Nicki Cruz

 

This piece by Christian Ekeneme from books and film The  Cross and the Switchblade  by David Wilkerson  and Run Baby Run by Nicki Cruz

HE WAS A GANG WARLORD. HE SLAPPED A PREACHER. NOW HE PREACHES TO MILLIONS.

The boy who would one day lead one of New York's most feared gangs was sent away from home when he was fifteen.

His name is Nicky Cruz. He was born on December 6, 1938, in Puerto Rico. By his own account, his parents were deeply involved in the occult religion of Santería, and they told him he was the son of Satan. He says they abused him. At fifteen, they sent him to live with his brother in New York City.

He did not stay. He ran away and lived on the streets of Brooklyn. Before long, he joined a gang called the Mau Maus. About six months later, he was made their warlord.

He was fearless. He later wrote that he stabbed sixteen people while he was a member. By the time he was sixteen, he led one of the most dreaded gangs in the city.

In 1958, a young country preacher from Pennsylvania named David Wilkerson came to New York. He had seen a story in Life magazine about seven teenagers on trial for murder, and he felt called to go to the city and reach young people like them. He walked into the neighborhoods the gangs controlled, a skinny preacher with a Bible and no protection.

One day, he walked up to Nicky Cruz.

Nicky slapped him. He threatened to kill him.

Wilkerson did not run. He came back. He tried again, and he got the same answer. But the preacher refused to give up on him.

Then Wilkerson organized a meeting to reach the Mau Maus. Nicky came. After the preaching, Wilkerson asked the gang to take up a collection. Nicky volunteered, and he led a group of gang members through the crowd, insisting people give.

Something happened to him that night. Wilkerson prayed with him, and Nicky asked God to forgive him. By his account, the hate and violence that had driven him seemed to go away.

What he did next shocked people. Nicky and some of the gang members who had been converted went to the police and turned in their bricks, handguns and knives. The officers at the station were stunned.

He studied the Bible and went to Bible college. He worked with Wilkerson in Teen Challenge, the recovery program Wilkerson had founded in Brooklyn in 1958. And he went back to his old neighborhood, the place that had been his territory, and preached. More Mau Maus gave their lives to Christ, including the gang's new leader, Israel Narvaez.

In 1968, he told his story in a book called Run Baby Run. It has been translated into more than forty languages, and it is still read today. He later founded Nicky Cruz Outreach, an evangelism ministry. His ministry says he has preached in more than 80 countries and has spoken in person to an estimated tens of millions of people.

"If it weren't for David Wilkerson," Nicky has said, "I'd be in the pit of hell today."

Lessons From His Story:

- Someone's worst moment is not the end of their story

- Love sometimes has to come back more than once

- A person who has done terrible things can still be changed

- Even a slap and a threat cannot stop a man who is following his calling

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17

He was a gang warlord. He slapped a preacher. And the preacher kept coming back.

Who is someone you almost gave up on? Tell me in the comments.

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Researched and written by Christian Ekeneme