Frank Vega, 61, an ordained bishop and founder of missions to help the needy
He was a heroin addict who turned his life around
FRANK VEGA'S life was a mess.
A serious heroin addict, drug peddler, jail bird, suicidal. In other words, a hopeless case, like so many in the dreary inner-city neighborhoods that harbor society's dregs.
But something happened to Frank Vega while he was serving a 19-month sentence on drug charges in Holmesburg Prison.
He had a dream. He saw broken people, like him, going into buildings and coming out restored.
He believed it was a message from God, telling him he'd better do something for the people in his community, the ones he had for so long simply exploited for his own selfish gain.
Frank Vega, who died June 23 at the age of 61, was ready for transformation.
He embarked on a spiritual journey that led him to organize missions in Philadelphia to convince other "hopeless cases" that there was life after drugs. He gathered committed people around him and together they worked to salvage lives lost to drugs, homelessness and poverty.
Eventually, he took his mission around the world, working with local pastors in Malawi, Liberia and Nigeria. This work led to the founding of World Wide Compassion Church International.
After his release from prison with a new determination to turn his life around, Frank became a minister in the former New Life Church in North Philadelphia, and he and Carmen Rivera, whom he met in 1979, started a family.
Frank was ordained a pastor by Bishop Gilbert Coleman Jr., senior pastor of Freedom Christian Bible Fellowship. Frank eventually was ordained a bishop himself.
Frank died of cardiac arrest in his home in New Castle, Del., where the family had lived for a few months. But for years, they had lived at Inner City Missions, which he and a few other former addicts had founded in 1994 on Kensington Avenue.
Frank was born Francisco Vega Jr. in Philadelphia, one of the 15 children of Francisco Vega Sr. and Felicita Vega. He attended Penn Treaty High School.
He and his siblings worked with their father, who owned a bar and a food truck. He was such a mischievous youth that he earned the nickname "Crazy." He was involved with the Zulu Nation street gang and carried a zip gun. He enlisted in the Army and served in Korea. He earned his GED in the Army.
After his discharge, Frank became involved with the Black Panther Party, and started selling drugs in the region of North Philadelphia called the "Badlands."
Eventually, he became a user himself and his life seemed to be over.
He once described his entry into addiction this way: "I tell people it was easier for me to stick a needle in my arm than to look in the mirror and see who I really was."
According to his stepson, Julius Rivera Jr., a community activist and special-education teacher at the Pan American Charter School, his stepfather began his spiritual awakening before his jail term.
"Vega reached a pivotal moment of transformation when, after a failed suicide attempt, he cried out to God, 'Let me die or do something with my life!' God seemed to choose the latter of these options," Julius said.
He turned himself into the police and went through the horrors of withdrawal by himself before starting his prison term.
After serving as a minister with New Life Church, now closed, Frank became involved with Adventures in Missions and opened New Life Missions in Kensington. He later started a church, Urban Worship Center on Cumberland Street.
In February 2011, Frank launched Cora Women's Center on Kensington Avenue in Kensington to serve troubled women of the neighborhood. It was run by two volunteers, Caitlan Callahan, an Indiana University grad, and Harry Winans, a Kensington native.
They pointed out that "Cora" is a Greek word for both "girl" and "filled heart."
Women who drop in can have a cup of coffee and learn about addiction treatment, health care and housing assistance. It's one of the numerous centers that Frank founded over the years to help the suffering.
"Everyone who knew him remembers a compassionate man with an unmatched sense of humor and conviction," Julius said.
Besides his wife, he is survived by three biological children, Lavorne, Francisco III and Felicita; 13 grandchildren and step-grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
Services: 11 a.m. tomorrow at Urban Worship Center, 2038 E. Cumberland St. Friends may call at 9 a.m.