Urban Report

Pastor With A Past

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), Marquis Johns

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Series Code: UBR

Program Code: UBR000013


00:01 On today's Program you're going to meet a Pastor
00:04 with a past... he's got an incredible story
00:06 of deliverance from generational curses...
00:10 My name is Yvonne Lewis and you're watching
00:12 Urban Report...
00:36 Hello and welcome to Urban Report...
00:39 you know on Dare to Dream...
00:40 our Program "The New Journey"
00:42 is a Program for ex-offenders and it's hosted by
00:46 an ex-offender... our previous Host, Aaron Chancy,
00:49 had to leave due to a special calling
00:52 on his life from the Lord... Aaron is going back to School
00:55 to study Theology... but God didn't leave us
00:58 without a ram in the thicket... he sent Pastor Marquis Johns
01:03 Pastor Johns is the Youth Pastor...
01:05 and Associate Pastor at the Hyattsville Seventh-day
01:09 Adventist Church in Maryland... we're going to take a look
01:12 at the interview that I did with him on the Set
01:14 of "The New Journey" and you'll see
01:16 why he's uniquely qualified to host it...
01:19 Watch this...
01:22 Today I'm sitting here on the Set of The New Journey
01:26 with the new Host for The New Journey...
01:28 Pastor Marquis Johns...
01:30 Pastor Johns... welcome... Thank you...
01:33 I am so happy that you're here...
01:35 I have to let our viewers know
01:37 a little bit about what happened because they knew Aaron Chancy
01:41 Great guy... Oh, he's a wonderful young man
01:45 on fire for God... an ex-offender...
01:48 and he was called by the Lord to go back to School
01:51 to study Theology... Right...
01:53 so when he told me that he couldn't host for the season
01:57 I was like... "Oh, Lord, where am I going to find someone that
02:01 can do this job... and can do it effectively?"
02:04 and I have to tell you that the Lord sent you...
02:08 I know He did... I'm so grateful to God
02:10 because He sent you to us...
02:13 I was at the Oakwood University Evangelism Council...
02:16 and Sister Margie Richardson who is a dear friend of mine
02:20 said, "You have to meet Pr. Marquis Johns...
02:24 you have to meet him... he will be perfect
02:26 for your Network... " and I didn't know what Program
02:29 but she just wanted me to meet you...
02:31 and once I met you... after I found out that
02:36 Aaron Chancy was not going to be able to host again...
02:38 the Lord laid you on my heart... Hmmm... hmmm...
02:40 and I can see why... because I watched you...
02:42 I can't wait for our viewers...
02:46 you have to watch The New Journey...
02:48 and you have to see Pr. Johns hosting...
02:50 Pr. Johns... may I call you Marquis?
02:52 Yeah... of course... All right... good...
02:54 Marquis... tell us about your journey
02:57 because I wanted a pastor with a past...
02:59 Hmmm... hmmm... I didn't want someone
03:01 who didn't know... who couldn't relate...
03:03 to our ex-offenders... or people in Prison Ministry
03:08 can you relate to them? Absolutely...
03:10 tell us why... Well, one of the reasons why
03:12 is because... I come from the streets of
03:14 South Central Los Angeles, California...
03:16 Okay... my mom was a gang member,
03:18 all of my uncles were gang members
03:19 my mom eventually succumbed to a crack addiction...
03:22 followed by my father... succumbed to the same
03:24 crack addiction... and I've sold drugs...
03:27 I've had some time in jail... in prisons here and there...
03:30 you name it... for the most part I've done it...
03:33 and then God reached into my life...
03:36 Amen... but before then...
03:37 I'm a typical kid that went through the '80s
03:40 where, you know, crack cocaine hit the streets...
03:44 Yes... we wanted nice sneakers...
03:46 we wanted nice things... Yes...
03:47 and my mom... I went between my mom and my dad
03:51 and she wasn't always there
03:52 because she was off on her own thing...
03:54 Okay, now, unpack this mother
03:56 as a gang-member thing for me...
03:58 she was your mom but she was also in a gang
04:02 while she was raising you?
