"I Should've Taken the Plea Deal" | Luther Collie's Wild Story

Hey, welcome back to another episode on the God Behind Bars podcast. So excited about this next guest. In fact, our audience at Everglades Correctional Institution will probably be really excited about this next guest, but I got Luther Cawley with us today and excited to have you, man. Praise God, it's a blessing. I'm excited to be here. Yeah, we've gotten to know each other on the other side of the fence, and you were part of a lot of the programming that we got to do at Everglades and experienced the Pando app firsthand. Absolutely. And I know you've had a huge impact in the 21 years that you spent within that community, specifically starting programs like the More Change Project, which I know is near and dear to a lot of men's hearts in that facility and just what you guys have done and the impact that you guys have had on the lives of both men and women that are incarcerated throughout the state of Florida. It's been pretty remarkable to watch that thing grow over the years and just what you guys have done, but I'd love to just get to know you a little bit, let our audience get to know you a little bit.

I know you got an amazing story, 21 years in the Florida Department of Corrections, but now out, doing well here on this podcast to just share what God's done in your life and how He continues to work through you. But maybe you wanna just start all the way back as far as you wanna go, your childhood, just giving us a little context to who you are and what got you to that point of incarceration. Amen, amen, praise God, man. Again, I'm just excited, man. I'm truly overwhelmed with joy to just be here. You know, it's a dream come true. I mean, last year, this time I was still incarcerated, just envisioning having an opportunity to do something like this. So it's kind of surreal. So bear with me, you know what I mean? It's our honor, man. Kind of emotional right now. But yeah, man, just thinking about my journey, you know, sitting on the airplane, coming here, I just have those moments where I just reflect and I think back on all I had to go through to get here. And my story ain't so unique, you know, to stories that you've probably heard as far as my upbringing. You know, I grew up in a single parent home with my mother. My family is of Jamaican descent and Bahamian descent. And how long did you live in the Bahamas?

I lived in Bahamas for two years. Okay. I was born there. And then you came to the States. Yeah, I came to the States at the age of two after my stepfather was killed. Okay. And so my mother and my father broke up and then my mama remarried a gentleman and then he was killed. And then that kind of like, was like the final straw for my mother, or the final straw, if you will. And she left and she brought me to America. And that's kind of like where the wedge between me and my biological father, that took place. So from there, I would think migrating to Florida, even though I was a kid, I mean, that obviously had some effect on me because I no longer had a strong role model. My background, again, and this is the Jamaican side of my family, cause that's who I really grew up with once I left the Bahamas. My dad's side, there was pretty much Christian base, good people. My mom's side of the family was a little more edgy. Yeah. So I had uncles, they were in the streets, they were hustlers, surviving.

They all came from Jamaica, from the slums of Jamaica and came here and they did what they felt they had to do to try to make it. So these were the male figures that I had during that time that I looked up to. They were amazing people for what they had. And looking back, I see that, man, I didn't have no real great examples. And then I didn't have my father who was probably more of a positive example, but he was living in the islands during that time. So that's my evolution, just basically growing up with my mom in the house and my grandmother and just gravitating towards things that just wasn't good for me. None of my family was really devoted to Christ. I mean, they had a respect for God, the idea of God, but no one was really devoted to Christ when I was very young. So we didn't have that example in the household. Uncles was drug dealers, hustlers. And I just found myself just trying to find something that I felt passionate about and music. That was when music kind of like grabbed a hold of me. I was very young when I started getting into music. I used to watch, I don't know how old you are, but I used to watch Yo! MTV Rap. and I started finding myself identifying with the gangster rappers, you know, and how they was talking about their stories,

I related to it, and I started basically taking on that persona of wanting to talk about the things that I saw in my environment, even though I wasn't directly involved in it then yet, but I would find myself kind of like talking about stuff that was going on in the streets, and you know, not having a father, and you know, it was negative, you know what I mean? It was negative in its nature, but it was therapeutic. And music ultimately started becoming my idol, you know what I was like, I felt like if I was gonna ever have any success in life, it was gonna be through music. And I was doing the music, I found my, I was very depressed as a young man, you know, I was very depressed, because, you know, I had a learning curve, I wasn't the brightest light bulb in the light fixture when it came down to academics, so I struggled in that area, so that kind of used to have me discouraged. I tried sports, I played sports, I wasn't the best athlete, you know, that kind of like fell through. And different things that I was doing that just didn't seem to work, and I'm just jumping from one thing to the other, but music was all I really, really felt like I had an opportunity to do and was gonna be great at it. And that wasn't

creating those opportunities or those lanes that I was looking for, at least they were creating some lanes, on the other side of them it was people just lying to you, selling you dreams, and that further just pushed me further and further into the darkness, I started smoking a lot of weed, drinking, and then, you know, I got to the point where it was like, you know what, I'm not just gonna do music, I'm gonna go to the streets, I'm gonna try to pave my own path now, now it's time to really get aggressive now, instead of just talking about the street stuff, let me kinda like merge my life with my music, you know how they say life imitates art, or art imitates life, so it was one of those type of struggles, but even in the midst of that, and I always love to point this out, there was something that was going on in me as far as having a sense that there was more to life than what I was experiencing, now when I look back, in hindsight, which they say hindsight is 20-20, I'm able to see that that was God, then I didn't know what it was, I just thought it was just me having a sense of destiny, and just knowing I was called to something great, and just not knowing what it was,

but I come to realize now that that was God telling me, man, listen, I got something greater for you than that, but of course, you know, I kept on my course of action, so not to jump around too much, I remember, I started seeing that my music was really changing, it was getting really, really darker, but I started sensing that, man, I think that I'm on the edge of being successful, because I was coming in contact with some individuals that had a little bit of position in the industry, and it was looking more different than when I was younger, when it was just a lot of dreams being sold, and I was probably like my early 20s at this time, right at that turning point, and I literally started sensing that, man, listen, if I make it, and I don't know what this looks like, but this is how I interpreted it in my head, I'm gonna be selling my soul to the devil, that's how I just was interpreting it in my mind, it was like I was at this crossroad within myself, like if you make it in this industry, especially with the people I was dealing with right before I got in trouble, in terms of their ability to give me the success I was actually searching for, I believe that that's what I would have been doing, and it was right then, like shortly thereafter I got in trouble, right when all this stuff was on the table,

when these negotiations and these deals, and it was shortly after Tupac had died, so it was a vacuum, and everybody wanted to fill that vacuum, and it was just a real weird, weird time in my life, and even in the midst of that, I found myself thinking about God, and saying to myself in those conversations in my own head, if you do this, this might be permanent, like you might be sealing your faith, and you might lose your opportunity for salvation, and I look back, I said, man, God, that had to have been God, you know, that had to have been God, like who else, that definitely wasn't the devil talking to me. Right. So. What's going on in your mind though in that moment, are you like, man, I think I want to do this? I wanted to do it. Yeah. And the way it was happening, it was weird because my partner, who was having these weird conversations when we were studying the industry, and those who was massively successful at that time, like Eminem, DMX, all this, and everyone was talking about the devil, and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. And we started noticing that, man, listen,

it's a spiritual component to this thing. Like, if you want to have this level of success. So this is where the thoughts was being, this is where I started entertaining those thoughts. I didn't, like I said, I didn't know what that looked like. I didn't know if they just, the devil appeared to him and he gives him a contract. Hey, sign your name right here and I'll give you seven years of massive success in the industry, then I'll kill you. You wouldn't, when it's all done. But in my mind, this is just how, you know, it made sense to me. And it seems as if that was the crossroad and what was going on in my head right then and there is, it's like, I feel the industry pulling me. Like I was finna have that success. And then it was like another force that I could interpret now as God, like literally blocking the opportunities. I mean, literally, you know, some people would call it bad luck, but I'm like, this is, this ain't bad luck. I don't know if you ever been in those situations. Because we could just see, that had to have been God that just blocked that because it was inevitable. You know, everyone saw that this was just gonna happen. And for it to just not happen, and that was the crossroad.

