It was cool. I became a new person with a new outlook on life. My goals, plans, and dreams were all drastically changed in a matter of months if not weeks. Things I used to care about, I simply did no longer. When I left Flint, Michigan for Montgomery, Alabama, the goal was to major in political science, take the LSAT, go to law school, become an attorney, and live happily ever after. That didn’t happen.

 

After Eight 2K, I simply did not care about becoming a lawyer. I didn’t think that there was anything wrong with practicing law, I just did not care. It seems weird. Since I was about 11 or 12, that’s “what I wanted to be when I grew up” and all of a sudden I didn’t care. My life, along with its passions, desires, and will, had been transformed. All I wanted to do was know God.

 

I found myself attending every single event the church had going on. I was also very imposing on my new-found brothers and sisters. I used to just “pop-up” at people’s houses or apartments just because I wanted to be around people who knew God better than I did. They were Christians. I’d just become a Christian. I figured if I was around them as much as possible, I’d learn as much as possible about knowing God and being a Christian. When I was alone, I spent lots of time reading, writing, & praying. All I wanted to do was tell people about God…and rap.

 

My grades started to slip. By that time, I’d become a pretty good student. I was earning more A’s than B’s. But I got a 3.0 the next semester because I did more “God stuff” than school stuff. I really didn’t care. I considered dropping out of school or transferring to a cemetery school, I mean, seminary school. However, since I was more than halfway done, I went ahead and finished my degree.

 

I’d formed a habit of going out just to tell random strangers about Jesus. I started alone, then with a few guys I did campus ministry with, then with the big homie, Trey, then Zenk joined. I took it personally when Jesus told his disciples to preach the gospel to every creature. There was a time when Trey, Zenk, and I used to go to ASU every Monday around lunch-time and introduce people to The Master. Since we wanted to do it well, but didn’t quite know what well was, one of us would engage with someone, while the other two would carefully pay attention and note what was working and not working with each interaction. We paid attention to what resonated with the people, what was useful, what was effective, what didn’t work, etc. We then met at Trey’s place the following Wednesday to review what we noted the previous Monday. What we learned through this process laid the foundation for how we present the gospel to this day. It’s also the basis of what we continue to teach in our monthly Equipping assembly on 1st Wednesdays.

 

We’re committed to the work of building the Body of Christ through real-life, personal interaction, engaging those within our sphere of influence, and fostering authentic, long-lasting relationships. By God’s grace, we will continue, producing fruit evident of the Spirit’s presence.