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Model's Ministry Embraces Style

Tribune photo by JASON BEHNKEN

Model4Jesus founder Mayra Gomez, left, jokes with Annette Filippelli as the two put away makeup after Gomez gave some makeup tips to Filippelli at the Model4Jesus Ministries office.

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By MICHELLE BEARDEN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 13, 2008

Maybe you've seen her face. In store catalogues, on Home Shopping Network, at a Sephora makeup demonstration.

No doubt about it, professional model Mayra Gomez is a looker. And she's got a commanding presence, partly due to her six years in the Army as a linguist; her stint as host of Salsa Mania, a secular Latin music video program; and her duties as a mom to four in a blended family. But her striking Latina good looks and the way she carries herself are only part of her package.

Her real beauty comes from within.

Gomez is the founder of Model4Jesus. Yes, I laughed a little when I heard this name. Today's fashion industry and what Jesus stood for seem light years apart. How could you slap a Christian connection onto a business that seems centered on looks, materialism and, in the case of some models, self-destruction?

Model4Jesus isn't a school or an agency. It's a Christian-based ministry that uses fashion shows as a tool to reach women of all ages and from all walks of life. Its purpose is to show that women can emphasize their femininity without compromising their values. Gomez puts on modeling workshops designed to build self-esteem and confidence.

The group's motto: Be a model. Don't just look like one.

Or, as the 36-year-old Gomez puts it: "Anyone can put on makeup and look good. But if you're beautiful with a rotten personality, then you're ugly. It's that simple."

Boosting a woman's confidence is just one focus of Model4Jesus. The ministry - which Gomez finances from her earnings as a model - is now focusing on staging fashion shows to raise money for organizations aimed at helping women.

First up: Friday's benefit for City of Refuge, a St. Petersburg-based ministry that helps former prison inmates transition to life on the outside by providing a safe environment, job assistance, education, Christian discipleship and other life skills. Eight of the women in the program recently participated in one of Gomez's TruModel workshops and will be walking the runway at the show.

"You see the transformation of these women, watching them feel good about themselves again, and it's a real blessing," Gomez says. "It's not about age, weight, color of your skin, and the past troubles you've had in your life. This is a new day and a new start. And if you feel good about yourself again, you have a much better chance of succeeding."

Denise Horne, a volunteer who serves as treasurer of the City of Refuge board, is thrilled by the ministry's support. Giving the women a chance to be part of the fashion show is just one of the steps they can take in rebuilding broken lives.

"We all make mistakes and oftentimes learn from those mistakes," she says. The women need to see that all is not lost, and they can become "productive, positive assets to society. God is a God of forgiveness, so we need to be the same way."

Gomez started modeling at age 13. While she never succumbed to the pitfalls of the fashion industry - eating disorders and drug abuse, to name a couple - she saw firsthand the grime behind the glamour. In 1999, she says, "God touched my heart and changed everything."

She married Jose Gomez Jr., then a pastor at Restoration Ministries in Tampa. She couldn't reconcile the two lives - a model and a preacher's wife - so she quit the business. But within a few years, she says she got a clear vision that she could be a "model for Jesus" - both professionally and for other women.

She got back in the business. When she models at secular gigs, she has to cover her wrist tattoo of the Christian fish symbol. In 2005, she founded the ministry.

"It's a calling in a place you wouldn't expect it," she says.

Annette Filippelli found what she was looking for with this ministry. The 24-year-old Palm Harbor woman, who works for a Christian publishing ministry, says fashion has always been a passion for her.

"When I was younger, I loved to put on my mom's high heels and balance a book on my head and do the model walk," she says. "I loved to put on makeup and dress up. But I knew I would never pursue it as a career because it can be very degrading to women."

Until her mother found Gomez's ministry through an online search. This is just what we're looking for, she told her daughter.

Now, Filippelli is one of the models posted on the Model4Jesus Web site, along with her testimony to her faith.

"I've learned I can pursue my passion without wearing clothes I'm not comfortable with, without drinking and doing drugs, without all the parties, without compromising my values," she says. "This is something I can be proud of. I don't have to step out of my comfort zone."

Gomez has got something going here. The uniqueness of her ministry got her a spot on model Janice Dickinson's national cable show this year, and that exposure is triggering calls from across the country.

"I don't know where God is going to take us," she says. "But we're keeping the focus on him. And we're showing women what true beauty is all about."

FASHION SHOW FUNDRAISER

WHEN: 6:30 p.m. Friday

WHERE: Countryside Christian Center, 1850 N. McMullen Booth Road, Clearwater

WILL BENEFIT: City of Refuge, a ministry that helps women transition from jail or prison back into society.

COST: $25 includes fashion show, entertainment and dinner.

INFORMATION: Call (727) 530-3350.

For information on the modeling ministry, go to

model4jesus.com.

See a TruModel workshop on Michelle Bearden's "Keeping the Faith" segment at 9 a.m. Sunday on News Channel 8. She can be reached at (813) 259-7613 or mbearden@tampatrib.com.

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