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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Orlando bomb suspect not same since being in Iraq

Kevin Brown, 32, is charged with attempting to carry an explosive or incendiary device on an aircraft. (SEMINOLE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE)

Family: Bomb suspect not same since being in Iraq

Jim Leusner and Sarah Lundy Sentinel Staff Writers
3:24 PM EDT, April 2, 2008

Although authorities say Kevin Brown tried to take bomb material onto a plane at Orlando International Airport, his former mother-in-law said this afternoon that he is not a terrorist.

"This is not him," Karen Holt said today from South Carolina. "It has to be a mental issue for him. I know if they looked through his medical records...I'm sure they will see."

Brown and Holt's daughter, Kamishia, 25, married about three years ago. The couple met while serving in the U.S. Army, Holt said. About a year later, the two separated, and Holt doesn't know what Brown has been up to since then.

Her daughter told her that Brown wasn't the same since returning from Iraq. He was put on medication for depression, Holt said.
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