04:04 Right... well, my mom had me when she was 18...
04:07 Okay... her brothers were all
04:09 gang members... she was a Black P. Stones Pirus Blood
04:13 Wow... and so, you know,
04:14 that brought a certain lifestyle with it...
04:16 now of course by the time she's raising me...
04:18 she is distancing herself from actual gang activity
04:23 on a day-to-day basis... Okay...
04:24 but the reality is she hadn't divorced herself
04:27 completely from the lifestyle...
04:28 so the drugs... the alcohol... they were prevalent in my life
04:31 as early as 2 years of age... she was putting
04:33 beer in my bottle and giving me what we call
04:36 contact... where you inhale and blow into the face...
04:40 of the person... in order for them to get a high
04:42 not an actual high from... Right...
04:44 from smoking themselves... but a "contact high"
04:46 Right... so there were stories
04:48 circulating... as long as I can remember...
04:50 amongst my mom and my uncles about my behavior
04:53 as a 2-year-old baby, if you will,
04:55 "High and drunk off of marijuana and beer... "
04:58 Oh... oh... and see as a mother...
05:01 that just makes me... that just hurts my heart...
05:04 because it's already starting you on a certain path
05:08 Hmmm... hmmm... at Age 2... but the Lord...
05:11 had a plan for you... but God... but God...
05:13 okay so... your mom is here and doing these things
05:18 and where's your dad?
05:19 My dad... as a matter-of-fact... my dad and my mom
05:22 never were together...
05:24 I'm a product of a one-night stand...
05:25 Okay... my dad was home on furlough
05:27 from the army... he was accompanying a buddy
05:29 who was hooking up with a chick...
05:31 the chick brought along my mom...
05:33 and so my dad and my mom hooked up...
05:35 and... "Hey world... how you doing... here am I... "
05:39 Oh... we praise the Lord for you...
05:40 Amen... we praise the Lord for you...
05:42 Amen... So, okay, so, from Age 2
05:45 you were exposed to alcohol,
05:47 and the "contact"
05:49 and that whole lifestyle... Hmmm... hmmm...
05:52 what happened when you were Age 9 or 10...
05:54 what was going on then...
05:55 Nine or ten... one of the things about me was
05:57 I was considered by California State as a "Gate Kid"
06:00 which is a "gifted and talented education" kid...
06:03 I was always at the top of my class...
06:06 but around 9 years of age... I just got bored with School...
06:09 and going back and forth between my mom and my dad
06:11 whenever I was with my dad, before he succumbed
06:13 to a crack addiction... you know...
06:15 "children were to be seen and not heard... "
06:17 and he ruled his house with an iron fist...
06:20 and a "C" was unacceptable... so, I would long
06:22 for the freedom that I thought I had with my mother
06:24 and wanted to be away from what felt like
06:27 "in prison" with my dad... Hmmm... hmmm...
06:29 and so about 9 years of age... I'd already been smoking
06:34 marijuana... By Age 9?
06:36 By Age 9... my mom had the mind-set that
06:39 it was better for us to do it at home
06:42 than to do it out in the streets
06:44 where we didn't know what someone would put
06:45 in our joints or in our weed, my dad had, of course,
06:50 like most parents at that time...
06:52 his shoebox top under the bed, where we found that stuff...
06:57 Hmmm... hmmm... and so... at Age 9...
07:00 I'm already smoking weed... I'm already doing those things
07:03 and my mom would send me back and forth to my dad...
07:07 by the time I was... I think I was about 13 or so...
07:10 my dad started doing crack... so then...
07:12 I went to live with my grandma, so by the time I was 14
07:16 my grandma moves to Arizona
07:18 I'm living now, at 15 years old 15 years of age...
07:21 I'm living with my dad's girlfriend
07:23 while my whole family has gone to Arizona
07:26 following my grandmother...
07:27 my mom is virtually non-existent in my life at this time...
07:30 I have two other brothers that were with her...
07:33 and I'm staying with this lady that...
07:36 I mean she was a good lady don't get me wrong...
07:38 but she was not my mom... she was not my grandma...