That was in 2002. Which is very frustrating in the immediate, but looking back, you're like grateful. Absolutely frustrating. And I used to often tell this to some of the guys I passed when in prison. God told me, I wasn't gonna bless you in that mess and I wasn't gonna let the devil bless you. So you was just in a lose-lose situation. You know what I mean? So that's kind of how I looked at it. Like, I wasn't gonna let the devil give you the success you wanted. And I definitely wasn't gonna give you success in that garbage that you was pursuing. So. And you end up, in this moment, are you in New York yet or not in New York? So I'm actually back from New York at this time. Okay. My plan for moving to New York, which was in 98, I moved to New York, right after I graduated high school. I hadn't met my partner that went on to be massively successful yet, but I went up there and it didn't pan out what I was expecting as far as my acting career and music career. So then I came back with the frustration of not achieving what I wanted to achieve,

because I went up there and ended up selling drugs. I was selling weed, just smoking weed, and basically being a loser. You know, just hanging out on the corner, drinking liquor, smoking cigarettes. Thinking I'm gonna be a rap star, and it just wasn't panning out up there. So I had ambition, but it was just misguided. Which makes that decision even more difficult, huh? I mean, even being in a place of desperation, you're like, man, I got it. This is the only way out. Absolutely. Yeah. And I'm glad you said that, because even in my music, I would say that, like, if I don't make it, prison is the only other alternative. I felt like music was gonna be the only exception I would have to the rule of me, being a young black male in the city, basically on the course that trajectory course, I'm like, prison, I'm destined for prison. And I would actually say it in music. And I gave my own self that ultimatum. I didn't even give myself other options, which, when I look back, there was plenty other options. But when you're godless and living a life without Christ, you can't see the things that's in front of you. You're just walking through the dark.

You're groping through the dark. So that's what I was doing at that time. And I was frustrated. I was extremely frustrated. So much so, I was even saying things out, disrespectful to God when I look back at it. You know what I mean? Like, aggression towards God. And I wasn't even a godly man, but I still held him responsible for the things that wasn't working in my life at that time. And didn't even really know Jesus. I was just like talking to God, like the creator. Is that interesting? Like, there's, I have a lot of friends that are, I don't know that they know where they stand with God, or maybe they are atheists, but anything that goes wrong in their life, they just tend to still blame him. Yeah, you wanna blame me, huh? You're like, are you blaming someone that doesn't even exist? No, I'm, in their opinion. But, so on that, where were you at after that decision? You're still dealing drugs. You're still living the street life. What was it like, the day that your entire life changed? Why don't you talk a little bit about that? So now, leading up to when I got in trouble. So prior to that, God's dealing with my heart.

And what I mean by God's dealing with my heart, I'm having breakdowns. I'm having these emotional moments. I mean, like, to just give you an example, I remember one time, and this all is in the 2001, 2002 era. I got locked up in 2002, so you'll know, right there is where I finally come in contact with Christ. So I never forget I was working this dead-end job and I'm driving on the expressway in a truck it was like a box truck on the 826 I never forget music career in shambles things just looking real shady for me and it's Yolanda Adams songs came on what's the name of this song having a brain fart you probably know this song it's like one of her famous songs and she says this part on the song she says my hopes and dreams are fading fast I'm all burnt out I don't know if I'm gonna last and I just burst into tears driving like five o'clock in the morning for this company I'm not a believer at this time supposed to be this hardcore street dude gangster rapper and I just have a meltdown in the car just just offer those lines you know what I mean just those lines hopefully the name of the song will come back to me and right then and there once I stop crying I'm asking like what just happened to me so that was one of the events that was leading up to when I got in trouble so still pursuing the music everything is basically still at a kind of like a standstill and I meet this producer and I was the producer I thought was gonna put me on the next level he was like I liked in the story to when Jesus was on the high mountain and the devil came and offered him you know the the world yeah he was kind of like that dude big mansion cars just like man bro I got you I'm gonna give you everything you need your music is hot this is what it is bop bop bop and then right after that when I heard him say that mind you leading up to him I don't been through series of situations like that where people make false promises been on Miami Beach with Frank Farrin who was like the producer for blew up the Milli Vanilli and No Mercy and was around so

many superstar producers and people that supposedly have the key to the industry and made all these promising and it never materialized so now I'm all burnt out everybody I'm just jaded so whatever anyone's telling me pertaining to my career I'm taking it with a grain of salt so now when I meet this guy when when I look back at it he was the only one that was really serious like he was he felt like I was who he was praying for so even after what he said to me and I introduced my partner that ended up becoming successful to him he said man this is it the guy said give me two weeks I got a deal that I'm gonna sign with a group out of Europe and I'm gonna put you on this first single it's a hundred thousand dollar deal I want you on that first single but he said the first single you got to be a little radio friendly and he said man and that's it give me two weeks after I left him I remember I went home I'm looking like man I'm not taking nothing anybody said until they put that contract and put that money on the table I don't want to hear it I'm taking matters into my own hands I told my partner we're gonna get our own studio because at this time we was like bouncing from studio to studio we would be in his grandma's house in his room with a little makeshift studio and and I'm realizing that man if we only had our own studio we can create the product that we need and then it put us in a better position to be successful this is my reasoning so that guy was like the final draw for me with something just clicked in me man like I'm gonna do it myself and that's when I defies this concoct this plan to do this robbery you know this this robbery to try to get the money to get a studio so that if he do if he is serious about what he's saying at least we will have our own studio and we'll be producing our own music and then we just need the money behind it you know what I mean so and I got in trouble got caught got in real trouble yeah serious trouble what was that day like when you say you concoct this plan can you go into it yeah so at this time you know like again before that you know we was doing I was doing stuff in the streets like doing home invasion unsuccessful selling drugs unsuccessful stealing cars unsuccessful doing credit card fraud unsuccessful robberies unsuccessful you

know when I'm when I say unsuccessful meaning it wasn't producing enough money to really accomplish anything I was catching juvenile cases so none of that stuff was successful which told me that it just wasn't for me yeah so when I decided that man listen I don't really want to keep committing crimes I just want to make it in this music I want to try to come up with something I felt like I had a chance of getting away with and it was like gonna be like a one-and- done type of situation that was the lie that the devil had me telling myself And, you know, it was a robbery, a heist. You know, we, me and my co-defendant came up with an idea to hijack a UPS truck that was carrying audio equipment, rims and accessories, vehicles, and all sorts of stuff in it from one of the audio districts down in North Miami. And in our mind, we felt like, you know, it'd be anywhere between 50 to $60,000 worth of equipment that we could sell on the streets. He was going to do what he was going to do with his money. I was going to do what I was going to do with my money. So I came up with that idea along with him. And I felt like if I achieved this, then that's it. I'm going to get my studio and I don't need to do anything else. So that was the whole idea. And up to that point, I got to, I was just doing stuff in the streets, basically trying to survive, but it was really, it wasn't really nothing that I'm impressed with. You know what I mean? I wasn't no kingpin cartel. I definitely had that story. You know what I mean?

