From preaching about the glory of Jesus to smuggling almost 300 pounds of marijuana across the US border. Megachurch Pastor John Lee Bishop had hit rock bottom. Find out how this man went from a respected megachurch pastor to a drug mule for the Mexican cartel.
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John Lee Bishop: The Early Days
Believe it or not, this megachurch pastor did not start off as a religious man. Quite the opposite in fact. Bishop had a rough upbringing. His father had a drinking problem and died in a drunken wreck when Bishop was just four years old. The Daily Mail shares excerpts from Bishop's book that mentions how his father's death was his first encounter with men and how they have trouble "hitting the brakes."
Then, the pastor gave examples. He said, "When we drink, we drink a lot. And when we got bad, we go all the way bad...to hell on earth." Although I am sure he had no idea just how far he would go later in life. With his father gone, his mother found a new man. However, he was far from perfect. His mother married an "abusive drug dealer who regularly beat and terrorized" both Bishop and his mother.
To make matters worse, his uncle ran a fight club in which he pitted Bishop against other children from the neighborhood. It is safe to say with all the violence and destruction in his life, the last thing on his mind was the Lord. However when he met his future wife Michelle that all changed.
Michelle was a cheerleader for a rival school and was very religious. In an attempt to get her to date him, Bishop began attending church with her. While religion didn't sit well with him initially, he stuck with it because of his love for Michelle. His efforts paid off and the two got married.
How John Lee Bishop Became A Megachurch Pastor
Although he had landed the girl of his dreams, he was still far from God. That is until he had a near death experience. The Daily Mail shares a quote from the pastor. "Nobody likes to think about death, but those are the most sobering moments when you're in a situation like that — that's when you really start wondering what happens to us next."
Bishop was not expected to make it, but Michelle had someone from her church come pray over him and then he pulled through. When asked if he had died, did Bishop think he would have made it to heaven, he admitted that he didn't know. That is what started him on his religious path. From there he volunteered to run a youth ministry. It wasn't long after that he started his own congregation. Specifically, his congregation targeted "social misfits that he felt other churches often left behind."
With his dedication and theatrical performances, Bishop gained a huge following for his church, Living Hope. Less than a decade after its opening, the church became a megachurch with over 2,000 members. Eventually, Bishop had the grand idea to open another church in Cabo, Mexico.
How The Megachurch Pastor Became Connected With The Mexican Cartel
Bishop's continuous activity in Mexico drew a lot of attention towards him. Not always the kind he was searching for. This time, his activity south of the border caught the eye of the Sinaloa Cartel. With his constant presence in their country, they confronted him over their fear that he was trying to set up a "gringo drug network."
Once Bishop was able to put their fears to rest they decided to celebrate, with a bag of cocaine. Bishop was ordered to try some, which he did, and so began his downfall. Bishop was beginning to burn out and was turning to alcohol and prescription medication to ease the burden.
At the same time his son, David, was walking away from religion and instead turning to drugs. The cherry on top, Bishop was later caught having an affair with his assistant. In an attempt to flee the drama, and being "hell-bent on self-destruction" Bishop decided to move full-time to Cabo. It was there that his life truly took a turn for the worse.
While he no longer cared about his own life, he did care for his son David. He wanted to help him rise above the drugs. So, his logic was that he would "jump in the ditch" with David so he would better understand how to pull him out. That ditch involved smoking meth and trying heroin alongside his son.
All of this exposure to drugs lead Bishop to be the go-to drug dealer for the Mexican cartel.
Megachurch Pastor Turned Drug Mule
Then things escalated from there. David was still having many run-ins with the law and with street thugs. One time, David ran up a debt with a low-level street thug and he couldn't pay it off. Therefore, David stepped in. Once he paid off his son's debts, Bishop earned the respect of the Sinaloa Cartel members.
From there he became their pastor, leading funerals and services for fallen members. However, David never stopped running into trouble. In an attempt to buy his son's freedom,m Bishop turned to the cartel for assistance. They told him they would help him if he ran "a shipment of heroin across the border to Vancouver." Although, the pastor refused he soon learned that he couldn't help David with his financial situation. Therefore he made a compromise.
The Compromise
The megachurch pastor agreed to be a drug mule for the Mexican cartel but under one condition. He would only smuggle marijuana across the border. From there the rest is history. Bishop successfully completed necessary practice runs, got himself a handler, and began work as a drug mule for the Mexican cartel.
After an extremely successful first mission and $50,000 in profit in his first few weeks, Bishop had seemed to have found the solution to his problems. However, once reunited with his wife on vacation the implications of his actions began to weigh heavy on his heart. So Bishop decided he wanted to clean up his act.
When he expressed his desire to get out to the cartel they obliged, but only after he completed one last job as their drug mule. Ironically, it was that last job that got him caught and landed him in prison. He was caught "toward the San Ysidro port of entry at the base of California." Although he had remained calm and told border patrol he was just setting up a church, they noticed something of interest poking out of his rear bumper.
It was one of the bricks of marijuana. Then the border patrols found "almost 300 pounds of marijuana stuffed away in the dashboard, bumpers, the wheel well, and underneath the rear seats."
The Final Turnaround
After his arrest, Bishop was offered incentives to turn in cartel members. However, he refused out of fear that they would harm his family. Then, he was sentenced to five years in prison. It was behind bars that he began to turn his life around again.
He started a bible study and was released early in November of 2021. The couple is still together today and Bishop has gone back to preaching. Although at a much smaller scale now.
