Month: April 2023

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Bandaid Gang

I was in the park at Commerce City and I just got through witnessing to a gang. As I was waiting for another gang to show up, I looked around the park and noticed it was empty.  I decided to get a blanket and lay down for a little bit where I fell asleep. All of a sudden, I remember starting to wake up and smelling peanut butter in my nose. When I was fully awake, I could tell that it was Lydia. She is a six-year-old girl that lives next to the park right across the street. I have met her and her family before. Lydia had shared with me before that she wants to become a nurse.

I said, “Hi Lydia.”

She replied, “I saw that gang leave and I noticed that you were resting so I decided to bring you some sandwiches.” Lydia brought me both a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a smoked turkey sandwich with a glass of milk. What was interesting was when she put the sandwiches together that she crossed the breads. I had the jelly bread on the smoke turkey sandwitch and the mayonnaise and mustard on the peanut butter sandwich. I did not make a big deal of it and I just switched the breads.

As I began eating I asked Lydia what I could do for her. Lydia replied, “You can pray for me so that when I get older that I can become a nurse.” She paused and looked me over and said, “Sonny, it looks like you’ve been banged up a little bit.”

I replied, “Yes but it wasn’t too bad. The last gang treated me well.”

She replied, “I still think I need to put a bandage on your owie.” She reached into her black bag put one Band-Aid on my arm and another one on my face. She then asked, “What do you say to the gangs when you speak to them?”

I said, “The first thing I do is I tell them that Jesus loves them. Then I asked them if they have any prayer requests. If they don’t have any, I immediately read John 3:16 to them telling about how much God loves them.” As I continued talking to her about how Jesus died for us, she exclaimed, “Yeah, he rose in three days; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

I replied, “That is really good.” I just now realized that another gang was coming. I became nervous and said to myself that I need to get Lydia out of here. God immediately said, “Do not worry about it. I have thinks taken care of.” Even though God never tells me anything that he doesn’t have control of, it is still concerning when you saw the pistols that these boys were carrying.

The gang leader Leroy asked, “Did you bring your granddaughter or something?”

I replied, “Yeah, that’s what I’m doing.”

Lydia checked Leroy out then said, “I see that your arm is cut. Are you OK?” It it was so cute because she was dressed up in her little nurse’s outfit carrying a black bag. She mentioned to the rest of the gang that they needed to sit down on this picnic table so that she could give them a physical. Definitely was interesting when Leroys gang all got in a line to be examined. So these boys begin to sit down on the picnic table one by one without any hesitancy. She had her stethoscope on and she was listening to their hearts she asked each man to take a deep breath.

When the gang approached, they were looking tough but as this little girl began to speak to them they begin to behave more like little boys. She began to share with each one that Jesus Christ loves them. She was using the earpiece in one of the men ears and said, “Man you have dirty ears. You need to take a shower and clean up all that junk off.”

They were all laughing as she was giving her diagnosis. They were not doing anything to her because they thought she was with me. All of Leroy’s men had some form of injuries on them because of all the fighting they do. So Lydia wanted to make sure that they were covered with a Band-Aid. All of the Band-Aids she had had Winnie the Pooh and Snoopy on them. One of the men had a major scuffle with another gang. When she saw his large cut, she got out her alcohol kit and scrubbed it down to disinfect it. Even though it happened a couple of days ago you could see him grit his teeth as the alcohol burned into the wound. She was just like a real nurse with her little rubber gloves on getting the band aids ready to place on his wounds. She did not have any tongue depressors, so she just used suckers to put on their tongue so that she could inspect their throats. She then said you can keep the sucker. She finished up with all of them said, “Most of you passed your physicals but the rest of you will have to have surgery it you’re gonna make it.” It was so cool watching this entire game stand in a line waiting their turn to get their physical. I have never seen anything like this ever. I looked over at her house to see what her parents were up to. I could see her parents watching from their porch. I knew they were concerned but they were laughing as they watched all this unfold. All seventeen boys got at least one band aid. She even scheduled a heart surgery for one of them. She said, “I could not find your heart listing to it in the stethoscope so I am going to have to investigate you. We may have to put a heart in for you.”

He was definitely roaring with laughter as she made her diagnosis. He then asked, “Can I get one of those Winnie the Pooh Band-Aids.”