It's like, so in my mind, I created that, that idea. And in my mind, I'm saying, man, you know what? This was God's final draw. You know, I feel like God's saying that's it now. Because the whole, it was a botched robbery. The whole thing was a failure from the moment the robbery started all the way until I ended up in those metal bracelets in the back of the police car. It was just a, it was, it turned out nothing like I had envisioned it turning out. You know, it was a complete botched robbery. When you're sitting in the back of that police car, what's going on in your head? What are you thinking? It's funny you would ask that. A part of me felt like I'm tired, like I was tired of running. It was almost like, and I don't want to say that, I said this in my head that I was glad that I got caught, but it was a sense of relief. Like, you know, when you just running full speed in a direction and you just don't know where you're running towards. And it's like, either you're going to run into a wall, something's got to stop you. And it's like, you want to stop running, but you just can't stop running because something keeps telling you keep going

until you get to where you're trying to get, but you don't even know where you're trying to get. So sitting in the back of that police car was almost like I ran into the wall and I was like, this is what it had to, this is what it took to stop me. So I think immediately I just saw that this was like God stopping me. It was almost like a Paul Damascus Road experience. I immediately interpret what had happened to me because I had a standoff with the SWAT team. It was ugly. I was all over the news. And it's interesting that I was kind of well-known in my neighborhood as one of those kids that was likely to make it in the music. Because I come from a neighborhood where everybody was chasing the dream. You either was trying to be a rap star or NFL football player coming up in my neighborhood. And I was one of the better rappers that wasn't going anywhere. So everybody looked to me as being one of those ones that was going to make it big and put the whole hood on, the proverbial hood on. And it's interesting that all my friends, and they talk about it to this day, they said, this is their words, man. It was like the whole street stopped because everyone seemed to have to see you on the news that day.

It was just weird. Everyone just saw you coming out with your hands up, surrendering to the police on the standoff. So it was a ugly situation because I was held up in a rent way for like a couple hours. And they thought I had hostages in there and everything like that there. So by the time they brung negotiators and went through that whole process, they brung everything out to come get us. You know what I mean? Well, get me, because I think my co-defendant had already got caught. So he didn't, I don't think he went through the whole standoff situation. And I was a public disgrace. How old are you at this time? I was 22 years old, 23 years old, just turned 23. Yeah, still a kid. Yeah, I was a kid. Yeah, I was a kid, man. Yeah, I was a kid. And I was so dejected sitting in that police car. I just remember, I was just like... Even before I got in the police car, when I was in the rent way, I made a phone call. And you'll see that in the short film too. And I was telling my partner, hey man, tell my family I love them and we're crying because we knew that I had this record deal on the table.

And we, you know, it was like, like, why'd you do this? But you know, it was just that whole thing, just that deep regret and we're crying. It was just very emotional. Because now I know that I got to turn myself into these people because I've been sitting in there for a couple of hours and they've been out there waiting. Yeah. They armored up and if they was going to come in there to get me. Ain't no tellin' what woulda took place. So, at this point, I realize it's over. It can't run no more. Like, you gotta go out here and face this. And this, I mean, I had been locked up, juvenile cases, little things like that, but I had never been in trouble on this level, at this magnitude. So this is another level of trouble. And as I stated before, something in me just allowed me to understand that this is bigger than the trouble that you in right now. You just ran into God. Nothin' finna be the same. I knew I was in some serious trouble. I knew that those polices, those guns that was pointed at me, I knew all that was real. I wasn't delusional. But underneath all that, something was like, somethin' bigger at work than this.

Like, God just literally grabbed me by the collar and just lift me. That was kickin', you know? And sometimes that takes, I mean, I think we've all had those moments in our lives. Look different for everybody, but yeah, where you're like, man, okay, God's not allowing you to run no more. And some people, they haven't experienced that moment, and it's like, he gives you how many opportunities to turn back to him before he does that for you. Absolutely. Yeah, that's real. So after this, obviously you get through the trial. You go to prison. You're 23 years old at that point? Well, so let me back up a little bit. So now I go to county jail. So I was in county jail. I gave my life to the Lord in the county jail, awaiting trial. So I stayed in for six months. So this is now where I'm startin' to see the power of God workin' on my behalf. Now I'm a brand new Christian, baby Christian, and I don't know if I shared with you how I got introduced to Christ. No, go ahead and share that. So I'm in the stockade jail, and I'm all over the news.

I'm layin' in the bunk. My aunt's a Christian woman, so like I said, I used to always hear her little testimonies about Jesus and everything like that. So when I was callin' home, immediately she like, we're gonna pray for you, and I was just clingin' for anything that was hopeful, because I'm facin' multiple life sentences. So I'm in some serious trouble. So all of a sudden, I wanna hear all about Jesus now. You know what I mean? So she was just droppin' those little seeds, but it so happened that there was a gentleman that was in the same cell part I was in that was the godbrother of my best friend, and I remember him growin' up, and he gave his life to the Lord in jail. So he came, he seen me, once he recognized it was me from the news, and like, man, bro, man, you gotta pray, man. You gotta pray, and I'm lookin' like, man, bro, God, pray. Man, God don't wanna hear from me right now, man. It's like, comin' to him now, when he probably wanted to hear from me, now I'm just tryin' to get to him to get some help now. He's like, man, come on, man, let's pray, man. So he bringin' me in the bathroom, where there's a. Which, not to cut you off, but I think that that's an important point to make,

is like, when we're sinful, it's usually, like, it talks about the separation from us and God, right? And it's usually due to our own separation. Absolutely. Like, when you feel sinful, you tend to stiff-arm God and remove yourself, and then, obviously, things get a whole lot worse when really God's sayin', like, even in your sin, like, come to me. Absolutely. Especially when the hand on your life is even more so. So that's a great, great, great point. So he brings me in the restroom. There's a group of guys in the restroom. They're prayin', havin' service. So here it is, this one guy. He's in there preachin' his heart out. He has a bald head, looks like a DMX, got a cut-off shirt, and I automatically just related to him, because I woulda had a bald head, you know, with a goatee, and I'm just listenin' to this guy give his testimony. And now when I look back, I didn't notice he was never preachin' out the Bible. He was just preachin' out of his testimony. But it was powerful. I found out later, he couldn't read or write. You know what I mean? He was just goin', you know, givin' it.

So finally, man, you know, it was just, after what I heard my aunt sayin', then I received Christ lookin' at these men's lives. They in the bathroom, praisin' in a cell where there's nothin' but killers. Cause, you know, I'm in the worst cell, cause I got a big boy charge. So, you know, I'm with them dudes. So when these guys praisin' God, I had never seen that. Like, whoa, I didn't even know this was, my mind, I'm comin' to jail, dudes got knives, and, you know, I'm like a sheep bein' thrown amongst the wolves, you know? So, but it wasn't like that. These brothers was, you know, they showed me so much love. So I just surrendered to Christ right then and there, and immediately, you know, I just started sensin' somethin'. So this is, I get in June 20th, 2002, probably like several days. into that, you know, I gave my life to Christ and I just started reading the Bible, fellowshiping with these brothers. So now I don't have a bond, I'm stuck and I'm in this serious trouble. So my family, they have to scramble up money to try to get me an attorney. I go to my first hearing, life. He's facing life in prison, no bond. I'm a new Christian. Brother's telling me, man, listen, man,

