I go to the door and it’s Detective Brandon with a M16 the size of my whole arm. He has a pistol strapped to his hip. This time it’s not patrol cars. It’s all undercover SUV’s everywhere. He was like, “Kelby come with me.” I was in my boxers. I said, “can I get on a shirt or something?” He said, “You’re coming now.” He grabbed me and arrested me. I sat there across from him in that interrogation room and I looked at that detective. He made it sound like he was really trying to help me. He had a cross on and it slipped out of his shirt by accident. I asked him, “Why are you helping me?”
I walked into the visitation room and there was this bald headed white guy that I’ve never seen before in my life. He shared with me, “Hey Kelby my name is Pastor Jason.” I was like, whoa man. Jesus? God? I believed that there is a God. I can look around and see that this didn’t just come from out of nowhere. I said, “Do you have any idea why I’m in here? Do you know I broke into churches? Like kicked doors in and threw t.v.’s around, not just one church. Churches you probably know.” He said, “Well, there’s this guy named Saul that had an encounter with Jesus and Jesus changed his name to Paul. He persecuted Christians. He tried to kill Christians and he persecuted Jesus. But God changed his life around and used him to be one of the most influential Apostles that we know in the New Testament.
Something happened in that jail cell. Hope got deposited in my heart. I wanted to change my life. I wanted to do some different things. The first step obviously was to get a job. I got a job at Jersey Mikes and started making sandwiches and really started trying to better my life.
Three years came around and I started drinking. It kept getting me deeper and deeper into a hole. I destroyed three cars. I had two hit and runs with four DUI’s. I ran into a house. It made the news. The fire department was out there. The police were out there. I was just completely wild. I found myself at twenty-two or twenty-three walking on a railroad track by my house. Just walking down a railroad track not knowing where I’m going. Not knowing what to do. I just took a seat. I sat down on this railroad track and I’ll never forget it because I looked down to the right and I saw a coyote about fifty yards he jumped over the track. I watched him because I was scared he might run up on me. But I was sitting there and I started crying. I stared asking God questions. I thought, “it’s got to be over with. What do I do?” I was the oldest of seven boys. I lost my brother. I have no Dad. My Mother, I have no car. I dropped out of High School. I didn’t go to college. I was balling my eyes out and I heard this affirmation deep in my heart; Kelby I still love you and I’m going to use you. I got up and went home. I told my Mom I was ready to change.
So, you remember when I was telling you about the bald headed white guy that visited me? I had the idea of reaching back out to him ten years later. I found out he is a pastor in Anderson, South Carolina. He had started a church. Eventually I became his right hand man.
In that ministry I met my wife. I started a company. We have eighteen full time staff members. I serve about sixty clients all over the nation.
That man who visited me, I found out how he came to me was because of that detective Brandon told that Pastor to come talk to me. There was something different.
I went and talked at that detectives church. He came up to me balling his eyes out. He said, “One out of the ninety-nine.” That’s why I honor that detective so much because I know he’s been in the force for years. He’s heard all of the sob stories but he just said, “Maybe one. Maybe one can.”
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