I thought, “No, church sounds really boring.” I was a teenager at the time. I asked what most teenage [boys would] ask, “Are there going to be girls there.” The answer was, “Yes.” I said, “I’m going to church!” So I went to church, and the first time I went inside the church building I’m looking around, I see the cross in front of the church, I see the pews, and I literally thought I was on a movie set. I’d never seen the inside of a church building. Then the Youth Pastor got up. He had his Bible in his hand. When he showed me that Bible I knew what it was because I’d seen it on TV, but I’d never seen a Bible [with my own eyes]. I thought, “Man, this is killer. This is awesome. That’s a Bible.”
The Youth Pastor got up and said two words I’ll never forget the rest of my life. Those two words were, “Jesus Christ.” When he said Jesus Christ, I leaned over to this guy next to me I had just met, and said, “That guy just swore in church. He just cursed. He said Jesus Christ. You can’t swear in church.” He started to laugh and chuckle a little bit. He said, “Man, that that’s not a curse word. [It’s] God’s son.” I said, “God has a kid?” He said, “Just listen to what the Youth Pastor is saying.” He went on to talk about what Jesus did for me on the cross. It blew me away because at this time in my life I didn’t know what sin was. When he began to tell me, “[Sin is] the things we do, that God doesn’t approve of, that He didn’t create us to do.” I said, “I’m a big sinner, man.” I was drinking at a young age. I was breaking into cars. I was breaking into houses. My dad taught me how to handle everything with my fists.
Here I am listening about Jesus for the first time. I wanted to know more. I sat down with this Youth Pastor afterwards, and we talked for two hours. I wanted to know so much about this Jesus. Long story short, I got down on my knees and surrendered my life to Jesus that day. I went to Bible college. I got out of all the things I was doing before. While in Bible college I wanted to study to be a pastor. I wanted to tell people about this Jesus.
A friend showed me a magic store down the street from the college. I started buying little tricks here and there. Before you know it I had thousands of dollars wrapped up the magic stuff. I’ve been using that as a way to share my faith in Jesus Christ. I travel all around the country in front of over a hundred thousand young people a year to share that story, and the best way I know to share the gospel is not by saying, “You’re a sinner who needs Jesus.” It’s [communicating], “I’m the sinner who needed Jesus.” People have realized, “I want that Jesus in my life.” He is no curse word. He’s my savior. He’s my God. He’s my friend.
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