I hope I'm not steppin' on any toes, but you're in a church where...would you mind standin' up? Stand up a minute, just for a second. OK. Let me tell you what happened. I was in a church in a part of the country called Texas. And this sister was there at the church, a 3,000 member church. You can sit down, but you'll bear witness to this. 3,000 members, a very wealthy church. 'Well, we're very glad to have you. You draw a crowd and we're gonna have fun. We're gonna bless God and we're gonna show everybody that we have a heart for people and that we'll let dirtballs in the church from time to time who've been saved, of course, namely, Mr. Fenholt.' [paraphrased] When ever they say that to me I say, 'Mr. Ex-Dirtball to you.' :)

So I go to this church, wealthy church. 'We're gonna take you big offerings; we're gonna do this; and we're gonna bless you. We can contribute to your lifestyle development fund, or whatever you have. And we'll help you.' [paraphrased] Great. That's what I had when I was in the world, I called it a lifestyle development fund. And everybody had to contribute to it, or I didn't do anythin'. And, so, I went to the church. And I said to the pastor, 'OK, we've got 3,000 members or 2500, it was a big church in the wealthy part of town. Great.' They wanted to have me Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, four nights. So, wow, this is gonna be great. We're gonna zing, zang, boom, bang. I said, 'Pastor, if you really want to reach the city, I want to go down and hit the gangs.' It's a big city, right, a major city in America. I said, 'I want to hit the gangs. Let's go down and get the gang-bangers.' 'Well, how do you propose to do that?' I said, 'You have a youth group of 100 kids, let me take the kids and we'll go down.We'll pick the high schools that are havin' the most shootings and we'll go down there after school, right when school lets out. And we'll sort it out.' 'Cause they have their own Christian school and everything down there. 'We'll take kids down and we'll witness to these gang-bangers.' 'We'll, that sounds good to me, we'll do it.' So, we did it.

And I got rap artists to come down, gangster rap artist, guy had been shot in the face or whatever. And we were doin' the gangster music sound. I can't do it. And people are goin', 'That doesn't sound like Christian music to me. Why would you do somethin' like that? That isn't Christian, even.' So, I just try to go along with them, I say, 'Well, I like to fish. I don't like to eat worms, but Bass do. So, even if you don't like the music, would you like to see people come that need to get saved?' :) What are we gonna do Barry Mannilow? 'Oh, Brandy, well, you came and you gave without thinking. And I need you today, Oh Brandy.' They call that 'teenage repellant'. They play that at 711's stores out in California to get rid of teenagers. You think I'm kiddin'? They've done a study on this. They see a whole bunch of kids congregatin' and then they start, 'Sunshine on my shoulder makes me happy.' Whew, they're footprints are twenty feet a part.

So we go down to the school. [To the women from Texas] 'Did you go to the school with us when we were down there?' So, we're down at the school. 'Remember all the police that showed up and they roped off the area, and all that?' We had a little stage. 'Do you remember, when we were across the street from the school? Did you go to that? So, you saw it, you know what we're doin'?' OK, so, we go down to this school where they've had 12 shootings and it's only February. They had 12 shootings, and as I understand it, the mayor was talkin' about shuttin' the school down. I have never heard of that before. But the mayor was sayin', 'We might shut this school down, if we have another shootin'.' 'Cause, the gang problems were so outta hand in the school.