that's what man say. They telling you all these different things and you just don't know what the situation is. But I remember. Hey, thanks for tuning in on another episode of the God Behind Bars podcast. I just wanted to take a quick second and encourage you, number one, as a listener, thank you for being a part of what God is doing in and through this ministry. We're just praying that he will continue to be able to share these stories all over the world and telling his story of what he's doing in the lives of people that are behind bars. If you've ever thought about making a donation or a gift towards the ministry that is happening here, I would love to encourage you to do so. You can do that by going to GodBehindBars.com backslash donate. No matter the size of gift, it helps support the work that is happening in and through this ministry. And I wanna thank you in advance and continue to tune in to this episode of the God Behind Bars podcast. Asking the Lord, like, man, dad, I don't know how I'm gonna get out of this situation, man, but please, man. I just, they talking about life. So they telling me I don't have a bond. So I'm praying and praying and praying. And then suddenly somebody told me, hey, man, listen,

there's a special hearing you can go to. It's like a mini trial. I don't know how successful that's gonna be for you with those charges you got, but you can try to do that. You can try to do that. So I told my lawyer, my lawyer like, man, listen, I've been doing this 30 years. You're not gonna, I'm trying to get them to not offer you a life sentence because you were a first time offender as far as an adult charge. And my lawyer didn't wanna hear it. So the worst thing God could have did was show me a dream that I was getting a bond. Once he did that, that was it. I told my lawyer, listen, I put the hearing on. He was like, I'm telling you, you're gonna waste your time and blah, blah, blah, and it's gonna aggravate the court. I'm like, I don't care, do it. God told me, he was like, oh man, there it is. You're talking about God and you guys getting locked up. And I'm like, man, God showed me that I got out on a bond. So, and then my aunt told me before the end of the year, my aunt even said it before the end of the year. And these were God just basically boosting my faith because I was new to him, new. So this was his way of just showing me, man, listen, this is real, you're getting ready to really, I'm getting ready to take you on a journey. This is gonna get real.

So I go to this bond hearing on December 18th because they kept setting it off. Now, mind you, I got this prophecy from my aunt. You're gonna get out before the end of the year. It's December 18th. It's only how many? Yeah, two weeks or less, right? Yes, I'm looking like, man, God, I got the dream already. So I'm basing this off of this vision. Literally, I'm asleep and I had this vision where I get dropped off at my house with handcuffs on. And when I wake up, I'm like, what is that? And I just heard a whisper in my head, house arrest. I knew nothing about house arrest. I knew nothing about the system, period. As ignorant as they come when it come down to it. So anyway, finally, my lawyer gets this hearing. He tells me, man, listen, this is what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna get up. I'm gonna introduce you to the court and you're gonna get up and you're just gonna plead your case because I know they're not gonna give you a bond because these charges, and he showed me the paper, non-bondable because I had an armed kidnapping, I had an armed carjacking, and I had an unlawful use and display of a weapon while in the commission of a felony and an armed burglary, which were all punishable by life.

He said, they're not gonna give you a bond. They're not. So he gets up. He already then gave me this plan. I'm like, man, I don't know what I'm gonna say to these people. I'm just gonna speak from the heart. He gets up. I never had to speak to the court. He gets up and he just goes in. He just goes in. I'm talking about he goes in. Now, mind you, it was like a mini trial. The prosecutor got up first and just went to dramatize in the crime. He kidnapped this guy. They had him in the back with the duct tape. We don't know if he was gonna kill this guy. But boy, they just dramatized this whole thing and made it just look so nasty. And I'm sitting there, man, literally with chills. All I'm thinking about is this vision. It's December 18th. I got a word that I'll be out before the end of the year. I'm listening to what this prosecutor's saying, looking at this judge, listening to what my lawyer's saying, holding on to this faith, not knowing. I'm like just sitting there literally, man, I was shivering.

When my lawyer gets up, I'm thinking he's gonna get up, speak, and then introduce me to the court. Now, he gets up there and it's like, I don't know what came over. This is a Jewish atheist guy, by the way. This guy is a Jewish atheist. He didn't wanna hear nothing about God. He's always telling me, God's not gonna change the legislation. That was his favorite word to me. And I used to just try to get off the phone with him because it was so discouraging. So, so from there, just to kind of like fast forward. So, he gets up and he talks to the judge and he just goes to, just sharing all this stuff to the judge. And he just kept going and going and going. The judge is like, all right, all right, all right. So, the judge going to deliberation. It's the moment of truth. I'm sitting there. The judge comes back and gives me a bond. But God. $400,000. There was a bondsman in the courtroom. This is the bondsman testimony. This is his testimony. He said, I never stay in the courtrooms as long as I did about a case. But something kept me in here

when I was looking at this young man. I just said, I just don't feel like he's gonna run. He said, I'm gonna give him, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna, what did he say? He said, I'm going to bond him out and you don't even have to put the house up. Just give me 10 grand. I had $150,000 bond, by the way. And he said, just give him 10 grand and he'll bond me out. And they put me out on house arrest. The dream. My lawyer couldn't believe it. Guess when they released me? Now, it's more to that prophecy now. Guess when I get out? So, now, mind you, in the dorm, all the brothers that I met in the faith, they're praying, you know, and everybody's standing in faith, believing. So, it was like, they wanna know what's gonna happen. Like, am I gonna get this bond? So, they wait for me to come back from court. So, I come back from court. They're like, what happened, what happened? I said, man, they gave me the bond. So, when you getting out? I don't know. So, as the days progress and I'm a lawyer, like, yeah, we trying to get everything together.

We're trying to get a date so he can get you out. And the days just, and I'm getting frustrated because I just wanna get out. I get out on December 31st, 2002. One day before New Year's. Spirit of God spoke to me. He said, I told you you was gonna get out before the end of the year. And I got out on bond and I was on fire. That was it, that's all I needed to see. And I got out and started doing gospel rap. So, I'm out for a year and a half. I got my bonds, my house arrest officer was a Christian. Holy Ghost Spirit filled man, Christian. Came to the house. He was like, man, Spirit of God told me I ain't gotta worry about you. He didn't drug test me one time. He was supposed to drug test me every week because that was in the mandate because they knew I was a drug abuser. He didn't drug test me one time. I didn't take one piss test the whole time I was on bond. And I ended up meeting this evangelist and she became like my sponsor. I started getting itineraries, going to different places, performing my testimony. I got in church and I just had this encounter with Christ that I knew was like a brand new world getting out there. All my friends backed away from me

because they were like, wow, this dude. Some of them gravitated towards me because there was impact. They were like, man, we know something happened to you. We saw you on the news. They ain't expect to see me ever again. And so, I went through that process learning about the Lord and I started preaching. I'm just young on fire and going to church. And I met some amazing people that I started working for, men of God and it was just, my world was just incubated by Christ. So, now I'm not even thinking I'm going to prison. I'm like, man, this case is going to disappear. I ain't worried about that. I'm standing in faith. But there's consequences to our actions, right? So, as I'm out there during that period of time, I'm like in a zone with God. I'm not even thinking about, you got to face this music. So, finally, my lawyer got my court dates being set off and I'm thinking, no, I'm looking at those as miracles. The further they set them off, the more I was out there in society. And finally, it was time for court date. Trial was set. It was time for me to deal with this. And they offered me a couple of pleas that I didn't take because I believed that God was going to deliver me. And my faith was that strong,

