Guns to God: My journey from drug dealing to deliverance

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Anyone who thinks they might be too deeply involved in a lifestyle of crime and deceit, resulting in an inner hollowness, will be inspired that total transformation is possible. Claud, today, is a gentle giant who knows God has a plan for his life. Make sure you read this and discover how God can radically change you too. - Reverend Emmy Wilson, Curate at Holy Trinity Brompton It won some awards," Claude said. "It was featured in two well-known Native American film festivals. Even if it didn’t cost a lot of money to make, it took a long time because we had to do it on weekends, and it took over two years to film.” His story is one of poverty, abuse, drug dealing and violence – and of a life turned round by a loving God who refused to give up on him. Claud has now passed his Bishops’ Advisory Panel (BAP) and is in the process of training for two years to become a Church of England minister. Once ordained, he would love to plant a church and to work with young people to decrease gang culture and knife crime. As he approaches 40, he is deeply grateful for ‘God’s truly amazing grace [which] took a once successful London drug-dealing street trader all the way from deliveries to deliverance, from guns to God’. Watching him develop over the years and working with the Autry, it’s a great opportunity for me again to be exposed to the theater in that way,” Roberto said. “As brothers knowing what addiction meant to some of our relatives and even in our own lives, and to see it used as a way to comment on society, it's powerful stuff.”

The manager was the most grounded, humble individual. My jeans would be worth more than his whole outfit. I’d park my convertible, and he’d cycle to work. Moses also noted "Cashed Out" is the first Native play the San Francisco Playhouse has produced, allowing for the first time their audiences to experience Native theater. Claud has now passed his Bishops’ Advisory Panel (BAP) and is in the process of training for two years to become a Church of England priest. Once ordained, he would love to plant a church and to work with young people to decrease gang culture and knife crime. As he approaches 40, he is deeply grateful for ‘God’s truly amazing grace [which] took a once successful London drug-dealing street trader all the way from deliveries to deliverance, from guns to God’. For Native people, we intimately understand how addiction manifests in our communities, and Claude did not shy away from the heartbreaking realities of it," Moses said. "In the play, multiple characters suffer from drug addiction, gambling addiction and alcoholism, and not all of the characters overcome them. What I love so much about his play, and why I think it's so important that it's happening, is that throughout all the challenges, the family continue to pass down tradition and find ways to remain grounded and connected to who they are as Native people."

By the time I was in my mid 20s I was so into the wealth, cars and lifestyle that I couldn’t care less about other people. I had convinced myself it’s a dog-eat-dog world. I saw a lot of awful, inhumane things. In my social circle I would know the rapist, the raped, the murdered and the murderer. I decided I’m here to make as much money as I can, by any means. The San Francisco Playhouse is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization and was established in 2003. It is the Bay Area’s premiere mid-sized theater company, staging six plays and musicals a year at its 199-seat mainstage venue on Post Street, as well as three world premieres per year at intimate stages in downtown San Francisco. Born in Clapham, the youngest of six siblings, Claud grew up in the shadow of domestic violence, with a London-born mum and an abusive and controlling Jamaican dad. He spent his childhood treading on eggshells, keen not to provoke the anger which his dad would regularly take out on Claud, his mum, his siblings and their dog. ‘Terrible pain and darkness filled our lives on a daily basis’, Claud writes, with fear and anxiety being constant companions for him as a young boy. Early sense of power Born in Clapham, the youngest of 6 siblings, Claud grew up in the shadow of domestic violence, with a London-born mum and an abusive and controlling Jamaican dad. He spent his childhood treading on eggshells, keen not to provoke the anger which his dad would regularly take out on Claud, his mum, his siblings, and their dog. ‘Terrible pain and darkness filled our lives on a daily basis’, Claud writes, with fear and anxiety being constant companions for him as a young boy.

When my eldest brother left home, he became a drug dealer. Whenever he came home, he would have stories of treasures and adventures. He always had the newest Nike Airs, and I wanted to grow up and be like him. I was six years old when he camehome with a gun. He let me hold it – I remember this vividly. Arlyssa Becenti covers Indigenous affairs for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Send ideas and tips to [email protected]'s powerful play is one of the many being written, produced, and shared, and every single day I am thankful that there are more and more opportunities for Natives to see ourselves onstage," she said. "Theater didn't begin with the Greeks like we're taught. Theater began with us, Indigenous peoples, telling stories for thousands and thousands of years before Greece even existed, so every Native storyteller has a place in the theater if they so want it." 'The theater nerd I always wanted to be' The story of one man's search for belonging, this an incredible and moving testament to the life-changing power of God. After week one I thought: They seem alright, they’re not trying to brainwash me yet. So the second week I turned up and put my hand out to the lady to shake it, and she gave me a hug. I was mind-blown. I remember thinking: I’ve never been hugged. When Claud was six years old, he held a gun for the first time – a nine millimetre handgun belonging to his older brother. ‘The gun possessed power, and as young as I was, I could feel it. I could feel its darkness and I could feel its strength’, he recalls. Claud hero-worshipped his brother, who left home in his early teens to become a violent drug dealer and was in prison by the time Claud was seven. By the time I was in my early teens, I’d lost interest in any kind of academic pursuit and began selling cigarettes in school. I was selling cannabis from the age of 15. In my late teens I was selling cocaine and by the time I was 25, I sold heroin. You never think when you’re a teenager down the park, sitting on a swing and having a spliff, that dealing drugs is going to turn into this huge business where you’re making thousands of pounds. I would shop in Harrods and I had so many vehicles – Mercedes, Range Rovers, BMWs.