So, we go down there. And the police roped off the area, parked police cars all over, and police are all out there with black jackets with 'police' over the back, written over the back. And I'm thinkin', 'DUH, We're tryin' to reach gang-bangers and we've got police all over.' So, I go walkin' up to this officer. I said, 'Hey, how're you doin'?' He goes, 'Fine.' I said, 'You're the sergeant in charge?' 'Yes, I am.' I said, 'Well, your presence, I appreciate you bein' here, but your presence is a-a-a little heavy handed for the area here.' He goes, 'Ah, these Christians are down here to witness. They don't even know what they're into here.' I said, 'Are you speakin' of moi? I'm that Christian that's gonna witness down here.' He said, 'Well, we had two that were shot, who came down here and tried to speak to these kids.' I said, 'Could you pull your cars back a little, 'cause we want the kids to come and listen and with all these police here...' He said, 'No, I can't. If you and your friends get shot, I'm on the line. My captain talked to us today, said there were Christians comin' down here. They're worried about shootings. We're staying right here.' Make a long story a bit longer, we only had about 50 gang-bangers come and some kids showed up; but we had about 50 gang-bangers. And, they're standin' out there. And they're talkin' to me with baseball bats over their shoulders. And walkin' up to me before we got started. Their walkin' up with baseball bats, standin' there talkin' to me, and I didn't see any mitts and gloves and baseballs. I was thinkin', 'What's wrong with this picture?'

So, we did the rap. And they were out there...doin' they're thing. [Jeff will be teasin' the drummer throughout this nugget. To the drummer: Thank you for not supportin' me in that. I'm takin' you on the road so I can leave you somewhere, stranded, hahahaha, let you drum your way home. :)] So, we did this rap. Then I looked out and saw all these gang-bangers out there, 50, not all, but I mean 50 gang-bangers or so. And I said, ' Now, as soon as this band is done, I'm gonna have to witness quickly. There's not gonna be a long attention span here, once we start speakin' about the things of God. I just, DUH, I get it, you know.' So I stood up and I said, 'Praise God! How many love the Lord?' Crickets, you know, out there. I said, 'Who wants Jesus in this place?' They're all lookin' at me, like, I'm the dentist. It's like... So, I said, 'We want to pray for you. We've come down here, and I've come down here to pray for you. I want to pray, and I want you to give your hearts to Jesus Christ. Jesus loves you. If you're ready to pray and receive Jesus as your Savior, raise your hand.' Nobody raised their hands. So I thought I'll go on the aggressive mode. I pointed out this guy from the gang. I said, 'How about you, brother? You ready to give your heart to the Lord?' He goes, 'How 'bout your momma?' Oh, well, if not you then....'How about you?' And there lookin' at me like...I'm goin', whew, let's pray. So, I prayed. And I said, 'If you prayed that and meant that in your heart, I want you to acknowledge the Lord, now.' Nobody raised their hand.

This girl comes up a wheelchair. [What's her name?] Alva. She comes up in a wheelchair. [It's amazin' you're here tonight.] She comes up in a wheelchair, and she's this beautiful young girl. She says, 'Put me on the platform.' We built this little stage. 'Put me on the platform.' She talked with this Hispanic accent. 'Put me on the platform.' And she's cryin'. So, they put her wheelchair upon the platform. And she goes, 'Give me the mic.' I'm lookin' out at the crowd and I thought, 'What do you want?' She goes, 'I want to talk to my people, my homies.' I thought, 'Well, she can't do worst then I just did.' I said, 'Here.' She took the microphone and she goes, 'If anybody here doesn't know who I am, I'm Alva. And I've been shot. That's why I'm in the wheelchair. I just give my life to Jesus, here just now. And I'm believin' God's gonna heal me and I'm gonna get up and I'm gonna walk.' She'd only been saved a minute. She was already believin' God, faith. And then she pointed out to that crowd of gang-bangers, and she said, 'Mondo. I got shot for you. We were in the mall and they came and shot my Mondo, my fiancé, they shot my Mondo. They shot him in the back. I jumped on your body, Mondo, and I took three bullets for you. And that's why I'm in this wheelchair. Now, You get up here and you get saved, right now!'

