In September we were saddened with the news that a youth who had formerly attended our church, Guillermo, had been murdered in a quadruple homicide. To make matters worse, Guillermo was the brother of a youth who currently and actively attends our church and we were grieved to not only learn of Guillermo's death, but to also see our friend so deeply hurt over the tragic loss of his brother.
Last year we had learned that Guillermo had made the decision to join a gang. His family desperately loved him, prayed for him, and counseled him, but the decision was ultimately his and with his death, their worst fear was realized.
On the evening of Guillermo's visitation, God opened our eyes and burdened our hearts. We knew that Guillermo had been a gang member, and that his funeral was gang sponsored. We knew that there would be a few gang members present at the funeral, but we figured that they would be like most gang members that we see out - that they would be dressed in a certain way that would indicate that they are probably members of a gang, but that you wouldn't be too sure. You see, despite what popular movies depict, gang members are not that easy to spot. Most gang members here in ES are identified by tattoos, however their tattoos are usually strategically placed where they can easily be covered up (the back or chest). It is for this reason that the police here will often ask young men to lift up their shirts so that they can look for gang tattoos. Having a gang tattoo here is illegal and you can be immediately arrested for it. Gang members with tattooed heads or faces are rarely, if ever, seen. They are all in hiding or in jail. You see, if I tattoo my head with MS13, for example, and then walk through town, I will either be shot by the opposing gang or will be arrested by the first police officer who sees me. Having a tattooed face or head is a sentence to a life of confinement or death.
There are some experiences in life that words can't describe, and Guillermo's visitation was one of them. It was held at night in a community building and we went with several youth from our church. A friend of a friend got us permission to get in, as it was in a very strict gang controlled area and they didn't let just anyone pass through. Upon our arrival we knew that we were being allowed to see something that most people do not ever see. Hundreds of gang members were present. Hundreds. And, these weren't the "I am not really sure if he is a gang member" guys...these were the fully face tattooed, coming out of hiding, high ranking, gang members. The only word that fully describes what we felt that night is "overwhelmed." Overwhelmed by the number of gang members there. Overwhelmed to see three caskets with murdered youth. Overwhelmed by the things that they were doing and saying. Overwhelmed to see so many lost. As I sat in a chair in the community room I watched gang member after gang member enter in and pay their respects to the three murdered youth in front of me. Many of them pulled a bandanna up over their mouths as they looked into the caskets, and one took a very long time polishing the glass on the top of one of caskets. Some looked as if they were truly possessed by something that was not of this world and I prayed for protection continually. The greatest feeling that we felt, however, was sadness. There was so much loss there, and not just loss of life, it was a loss of hope. I wanted so desperately for them to know that there is hope! That night we were able to look evil in the eyes and feel nothing but love and knew that this was from God.
After leaving that evening (and things got worse as the evening went on) we knew immediately that God had taken us through that experience for a reason. In the days that followed we felt heavily burdened. We had worked with youth for years in this country and have lost too many youth to murder. God broke our heart for what breaks His and we knew we needed to act. But what? I few days later, while Bobby was reading his Bible, Ezekiel 33:1-11 jumped out at him and he knew what needed to be done. We needed to go to them.
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, speak to your people and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not heed the warning and the sword comes and takes their life, their blood will be on their own head. Since they heard the sound of the trumpet but did not heed the warning, their blood will be on their own head. If they had heeded the warning, they would have saved themselves. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes someone’s life, that person’s life will be taken because of their sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.’
“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade them from their ways, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the wicked person to turn from their ways and they do not do so, they will die for their sin, though you yourself will be saved.
“Son of man, say to the Israelites, ‘This is what you are saying: “Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?”’ Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’
During our time here in ES we have always been warned about going into certain areas. Gangs are territorial and some areas are very strictly controlled and they don't take too fondly to outsiders coming in. We knew that we needed to go into these areas. We need to go in and reach those who no one else wants to reach, or is too afraid to. We must fearlessly reach the forgotten youth. And so, the Ezekiel 33 ministry was born.
In the last few weeks, the ministry has begun to form and take shape. It is a baby ministry and we don't pretend to know what God has in store, but here is a little bit of our dream and what we have been working on:
Over the past few weeks, Bobby, along with a few spiritually mature youth from our church, have been entering a highly gang controlled area of town to begin to minister to, and develop relationships with, the youth there. They have been inviting the youth to church and have been meeting with some of the youth leadership from that area. We have discovered that there are several abandoned buildings in this area and have been offered any building of our choosing for free. Our hope is that in the new year we will be able to begin offering music and English classes to the youth there just like we do at our church and Bobby will be able to teach a discipleship class. All of this would take place in a building that they have offered us and will be called the Ezekiel 33 Ministry Center. Once this center is up and running, we will then proceed to opposite side of town, where the rival gang presides, and begin the same thing there. Our dream is to eventually branch out and to have Ezekiel 33 centers in as many of the most dangerous Salvadoran neighborhoods as possible. We dream of offering scholarships and teaching trades. We dream of transforming lives and communities. We dream of restoring hope that was lost. We dream of never having to attend another funeral for another murdered youth. We dream of....
Fearlessly reaching the forgotten youth of El Salvador with Christ’s love, restoring hope to their lives, and discipling them to become mature and responsible adults, leaders of healthy families, and authentic followers of Christ
This ministry is for Guillermo, and Tony, and Stewart, and Alex, (in the pictures below) and the tens of thousands of Salvadoran youth who have lost their lives to violence. Most importantly, this is for our Lord, who makes all things new.
