LEVI, Founder & Director
At the age of eight, I remember coloring pictures of Noah's Ark in Sunday School. At the age of twenty-two, however, I found himself deeply involved in organized crime, a lifestyle that would have appalled the Sunday School teachers from my childhood. Working with a circle of crooked professionals with mind-blowing amounts of cash at my disposal, I seemed to have it all: money, women, houses, cars, power and respect. I developed an unnatural appetite for alcohol, women, and money. But then it all began falling apart as my life entered a downward spiral. At my lowest point, I had left my wife and kids and narrowly escaped a lengthy prison term.
Then, one evening in October of 1995, I was invited to a church service and that day my life was changed forever. I became a Christian that night, and I pledged allegiance to Jesus Christ. The Bible says your eyes are the windows of your soul. Raised by the television screen, watching gangster movies and listening to music about hustling and thugging, some very bad seeds were planted into my life. I wanted to live the lifestyle of the rich and famous by any means necessary, which lead me to a life of crime.
That evening at the altar, God delivered me from that lifestyle and saved me from the penitentiary. I immediately felt an urge to go back to the same streets I used to hustle in to let those boys in the streets know that God loves them, and that He has a better plan for them. I began doing outreaches in the community, I earned ministry credentials, and I haven't turned back since. Over the years, my ministry team and I have been committed to creating cutting edge tools for evangelism and discipleship. Our ministry began with a service called “Friday Nite Live”, which featured live rap and R&B performances, hip hop dancing, skits, a live DJ, strobe lights, a 20-inch disco ball, and low rider bikes. All this was a
vision the Lord gave me to create an atmosphere that would be friendly to a secular audience, so that we could preach the gospel to them. But one thing I learned from my past was that if the scriptures could not be communicated in a relevant manner, then the strobe-lights, DJ's and low rider bikes would be for nothing. So the Lord had me combine preaching with street slang and inner-city analogies, making for a refreshingly relevant presentation of Scripture tailor-made for my audience.
This ministry formula, which some have called revolutionary, lead to five successful years of Friday Nite Live, speaking and preaching engagements across the country, and media coverage. Today, we have moved on to the next phase of our ministry: the entertainment industry. I asked God one time, “Why are the Christian programs the cheesiest shows on TV?” And He said to me, “Well son, why don't you do something about it?” So our team began creating a new genre of entertainment, which we have coined redemptive entertainment - music and movies that relay a message of hope and give solutions to today's societal ills. We also travel the country, conducting seminars, conferences and workshops on how entertainment can be used to initiate positive changes in society.
I also pastor Street Life Worldwide Outreach Center in Houston, TX. In addition, we have created the Street Life Worldwide Evangelistic Association (SLWEA), a network of urban Evangelists, Churches and Christian Entertainers who share a passion for ministering to the Hip Hop culture, but who are not a part of a conventional support system for evangelists.
My vision is to take the Truth to those who most desperately need it. I know the streets are where I am called to be. I have been blessed to maintain good relationships in the streets for the sake of Jesus Christ. The streets love us because we present them with the truth - the love of Christ. Jesus loved the streets, and they loved Him for it. Jesus still loves the streets today, so the people love us, because we represent Him today, whether we are preaching, making music or movies, or just hanging out.
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