So, Mondo comes walkin' up. And he's walkin' like this... And I'm thinkin', 'Why's he walkin' like that?' And then I released, he had a bandana half way down his nose and it was the only way he could see. He had to walk like this to see under the bandana. So, he comes walkin' up. Kisses her. He goes, 'I love, you, baby.' kisskisskiss. 'I love you, baby; I'll do anythin' for you, baby. Give me the mic.' I think, 'Well, Alva did good. Let's give it to Mondo.' So, we give it to Mondo. So, Mondo takes the mic and he goes, 'I give it up for Jesus. Jesus, mi todo corazon, mi hermano, santo santo, mi Jesus. Gloria Dios, I give it up.' But he goes, 'We gonna get somethin' straight, before I give it up.' And he points over here at another gang, and he goes, 'You...' And the guy had on sunglasses, a big tall guy, he said, 'You, I know you, I know you're the one who stabbed Sunny. You killed my homey. I know you. We've got a bead on you, man. You're goin' down, dude.' And he said, 'You ain't nothin' but a somethin' ...........' And cussed him out on the mic. I said, 'Give me the mic.' when he started cussin'. I said, 'Give me the mic.' And three gang-bangers jumped up on the platform and said, 'Chill.' I said, 'I'll just chill over here.' :) People think I'm rough; but, I'm just a singer, just a musician, under the blood of Jesus! Thank you very much! Don't forget that! I'm prayin', 'God.' A gang-banger said, 'Don't pray for me.' I said, 'I ain't prayin' for you, I'm prayin' for me.' 'Shut up.' I want to go home and eat dinner tonight with my loved ones. Mondo just cussed out a rival gang, cussed him out on the mic. 'You ain't nothin' but, ........' Cussed him, filth, and 'Give me the mic', ''Chill, shut up, get, move.' DUH, talk to your elder like that. But I thought, 'Well, we'll stand here.' The truth of the matter is, truthfully, I did stand there. And I let him keep the mic. But I said, 'Turn down the language, dude.' And he said, 'I know you, man, and you're mine. I'll kill you, just easy as look at you. I'll give it up to Jesus. But I ain't givin' it up to Jesus, unless you're ready to give it up to Jesus. 'Cause, I give it up to Jesus, they're gonna come put a hit on me, man. I'm tellin' you, you give it up, I'll give it up right now.' I'm lookin', this gang-banger starts walkin' up towards the platform. He had on sunglasses, and I couldn't see what his expression was. I seen my life pass before me. He comes walkin' up to the platform. And gets up on the platform with Mondo. I'm standin' there and he takes Mondo's hand and they go ...They started doin', you put the right foot in, you put the..... I don't know what they're doin', but it took five minutes. [dancin' around the stage] 'What are they doin'?' 'They're bondin'.' Gangster bondin'. And Mondo goes, 'OK, preacher, pray for us. We give it up. Homies, come pray.' All these gang-bangers come up. So, I'm prayin'; I'm goin', 'God, whatever You're gonna do, do it very quickly, right now. I pray the blood of Jesus over each.....' 30 of them got saved. Hallelujah! Mondo felt so good, he's jumpin' around goin', 'Whew, dude, this is good. This is better than drugs, brother, this is it. Oh! Holy Ghost, I'm there, I'm there.' [to the drummer: I'm glad Tim's here and havin' such a great time, tonight. hahaha] So Mondo goes, 'We're gonna recruit, dude, we're gonna recruit. Where you at tonight?' I said, 'I'm at this big church. It's out in the rich section of town. blahblahblah. You need to come.' 'Oh, dude, we gonna be OK there? It's OK to come?' 'Yeah, You come.'