even though I was guilty as charged. And I knew I was guilty as charged. I was misusing the scriptures. Who can lay any charge against me when it's God that justified it? I'm destroying the scriptures because I had nothing to do with committing crimes in the natural, you know? So, but anyway, I think he honored my faith. At least he believes me, you know, even though that's not how it worked. So I ended up going to trial while I was out there. Two weeks before I went to trial, they invited me to preach at my mother's church. That was my first time preaching behind a pulpit. And that was an amazing experience. And two weeks later, I go to trial, found guilty. They sentenced me to, so before I say my sentence, so now I remember, hugely what happens when you get offered a plea for life felony and then you go to trial, they usually give you the max. Yeah. So I get- What, you had denied the plea? Yeah, I denied the plea. Yeah, so now you're facing, if you're found guilty, you're thinking, I am gonna get the max. Yeah, I'm gonna get the max, but I'm believing that God was gonna step up. So my faith and my ignorance combined,

you know, had me reject the plea. And today I look back, I'm embarrassed because the plea was a miracle. Yeah. The state attorney offered me, this is the first plea offer I had under a judge. The judge offered me, okay, the state attorney was offering me 15 years prison time and 10 years mandatory, probation. No, yeah, 15 years prison time with a 10 mandatory on it and 10 years probation. That was like a total of 25 years. The judge interrupted the prosecutor. This is not the judge I went to trial with. This was the judge that before I ended up getting another judge and going to trial. Said, nah, I think that's too much. I'm offering him 10 years and that's it. I look back at it, that was a miracle. That judge wasn't even supposed to do that. He's supposed to remain a neutral arbitrator. I reject the plea. Judge said, you know that if you go to trial in my courtroom and you're found guilty, I'm gonna give you a natural life sentence and there's no parole under the state of Florida. Do you understand that? I said, yes, sir. I heard the whole courtroom gasp and family went to crying when they heard that.

My aunt said she just weeped. Just a woman of God, she was like, because she know that it was faith that made me boldly stand up there. But at the same time, she looking like, that's some heavy stuff this man said. He was dead serious. But by the grace of God, he ended up removing him, removing me from out of his courtroom and then I ended up with a woman judge. And so I went to trial in her courtroom and this lady, she was coarse. I thought she was gonna give me that life sentence. My family begged and pleaded and I spoke to the courts and she gave me 25 years on each of my charges and then she graciously ran them concurrent so that I would only have to do that 25 year sentence. And that's it, man, that was it. I was on my way to prison now. So I went in already a believer but was getting ready to face the challenges of a lifetime now. Yeah, and what does that do to your faith? Obviously, you were standing bold in your faith and I know a lot of people, including myself, that have done that at times and God's like, man, I already sent you the helicopter, the boat, everything, you should've took it, right? But what does it do to your faith when you're like, man, God, I really thought

you were gonna make this whole thing go away and now I'm looking at 25 years. What happened? I was shattered. I didn't even see the miracle in that I even got the 25 years. I didn't even see the miracle at that time. I was shattered. I mean, even after I lost trial, I was still exuberant and praising God because I'm saying, okay, sentence hadn't came yet. I didn't get sentenced the day that I lost trial. That came several months later. So I still was giving God an opportunity. Okay, God, you let me get thrown in the lion's den, but you're gonna come through for me on sentencing day. So I'm still hoping for that. So I get found guilty March, what was it? March 6, 2003, 2004 and I get sentenced May 20th, 2004. And that's when I get the 25 years and that's when the reality like, whoa. And it was interesting because after they, the judge gave me my sentence, no one knew what my sentence was, including me. Like I heard her saying all these on count one, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And saying, but it's like, I didn't compute it in my head. So even my family was like, cause everybody just kept hearing, I'm gonna get sentenced, I'm gonna get sentenced.

I'm gonna get sentenced. I'm gonna get sentenced. I'm gonna get sentenced. Cause they, everybody just kept hearing 10 mandatory, but we didn't know that it was 25 years, but the 10 mandatory, 25 years. So these numbers being tossed out and like no one knew exactly what my sentence was. You know? And then when I got to prison, when I got to South Florida, reception center and then I realized what my sentence was. And that date, 2028. I'm like, oh. So I was shattered. Even though I didn't completely lose my faith in God, I realized now I needed God, because now I'm thrown into the lion's den. I have absolutely no idea what I'm getting ready to experience. I have no idea where I'm getting ready to go. At this time, everybody like, oh, man, you got these charges. They finna send you all the way up the road, and the redneck's gonna kick your teeth out your mouth. And then I had a couple goals in my mouth, and they were saying in these certain camps where the officers would kick your goals out if they found out you from Miami. You're hearing all these stories

that just completely just have you shuddering on the inside. Yeah, it's scary. Suddenly you don't feel this gangsta and this tough no more, because you realize, I ain't never met the toughest dude in prison yet, because every time someone step up and say they're the toughest, somebody take that tough spot. So it's like you equal. You either predator or prey, you know what I mean? And you come in like no one has a gun, you coming in there and you gotta decide. So I call it the Valley of Decision, for real. So here it is, I'm at South Florida, and I'm like, man, I'm thinking about, I get sent hours and hours away. My family don't know nothing about this system. I start praying, again, praying and praying. And I get this dream where the Lord showed me getting called on the bus, let me know I was going to prison. I get on the bus, I sit on it for like a few minutes, and all of a sudden the bus parks and I get right back off. And I wake up, I'm like, what the heck did that dream mean? Spirit of God spoke to me, you're not going a long distance. And guess what? I get on the bus, I end up going right to Everglades. Everglades was 30 minutes away from, and that was unheard of.

Everybody was going up that road with the charges I had. You was going up that road. You go up the road and you work your way back down. Yeah, for those of our listeners that aren't familiar with the Miami area, South Florida Reception Center and Everglades Correctional Institution, basically in the same town. Yeah, in the same town. Yeah. And then you got like hundreds of facilities that spotted all throughout Florida, going all the way up to the Panhandle, up to the... Yeah, you could have been hundreds of miles away from home. And then in Florida, it's huge, you know? And God did that. And again, that was another indication that you're not gonna do this alone. So I got to Everglades, unbeknownst to me at the time was the worst, one of the worst facilities in the state of Florida. It was a bad facility at that time in terms of violence and inmate against officers and so forth and so on. So it wasn't a real pleasant place. You know, it was 2004. Then it was the dump off spot for closed management. So a lot of guys that was coming off of closed management, they were getting sent to Everglades. So I'm a young man, I get dropped off into that environment, got my faith, and I meet some brothers there,

you know, brothers in Christ. So now I realize that, man, God. I love, like in the book of Acts, it says I have men in every city, you know? I forgot how it was actually said, but he said, God said, man, I got people everywhere. So I met brothers and great men of God that had been in prison a long periods of times that met me, saw that, man, it's a young soldier in Christ, took me under their wing, and I just started my process in Christ there as a disciple of the Lord. Not knowing that eventually I would become one of the frontline leaders in that community, that faith community, and ultimately become a pastor. You led a lot of different programs inside of Everglades, but the biggest one is the More Change Project, which was started by you and a few guys at Everglades and then has grown out, correct? Absolutely. Yeah, and it's a whole Christ-centered program that allows somebody to completely change in their identity and it kind of walks them through the process. You wanna talk a little bit about that? Absolutely, it'll be my pleasure. Thank you for asking. So More Change Project, I have to give you a little context on how that all began. So as I stated before, there were so many men around me in that facility

that had life sentences, so much hopelessness, so much despair, so much brokenness, so much people with time. It was so discouraging. The chapel was like the only place where you can get some semblance of hope. But even after a while, some of the ministries you would see come in, it was almost like you could just predict what they were gonna do, what they were gonna say. It became so routine and nothing against them. It was just at that point in some of the men's lives, we were just desperate and we just wanted so much more. Yeah. And... Well, nobody knows that environment better than those that are living there. Exactly. So during that time, leading up to the birthing of the More Change, I had fell into some real discouragement, like to the point where I kind of like backslid, you know, just to keep it, you know, one stack, started doing things that I shouldn't be doing, you know what I mean? And having cigarettes and having cell phones and just being basically influenced by prison coach actors. Cause I was angry at God, cause after this point, I done lost a lot of appeals.

