Meeting Malcolm

(By Erik)

The Christian Chronicle won four awards in the annual contest sponsored by the Oklahoma Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Jeanie and I drove to Tulsa for the awards banquet Saturday night. We met Bobby and Tamie there.

The big thrill for me was winning first place in the category “Minority Issues” for the story “Churches use edgy, 'street-savvy' evangelism to reach communities” that ran in our April 2006 issue.

The story focused on Malcolm McIntosh, a former gang leader who said he “got tired of trying to be God” before he started visiting churches. He was baptized at the Northeast Church of Christ here in Oklahoma City.

Malcolm defied my expectations. Quick-witted and sincere, he laughed through most of the interview. He was honest about his former life — and the fact that some elements of it still appealed to him. Many don’t understand that, for a lot of kids, gangs take the place of broken families. Malcolm used to give lunch money to children as young as 8 years old as a means of introducing them to gang life.

Now he warns kids about the dangers of that life — and he tells them about eternal life.

“I was a Blood,” he said. “I tell them we still use that blood, but now we live for the blood of Christ.”

I visited the Northeast church just a few days ago and asked about Malcolm. He’s still coming to church and doing well. I’m hoping he’ll be available to tell his story at this year’s World Mission Workshop. Oklahoma Christian is hosting it here in October.