07:41 she was not my dad... Right...
07:42 so her attempting to parent me was futile at best...
07:45 Yes... you know what I find fascinating is that...
07:47 from 8 till about 14... or before 8...
07:51 from when you started School till about 14 maybe...
07:54 you were doing really well in School...
07:56 Oh yes... yes... in spite of your environment...
07:58 right... right... right... right...
07:59 What drove you to do well
08:01 in School... besides the pressure from your dad...
08:03 Right... but what drove you to
08:05 excel in school... was it your natural ability,
08:08 was it... what do you think it was...
08:09 Well, if I'm honest... I think that those early stages
08:12 in life... kind of begin to brand the person
08:14 that you are going to be... Hmmm...
08:16 and because my dad was the disciplinarian...
08:18 I understood the importance of going to School
08:21 I just didn't want to do it... Hmmm...
08:22 I didn't want to do school and education
08:24 on anyone else's terms,
08:25 I wanted to do them on my terms...
08:27 Hmmm... I was always an avid reader...
08:28 I loved to read...
08:31 Oh... wait... wait... wait, that is music to my ears... okay
08:35 because I love to see people... I'm a reader too...
08:38 I love to see people read... you are an avid reader...
08:42 still to this day... correct... Oh absolutely... absolutely...
08:44 Oh okay... go ahead... I just had to have you say that.
08:46 So that... I mean... with a voracious appetite...
08:50 I was like... literally... I have read through entire
08:53 encyclopedias... I would read dictionaries...
08:55 Wow... and this was consistent...
08:58 so, when I got old enough
08:59 when I first started selling drugs...
09:00 like around 12 years of age... I would sell drugs...
09:03 but then I would go in and I'd read...
09:05 You know... I think I should be out there...
09:07 Were they calling you a Nerd and stuff like that?
09:10 No, I mean, that's part of the thing
09:12 that I wanted to kind of escape...
09:14 you know... you want to be cool, you want to fit in...
09:15 but also I wanted to escape the reputation that
09:19 that was associated with my mother...
09:20 my mother was doing sex favors, in the neighborhood...
09:23 Hmmm... hmmm... you know, I'm 12 years of age
09:24 and my mom is known for doing sex favors
09:26 in and around the neighborhood...
09:27 Hmmm... and so, I just wanted to
09:29 disconnect or even divorce myself from her reputation
09:33 so I began selling drugs... not just because
09:35 I wanted to be hip, not because I wanted to be cool,
09:38 but I had two little brothers that my mom is taking
09:40 half the welfare check and disappearing for two weeks,
09:42 Wow... and I was going to ask you where you were
09:45 in the birth order... Okay, I'm the eldest...
09:47 Okay, all right... and you do manifest a lot of the
09:50 traits of the eldest... so... not only do you have
09:54 the burden of dealing with
09:56 a dysfunctional family
09:58 you are also the eldest brother,
10:00 Hmmm... hmmm... so, what does that do...
10:03 where is your mind-set
10:04 as the brother in the home?
10:06 To be honest with you... I don't know where it came from,
10:09 but there was something innate that drove me to want to
10:12 take care of them Hmmm...
10:13 I remember, very early on,
10:17 again... I'm 12 years of age,
10:19 I'm in 7th Grade... getting all of our dirty clothes
10:22 together... scrounging up whatever monies I could find...
10:25 and putting the bags of clothes in shopping carts
10:28 and wheeling them... my brothers and I
10:30 up to the local Laundromat, doing the laundry myself,
10:33 coming home, getting what we called then
10:36 "the Government Cheese" Yes... big block...
10:39 Yeah... that you can't quite slice right...
10:42 so you got the thick on one end...
10:43 It might not melt too well either...
10:44 right, right... I mean, just really taking care
10:47 of my brothers and I remember on one occasion, my mom...
10:50 I'm sleeping in the middle of the night...
10:51 I was a kleptomaniac, my mom taught me to lie...
10:53 my mom taught me to steal, I mean, literally...
10:55 sat me down and taught me... this is how you lie...