It looks like this is where I'm going to be. I felt like a fool. I used to give God this illustration. I'm like, Dad, I feel like that baby you used to just throw in the air and catch him. And the baby's laughing and giggling and then you just throw him up and then you just let him hit the floor. And the kid just drops and breaks his bone and now he can't ever trust you to pick him up again. That's like how I used to tell God, say, man, God, you just disappointed me. And I was just so angry, but I just couldn't let him go. Cause I'm like, man, where do you, who do you let go to in an environment like this? So I was just going through a rough, rough time in my faith. So I had a friend that used to, cause I was even dibbling and dabbling, selling a little drugs in prison too. So I had a friend of mine, he was a Muslim brother, that I used to like vicariously sell drugs through and sell cigarettes through. And he was like, you ain't got to do nothing. Cause I was just like the front man. I just give him the work, give him the stuff and he'll handle it. And I was just a playboy, work out, hang out, look good and just move around the institution. Like I was some big shot or something.

But this guy ended up smoking some, this is when K2 ended up getting real big. I know you heard about K2. That's synthetic. But they were spraying it with poison and he ended up killing himself. So one of my best friends. And that was like the final draw again. That was like, I felt, because the, and I mean, if I sit here and just tell you that story, that's another long story. So I won't take you through that. But the event that led up to him dying, basically he died in my lap, just put it like that. Not literally, but just the way the circumstances, like God literally let me see his life leave his body and it's almost like I could have been held fully responsible for his death had God not intervened, you know what I mean? Because the drugs that I was selling, he wanted me to give him one to hit and I told him no, I told him no. And he was begging me to sample it. I'm like, no, I'm not. And believe it or not, that drug, them drugs didn't even make it on the market because after he died, they did a compound shakedown. They brought like multiple officers from different institutions and that stuff got flushed. And guess what?

The name of this drug was called sudden death. And anyway, so backing up, he dies. And right then and there's like that trance that I was in, that backslidden trance I was in just got snapped. This was in 2012. And man, that just pushed me back into the presence of God again. And I just like repented and I was just so sorry. And I was like, man, this man died, man. Like literally like, and he could have lived, but it's just the response took so long for them to get to him. And he just, you know, was brain dead. He was in a vegetable state for like a week and his family just said, pull the plug on him. So right then and there, I was just so tired, burnt out with chapel, burnt out in my faith. And it's like, God started pushing me in his presence. Like I started praying and praying and praying to ask. I just started praying for change. Like, man, Lord, something need to change. I thought that me getting out of prison just needed to change. I just need to get out of prison. And it's like, the voice was like, no, you need to change. The environment don't need to change. You need to change. So for like a host from like 2012, April, when he died up to like the beginning part of, matter of fact, in the month of May of 2013,

I would spend hours on my knees in my cell, crying to God with the whole blanket thing up in there. Snot, boo-hoo, crying to God, praying, praying, praying for God to just change me. I'm like, man, I ain't gonna be able to survive. It's like, I can't stand this place. I'm dying inside. And I don't even feel comfortable trying to adopt the lifestyle of prison. I mean, I'm doing it and, you know, I'm a big dude. Ain't nobody taking advantage of me, but at the same time, that's just really not me. It's like I'm perpetrating, you know, and eventually something might happen to me, you know, because eventually that's where that stuff lead. to so many gangs and you know it can get real dangerous when you put yourself in them positions where you carrying you the man that get the phones in or you get the dope in or you got the plug or you know dudes test that you know so so one day I had this dream about the more change project and didn't know what the dream was but I wrote it down and then the Spirit of God just started giving me this idea become the change you want to see start recruiting brothers from around the facility that's feeling just like you and stop waiting on people to come on from the outside and you guys get together in fellowship worship seek me at the same in other words lead men to where I've led you because you can't lead nobody where you haven't gone yourself first so I'm in this vulnerable place in this vulnerable space within myself in an environment where it's not conducive or acceptable for a man to be broken and crying and weeping and because you will be taking advantage of and lo and behold the Spirit of God gave me the idea so now my next thing is man I got to try to convince the chaplaincy to let me do this which that's another story maybe part two I'll

tell you about the opposition to the idea of the more change project how God worked that out to the ultimately became what it became but the men bought into it because my messaging and what I was sharing and I was amazed at how many men had never really fully experienced the presence of God when I say press I mean like tangible manifestation of God's glory this was something that we would watch on TV happening in churches on the street and think that man only God probably only do that with the pews and the pulpits and God's not behind bars no pun intended you know what I mean we have a measure of God behind bars or he's limited to how you can move behind bars because of the restrictions and so forth and so on and it actually felt like that I used to feel like a man God we like second-class believers like how do you walk in purpose in all this pain and all these barbed wires and all this suffering and anguish and difficulty in China how do you wake up with a sense of being every day and feel like you're somebody how well and as men started buying into me which was the most important thing for me because my confidence came alive because men started calling me I never told anyone to ever call me pastor these men start identifying me as their pastor as their leader and ministries from the outside would be so amazed that men would actually honor another man in blue because the first thing a man will say to you in prison man you can't tell me yeah that's like that's like a quote yeah you're gonna hear that come out at any time a man in blue try to give another man in blue some type of advice blue because in prison we wear blues in Florida you know I know in other places they wear different colors. Oh it's like in family right like Jesus even said it you can't be a prophet in your own hometown it's like hey man I know we know each other too well exactly and you I know your past you know mine like I can't take you serious almost but the reality is is that God can give you that favor. Amen and I started leading men in worship leading man in prayer and gave him the vision of creating a church behind bars where we can operate in our callings our respective giftings that God reveals to us he tells us who we are whether it's pastor whether it's teacher whether it's prophet whether

it's any call that you believe that's on your life that's a gift and you don't have to be in a building to exercise your gift yeah you just need a space you just need to be in a place where you can acknowledge that you know God can do it and men bought into that I created a mission statement and now I want to bring this to the chaplaincy department now I'm thinking they're gonna open welcome me with open arms oh my god I get to the chaplaincy oh the policies no inmate can preach and blah blah blah they went to because you know at this time all the ministry was on the rec yard and we were like rogue preachers mm-hmm the officers come and shut down hey you can't cuz they thinking gangs you're a gang that's organizing yeah they don't know what you're talking about so they it's not allowed which I understand it security protocol but you had some officers they have God in their heart and they're all right man you guys split up sit over in a you know don't don't just make don't make it look like you you know yeah but for the most part it was illegal so going to the chaplaincy Because of that, I was motivated to go to the chaplaincy and introduce the idea. And they disqualified me off the rip. You're an inmate, you don't have this credential, you can't do this, blah, blah, blah, this, that, and the third and it was discouraging for me because I knew what God was telling me but then I know and I'm seeing what's happening. I'm hearing what you're saying but I'm seeing what I'm seeing. Which one is it, Lord? I'm kind of confused. It was such contradiction. And God just kept pushing me, pushing me, pushing me. So the Holy Ghost gave me wisdom one day. He said, man, listen, don't put yourself

