The preacher approached the overgrown street corner where the young men sat drinking and fixed his piercing gaze on Napoleon.
“God has a purpose for your life,” he declared.
Napoleon scoffed, “You’re crazy!” and unleashed a torrent of insults. God would never care about someone who does as much wrong as I do, he thought.
Napoleon had spent his days on the streets since age 10, his mother forced to work all waking hours to support her nine children after his father’s abandonment. He found acceptance in a neighborhood gang. As a teenager, he began using drugs and alcohol and joined in other illegal activities.
“Deep down, I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I thought I would never be able to change my ways,” he later admitted.
When a street preacher appeared at the gang’s meeting place to distribute food and share the gospel—part of Nicaraguan ministry SOS on the Streets—Napoleon mocked him. He refused to listen to the message, even as the man returned, undeterred, week after week.
Meanwhile, Napoleon’s life spiraled out of control. He was arrested and briefly imprisoned. Several times, his dangerous lifestyle left him on the verge of death.
Finally, desperate for relief, he cried out, “If there is a God, I’m here. I want you to transform my life.” He met the preacher on the street corner and poured out his struggles, listening for the first time to the gospel.
“I accepted Christ right there, with the person who so persistently kept trying to reach me,” he shared.
“I accepted Christ right there, with the person who so persistently kept trying to reach me.”
Napoleon
Napoleon’s new life in Christ compelled him to transform his conduct. “It was a tough process, but, little by little, God gave me the strength to give up those things like alcohol and drugs,” he explained.
He attended a church planted by the founder of SOS on the Streets, Marlon, who himself was saved out of a gang background and trained at ABWE’s Institute of Church Planters (ICP).
Accompanied by church members, Napoleon returned to the street corner he had frequented with his gang. As he nervously prepared to speak, neighbors hurried outside with plastic chairs, skeptically wondering if his life had truly changed.
“Many people, whom I might have harmed in my past life under the influence of alcohol or drugs, came out to hear my testimony,” he recalled. “It was there that God put on my heart that just as Christ could change my life, he could do the same for the other people I used to hang out with.”
Napoleon began evangelizing the youth in his community. Recognizing his zeal and commitment, the church enrolled him in the ICP for training. The two-year program, led by ABWE missionaries and national partners, provides step-by-step training in church planting for future church leaders.
“The goal of the ICP is to help local churches accelerate the process of planting gospel-centered churches in every neighborhood, town, and city in Nicaragua,” explained Bruce Edgar, ABWE regional director for Central America and ICP coordinator.
Even before Napoleon had completed the course, he discovered opportunities to implement the instruction. While driving through their city, Chinandega, he and a friend noticed a property for rent and sensed God’s direction to plant a church. They began by providing meals to children in need and organizing soccer leagues to capture the attention of the youth. They soon earned the trust of local families who, in turn, listened to the gospel. Before long, they had formed a church.
Napoleon continues to witness God transform lives through the church plant. To expand their reach, he is collaborating with Marlon and Bruce to open an ICP satellite campus in Chinandega.
“[T]here are men who are thirsty to be used by God. . . . They need to acquire this training so they can start new churches and ministries throughout the country,” Napoleon said.
Many, like him, are passionate about using their own testimonies to bring others to Christ, he explained. “I believe God has been putting the pieces together at every moment to fulfill his purpose in my life.”