10:58 and if I would crack or smile while laughing...
11:00 she'd smack me and say, "No, do it again... "
11:02 Hmmm... so... she taught me how to lie
11:03 she taught me how to steal, so, I remember on one occasion
11:06 it's the middle of the night... I hear all this noise
11:08 this racket coming from the living room...
11:09 I go into the living room, and my mother is standing
11:13 stark naked with a cast iron frying pan in her hand...
11:17 that she's wailing on some guy who's also naked...
11:20 I mean... she's wailing on this guy... wailing on this guy...
11:23 and I'm like... "What's going on?"
11:24 Yeah... so I run into the room,
11:25 I collect my brothers... she's like,
11:27 "Go over across the way"
11:28 so I take them... I don't if this guy...
11:30 if she kills this guy or what...
11:32 I run, take my brothers over here
11:33 the whole night, I'm looking out the window...
11:36 trying to see what's going on, Hmmm...
11:38 she comes around the next day, I find out
11:40 that what she had done was she had promised this guy... sex
11:43 so that he could buy all the crack...
11:44 at which point the crack was gone
11:46 she never had sex with him and he's now
11:48 trying to make good on this bargain...
11:50 Okay... and she's like,
11:51 "No you got to get out of here... "
11:53 and he's like, "No, you got to give
11:55 what you said you were going to give... "
11:56 and so these are the kinds of things that
11:57 peppered my early upbringing... my early childhood
11:59 Yes... yes... and again... if it wasn't for
12:02 reading and being able to escape Yes...
12:05 you know via the written page, Hmmm... hmmm...
12:07 I can only imagine where I would have been...
12:09 I mean, I can look at my two younger brothers...
12:11 who looked up to me...
12:13 Let's talk about that... your brothers
12:15 Okay... Yeah... tell us about them...
12:17 Okay, my two younger brothers one of which is now serving
12:19 I think 5 years in State Penitentiary in Arizona
12:21 since from the time of... he was 18 years of age...
12:24 he's been in and out of jail... he's pretty much
12:26 institutionalized... Hmmm... hmmm...
12:27 my younger brother who was 9 years younger than I am
12:29 who I helped my mother raise... who... he had this bowed legs
12:33 and when he was in 5th Grade, he had the procedure
12:36 to have them corrected...
12:37 and my mother never required him to go back to School...
12:40 So he stopped... Stopped going to School...
12:44 after 5th Grade... and I don't say this to be
12:47 my brother was crazy, he grew up I mean... he was crazy...
12:55 my mother had some identity issues
12:56 in terms of her sexuality... so my little brother...
13:00 my brother who is 9 years younger than I am...
13:01 we have the same father... have the same father...
13:04 but he didn't know that until he was like 12 or 13...
13:07 because my father was married
13:09 when he slept with my mother one night
13:11 while they were smoking crack together...
13:13 and produced this child... Right...
13:15 so he tried to... disavow it...
13:17 "I don't know, no, no, no, no, and no... "
13:18 so my brother... my younger brother...
13:20 grew up... thinking that my mom's last girlfriend
13:25 was his other "mom" type of deal...
13:27 so there was a lot of deep-seated anger and hatred
13:30 and just feeling the abandonment...
13:33 and so he was crazy...
13:34 that was... before he... he was eventually murdered
13:37 in 2006... because he was abusive
13:39 to any woman he got into a relationship with
13:41 and there was... on one occasion
13:43 where he tied my mother and one of his girlfriends
13:45 up to a chair and sat down and had a bowl of cereal...
13:48 and promised them that if they moved...
13:50 he was going to kill them... Oh my...
13:53 so this was the type of lifestyle
13:55 that he was in to... We're looking at demonic
13:58 strongholds... Yes... absolutely, absolutely...
14:01 hereditary... Yes, yes... these generational
14:04 issues... that the enemy just holds people in bondage...
14:10 Hmmm... hmmm... I feel like your mom was in
14:13 bondage... She was... she was...
14:15 Is she still living now? Her and I... we don't talk much,
14:17 we don't talk much, I had to make amends...
