WARNING: Vivid description of violence
By Abdul Masih –
Stabbed outside in the parking lot 37 times, Jason Duran ran into church pleading for help, unable to speak because he was “already drowning in his own blood,” a pastor from Albuquerque says.
“He was squirting blood all over the place. He was leaving a huge puddle of blood. He was spraying. People were screaming,” says Pastor Rosario “Chayo” Perez of the Door Church. “Witnesses led him to the Lord. He was gurgling. All they were able to get out of him was Forgive me Lord Jesus. I give my heart to you.”
Pastor Chayo ended his sermon early because of the June 22, 2023 attack, and ushers led congregants out of the church via the backdoor..The victim lay in the foyer entrance.
Jason was known to church members because he had showed up at outreaches for free food and listened to concerts, but he had not committed to the Lord. Pastor Chayo says he also knew the assailant, who attacked him during service, and turned over video footage to police, who eventually arrested him.
“I don’t know what the beef was,” Pastor Chayo says.
Pastor Chayo says the stabbing was traumatic for church members, but they have pulled through and rallied around the ongoing need for outreach. The Door Church does cutting edge street ministry to reach some of Albuquerque’s most lost souls.
Chayo, 62, says God has given him this ministry because of his own background of life in the underbelly of America. As a teen, Chayo dropped out of school because he was jacking cars in his native Tucson and selling them in Mexico for $1,000 a week, a pretty penny for a kid that caused him to think school was pointless.
But Chayo got saved while drinking beers with his buddies when his brother kept evangelizing him. “He prayed for me, and the Holy Ghost came down. I started weeping. My friends were freaking out because I was weeping. It was something supernatural,” he says. “What happened to me was supernatural. There’s no logical explanation of how I could change,”
Now the guy who used to be running and gunning is reaching out to people from the same lifestyle.
“God has a sense of humor because he brings people that have the same background that I have – troubled people. It’s just amazing to see the transformation of life,” he says. “It’s also disheartening because some of these guys backslide and get killed by the cops.”
While mega churches get the polished smiles and droves of fancy cars, there are thousands of churches that are reaching drug addicts, alcoholics, con men and killers. Thank God for them; they’re helping to clean up America’s streets.
