If you met Derek LaFleur in church at nineteen years old, he would have been the last person you would think of as a future pastor. Attending a church service dressed all in red due to his affiliation with the LA-based gang the Bloods, 19-year-old LaFleur heard the pastor announce during his altar call that there was one more person that needed to fully give his life to Christ. When LaFleur answered the call and stepped up to the altar, there were cheers. Recalling that day in an interview with The Christian Post, LaFleur said, “everyone knew what type of person I was. And from that day on, I never looked back. I decided to follow Jesus and I was baptized shortly after that day.”

The moment had been years in the making. LaFleur had grown up in Texas with a loving mother and father and was originally raised in a nonreligious Catholic family. His parents became more involved with a Baptist church and soon going to church was a regular part of their family. Derek’s life changed, however, when his parents divorced while he was in the 5^th grade and his mom moved away, leaving LaFleur behind with his dad. “The divorce is when my anger started,” LaFleur noted. With the Bloods’ presence in Texas, LaFleur joined to find a sense of community. This eventually would spiral into a lifestyle of fighting and partying. At age 14, however, the future pastor would find himself in some serious need of prayer.

At 14, LaFleur was in one of his classes in the 8^th grade. LaFleur recalled thinking that the class was supposed to have a substitute that day, but for whatever reason there was no adult present, leaving the students completely unsupervised. LaFleur was reading while some students were playing a game of “Truth or Dare.” Eventually a fight broke out between a male and female student, resulting in LaFleur stepping in to stop it. However, as he struggled to break things up, the girl’s shirt came off, revealing her bare breasts. She ran off to the bathroom and later accused LaFleur and other male students in the class of attacking her. LaFleur and three other boys were arrested and taken to a juvenile detention center due to their ages.

Faced with a very serious charge, LaFleur had a real moment of fear as he looked at where his life was headed. Describing that moment, he said, “…while I was in the cell, I saw there was a Bible that was in my cell. And for the first time, I touched it. I didn’t read it. But I laid down on the hard and very uncomfortable bed, and I put the Bible on my chest, and I began to cry out to God in prayer for the first time ever in my entire life. I asked God, ‘If you are real, please get me out of this.’” Two days later, after testifying to the day’s events, it was found that most of the students’ testimonies matched LaFleur’s and he was released, albeit with a record due to the arrest. Thankfully, he was able to get his record expunged. It would be another 5 years before he would find himself at that church in Texas coming to the altar.

Since that day at the altar, LaFleur’s life has changed dramatically. He left the Bloods and began ministering to others caught in the gang life. Three of his friends would end up leaving the gang. After moving to Oklahoma City, he became active in Authority Church and was ordained as a minister there this past February. The pastor hopes that he can share his experiences and help others to leave their lifestyles behind for Christ. “God’s timing is perfect,” he said, “and He knew it was time for me to be ushered into a ministry. And if God could set me free from gang violence, then he can set anyone free.”