14:21 the best way I could... in order to preach
14:23 the gospel of Jesus Christ... Yes... yes... yes...
14:24 I find myself preaching this love message
14:26 and one day... the Lord interrupted me and said,
14:28 "Hey, how can you preach love, when you harbor so much anger
14:32 and hatred toward your own mother?"
14:33 Hmmm... hmmm... A couple of friends of mine...
14:35 who have sat me down... who studied Psychology...
14:38 they would always uncover the same issue...
14:40 "Hey, you have some issues with your mom... "
14:42 Hmmm... hmmm... So one day I called her up
14:44 and I wanted to put these demons to rest...
14:45 and she is such a manipulator, so given over to the streets
14:50 that even that moment of our...
14:53 of my trying to say, "Hey, let's have a normal
14:56 relationship... " it was an opportunity
14:58 for her to try and load me up with a guilt trip
15:00 "Oh, how can you say you hate me... "
15:03 I said, "Listen, I'm saying whatever was in the past...
15:05 I want to leave in the past. "
15:06 "Oh, I can't believe it... I don't... "
15:08 you know... and I was just like,
15:09 "Okay mom, fine, whatever... "
15:10 and so periodically she would call me...
15:12 and I would have conversations with her... but inevitably
15:15 she would always take them in a direction...
15:18 and I was just like... "It's okay... I can't do this...
15:21 I can't do this... " and I would try...
15:23 there would be times like she'd call and say,
15:25 "Hey, you know, it's good to hear from you...
15:27 oh, so why haven't you... "
15:29 Okay, all right, okay... I'm all right...
15:31 so, that was kind of...
15:32 that was the nature of our relationship...
15:35 Hmmm... hmmm... it kind of brings to mind
15:37 that verse... about "Live as peaceably as possible"
15:40 you know... there are just some people that
15:43 you can go... but so far... you made the effort
15:46 to mend the relationship and you've gone as far
15:49 as you can go and the rest is in
15:51 the Holy Spirit's hand...
15:52 Right... Okay so... oh! this story is so
15:55 is so deep and I thank you so much
15:58 for being so transparent... because I think that
16:01 our viewers... if they see what God has done in your life,
16:05 they'll know... God can do it for them...
16:08 Hmmm... hmmm... so, tell us now...
16:09 how did you... go from there... to here?
16:14 How did you get to be on fire for God?
16:19 Again, I think that God put that desire and that love
16:22 of information and knowledge in me...
16:25 Hmmm... hmmm... to where... you know...
16:27 around 8th Grade... around 8th Grade...
16:29 before I just checked out of life for a while...
16:32 the new phenomenon was Farrakhan
16:36 and The Nation of Islam... Hmmm... hmmm...
16:37 and so... a lot of my friends
16:39 were getting into The Nation of Islam...
16:40 there was just something about it
16:42 that didn't really quite gel with me...
16:44 but on the other hand...
16:46 there was The Five-Percent Nation of Islam
16:48 the Nation of Gods and Earth... where...
16:50 The Five percenters... Yeah... Five percenters...
16:52 The Black Man's God... and you know...
16:54 and that Black Nationalistic mind-set really spoke to me...
16:57 you know how... I wanted to think better of myself
16:59 I always had this issue with slavery...
17:00 I didn't want to see myself as a former slave...
17:03 I wanted to see myself as something better than
17:05 whatever was associated with who my mother was...
17:09 Okay... Hmmm... and so, I embraced this
17:11 Black Nationalistic Movement... Five Percenters... you know
17:14 the Nation of Gods and Earths... but that woke up
17:17 or awakened in me... a desire to study
17:18 Comparative Religion... Hmmm...
17:20 so, from the time I was about 13-14...
17:23 no matter what I was doing... I was always reading on
17:25 whether it was on Confucius...
17:26 or some Eastern Philosophy, or mysticism...
17:30 something in the realm and nature...
17:32 or the realm or in the nature of religion...
17:34 Okay... whether it was
17:36 Esoteric Psychology or Rosicrucian truth or
17:39 theosophical doctrines and lore I was always given
17:43 to studying comparative religion and I think
17:46 that's the wedge that the Lord used
17:48 to enter into my life...
