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: