Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), Marquis Johns
Series Code: UBR
Program Code: UBR000013
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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... |
Revised 2015-05-21