17:50 and finally speak,
17:51 "Hey, I'm calling you to ministry... "
17:53 which wasn't until I was 27...
17:55 Wow! Oh! so... was there ever... when you were a small child
18:00 did you ever... like 8... 7 or 8...
18:03 did you have a spiritual bent then...
18:06 or this happened really much later...
18:08 No, I mean... we had the... I had my grandmother
18:12 at times... I lived with my grandma
18:14 we would go to Church on Christmas and Easter...
18:15 around those times... Okay...
18:16 there was a stint that I did in the Choir...
18:20 but for the most part no... I had a deep-seated
18:23 issues with sex... issues with drugs...
18:27 issues with gangs... issues... those types of things
18:30 were prevalent in my life, as long as I can remember
18:33 when this happened... and this story can go on
18:39 for days... when this happened
18:40 I was in the process... I was with a young lady
18:44 who I eventually married... we had a son together
18:47 and I just wanted to do better by this guy...
18:51 Hmmm...
18:52 you know, this little guy is coming into this world
18:53 I just wanted him to do something
18:54 I just wanted him to be... and do...
18:55 and be a part of something better...
18:57 something different and so...
18:58 even though I was still hustling then...
19:00 and I was hustling my whole life
19:02 selling weed... selling dope... whatever I could
19:04 Hmmm... hmmm... I was hustling then...
19:07 but welcoming a new life into the world
19:09 that was going to look to me
19:10 to be responsible for him you know...
19:13 kind of changed my perspective...
19:15 Yes... and to be a different kind of Dad
19:18 from the Dad that you had... Right... right... absolutely...
19:21 so, you started studying Buddhism, probably Confucianism
19:25 Oh... many... absolutely...
19:27 when did Christianity come up?
19:29 A friend of mine... who now... maybe a plug for him
19:34 Rico Hill who heads up The Daniel Challenge...
19:36 Oh Rico... hmmm... hmmm...
19:37 Rico Hill actually brought me to the Church...
19:39 Okay... okay... how did you meet him?
19:41 Rico Hill and I knew each other from the world...
19:43 believe it or not... there was a time
19:44 when I used to sell Rico... weed...
19:46 Okay... all right... I hope people tell him about this
19:49 testimony... I hope you didn't just put him on blast...
19:52 Well, it's the truth anyhow...
19:54 so Rico met me
19:56 and he was just enamored with the lifestyle
19:58 that I was living... my prowess as an Emcee...
20:01 as a lyricist... because I also had a career
20:04 in the music industry
20:05 when I was doing acting
20:06 I was on Steve Harvey...
20:08 for 13 Hope Street... and was pursuing a music career
20:11 had just signed a publishing deal with Interscope Music Group
20:15 As a... singer? As a rapper...
20:17 as a rapper... as a rapper... hmmm... hmmm...
20:19 and Rico had just come off the circuit
20:21 from doing "What goes around comes around"
20:23 and in a number of different Plays
20:25 that he had been involved in as an actor...
20:26 and he decided that he was going to write a Play
20:29 when he met me... he found the subject matter...
20:31 I believe, for his Play...
20:32 so, he wrote this Play... around me...
20:35 some of the stuff that we were dealing with,
20:36 and some of the other things that he had learned
20:38 just about the Hip-Hop Culture, Hmmm...
20:40 and cast me as the Lead in the Play...
20:42 Okay... but Rico... because of the
20:43 Plays that he had been involved in...
20:45 which always had a kind of... spiritual Christian bent to them
20:48 "Mama, I want to sing... " and all that...
20:50 Yeah... yeah... He wanted to set this Hip-Hop
20:53 Culture... in a Christian kind of context...
20:56 Okay... and so, a part of the rehearsals
20:58 and all that... we'd do Bible Studies...
21:00 and so I'd be high out of my mind
21:02 and we'd be doing a Bible Study and we'd by studying
21:05 or reading something and I'd be like...
