Serving Thanksgiving to the Eastsiders

It is Thanksgiving Day and I’m about ready to serve a feast to a gang in Denver.  This all started on a Tuesday afternoon when I was out grocery shopping at King Soopers. As I was checking out, I was listening to a couple of ladies talking to each other. One said to the other one, “You know, I should cook a Thanksgiving dinner for someone in need.” About that same time, God said to me, “Sonny, you need to do the same thing. I want you to serve a Thanksgiving dinner to a gang. I want you to serve the Eastsiders.”

The Eastsiders live near Commerce City. Everytime they would see me, they pushed me around. They would also hit me. They have sliced my arms with their knives.  They are one of the meanest gangs in Denver that I have encountered.  I usually am hurting after I meet up with this gang. So my heart rate was kind of racing thinking about doing this. God said, “Sonny, prepare the table before my enemy on Thanksgiving day.”  I was thinking in terms of pizza, hamburgers or chicken.  God said, “No Sonny, I want you to serve them up a feast.” God gave me instructions seven days before Thanksgiving to start getting everything ready.

I have never done a Thanksgiving dinner like this for anyone so I really had no idea how to begin. But God was there to help me. Later that day, an undercover policeman called me and said, “My wife just told me that the Holy Spirit told her to make a turkey for you. Is there something going on that I should know about?” I shared what God told me to do with him. Even later that day another undercover policeman’s wife said she was told to make the stuffing for the turkey. As the days passed, others called to cook parts of the meal. I had a lady volunteer from Fort Collins to make the pies. The mom of the undercover policeman’s wife making the turkey found out what was going on and wanted to made the rolls.  Some of the undercover police officers wanted to help serve the Thanksgiving dinner. I had to turn them down because the gangs feel threatened when there’s more than one person present. Everything that was on my list was going to be prepared by someone. God is Faithful. The Eastsiders were going to have a homemade Thanksgiving dinner. The snow storm we had two days before Thanksgiving sure made a mess of the roads and made it more challenging to deliver the food to Commerce City. I picked up the pies in Fort Collins first and worked my way around Denver picking up all the ingredients for the feast. I picked up the turkey last.  Everyone who had volunteered had their dish prepared to perfection. The pies had to go the longest distance. I prayed, “Lord, with the rough roads keep everything stable and intact.” I wasn’t sure where they live but I knew approximately where they hung out.  I did not just want to keep driving around bouncing the food in my truck. Soon an undercover policeman called me and gave me their exact location. So everything arrived in excellent condition.

I arrived at the gangs neighborhood at 11 a.m. From a distance, I could see that they just finished clearing the snow out in front of their home. I pulled up and parked in that spot. I got out of my truck and opened the rear door of my pickup to get the food. The leader, whose name is Apollo, stepped out and asked, “Sonny, what are you doing here?”

I turned around and said, “My King told me to come and bless you guys with a Thanksgiving Dinner. ”

Apollo said, “I can’t believe you brought us a Thanksgiving Feast knowing how we have treated you.”

I said, “Not only my King wanted to bring you Thanksgiving, but many others wanted to bless you guys. With love and enthusiasm, they wanted to give up their time to make sure that you had a good Thanksgiving meal.”

Apollo asked, “Do you need help Sonny?”

I said, “Yes that would be great!” He told some of his guys to come and help me. As I was walking into the house, some of the guys had their pistols drawn on me to make sure I didn’t pull anything funny. It is extremely difficult for these guys to trust anyone. Even though they had me covered, everyone was excited to see all the food. There was the turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls and corn on the table. We put the four pumpkin pies and three apple pies on another table.

I had brought a cooler with Dr Pepper, Pepsi, and Mountain Dew in it. The gang set the table with plates, forks and knives. Everyone was waiting patiently before eating.  Apollo spoke up, “Guys, put your weapons down. We don’t need this here.” As the feast was about to start,  I could hear some of the girls crying in the background.  I said, “Everything is set up.  Let me pray and thank Jesus Christ for this food.”  As I was praying, I could hear more of the gang crying.  I said, “Amen.” I then said, “The ladies go first.”

As I was serving them, they kept thanking me for what just happened. After they were all served, I sat down next to Apollo and ate with him. A couple of guys were sitting behind me at another table still watching me.

Apollo asked, “Sonny, how did you get started talking to gangs about Jesus?” I told them how my heart was broken by my family. That’s when I asked God to give me a ministry that nobody wanted. That’s when my King said, “Then follow me.” God started healing my heart. He brought me to Denver to minister to gangs because they have broken hearts too. My King wants to bring healing to all your hearts. That’s why I’m here to obey the word of my King to bring healing to all of you.

After we ate, some of them began hugging me. I read Mathew 6:34 to them. Then I read John 3:16 to them. Then I stepped into the living room and said, “Those of you that want your names written in the lambs book of life come into the living room.”  They all came to the living room.

Apollo asked, “Can God really forgive me of all my sins?”

I said, “Yes, but you first have to ask for forgiveness and ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart.”

Apollo said, “I want to ask Jesus Christ into my heart.” All of them then asked Jesus Christ for forgiveness of all their sins and asked Jesus Christ to come into their hearts. A lot of them began to cry.  Later, they started to call their parents to tell them what happened.  All their parents came to welcome them back. I had a chance to pray for many of their parents. A lot of them were already Christians. The ones that weren’t wanted to give their hearts to Jesus.  It was so Beautiful. My King gets all the Glory and the Victory. I am not sure how to describe it but the power of God during this meal was totally amazing, energizing and different from anything I have experienced before.