SAN ANTONIO — Hector Ginez loves attending Gateway Fellowship Church on San Antonio’s North Side.
“I feel like when I go to church, not only do I get to fellowship with my brothers, but I also get to hear a word that can sometimes be encouraging and sometimes being convicting,” Ginez said.
Ginez sat in his chair as the pastor shared the important message for the week.
“The alarms of evil are sounding — wake up church,” the pastor said.
Ginez grew up a long way from this church life on San Antonio’s West Side in the Cassiano Courts, cinder-block housing projects. His parents raised him and his brothers to Christians, but they were still plagued by poverty, crime and drugs.
"There was times where we would struggle and I felt like I wanted to provide," Ginez said.
Ginez’s way of providing as a high school student was selling drugs and the longer that he was in the game, the more serious it would get. He took a quick stroll through his childhood neighborhood and he started to reminisce.
“Here it was more drop off, pick up, [but] up the street we had a little spot selling marijuana, cocaine, stuff like that,” Ginez said.
This eventually landed him in federal prison but while incarnated he asked for a second chance at life.
“I remember being in my cell, I remember it being like 10 in the morning and it being June 3rd and I’m in my cell and I asked him [God] give me a second chance,” Ginez said.
He received that second opportunity at life after serving 36 months in federal prison, but Ginez knew transitioning into society would be difficult, especially when looking for work.
“What can I do, not only to better myself, but to give back to the same community that I was once a part of, which was an inmate, being incarcerated,” Ginez said.
That’s when Ginez launched a T-shirt company called 412 Threads, where a portion of the proceeds goes to purchasing bibles for inmates.
Ginez handwrites letters to inmates and even communicates with them through an app, but even with this new found purpose he still feels that he needs to do more.
“It’s not over until God says it’s over, there’s always a second chance. Not only that, but continue to pray for your loved ones, your sons, your dads, and let God do the rest,” Ginez said.