Without preaching, a pastor's Christian militia reaches out to gangs

Without preaching, a pastor's Christian militia reaches out to gangs
Dana Parsons
September 23, 2008
My Rolodex is sprinkled with names of people from the 1990s who wanted to do something about the gang problem in Santa Ana. One was a former F Troop gang member, another was a mother of a gangbanger, another a community activist. I couldn't track down any of them Monday; none of the old phone numbers worked.

But there are new people to talk to.

One of them is Kevin Brown, a former Santa Ana cop and now the pastor of Side-By-Side Church International in Irvine.

If it seems that Brown, 52, is merely the latest in a long line of people tilting at windmills, he disagrees.

The way he sees it, nobody has ever tried it the way he and some like-minded Christians are doing it.

Like walking up to a group of 15 or so gang members on a Santa Ana street at 9 o'clock on a Saturday night. And then telling them that they are loved and their lives are worth saving. And then spending 30 to 45 minutes with them, telling them that one bad decision can send them to prison for years. And then coming back a second Saturday night and a third.

That, Brown says, is how you reach them.
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