By Sophia Gliwa —
His buddy had just robbed someone in the Wild Hundreds neighborhood of Chicago, and he was running when a rival popped out from behind and shot him. As Preston Perry‘s mom, a nurse, tried to save his life by administering first aid, the guy lay on the ground bleeding out.
God spoke: Preston this is you and your sin you are dead and you are disconnected from me and if you don’t turn to me you’re going to die in your sin.
The wakeup call was a crucial step in Preston’s eventual salvation. Today, he and his wife, Christian rapper Jackie Hill-Perry, minister to people through music and apologetics.
Preston Perry was born into a single mother family. His uncle, a famous radio music producer, took on the roll of being a father figure, but he was set up and murdered on the South Side of Chicago, leaving Preston to his own among the drugs, violence and prostitution of his hood.
“My life began to spiral down, from selling drugs, from gang-banging to getting kicked out of every high school that I was in,” he says. “I was selling weed and crack. I was angry with God that not only did he not give me a father but he took away my only father figure. I was doing bad stuff.”
His first brush with Christianity came during high school from being attracted to a girl, whose father was a pastor of a home church. Dad wouldn’t let Preston see her except in church.
“I was there right cuz she was very pretty — with some hips,” he explains.
He started hearing the word of God.
“I became keenly aware of my sin,” he says. “I couldn’t break it another car without thinking that I was the enemy of God. I couldn’t sell another bag of weed without thinking that I was the enemy of God. I couldn’t have another fight without thinking that I was an enemy of God.”
Then his friend got shot and died. God spoke dramatically to Preston.
At this time, he moved in with his aunt, who was a Christian. Every morning he woke with oil on his forehead.
“I’m like why I look like somebody rubbed a piece of fried chicken on my head,” he wondered. Eventually he caught on that his aunt was “anointing him” with oil, as some Christians do, while she prayed for him: “Lord, touch him, reveal yourself to him, make yourself known in his heart. In your wrath, remember mercy, oh God.”
The mercy of God was being deposited in his soul.
Auntie hooked him up with an ex-gang-banger, Gary Brown, who after 11 years in prison, was released and was serving Jesus.
“Gary took me under his wing, began to disciple me, taught me how to read the scriptures right,” Preston says. “I needed to see somebody in my context cuz I thought that Christians only became Christian when
when they were old and their life was over.”
One day, Gary flirted with a pretty bank teller in front of Preston. All of sudden, he realized what he was doing and bolted away with Preston.
“Ten minutes pass, we riding down the street and Gary pulls the car on the side of the road,” Preston recalls.
“Preston, I want to apologize to you,” Gary told Preston. “I’m so convicted. All while that girl was talking to me, I felt lust in my heart and I don’t have any intention to ‘wife her.’ I’m so convicted that I did that in front of you. Would you pray with me? I want to repent and I want to ask the Lord to forgive me for my sins.”
As Gary prayed with Preston, his words faded off in the distance. God spoke over them to Preston: “Preston, this is what it means to love me. You don’t love me like Gary loves me.”
After basketball, Preston went home and prayed to be forgiven of his sins. From that moment, he’s been serving Jesus.
Related content: Christian graffiti artist in Chicago, he was violent until Jesus, MMA fighter wound up in jail. Sources: God Behind Bars.