She said, “Sure, but it looks like you have two owies. You may need two of them.” She reached in and grabbed two Pooh Band-Aids out of her black bag and placed them on his wounds.”

When she finished up with the last man she said, “I have to go now. I have a surgery scheduled that I have to be at.” Again these boys were just roaring with laughter. As she began walking away, all of a sudden she turned around and came back. She said, “I forgot to pray for you guys.” She then had everybody get around the picnic table and asked them to take their caps off. Every man took his cap off and closed their eyes as she began praying John 3:16 over them. She then prayed for their hearts and that God would heal them. When she finished the last of her prayers, she began walking away. I was watching the men all the time and noticed tears welling up in some of their eyes. Jerome, one of the members of the gang, came over and said, “Sonny, you know that little girl stole my heart. When I ran away from home my little sister was six years old. I have not seen her in two years and my heart is going crazy right now.”

I replied, “Maybe you ought to call her and talk to her.”

Jerome then said, “I will do that.” As he began calling home, some of his men did the same thing they began dialing home to talk to their parents. Some of the men were still hesitant so I began praying for them and reading more Bible verses to them. I then asked those who finished talking to their folks what happened. They all begin reporting that their dads have quit drinking and they’re living new lives. That was enough to make sure that everyone wanted to call home now. They all said, “We want to go home but we do not want to go home with angry hearts. I want to go home healed.” Leroy was the last to decide. He shared with me that he had not talked to his dad in five years. I said, “Well, why don’t you call him and find out.”

Leroy didn’t ask me if I could stand with him when he called home. He was ready. When his dad answered the phone was on speaker. The first thing his dad asked if he was OK. Leroy said, “Everything is fine but dad I am trying to find out if you are still having a drinking problem.”

His dad replied, “I have not drank since you left home five years ago. I received help and counseling from my pastor. I have given my heart to Jesus Christ and I have been praying for you.”

Leroy’s mom said, “Your dad cried for days when you left. He has given up drinking forever.”

Leroy then said, “I think I want to come home.”

His mom replied, “Your room is just as you left it five years ago. Give me your address because we want to come and get you.”

There was almost a hundred eighty people there when everybody showed up to pick up their sons. All the men gave their hearts to Jesus Christ along with their families. A little 6-year-old girl who wanted to be a nurse brought a gang to Jesus Christ. You can listen to the entire story below:

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Meeting with a Drug Cartel

There is a drug cartel in Denver that has posted a bounty on my life. God said that it was time for me to tell them about Jesus Christ. He had me bring some pizzas to their headquarters. When I got there, I was amazed on how big and beautiful the building was where they hung out. When I arrived at the door, I was questioned what I was up to.

I said, “I have pizzas to deliver to your boss.”

They checked with the boss to see what they should do with me. With a surprised look, the said, “The boss told us to bring you to him.”

I went clear up to the seventh floor. His men led me and the pizzas directly into his office. They inspected the pizzas and he then asked who I was. I said, “I am Sonny. I am the man you are looking for.”

The boss replied, “You know that you should never have come here. You are going to die for what you have done to us.”

I responded, “Let me pray for you guys before you do anything to me. After I am finished praying for you, you can do whatever you want to me.” The boss was dumbfounded by my answer but he let me pray for everybody. I even did prayer requests. At the end, it did not matter whether I brought them pizza or not, he had me thrown out the 7th floor window.

As I was flying out the window, I said to myself, “Sonny, this is it.”

God quickly replied, “What makes you think so? Look to your left!”

I noticed what appeared to be a landscape truck pulling a trailer. They were driving down the alley towards me. As I was was falling faster towards the ground their trailer moved into my point of impact. It was funny, one of the men inside the truck was looking around to see where they were at and noticed me falling. He yelled, “There is something falling from the building above us.”

I roughly landed in the back of their trailer. It was interesting how they had placed the sticks and branches underneath and placed a soft layer of grass on top where I landed. I immediately got up and got out of their trailer. The guys were puzzled and could not figure out what was going on.

I exclaimed, “Thanks for catching me! I was talking to a drug cartel about Jesus Christ and they threw me out the 7th story window.”

The driver said, “We weren’t even supposed to come down this alley. Somehow, we just made a wrong turn and ended up here.”

