Former Chicago Gangster Encountered Jesus and Never Stopped Sharing the Gospel

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Meeting Fred Outside Jerry Lee's

This is Fred. I met him standing outside of Jerry Lee's, handing out handwritten gospel tracts. They were not glossy marketing pieces or slick church invitations. They were simple, handwritten, photocopied tracts from a man who had something burning in him and wanted people to know Jesus.

I had to get his story. When you see someone standing out in public sharing the gospel like that, especially at his age, you know there is usually a testimony behind it. So I asked him why he was standing outside the store handing out tracts.

His answer was simple. He said he could not help but share the gospel. It was like fire shut up in his bones.

That phrase immediately points me to Jeremiah, who said, "his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones" (Jeremiah 20:9 KJV). Fred was not out there because somebody gave him a ministry assignment or because he was trying to build a platform. He was out there because Jesus had done something in him that he could not keep to himself.

A Former Chicago Gangster Changed by Jesus

Fred told me he used to be a gangster in Chicago until he had an encounter with Jesus. I am not going to dress that up with details he did not give me. I am not going to turn his life into a movie scene or pretend I know every chapter of his past. What I know is what he told me: he had been living one way, and then Jesus interrupted everything.

Fred said God "knocked him out" and changed everything. That is how he described it. On December 25th, 1951, he had a radical encounter with Jesus Christ. He said God told him to get baptized and read his Bible.

That kind of testimony gets my attention. Not because it is dramatic, but because of the fruit that followed. Anybody can tell a wild story. The real question is what happened afterward. Did the encounter produce obedience? Did it produce hunger for the Word? Did it produce a changed life?

In Fred's case, the answer seemed obvious. He told me he had read the Bible hundreds of times since then. Decades had passed, and he was still taking Jesus to the people.

Still Burning After All These Years

Fred was over 90 years old when I talked with him. While we were talking, he probably handed out 20 or 30 handwritten tracts. Think about that for a moment. Many people retire from spiritual urgency long before they retire from work. Fred was still out there, still sharing, still putting the gospel into people's hands.

That challenges me. It is easy to overcomplicate evangelism. We can wait until we have the perfect words, the perfect website, the perfect video, the perfect platform, or the perfect ministry strategy. Meanwhile, Fred was standing outside a store with handwritten tracts and a testimony.

Sometimes the most powerful witness is not polished. Sometimes it is simply a person who has met Jesus and cannot stay quiet about it.

The Bible says, "Let the redeemed of the LORD say so" (Psalm 107:2 KJV). Fred was saying so. He was saying it with his mouth, with his hands, with his time, and with his willingness to be seen in public as a man who belonged to Jesus.

What Fred's Testimony Teaches Us

Fred's story reminds me that a real encounter with Jesus should produce a public witness. Not everyone is called to stand outside a store with tracts, but every believer is called to be a witness. Jesus said, "Ye shall be witnesses unto me" (Acts 1:8 KJV). That is not just for preachers behind pulpits. That is for ordinary followers of Jesus who have been changed by His power.

Fred also reminds me that obedience can be simple. God told him to get baptized and read his Bible, and that instruction shaped the rest of his life. We often want a complicated prophetic word while ignoring the clear instructions we already have. Read the Word. Obey Jesus. Share the gospel. Keep going.

There is something beautiful about a man in his nineties still handing out gospel tracts because the fire has not gone out. That kind of faithfulness says more than a thousand clever sermons. It says Jesus is still worth talking about. It says the gospel is still good news. It says age is not an excuse to stop burning for God.

Action Items

If Fred's testimony stirs you, do something with it.

  1. Write down your testimony in a few paragraphs. What was your life like before Jesus, how did He get your attention, and what changed afterward?

  2. Ask God for one person to share Jesus with this week. Do not make it weird or complicated. Be honest, loving, and bold.

  3. Read Jeremiah 20:9 and Acts 1:8. Ask the Holy Spirit to put fresh fire in your bones and make you a witness again.

  4. Consider carrying something simple you can give away: a gospel tract, a printed testimony, a card with a link, or even a handwritten note that points people to Jesus.

  5. Do not wait for a platform. Fred did not need a stage. He had a sidewalk, a stack of tracts, and a testimony.

Final Thought

Fred takes Jesus to the people. That is what stood out to me then, and that is what still speaks to me now. A former Chicago gangster encountered Jesus Christ, obeyed what God told him, filled his life with the Word, and decades later was still sharing the gospel outside a store.

That is real fruit. That is a testimony worth remembering. That is #TeamJesus.

Dig deeper and go higher.

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