They came that night, brought 75 more with them. They had a choir of a hundred people up on the stage singin'. And Mondo and all the gang-bangers come in; and they ripped the reserved signs off the seats for the choir; and sat in the choir's seats. 'Cause the church's full. And I'm sittin' there with the Pastor. And the pastor says, the usher, the head usher comes up and he goes, 'Uh, these gentlemen have taken the seats of the choir. What do you want us to do, Pastor?' Pastor looked out at them. He said, 'Uh, Well, what do you think we should do, Jeff?' I said, 'Do you want to go down, Pastor, and ask them to move?' Pastor said, 'Oh, let them stay. They're fine there. We'll let the choir stay up here, on the platform.' So, we got up. Holy Ghost hit like a ton of bricks. Girl named 'Alex' got up. She'd been a dancer, stripper. [Do you remember Alex?] Alex Ariana Wilson. She got out of a wheelchair and walked. And they were gettin' ready to put steel pipes in her legs. And she's got the x-rays to prove it. She'd been beaten with a slege hammer in her legs. By someone who hated her and didn't want her to be able to dance, exotic dance or any of that. And beat her legs to where they turned them into powder, just busted her legs. She's got the x-rays; she was gonna get steel things put in so she could walk with crutches. God grew her bones back there in the church. And the Assemblies of God found out about it; and have used her; and have even taken her all the way to India; so I mean this is the real deal, what we're talkin' about here. This is serious. They have looked at the x-rays. They've looked at everything. It was a miracle happenin' in the church that night in front of these gang-bangers. Then we had gang-bangers standin' up; I'm lookin'; and the Holy Ghost hit. And people were, like, doin' the 'funky chicken' and all kinds of stuff in this church. And I started thinkin' to myself, 'Oh, this is gonna freak these gang-bangers out.' It didn't freak them out. There up goin', 'Go, girl! Do it!' 'Funky, funky, baby!' :)

And this woman from the choir came down. And leaned on the piano. [Were you there, that night?] She leaned on the piano; and her hair was hangin' down in front of her face. And she looked very conservy. She was wearin' this beautiful, gorgeous, blue choir gown. She comes down and leans on the piano. She looks at me and she goes, 'Hahahaha, give me the mic.' I thought, 'Man, this is one of those days, you know, everybody wants the mic.' So, I went over; and she looked very conservative. But she had this big glump of hair hangin' in her face. And she's leanin' on the piano. And she goes, 'Hahaha, I can hardly stand up.' And her husband comes walkin' up. Turns out that he's an investmant banker, very conservative man. And he walks up and he looks a little concerned; but, he's holdin' her by the arm, to stable his wife, stabilize his wife. He's holdin' her by the arm. And she looks out and she goes, 'Hahaha, I have been hit by the power of the Holy Ghost. Don't be afraid. God told me to tell you not to be afraid. But for those of you who know me, I am definitely outside my comfort zone.' Hahahaha. And the Holy Ghost just took off. All those gang-bangers came, gave their heart to the Lord.

That night, Paul Crouch had called me and said, 'I heard you're in Dallas. Your thing starts at 7pm. You should be done by 9, 9:30, 10. We're tapin' until 11. I want you to come and do the show with me from 10 to 11.' So, I said I would. So I went and told Mondo at the end of the night, 'I'm runnin' over to TBN.' 'Hey, man, Where TBN? We follow you, homey. We're gonna go where you go, dude. Ya, we take care of you, man, nobody touch you in this city, no more. Nothin'.' I said, 'I'm goin' to TBN. It's over in Irving.' Told him where it was. 'Oh, yeah. The buildin' looks like the White House when you do acid or somethin' like that.' 'Yeah, I know.' [to the drummer: I'm not gonna say a word. Musicians, all of us, we're all this way.] So, I get to TBN and I go walkin' in. And here's 75 or whatever gang-bangers. All these gang-bangers are there. I go walkin' in and sit down with Paul. And I'm talkin' to him before, when the cameras aren't on us. And Paul said, 'Who are all these gentlemen out here with the scarves? The scarves and the RayBans?' I said, 'Well, it's Mondo and a bunch of guys. They got saved today. They are really fired up in the Lord.' Paul said, 'Ah, that's wonderful.' He said, 'I want you to sing Hosanna [675k .wav file, 32 sec] tonight, first song, do Hosanna for me.' 'OK, Paul, I'll do that. I want some of those gang-bangers to, ex-gang-bangers, to come and stand with me while I sing.' Paul said, 'NaNaNa, You don't put a novice in the pulpit. NoNoNo, they're not going on TV. NoNoNo, not tonight, Jeff. Maybe, let the Lord work on them a little and then they'll come on.'