I replied, “God caused you to make this error to rescue me.”

The men thought about what I said and asked, “We need to know the God that you know. What should we do?”

I replied, “Just ask Jesus Christ to forgive your sins and to give your hearts to him. After that, just start living for him.” I prayed for these guys as they turned their hearts over to Jesus Christ. I then said, “I need to go back and talk to the drug cartel again.”

The men said, “You are crazy! They just threw you out the window and you’re going to go see them again.”

I replied, “God decides the timing of my death. No man can do that. As long as God has need of me he on this earth, he will always protect me from anything that will harm me.”

Those landscapers watched me with amazement as I walked back around the building to go through the doors again. They kept watching me until I walked around the corner. They then got in their truck and left. Boy, you should’ve seen the looks on the security guys when I came walking up to the door unharmed. I said, “I need to see your boss again. God wants me to tell him again that Jesus Christ loves him.”

They proceeded to take me up back to his office. That boss thought he saw a ghost because he knew that it was impossible for anyone to survive that fall. I began to explain to him what it was like to have a God who protects you and how he sent that landscaping crew to come and rescue me. He began to realize that I serve an awesome God and he and his organization decided that they didn’t want to do this life anymore. He really did not like the fact that they were hurting people and he was ready to give his heart to Jesus Christ. The rest of his men also gave their hearts to Jesus Christ. God has removed another drug cartel from the city of Denver. God gets the glory and the victory on what just happened. I just get to see it. Oh by the way, they removed the price they had on my life.

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3 Gangs Asking Questions About God

It is another Saturday and God had me head back down to Commerce City. It was starting out to be a nice brisk sunshiny day. What was your unusual about today was not the fact that I was going witness to three gangs, but they were all parked on the same side of the park. They just don’t do that. They separate their cars, so they do not get damaged. Usually if the gangs come together, it is because they’re going to fight. Normally they try to respect each other by staying for as far away from each other is possible. The first thing that came to my mind, “Lord this looks like this could be nasty. You need to take over.”

God then replied, “You don’t know what’s going to happen. Why are you even thinking that? I want you to take them my Kingdom.”

I proceeded to get out of my pickup and walked toward the gangs. I noticed that the gang leaders were standing in the center. They began looking at me as I was walking towards them. Once I was in talking range, they kindly said, “Good morning, Sonny we have been looking for you. We went to the other park, and you weren’t there so we decided to come back here to see if you happen to come later. In the my times of doing gang ministry, I’ve never seen this happen before. I know these guys very well and they are enemies of each other. But all three of them said, “We need to ask you some questions.” I noticed that they did not have any weapons of any sort shown or other hostility of any kind was even seen.

I then silently asked, “God what is going on here.”

He replied, “Their hearts are ready for you to receive my message.”

I then asked them, “What kind of questions do you guys have for me?

The leaders replied, “We remember you talking about the forgiveness of sins. We are wondering if God can really forgive us for all the things that we have done. We were over at one of the parks and we noticed all the families with their children playing together in the park. We begin thinking about what it would be like to go back home. We want to have changed hearts before going home.”

The leader Niki spoke up and said, “Sonny I have not forget gotten that verse of John 3:16. Is that true that Jesus got beat up like that and was crucified just for us. It’s hard to imagine someone doing that. Then he rose again just for me.”

I then explained to Niki the parable of the 100 sheep. The shepherd left the 99 to go after the one that was missing. Jesus Christ wants all of you guys to come back to his flock.

Nikki then said, “I am the missing sheep. My mom she said I was the prodigal son.  It is hard to be out in these parks trying to stay safe. We are always hungry.  We are always pressured by the cartels to sell drugs. We always remember what you have said that this is all temporary, but Jesus Christ is eternal. It’s lonely out here.”

The gangs all shared with me that they have not fought with each other for over a month. But the one thing we don’t want to do is go back to broken homes. Almost all of them came from families where the dad was either an alcoholic or a druggie. Those addictions drove them to leave. They all said, “We do not want to go back to homes that are like that.”

I replied, “God does not want you to do that either. But have any of you talk to your dad slightly lately.”

Nikki said, “No, but I talk to my mom’s once in a while.” Nikki represented all the gangs and did most of the talking. The other two leaders were Marty and Jerome.

