It is the weekend before Father’s Day and my King wanted me to witness to a gang that I have only witnessed to once. He wanted me to pick up some Father’s Day cards for them. I have learned how my King has reached the heart of gangs using them. He did the same thing to reach gangs hearts for Mother’s day. When I gave anointed prayed over cards to the women in a gang, it brought back memories of good times with mom. They wanted to go home. This in turn had an effect on the men who saw what was happening to the women. Soon they too began to give their hearts to Jesus Christ and went home.
I went to Walmart and picked up 25 cards. After I got all my materials, I headed to their rendezvous. When I arrived, I could tell they did not want me there. I could sense that they were waiting on someone else. Most of these guys deal in drugs and the like to make money. The gang leader whose name is Rico came up to me and said, “Sonny, you came here at the wrong time. You need to leave now.”
I said, “No man. I am not going to leave. I am here because my King brought me here.” I knew that they were hungry and said, “You guys are hungry and I brought tacos and breakfast burritos.” I could see the Rico’s face light up when I mentioned food. He asked, “What kind of burritos are they?” I said, “Tereso with potatoes in green chili. They are spicy but they are good. I have Dr. Pepper, water and Squirt to drink.” All of the sudden the gang leader changed his tune and said, “I guess you came at the right time.” Rico then had to his men put their pistols down. Things were about to get exciting.
The Latinos came out of nowhere and surrounded us. Lorenzo got out of his car and he said, “I see that you were pointing your guns at Sonny. If you have a problem with Sonny, you have a problem with us. Sonny will tell you about Jesus but we will just shoot you.” You could tell Lorenzo meant business by his facial expression. Lorenzo then said, “Never put pistols on Sonny like that ever again.” Rico quickly said, “No problem; no problem.” Lorenzo then finished up by saying, “If you do anything to harm him, we are going to shoot you!” Lorenzo looked at me and softly said, “Sonny have a nice day but we have other business to take care of.” The now humbled gang leader asked, “Are those guys your bodyguards?”
I said, “No, but they are my friends. God has been using them to protect me.” Rico started sharing with me what he knew about Lorenzo’s gang. He knew they were from California and the respect other gangs have for him. He finished up talking by saying, “They are different than most gangs. They are a classy gang, unlike us who are a bunch of bums.”
I smiled and said, “Let’s eat.” I blessed the food and we all began eating. I started handing the Father’s Day cards out to them while they were eating. I always anoint each card before it is handed out to a gang member. This gang was definitely different than the last gang I did this to. As I handed the cards out, they began crying. Rico asked, “Why is it when I look at this card, I just want to cry? What is going on with us?”
I said, “Jesus is working on your heart right now. All of you have fathers that love you right now. You need to go back to them. This is not your life out here. Your life is back with the family.” Rico asked, “Why did you have to bring Father’s Day cards to us.”
I said, “Father’s Day is next weekend. What ever you may think your father does love you. Fill them out by writing whatever message you want. Then give me an address and I will put a stamp on it and make sure your father gets your card.” They started asking me questions. One asked, “You said that Jesus forgive sins.” I said, “Yes he does forgive our sins.” He then said, “How can he forgive us? We use girls for pleasure. You have no idea of all the sins we commit.”
I responded, “Because of what Jesus Christ did, God does not look at your past. God looks at your future. He wants to restore your heart and he wants to restore your mind. After you do that that, this is all that he is going to be interested in. After Jesus gives you a new heart you will have new eyes and a new tongue.” With a puzzled look, they asked, “Explain a new tongue.”
I responded, “Yes, you will not be cussing and swearing all the time. You will not want to be lying and saying bad things about other people. You will be serving the King. It is very important that you start serving the King because the Lake of Fire is real as heaven is real.” Rico said, “I watched that movie. That was a good movie.” The guys begin breaking down one by one. Rico turned to his men and asked, “Do you guys want to go back to your families?” Before they answered his question, they asked, “Does that mean we are not going to be a gang anymore?” I chimed in and said, “You can be a new gang. You could become a Christian gang.” They did not think that my suggestion was a bad idea but they didn’t give me an answer. Rico changed the subject and asked, “I wonder if my parents will take me home.”
I said, “Give them a call. Just tell them what you are doing right now.” Rico then said, “I am going to give it a try.” He was nervous and kept pausing. While he was getting up the courage, I started talking to the rest of the men and explaining that even though you will remember the bad things you have done, Jesus gives peace to your memories. He wants your hearts. Those of you who want to give your heart to Jesus Christ, raise your hand but no pistols.” They laughed as I said that. The youngest person there was 14 years old and the oldest was 25. One of them asked, “If we give our hearts to Jesus Christ, does that mean that we will go back to our families and have a new life.”
I said, “Yes and your names will be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. You will be going to heaven. I will be waiting there for you.” They began thinking about what I just said. They then asked, “When we are in heaven, we don’t come back or do we.”
I said, “No, unless God needs you to finish a job. I personally have died twice and have come back.” They exclaimed, “Twice.” I said, “Yeah man.” Then they questioned me more and and asked, “Is heaven real for sure?” I said, “Where I was, all I saw was gates but the biggest one was a huge Pearl.” Another one asked, “You were actually there man.” I said, “Yes, but I did not want have a chance to walk through any of the gates.” Rico then stepped up and said, “Here goes nothing. I’m going to give my Dad a call.”
