The Book of Mark: From Stigma to Salvation

I didn't set out to write a book.
Truth is, I set out to survive - to make sense of a life that seemed written off before it even began.

My name is Mark Stanford, though most people know me now as Markiah, the Redeem. I've been called a lot of things in my life - some true, some not - but none of them define who I am today. For a long time, my name carried more stigma than hope. Every door that opened seemed to slam twice as hard once my past was discovered. I worked, I tried, I changed - but the world didn't want to believe a man like me could be redeemed.

But God did.

This book isn't about pity or perfection. It's about redemption - real, raw, street-level redemption. It's about the moments when grace found me in places I didn't think God could reach. It's about my daughter, my faith, and the mission that was born out of my pain.

When I lost everything because of my past, I made a promise to God: If You lift me up, I'll use my story to lift others too.
That promise became Jesus in the Streets - a movement for the forgotten, the broken, and the ones society calls unworthy. It became Future Over Past, a voice for those judged by the worst chapter of their life instead of the one they're writing now.

This book is my testimony.
Not because I've figured it all out - I haven't.
Not because I'm perfect - I'm far from it.
But because I believe that God can take what the world throws away and make it shine again.

If you've ever been counted out, called a name, or chained to your past - this story is for you.
If you've ever wondered whether grace still works in a world full of judgment - this book is proof that it does.

This is not just my story.
This is every man and woman who ever looked in the mirror and refused to believe that their past was the end.

This is The Book of Mark -
from stigma to salvation,
from the streets to the Savior.