Let me be the hands that bring them water.
Let my feet carry me to help the poor and weary.
JD Martinez Ministry is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization that got its humble beginnings in 1989 with the writing of the song, “Through My Children’s Eyes”, by John-David Martinez. At that time he was retired from the music business and worked full time as a landscape supervisor at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, TX.
One hot afternoon as he was going home he felt God’s Holy Spirit impress upon his heart to go and buy strings for the guitar he had stored in the closet. He heard very clearly, “today you will start singing for me”. That was March 22, 1989. By the end of that same night he had written down the first Message from God, ”Through My Children’s Eyes”, and then messages from, and to, God began to manifest quickly. After writing these messages on scraps of paper, he put them in a shoebox.
In 1999, after raising his two children out in the country in St. Hedwig, TX. he moved his family to New Braunfels, TX. Unfortunately, in the process of the move the shoebox was lost, with about 30 of his early songs. Broken hearted he kept pressing on and trying to remember as many songs as possible, with little luck. Fast forward to 2005, he was then employed by Community Bible Church, the 10th fastest growing church in the nation. He was hired as a worship pastor and songwriter for the church. This switch in careers was amazing to him as he never went to school to study music or songwriting. Never in his wildest dreams did he dream about being a pastor. He was just an old rock ‘n roller who taught himself to play guitar while in the Marine Corps.
In 2006, preparing to move again, he took a large box to a dumpster and to his surprise, the last thing out of that box was his shoebox! It had been seven years since its disappearance. After finding it he decided he would record the songs and use whatever money he made to help support mission work in Peru and other areas. After the initial recording of “Songs from the Shoebox”, he started a non-profit organization. The funds raised through this organization will help orphans find a future through higher education, through mentoring programs and more. One particular focus of JD Martinez Ministry
is supporting an orphanage in the SW mountains of Peru, Casa del Aguila. John-David and the JD Martinez Ministry board continue to explore additional ministries to support through this organization.