I said, “Wait! Let’s pray for your parents hearts that they will be ready for your phone call.” We prayed for Rico and his parents. All his men were standing there listening to Rico’s conversation and waiting to see what would happen. When he finally made the call, his Dad answered the phone. The first thing he asked was if Rico was okay and not in the hospital. They knew that he was the leader of a gang and what he was doing was very dangerous. Rico said, “Mom and Dad, I want to come home. I am about to give my heart to Jesus Christ.” The mom started shouting “Hallelujah”. The phone was on speaker and you could hear her yelling in the background. His father then said, “This is going to be the best Father’s Day gift in the world.” His Dad started praying out loud. As his men were listening they began to cry while his Dad was praying. They began separating and calling their own parents. His men were all in tears as they asked their parents to come home. Everyones parents were excited when their sons called. The first thing they asked is if they could come and meet them. Soon there were cars coming from every direction. When Rico’s parents got there, they hugged for a while. I did not want to bother them because I knew Rico’s parents were Christians. When things begin to settle down, I gathered everybody into a group. I said those of you who are Christians I want you to stand on the right. As all those who were Christians or those who gave their hearts to Jesus Christ began moving to the right. I then had those who were not Christian’s stand over to the left. Rico and his men were still standing there in the middle. I prayed with all of those who had not yet accepted Jesus Christ. As I finished up praying, they all began crying. They all began wanting to give their hearts to Jesus Christ. After they did that, they began to exchange phone numbers and other information to stay in contact with each other to support each other. I gave everyone my Ministry cards if they ever needed support from me. The parents, after they finished hugging their sons, came up to me and asked, “Do you do this all the time?”
I said, “I minister to gangs and I go wherever my King sends me.” One mom said, “You even brought these guys food.” I said, “Yes” She responded, “How can you afford all that?” I said, “Blue Mustang and friends who make the burritos all pitch in.” She asked, “What is Blue Mustangs name?” I responded, “It’s Blue Mustang. There is another man who prays for me and his name is Terry Bird.” She exclaimed, “Terry Bird, is that really his name?” I jokingly said, “He’s related to Big Bird on Sesame Street.” She said, “Are you really serious?” They all started roaring with laughter.
After things settled down, this band showed up. They started setting up. I don’t even know these guys. I have never seen them ever. They began pulling up with their black flatbed trailer and started setting up their instruments. One of the guys came over and asked, “Are you guys having a family reunion?” I said, “Yeah man. All these people just gave their lives to Jesus Christ.” He said, “That is awesome. We are Christians also. We just drive around all of the United States, set up and have a party. We play music with pizza and do not mess around.” Soon they started playing all these old hymns. I said to myself, “If these guys only knew where they were at they would never have set up. This is in an area where there’s a lot of shooting and it is extremely dangerous. Only God could have brought them here.” It was getting about dark. The Ranger came up and said, “There is a curfew going on. Everyone needs to go home.”
I said, “I am on my King’s time and I am going to go home when he tells me to. We pay taxes here for this park and we have the right to be here.” The ranger looked at me and asked, “What’s going on here?” I said, “We are worshipping God.” The ranger then said, “I have been running away from God for five years. He keeps telling me that I should be a youth pastor but I don’t want to be one.”
I said, “Come over here. I want to pray with you.” Rico was talking with the people on the right hand side. He has only been a Christian for 2.5 hours. He came over and asked the ranger what’s going on. The ranger said, “You guys are going to have to leave but somebody wants to pray for me.” Rico knew who that person was. He looked at me and asked, “Sonny, can I pray for him. I have never prayed for anybody in my whole life.” I said, “Yeah man. You can pray for him.” He did exactly what I did. I usually place my hands right over the person’s heart as I’m praying for them. He did exactly the same thing as he positioned his hand over his heart and started praying for him. Rico said, “Dear father, I pray for this man’s heart. Give him a new purpose and a new life. Show him your ways and his path. Write his name in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Change the way he thinks. I used to think of things that would sin against you.”
I then said, “You say you never prayed before and you prayed like that.” Rico said, “Well you know Sonny, I have you as an example and Jesus Christ to help me.” He then said, “That was fun. I want to go over and pray for my parents.” I watched him as he walked over to his parents and began praying with them. I sense that God was going to make him a street evangelist.
It was about 11 p.m. when we finally got out of the park. It was interesting that God only gave Father’s day cards to certain gangs. Only he knows our hearts and when those cards would have a tremendous impact on the lives of those gangs he chose.
Next week, I saw the ranger at the park picnicking with his family. I asked him how things were going. The wife jumped up and asked, “Are you Sonny?” I said, “Yes I am.” She started running around to give me a hug. She said, “My husband is a changed man. Usually on Saturday afternoons he would bring a 12-pack home and try to drink it all. He said this time he threw all the liquor out. He began reading the Bible to me. I went to church but he never did. Now he goes to church with me.”
I said, “It is our King that gets the Glory and the Victory. Only he can change one’s heart.” She said, “Yeah, but you’re the one who had the heart to go out and share it.” She then started sharing about what she heard about Blue mustang and Terry Bird. Her husband told her everything.