations say “lawlessness.” Jesus knows who they are cognitively but not in a salvatic sense. Jesus also taught in the gospels, “there’s wheat and tears.” The wheat are the believers in Christ and the tears are the unbelievers. Jesus said that His angels that come down from heaven, “Will  gather the wheat into the barn,” which symbolizes heaven, and “he will throw the tears into the fire.” What’s the fire?

Q: Hell?

A: That’s my point, the Bible talks about that. There are people who think they’re saved when they’re not and it's self-deception. To know if you’re saved you have to look at if the fruit of your life matches what the word of God teaches. The fruit Mark Vega and his minions have portrayed leads me to believe most people at Ignite are not saved. The good fruit that Jesus and the apostles taught should be evident in a believer's life. The foundation is if your life matches the word of God. 

Ignite Life Center needs to be shut down. I want Gainesville and Alachua County to know that Ignite doesn’t represent Jesus. That's not how Jesus would act with his church or anyone. Ignite is not the face of Christianity. There are good churches out there that mean well and are filled with qualified men who are Elders, Pastors, and true believers. You just have to do your research. 

Q: Do you think other churches and the pastors of those churches have an obligation to speak out against Ignite?

A: Yes, the Bible commands believers to mark and avoid those who are false teachers. (Matthew 7:15, Matthew 16:6, Romans 16:17, Acts 20:28-29, Philippians 3:2,18; 1 Corinthians 5:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:6,14; 2 Timothy 3:5; 2 John 10, 1 Timothy 5: 19-20.) The Bible commands elders and pastors to do the same, Paul told the elders in Ephesus, "Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers…. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock." Wolves are a synonym for false teachers. They need to speak out and condemn what's happening at Ignite. Doing so means being faithful to the Word of God and His Church. Yes they should. 

Q: Why do you think that most people haven’t heard of Ignite? When I try to talk to people about it who are on the outside they’re horrified when they know but most of them don’t know the extent. When I try to explain it I feel like a broken record, Mariano Rivera, multiple coverups, every form of abuse, et cetera. How do we get everyday Gainesville people to understand the threat of this church?

A: Honestly, going back to what I said, people have to go public. People have to make a statement with the press. I’m praying for it. This needs to be national. I’m hoping to God that the Lord gives you favor and you make a documentary about it. 

Q: If I ever get the funds it's gonna happen. 

A: I can’t support anything monetarily. 

Q: Me too, but I wasn't asking you to.  

A: You got my support in time, resources, historical creeds, Orthodox theology, I will support you in all of that because it gets people’s attention and awareness that there are churches that are like this and people need to get away from them. Is there any way on your end you could make this story get more attention? How does that work from a journalistic standpoint?

Q: Well I’m independent and started Gainesville Public Information Services about a year and a half ago. I’m at Santa Fe College and majoring in journalism but I hadn’t taken any classes in it yet so I wanted to gain experience. One thing led to another, now I’m kind of well over a dozen articles deep into this and I’m not going back, they need to be stopped and someone needs to hold them accountable. 

A: I remember reading on the last interview transcript they said Ignite might be suing you, what's going on with that?

Q: I have no idea. That was coming from way out of the ballpark. It's not slander, it's true, and even if it could be legally constituted as slander they’ve got enough criminal and civil cases to worry about. What would I even have to give them? I could see them saying that off the record.

A: There’s this documentary called Dancing with the Devil and it's a lot like Ignite. Mark Vega tells Esther, Nick, Adolfo, Eric, Maria; he tells them all what to say. He makes sure all the stories add up.

They have an advantage because Nicole Gomez got a degree in public communication so she is trained on how to speak to the public and news anchors. 

It's a cult.