I then replied, “You guys need to call your parents. This is the only way you’re going to find out if your dad has changed.”

Nikki was nervous and asked, “Sonny could you walk with me over to my car? I will call my dad first. But if my dad is still an alcoholic, what should I do.”

I replied, “Why don’t we just pray for him now. I will be with you. You won’t have to call him alone. I will even pray for him.”

When he called his parents, his dad answered the phone and asked, “Nikki are you okay?” His response is typical since Nikki hasn’t called them in such a long time. The first thing that his dad thought maybe he was hurt.

As Nikki listened his dad and said, “You’re not drunk today.”

His dad replied, “When you left 6 1/2 years ago, I change my life and quit drinking. When you left was all it took for me to stop. I have given my life to Jesus Christ. We are doing church and involved in church activities.” There was a slight pause then his dad asked, ” Nikki can you forgive me for all the things that I did to you when he was an alcoholic.”

Nikki then began crying and walked away talking with his dad on the phone. God said, “Let them go Nikki needs to spend time talking to his dad.”

Marty then came over and said, “I want to call my dad.” After the leaders began having conversation to their parents the other men in the gangs began calling their parents. They all agreed that they would never go home if their dads have not changed. They all begin finding out that when they ran away from home that major changes were made inside their family life. Most of their parents already have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. As the day progressed, a whole bunch car began showing up. The men communicated to their parents they wanted to go home. The parents were anxious to come and get them. It is amazing how many of them went home to their rooms that were left exactly as they were when they left home.

I do not know how many people were there, but I gave away 300 Bibles that day to people so they could read about God’s word. After everybody arrived, I climbed on the back of my truck, and I asked those who were Christians to go on the left-hand side of my truck and everybody else to stand on my right-hand side of my pickup. I then asked, “Those of you that haven’t accepted Jesus Christ do you want your names written in the Lamb’s book of life. This would be a good time to do so. Tomorrow is never promised.”

Everybody there gave their hearts to Jesus Christ that hadn’t made the commitment. There was a lot of crying going on not only because of uniting with their sons but that excitement of becoming part of Jesus Christ. As everybody got to know each other better, the families who had been Christians for a while began to share with those parents who haven’t about their church and how their sons can get connected with the youth groups to encourage their new walk with Jesus Christ. This way the boys can still see each other like they were in the gangs. It is very important that all people who come to Jesus Christ are discipled in some way or another to not be distracted by the evil things going on in the earth.

The gang leaders began coming to me and telling me that they are grateful that I never gave up on them.

I replied, “God has never given up on me. Just as he never given up on me, I am not going to give up on you.”

Three days later these boys all got baptized at the boy’s club swimming pool. These guys ate 14 dozen burritos with all of the Dr Pepper that I brought. Boy, gangs sure do love Dr. Pepper. One of the most interesting things about this story is that my favorite gangster is Lorenzo from San Jose California. He comes to Denver and is now the most respectful gang I would say in Denver. When one of the gangs asked him where I was at, he said, “I know where he is at but if I find out that you are going to try to hurt him, I am going to hurt you and I am going to sell all your cars.”

The gangs have respect and fear for Lorenzo. The leader replied, “No, I am not going to hurt him. We just want to ask questions about Jesus Christ.”

Lorenzo shared with me that his grandfather just gave his heart to Jesus Christ. He shared with me that he is the last black sheep in the family. But it is interesting that Lorenzo’s famous last words to one of the gang members was, “If you give your heart to Jesus, you will begin to love people.” This is very unusual for a gangster to say this but I have been planting so much seed in this guys life. He is not that far away. You can listen to the entire story below:

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Seven Gangs Hear About Jesus

I had a plan to witness two gangs on Saturday and two other gangs on Sunday. Before I left for breakfast, Blue Mustang told me that the two gangs on Saturday would be looking for me. In fact, he made a specific prayer, “Lord, let the gangs that Sonny will encounter from now on that they would physically be looking for him instead of him looking for them. And that they would have that hunger in their hearts that they would be asking Sonny questions about God.”

Sure enough, when I arrived at the park, I found out that they been inquiring from the other gangs where I might be. They eventually got to Lorenzo my favorite gang leader and they asked him. Lorenzo said, “It depends whether or not you are going to hurt him. We like Sonny and if you do anything to harm him, we are going to harm you and and sell your cars.”

