A former gang member recalled being happy when he was in jail. For him, it was like an accomplishment.
“I remember being glad that I have gotten locked up. Because of, I mean, how much I had accomplished at that time. As a criminal, I had committed a murder and several armed kidnappings,” he said.
He didn’t think about God during those times. The first time he prayed, it was because he was hiding from the police.
“I remember the first time I thought about God, I was on the run in a stolen car, and I parked outside a church to hide from the police. And I remember praying to God for the first time, just a random prayer. I didn’t want to change. But it was the first time I thought about God in any way,” he said.
Even though he didn’t want anything to do with God, he found hope when someone put a Bible under his bed. That was the start of his pursuit of God.
“I am in prison for life. I was hopeless until I found Jesus. I remember when I got to jail, I came to my bunk and a Bible was laying on my bed. And I just started reading and I couldn’t stop. It was at that moment that I started having self-disgust. I started feeling bad about what I had done, which I had never felt before. It was all God. It was ALL God.”
“And during those days of reading the Bible, I gave my life to Jesus, and I have never been the same. And When I found Jesus, I found purpose. I have apologized to some of my victims and their families and told them how sorry I am,” he said while tearing up.
Because of God’s conviction through His Word, this former gang member is experiencing a new life. He is now partnering with God to share the Good News with the people inside the prison walls.
“During my time in prison, I graduated from seminary, and now I am one of the pastors here in prison. I am one of the very few inmates that gets to go into cells to pray and share Jesus with other inmates,” he said.
He is also teaching the re-entry program for the men who will get out of prison. During the years he has taught, there are ZERO inmates who have come back to prision.
“I know without a shadow of doubt that God did something to my heart. I have not been the same ever since,” he concluded.