21:06 "Oh yeah... this is kind of like X, Y and Z... "
21:08 and Rico would be like...
21:09 "How did you get that out of that text... "
21:11 and I'm like... "I don't know... "
21:12 and at that time I would say that...
21:13 Emcees and Lyricists speak the language of the metaphor
21:16 Hmmm... and so I believe that the
21:17 Bible is full of allegorical and metaphorical language
21:19 and so it ran like regular English to me...
21:22 Yeah... yeah... and so, he eventually
21:26 became Seventh-day Adventist, reached back to me...
21:29 to say, "Hey, God's got a call on your life... "
21:31 and I'm thinking... "You're out of your mind... "
21:34 you know... so Rico... Rico was a very faithful friend
21:37 for about 6 years... he prayed for me diligently
21:40 whenever I would call... he'd hop out of the bed
21:42 whether it would be 1, 2 or 3 in the morning...
21:44 he'd come to wherever I was, trying to give me Bible Studies
21:46 he tried to give me to appeal... and I just wasn't having it
21:48 Yes... needless to say... God tapped me
21:50 on the shoulder one day and He spoke to me...
21:51 and the first person I reached out to was Rico Hill...
21:54 Wow... now how did He... speak to you... what happened
21:56 was there a tragedy... was there...
21:58 No, no, no... I... I mean... because I was like
22:01 I'd like to say... holding the truth and then... righteousness
22:03 hmmm... hmmm... I knew the Bible by this point
22:06 Right... right... I knew the Daniel prophecies
22:09 I knew that the Sabbath was the truth...
22:10 I knew all these things... just from studying the Bible
22:13 on my own... Yeah...
22:14 so by the time Rico comes back around with this information,
22:16 I kind of have a handle on the stuff he's saying...
22:19 but I'm not embracing it the way he is trying
22:21 to give it to me... You have the intellectual assent
22:22 but not...
22:24 you didn't embrace it in your heart...
22:26 Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely...
22:27 and so, one day I'm running in the Park...
22:29 and the Lord literally spoke to me...
22:31 Wow... and said, "If you continue
22:32 on this path, you're going to be lost... "
22:34 Wow! and that's when I reached out to
22:38 Rico... and tried to become more "spiritual"
22:41 Hmmm... hmmm... but not necessarily
22:42 "more religious" Hmmm... hmmm...
22:43 and Rico lost it Man!
22:46 he's like, "Yo! I knew it... the Lord... "
22:48 I mean... he's like, "I've been praying for you
22:49 for six years... the Lord told me
22:51 that you were going to be a Pastor... "
22:53 and I'm like thinking... Whoa buddy! maybe not a pastor
22:56 I just want to come to Bible Studies...
22:58 It's like, he brought you now from being a rapper
23:00 to... now he's making you
23:02 a pastor... right? Right... right... right...
23:03 and you're probably like "No, no, I'm not going there"
23:05 I was, I was, I was... and I said to him
23:06 I said... I gave him some stipulations...
23:08 "I'm going to come to Bible Studies...
23:09 but I need you to know a few things... "
23:11 I had long corn rows... I said, "I'm never cutting my hair,
23:14 I don't wear suits... I don't wear ties...
23:18 I don't sing hymns... It's opposite of what
23:22 you're doing now, so I'm laughing...
23:24 Exactly... and I said, "Unless God takes away from me,
23:27 I'm going to smoke marijuana until I die... "
23:29 Oh my! and he said, "Okay, yeah, sure
23:32 just come to the Bible Studies" and the rest is,
23:34 as I say, history... Hmmm...
23:35 needless to say, I'm a pastor now...
23:37 Tell us about your Church...
23:38 Metropolitan Seventh-day Adventist Church in Hyattsville
23:41 Maryland... I just got there in June...
23:43 praise the Lord... I actually ended up going back
23:46 to Oakwood... I had been going to Oakwood
23:47 Hmmm... hmmm... after dropping out of School
23:49 in 10th Grade... the first School that I did was
23:51 Oakwood University... some 15 years later...