The gangs both confirmed to Lorenzo that they were only interested asking me question about God. Lorenzo still did not trust them, so he called me. I have heard about the great outpouring of God that he is about to do. One of the things is that people are going to be hungry to hear God’s word. For the last five weeks, I have seen this in the gangs. They are asking questions wanting to know more about the God we serve. When God had me start this ministry, they were not interested in seeing me at all. In fact, they would try to harm me and do things to me to discourage me so that I would go away. What God is doing today is amazing.

I began speaking to the gangs. While I was talking to the two gangs, a third gang unexpectedly showed up. They come up to me and asked, “We see you praying for these other guys. We would like you to pray for us to because we do want to go home. We do not want to go home with broken hearts, but we want to go home with changed hearts for Jesus Christ. Can you pray for us for this to happen? Before I started to pray, I realized this gang is asking questions about God before asking for food. I have noticed that the gangs have been really hungry lately. Their hunger for the things of God was greater than food. As I prayed for all the gangs, they all called their parents to make arrangements to go home. You should have seen how busy the park was over the weekend as parent came to get their sons.

Over this weekend I’ve had the chance to talk to seven gangs. Five of them gave their hearts to Jesus Christ but the other two just asked questions about God but I planted seeds into their lives. I am not sure how many people came as these men give their hearts to Jesus Christ but I had 600 Bibles and they were all gone when everybody left.

One thing I have noticed all the gangs is that they been wanting my support when they call home. The phone calls home are really amazing on how the dad’s lives have been transformed after losing their sons. You can listen to the entire story below:

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Easter with the gangs

It is now Easter weekend and I have a special treat for the gangs on Resurrection Sunday. Earlier in the week the college students that I speak to on Monday and Tuesday nights had a gift for me. They had purchased a bunch of  plastic eggs at the dollar store. Inside of each egg they put a single Bible verse. They used either John 3:16 or Jeremiah 29:11. Before they closed each egg up, they put in a chocolate Kiss on top of the verse. When I came to speak to them they handed me this bag with all these eggs in it. Before I had a chance to deliver the eggs to the gang members God had me put money in them. God had me withdrawal $245 in ones earlier in the week.  I thought it was for the students. God said,  “No, I want you to put money in the eggs.”

There was extra cash, so some eggs had $2 or $3 in them. On Sunday morning I arrived at the park early and began to hide the eggs. One thing I didn’t have to worry about is kids finding them since this park was in a dangerous area. When the gang members showed up they already had been looking for me. They were hungry as usual and we had Dr Pepper and burritos to eat. After we finished eating, I had them sit in the bleachers that the park installed because the soccer season started. I told them all to sit down. After they finished sitting they looked at me intently.  I said, “I have a surprise for you. I hid Easter eggs in the park to find.”

With that “you are trying to treat me like a baby look”, they said, “Sonny we don’t do Easter egg hunts anymore.”

I said, “Well then, you are going to miss out on a prize. We will have to have somebody else look for them.”

They were looking at each other to try to figure what their peers might think if they did this. Finally, when they started thinking about the surprise, one man jumped up and began running the course. Then they all decided to give it a try.  One man open his egg right away and yelled, “Wow! This egg has $3 in it.”

That really got them all looking. It did not take long to find all of the eggs. When they begin reading the Bible verses and the fact that they were on an Easter egg hunt brought them back to memories of home. They soon began asking more questions about Jesus Christ and they all decided that they wanted to give their hearts to Jesus Christ and go home. But as usual they wanted to make sure that their home environments were safe to go back to. They always remember their homes like it was when they left. Usually, it is the dads who cause the problem why their sons left.  Those dads began to realize that they need to make a life change and many times that is done by serving Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has the power to take you away from any addiction. There is great fear when the gang members call home because they feel like nothing will be different. Many times they asked me to stand by them when they call home because they feel more secure. It always makes me cry when I see the son ask for forgiveness from their fathers. The father’s then ask for forgiveness for what they did to make their son leave. When the gang leaders and members see that they’re parents have changed, they are excited to go home.

Again God orchestrated all this through the college students that this Easter egg hunt would be the catalyst for them turning their lives over the Jesus Christ. God gets the glory into victory.