in the seat of the leadership even though I'm calling you to that leadership. Do it vicariously under the volunteers that come in. Share your vision with the volunteers. So I shared it with a couple of the volunteers and they loved the idea. Oh man, you know, you guys, you are here every day. I like that, you know. Oh, okay, I'll sponsor that. So now they went to the chaplain with it. Oh, we want to do this, dah, dah, dah. So even though the chaplain was opposing it because he knew it was me, can't oppose the volunteers. So now the volunteers sponsored the whole thing and then they just gave me the platform. That's how it starts the genesis. So I did the first one in 2013. And he gave me, the original request was for a weekend conference. I give you a half a day, like six, seven hours, something like that. I called that, I took it. And man, this is how I knew that God endorsed it. His stamp of approval. This goes back to what I said originally about the manifestation of God. I had it happen to me when I was on bond at my mother's church, where the spirit of God came upon me

and overwhelmed me so much to where I had no control of myself. So I kind of had an idea what that felt like, but it wasn't on the regular, you know. I mean, we know God is omnipresent. He's everywhere. But I'm talking about when he literally manifests to where it's like, man, whoa, this is otherworldly right now. Like, there's something else in the room. So a lot of men didn't have that experience because there was no space for them to be able to do that. Chapel service hour probably tops with the volunteers that come in. And that has so much restriction. So men ain't really getting into worship like that. You give us six hours to worship. We created all the music. We created the program, everything. And the Holy Spirit influenced and inspired it all. And then the spirit of God manifest tangibly. This is how we knew. Everyone was crying and ain't nobody was crying. Everyone was weeping. Everyone got pushed to the floor. The same experience as I was having in the cell happened in the chaplain. Weeping. No one had ever seen that. Dude was coming to me like,

man, bro, what happened, man? What was that? I'm looking like. And it wasn't because I preached or nothing. It was just worship and he manifested. And from that more change, we had one consecutive every year until I left. And they just got bigger and bigger. We started doing them on the rec yard. Ministries coming in. I started inviting ministries to come in. And then all of a sudden now the chaplain, he's giving me the chapel. Now the rest of the compound that got other religious sects and groups, they're angry. How you get the chaplain? How you get the chapel? You ain't giving it to nobody else. It's like he would oppose me, but he was turning a blind eye, but he was still, because he knew the glory of God was on it. Yeah. And then it just grew and it just grew and it just grew. And to add to where it reached the scenic, I started every year, I would lead a group of guys and we would fast and we would pray to get themes from God

of what each conference was going to be about, because I wanted it to be prophetic. I wanted it to have a prophetic edge. This is the difference of ministries that is coming in and just basically really not knowing their audience. I knew my audience. So I knew how to pursue God. I knew what men needed because I knew what I needed. We needed a move of God in our spirit, for real revival. And I would lead the men in those kinds of spiritual campaigns, leading up to every conference we would have and it would be months out. And we would have certain themes. So God gave me these themes called Exodus. For the last couple of more change project conferences, there was Exodus. He wouldn't let me change the theme. Every year I would change it, but for some reason I just had like a spiritual brain fart, but God was like, the reason why you ain't gotten enough is because that's what I want it to be. Exodus, Exodus, Exodus. So Life Without Limbs ended up sending some of their representatives to, and I'm giving you like the censored abbreviated version. They ended up sending a representative to the prison

to launch their new prison ministry in our facility up to this point. other ministries started coming in. And then God Behind Bars, which I think, I strongly believe that God Behind Bars was an answer to the prayer we was praying, which I wish I would have brought that prayer, because the More Change Project was successful because of the God Behind Bars, and I'm not just saying that because, because of what they did to the chaplaincy department. They outfitted the whole entire chaplaincy department. They put the big screens in there, they put sound systems, we used all that to create the ambience and the experience that men were having with God in there. So that is what changed the dynamic of how we were worshiping in the chapel. Honestly, that makes my heart leap, man, because that's our goal, right? Like we get to be in there one time a week, but the whole goal is to support the ministry that's happening there every single day. God Behind Bars took us to that next level, which I'm gonna touch on that in a moment, and I'm gonna conclude here. So Life Without Limbs, they send their representatives, there's a story behind that, they usually laugh when I tell them about it, but I ended up inviting them to come to the conference.

They came on November 2020, and I invited them to come to the conference, which was gonna be the following month. I kept telling myself in my head that was gonna be my last conference, that was the seventh one, I call it the seventh win, and I was saying, I was telling the guys that I was pastoring, I had a large group of guys, that I was pastoring. They were like, man, Pastor, why you keep saying that? What, you going home? I said, I don't know, I just believe that this is the last one. So that ministry came, Pastor Jay Harvey, which I'm quite sure you'll meet him someday, he came to the conference, and listen, God blew his mind. He said, man, because he goes around, they do prison, they got a strong prison ministry around the country too. He said, I ain't never seen nothing like this in my life come out the spirit of an inmate, never. And the spirit of God, I like to say he showed his supernatural self, more like really like God impressed this man. So he goes back and he tells Nick, he tells their ministry, man, listen, there's this young man, man, these guys call him Pastor, he did a revival and the spirit was moving, blah, blah, blah, blah, and all that.

So Nick like, man, I'm gonna bump up my date, because Nick was coming the following year, which was 2020, he was coming in the summertime. He said, I'm gonna bump my date up and I'm gonna come and check him out in February. He comes in February of 2020, he do a little documentary on me, a little small documentary, little video, talk about the more change, guess what happens in March, 2020? Yeah, COVID hits. COVID hits, prison shut down. I would have never even met that guy if he would have stuck with his original schedule. Dang. COVID hit, destroys our prison, people died, a whole incentivized concept, we basically had evangelized the whole compound at this time, they gave me a dorm, I had an entire dormitory with men, we used to take, I used to call it, it was like a military campaigns. I used to wake these guys up five o'clock in the morning and we locked down like six or seven cell, cram up in the cell, I got guys in there, and we're praying five in the morning, calling on the name of the Lord, praying for revival, setting the place on fire, literally, I used to always say, we're controlling the spiritual dynamic on this compound,

God had given the prison into our hands, and we was at the zenith, we had done influenced the rec yard completely, I did a massive revival on the rec yard, had like four or 500 guys, this before any major ministry was coming in there, doing anything, we had like 400, 500 guys on the rec yard, and it was just epic, you know what I mean? Epic. And so all these things was going on, and it was just amazing moves of God's spirit, and then COVID just came in and just wiped it all out, cut it down to the, you know how the book of Revelation, he said, you have to be slain to receive power, I was destroyed, I was discouraged. So COVID come, so after the compound was locked down for that whole rest of 2020, nothing coming in, nothing going out, obviously, people dying, lost good friends, you know, it was just a terrible moment, I caught COVID, it was just terrible, my whole church got broke up, we're all in different dorms, they kept our dorm together, and you know, we believe in God that, man, we ain't no pestilence and disease, we're quoting Psalms 91 and standing in faith, and they was giving us a little bit of rec time, so we'll go out there as a church, and I'm leading these guys,

even though I'm afraid, everybody looking at me, I'm prophesying and speaking Exodus, and God's shutting it down, because he's about to shake up the whole entire state and Department of Correction, and we coming out, you know what I mean, just trying to encourage these guys, but on the inside, I'm looking like, man, Lord, I don't know what this is. And right after that happened, after the smoke cleared, I said, man. That's it, man. Opportunity came up for me to go to South Florida Reception Center and be a mentor, and I just, I jumped, I left. And when I left, mind you now, the vision that I cast to this whole compound about God taking this compound and making it his, I used to tell them this, this is what I used to say, and you could ask these men, I said, what does thy kingdom come and thy will be done look like in a prison facility? I used to ask that to my men, and they used to be like, I say, yeah, let that marinate. So when I left, one day I'm sitting in the day room and I'm watching the TV, God behind bars, I see this massive movement, I'm looking like, couldn't believe what I saw happening at Everglades. I looked at God, I said, man, you waited till,