23:53 My... my... so I enrolled in Oakwood
23:55 University at 32 years of age, and I graduated in 2011
24:02 Hmmm... hmmm... I got into my Church...
24:04 now up to that point... I'd run a number of successful
24:06 crusades... I ran one... in the transition
24:08 from my Junior year to my Senior year...
24:11 in Columbus, Ohio at the Ephesus Church
24:13 and we baptized 110 people... Praise God...
24:16 used some new methods... very, very different...
24:20 contemporary methods... Hmmm... hmmm...
24:22 and this got me an opportunity to do a workshop
24:26 at Evangelism Council... the year before I met you...
24:29 so the year before I met you... here I am
24:31 a Senior at Oakwood... and I am doing a workshop
24:33 for pastors... on how to do evangelism
24:35 is God good... is God good...
24:38 Is that amazing or what! He is amazing!
24:40 so we do... we do the 110 baptisms
24:42 the Lord blessed... I get a call to go to
24:45 Allegheny East Conference with my Senior Pastor...
24:47 Pr. Brenda Billingy... personally recruited me actually
24:50 because she saw me at that Evangelism Council...
24:53 so, I get installed in June... I start a Young Adult Program
24:57 called "Prep School" on Wednesday nights...
25:00 just Bible Study... no music... nothing...
25:01 just straight Bible Study... teach them how to study
25:03 the Bible... Yes...
25:05 and we prep them for an Evangelistic series
25:07 that we're going to do... September 10, 2011 we launched
25:12 into "Lifted" the Evangelistic series was called
25:15 "Lifted" a very contemporary evangelistic
25:17 series... we went for two weeks
25:19 we baptized over 130 people, Praise God...
25:24 so now I've been in my Church, I've been in my District
25:27 for about 9 months... to date we baptized over
25:30 210 people... Hallelujah...
25:33 I have really set a bar as it pertains to the
25:35 utilization of technology and media...
25:36 so when I met you... I had been invited back
25:39 to Evangelism Council to speak on
25:41 how I'm using Facebook, Twitter,
25:44 blogging and those things... so it was interesting
25:47 you know... I'm fresh out of... I was on a panel
25:49 mind you with the likes of Carlton Bryd, Mike Kelly...
25:52 you know some of the guys that are here
25:53 on Dare to Dream... Yeah... yeah... yeah...
25:55 and I'm sitting and I'm thinking to myself...
25:56 "Okay, what am I doing here?"
25:58 Now Viewer, can you see why the Lord laid it on my heart
26:05 to invite Pastor Johns here... God is so amazing...
26:09 when you feel as though... you don't know which way
26:13 to turn... God shows you what to do
26:15 all you have to do is be available to Him...
26:17 Look at what God did in his life...
26:19 and God can do it in yours... thank you Pastor Johns...
26:23 God bless you... God bless you...
26:24 Did you hear what Pastor Johns said about his journey?
26:31 It's an amazing testimony... it attests of the power of God
26:37 to change your life... to change a direction...
26:41 he was headed down a path of destruction...
26:44 he was headed... toward jail or death...
26:48 and you see what God did...
26:50 God turned his life around put his feet on solid ground
26:54 and then said, "This is the way walk ye therein"
26:58 and his life is totally different
27:00 God can do the same for you...
27:02 You don't need to panic, or be upset or concerned about
27:07 the path that you're on... because
27:09 there's a new path for you,
27:10 God has a new journey for you...
27:13 Well, that's our Program for today...
27:15 thank you so much for joining us on
27:18 Urban Report... we really seek
27:21 to bring you Programs that can change your life
27:24 that can help you to realize the great destiny
27:26 that God has for you...
27:28 the Plan that He has with you in mind...
27:31 Jeremiah 29:11 says,
27:34 "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you"
27:36 saith the Lord... "thoughts of peace
27:38 and not of evil... to give you an expected end... "
27:41 We hope and pray that Dare to Dream
27:45 will inspire... and educate you...
27:48 and help you to get on that new path...
27:52 May God bless you... join us next time
27:55 on Urban Report... you know...
27:57 that it just wouldn't be the same... without you...


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Revised 2015-05-21