It is Saturday again and God had me head to one of the parks in Commerce City Colorado. These are fairly nice parks but very few people use them because of the gangs that hang around them. There has been a lot of drive-by shootings lately in these areas. Parents are reluctant to take their children here to play. Before I arrived God had me stop and pick up donuts, cookies and chocolate milk. I was thinking with it being almost lunchtime that people normally eat lunch at this time. I checked my watch which said 12:30 PM. God then reinforced what he said, “Sonny, go and get the donuts. Just do it!” I quit questioning God and picked up the donuts.
When I arrived at the park, I noticed that there were a group of young men kneeling down and praying on the sidewalk. The gang I saw were part of the East Siders. I have personally never met this gang before. I did not understand what was happening and God has not revealed anything to me yet. God brought me here so I went over there to see what was going on. They were still praying as I came up to them. I kept quiet and didn’t say a word. The leader was now praying and said, “Lord, I have not prayed to you in a long time. We lost a good friend and brother two days ago. I had to tell their parents that he was shot. It is just eating my heart out. I do not know what else to say other than the fact I am sorry. It was my fault that it happened.”
The entire gang remained kneeling while he was praying. You could see their pistols on their bodies as they knelt there. God then said, “Sonny, get on your knees. What are you doing by standing up?”
I knelt behind them and continued listening until he finished. When he said “Amen”, God said, “Sonny, you need to start praying now.”
I had no idea what I was going to say. But the minute I opened my mouth, God started giving me the words. I prayed, “Father, thank you for all these young men. I thank you for their lives. I thank you for those who are here that none of them got killed or hurt. They miss their friend and fellow gangster. I pray for the family that lost their son. I ask that you would intervene in their hearts and to tell all that are here that you love them. Lord, it’s nobody’s fault. The leader should not take this weight on himself. Other people have made choices that made this happen. I pray that you bring healing to this gang.”
At this moment, some of them started crying. I did not know of anything else to say but God said, “Sonny go and lay your hand on each one.” They all stayed kneeling as I began praying for each one that God would encourage them bless them and love them. After I finished praying for the gang I prayed with the leader. He began to cry. I was about to find out what happened.
I had already looked around where they were praying and noticed the dried blood on the sidewalk. The chalk marks were still there where a body laid. They were kneeling right on the spot where their friend died. I found out later that this man, Ricky, was the bodyguard and lost his life defending the leader. When the drive-by shooting occurred, Ricky immediately covered himself over the the leader while he pushed him down. This action prevented the bullets from striking the leader but the bullets struck him and killed him instead.
After hearing the story from the leader, I replied, “Jesus Christ gave his life for us. He rose again from the dead. God honored that and he also knows that Ricky gave his life for you. He was a noble man who loved you and protected you. He is now going to be standing before God. God saw what he did and it is not going to be in vain. I am sure that he embraced him. Whenever one gives his life for another man God will always honor that. There is no greater love than the love of sacrificing yourself for another.”
As I was saying this, the leader began crying so hard that he was beginning to sob. God said, “Sonny, reach out and hug him like he is your son.”
I held my arms out as I walked toward him. At first he had his arms hanging straight down as I reached around to hug him. Soon he raised his arms up and he began hugging me to. He continued to cry for about five minutes. All the rest of the gang was standing and watching. When I checked my surroundings, I could see another gang across the park. I did not know their identity either. When I was done hugging the leader, I asked the gang if they were hungry. One of the gang members immediately spoke up and said, “Boy, I sure could use some donuts and chocolate milk right now.”
I said, “Before I arrived here, God told me to get donuts and chocolate milk. Let’s go to my pickup and get them.”
I immediately put my tailgate down and started laying out the donuts and the drinks. But when I put the cups out they said, “We do not need cups. We just pass the jug around.” It is amazing how many times gangs never use the cups. They all pass the jugs around.
The leader then asked who I was. I told them my name and the ministry that I have reaching gangs and telling them that Jesus loves them. The leader replied, “Thanks for your prayer man. I don’t want to be a gangsters anymore. I feel it’s time to give my heart to Jesus Christ. Your prayer was so good. When you quoted Jeremiah 29:11, that really hit my heart. It meant so much to me. I am speaking for myself.” He then turned towards his men and said, “You guys have a choice to continue being gangsters or to give your hearts to Jesus Christ like I am going to do.”
There was a moment of silence. His men one by one said, “I want to go back to my family.”
I started praying for each one. One by one they began giving their hearts to Jesus Christ. After they did that, they began calling their families.
When the leader gave his heart to the Lord, a van pulled up. It was Ricky’s parents that were driving the van. The leader then said, “I need to see what they are going to say.”
Ricky’s parents came over to speak to the leader. They said, “We want to let you know that it is not your fault what happened to our son. It is definitely not your fault! We found out that he gave his life trying to protect you. So now we are going to have to adopt you as our son. If my son could give his life for you, now you are our son.” This brought peace to the leader and he began to cry.
The leader then said “I have just given my heart to Jesus Christ. We are not going to be gangsters anymore. We are going back to our families.”
Everybody there began exchanging contact information so they could get a hold of each other as they separated. The leader who had really never prayed until today had his heart touched by Jesus Christ. He now wanted to pray for me. The leader began sharing more of his past to me. He told me about when he was young and how his parents listened to Billy Graham as he grew up. He was a wonderful man. My problem was that I did not get along with my dad. I felt my dad was too strict for me and I did not want to follow his rules. That is the reason why I am out here. Now I am going to try to get back home. The leader pulled out his phone and called his parents. When he began speaking to his dad, his dad began crying. Other families kept coming to pick up their sons while the leader was still talking to his parents.
One parent asked, “You said that you gave your life to Jesus Christ?” The son replied, “Yes, that is true. It is time for me to change my life. I want a new purpose for my life. I do not want to do this anymore.” The parents and their son began crying together. There was a total of 19 men in this gang.
As the families continue coming I looked over to see what the other gang was up to. They just continued to watch as all the families began picking up their sons and taking them home.
After everyone left, I began to head over there to talk with them. When they saw me coming, they all jumped in their cars and left.
God gets the Glory and the Victory for what happened today.
That gang may have thought that they have gotten away from me but I know my King has plans for me to meet them in the near future. I will be there to make sure they hear the message of Jesus Christ.