I felt like Moses, like, you take me up to the mountain, you let me see it. I'm seeing Sierra, Russell Wilson, I'm seeing all these great things, and I'm looking, man, God, I was at the ground floor, I don't take credit for nothing, let me make that clear. But at the same time, I knew what I was believing God for, and I knew the vision that I cast, and there's hundreds of men that could attest and affirm to what I'm saying, men all across the state of Florida. This vision was written down of what I believe Everglades was gonna look like as long as my feet was planted on that ground by faith. And when God removed me, or when I removed myself, because I could have been, I probably jumped ship, I seen the spirit of God moving through God behind bars, I seen the spirit of God moving massively in everything we believe God. And watch this, I heard the whole, this is powerful. And I believe that's why I'm sitting in this seat, because I felt, I won't say I felt slighted, but I'm like, dad, that's all I wanted to see, that's all I want to be a part of, that's all I envisioned happening at Everglades, the opportunity for just the doors to be slung open, and I missed that. I'm sitting, 2021, I'm sitting in a day room in a worse environment than I was in, I thought Everglades was bad because of COVID,

that place was horrible too. And I seen what was going on, I saw it on the tablet with Pando, Pando part three, what Pando did to me, that was just another level, that was a whole other level. That was God shutting it down and shaking it up, so your prophecy was true, because Pando probably doesn't come into existence if every prison in the nation doesn't shut down. Pandemic pun, Pando. So that part is true, and honestly, man, you did lay the foundation for a lot of that, and I think that God was showing you your faithfulness and what you paid off, it's nothing that we do, man, all we are is a tool, and we try to support the ministries that you men have going in there every single day, and that's all the fruit of your labor, and we just try to use our resources, obviously our passion, to serve this population in the best ways possible, but you guys are the hands and feet of Jesus that's making it work every day. You affirmed, and that was what's powerful, you know that it's like you guys are like that apostolic authority that just affirms that that's God, God behind bars. I remember when I first heard the concept, when they first was coming in, I was like, God behind bars, it was Ed Young.

Every Wednesday, that was the only service that was filled from the front to the back. My revivals and God behind bars on Wednesdays was the only time you seen the chapel filled to capacity. Well, I'm glad we got to do it together, man, and as we wrap up our time here, what's one thing, I'm just sitting here thinking through your story, obviously I hear like, there is no perfect story, there's no, hey, when I say yes to God, like everything is gonna be beautiful and rainbows and unicorns, like there's a lot of trials and tribulations, valleys just as low as the mountaintops, right? And but it's like, as I listen, I sum up your life story is faithfulness. Like the real emotion that you can have, like God's got big shoulders. You can have those emotions, you can be upset, you can be disappointed, you can be angry. He's got big shoulders, but the reality is is that we all go through those little seasons and I even think about it in my own life with my own kids, like they'd be mad at me for a few hours when I have to discipline them or whatever. But then we all get over it, we move together as a family and that kind of exists in our walk with God and it's the faithfulness that you. have, even in the moments of disappointment and despair, that has

allowed God to work through you in ways that are probably unimaginable. Like, just even the fruit that you've personally seen while incarcerated, but the legacy that will live on after you've left Everglades and South Florida Reception Center and the men's lives that will continue to be changed, like, it's rooted to your faithfulness. And so, the guy that's sitting on the fence right now, and he's in that same position that young Luther was, man, like, man, God, maybe I haven't even experienced you yet, and I don't know if I believe what these gentlemen are saying. I don't know if that same path is gonna exist for me. What would you say to that individual? Amen. It's interesting that you say that because I never felt I could be on the other side of the situation I was in. I didn't see my story being like the other stories I used to watch and admire, and man, look what God did. I always thought I was just gonna be in pain. I didn't know that God would eventually draw a purpose out. So, what I would say to that brother or that sister that's on the fence, I would say, just imagine this, that, um, God allowed prison. He didn't choose prison for you, but he allowed prison to save you, to introduce you to purpose, because death is final. It's permanent, and if he didn't allow you to die, and whatever it is that you were doing out there, because a lot of times, whatever we were doing, we know that death could have been the consequence, could have been that outcome, and God wants to meet you right where you are, and you just have to understand that he loves you. You have to realize that regardless of what you did in the past, that doesn't have to define what your future, or what your future looks like. I'm gonna say this, when Paul, who was formerly Saul, was standing there when Stephen was being stoned to death, no one could have looked at him and knew that he was ultimately gonna be one of the greatest apostles that ever walked this earth. No one knew that there was a level of grace and purpose for even the level of persecution he brought towards the church, and he's the epitome. Everybody feel like they're the worst sinners of the worst. I was listening to Dom's testimony, I was like, wow, boy, I thought I was bad, you know, but God's mercy is rich. He can afford to forgive you. We can't bankrupt God without our checkered

past, so I'd encourage you, no matter what's going on in your life, in those dark moments, sitting in that cell, feeling hopeless and broken, challenge yourself, challenge God by saying, man, God, I want to be the change that I want to see, and he can use you to launch something, because God needs soldiers. He needs boots on the ground. He wants men and women that's going to be there every day and be faithful and be a river, a stream, a conduit through which he can flow, and he'll do that for anybody, not just me, and I am not impressive. I just, as the brother said, I held on to, even when I felt like I was hanging on by a thread, I just held on, and he did it. He's faithful. Well, brother, man, I love you. I love your story. I love you. I can't wait to have you back. I think there is a round two to this for sure, but yeah, and hold on to that, man. Like, you look even, like you just said, Paul, here's a man of power, comes probably from a very affluent family history, what a lot of scholars believe, and he went from the convictor to the convicted, and I can't imagine what his feelings and thoughts would have been during that time, but God's faithfulness, due to his faithfulness, this man wrote two-thirds of the New Testament that we shape our lives on today, and so if you don't believe he can do it through somebody that's been incarcerated, he did it through many that were incarcerated, and it's all riddled throughout the Bible, and so I encourage you as well just to hold on to that. Hold on to the faithfulness that God's gonna remain faithful. He promises that. He's got plans to prosper you, and he wants to see good for your life, and so if you're on that fence, and you're like, man, I don't know if I want to say yes to this Jesus or not, then I would encourage you to. It's gonna be the best yes that you ever make in your entire life, but Luther, thank you so much, man, for being here. Love you, brother. Hey, thanks for tuning in to another episode of the God Behind Bars podcast, and I just want to thank you as a listener for your continued support and encourage you to share this with as many of your friends and family as possible. It is our heart and goal to tell the story of what God is doing behind bars with as many people as possible, and so as you share this amongst your friends and family and on

your social networks, it allows us and supports that goal. Two is, if you would love to make a gift to God Behind Bars to help us continue the work and to grow the platform of what's happening here as a ministry, I wanna encourage you to go over to GodBehindBars.com backslash donate, and no matter what you can give, it all helps in making the mission and vision of introducing as many people to Jesus as we possibly can and connecting them to the local church. And so thank you so much again for being a listener and we pray that this encourages you just as much as you've been an encouragement to us.