Mondo stands up and goes, 'Hey, dude, hey Jeff. Tell the dude with the white hair, I want to see him. Come here, dude, I need to talk with you.' 'Yeah.' Paul stands up and he goes over; and he says, 'Yes, gentlemen.' He goes, 'Hey, man, you the main dude here? You the one that you do all the stuff here, this your gig?' Paul goes, 'Well, it's my gig.' And Mondo goes, 'Man, Praise the Lord Jesus Christ! You see Leon here? And you see Buzzy over here? Look at this.' He pulled his shirt up and he goes, 'See this bullet hole, here? He shot me, man, this guy shot me. He got saved.' And the other guy pulls up his thing and goes, 'See this knife wound here? I took a hundred and twelve stitches here. And I think it was his brother who stabbed me, man; but, we've been saved and we're servin' the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise God.' And Paul started cryin'. I've never seen him cry. Power of God hit him when he saw guys pointin' to bullet holes and sayin', 'This guy shot me but he got saved today.' Paul started cryin'. He said, sobbin', 'Praise the name of Jesus. Come on, boys, you come on the air here. I want you on the air.' So, we got up and I sang Hosanna [675k .wav file, 32 sec] and they went from bein' real fired up in the Lord, once they knew the cameras were on them, they all went [still, silent]. So, they're doin' that and I'm sayin' 'These guys got saved.' Mondo though, Mondo's doin' .... But any way, I sang praise to the Lord.

One of those boys was shot to death two days later, by his own gang, when he went and told them he was quittin'. The Lord says in the Word, You're going to have trouble. But fear not, for I have overcome the world. And I'll tell you, I'll say this about that. Some people say, 'That's a bad witness. You say, come to Jesus and get shot.' Well, first of all, it's the lifestyle that some people have been in. And second, I'd like to point out that I would rather live one day and then go to be with the Lord; then live 100,000 years for the devil, and go to hell. But that week over 200 gang-bangers got saved. I was thinkin' it was more like 400, but it was definitely atleast 200. [Wasn't it?] About 200 that gave their hearts to the Lord, and got saved.

Guess what happened? The Pastor asked me to come back and keep the revival goin'. I said, 'I'm solidly booked for three weeks. I can't but I'll come back.' Before the three weeks was up, I got a letter from the pastor. 'We don't want you in the church. Most of my elders have quit. My deacons have quit.' Sounds to me like they were 'deacon possessed'. And he said, 'My most established members are leaving the church because of the people you brought in from your outreach. We are shutting down all outreach until we can get a handle on the nose-dive that is happening financially to this church.' You know what happened? They had all this traditional garbage. 'Well, we know Jesus. Thank God, we're not like them.' 'Why do you sit with publicans and sinners and lawyers, when you can be eating with us?' Jesus said, upon hearin' that, The physician does not come for the healthy, but for the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners. Well, the down side to that is, that, the church shut it down. And they're back with all their fat-cat members, they're back. There's not one gang-banger in the church. The stripper, who got healed, is not in the church anymore. She's goin' to a different church, apparently, in the area. Not one gang-banger in the area. And the Pastor said, 'No more going downtown. And no more reaching gang-bangers. We can't have it in our youth group. And this and that...' Excuse me, I thought, Greater is He who is in us, then the Devil who is in the world. But let me tell you the good news. Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith. Guess what's happened to those young men from the gangs? Graduated Bible College, [Is that correct?] he's in the Master's program. Has graduated from the Master's program of a Bible school. Power of God is movin' on these kids. I've lost track of most of these gang-bangers. But how many know, I'll gaurantee you, God's taken care of these kids. And Alva's servin' the Lord Jesus Christ. And she's still believin' for her healin' and I believe her healin's gonna come.

We're gonna pray. I got carried away on this. I'm glad I did. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Help us to reach people. Souls are important. Mondo's important. Hugo, too, Hugo's important, who's graduated Bible College. These young people are important. You're important, young person, you're important here. We love you. And we want to let our young people know that they, you don't have to go out and do somethin' bad to get our attention. We love you and we are proud of you that you are servin' the most high God. And that is the strongest stand that you can take, is for the Lord Jesus Christ.

My Deepest Love,
Jeff
Living Word, Vandalia OHIO, November 22, 1998