Message of redemption

Todd White is not what some would call your typical Christian.

There was a time, he’ll admit, when he was addicted to drugs, including cocaine and marijuana, a fugitive on the run at least twice and a person who had, for many years, a problem with authority.

White was, as he would say, “the worst of the worst of the worst.”

Over time, most family gave up on him, save for his grandmother who prayed that his soul would be saved some day, White said,

That day came one evening in 2004 after, White said, he was saved miraculously in a drug deal gone bad — by his own account, none of the bullets shot at him from 10 feet away pierced him or his car.

“I was lost, and when I was found, Jesus came down and made his home inside of me, so now the Holy Spirit lives in me and rests upon me,” said White, who serves as an evangelist through Lifestyle Christianity in Pennsylvania.

It is a message of redemption that White shares with people all over the world, and on Friday, he shared it with about 500 congregates from 20 churches at the New Year’s Bash Island Wide Youth Rally at Lydgate Beach Park.

Noe Murray from Kauai Bible Church who attended the event said White’s story, as well as his message, stood out to her.

“I liked how passionate he was,” Murray said.  

Darren Sagucio from Hanapepe Church of the Nazarene said he felt inspired by the energy from people at the rally.

“I felt like the hearts of these kids, these teenagers, these people were just fired up,” Sagucio said. “Looking at that, I feel inspired. I can get that.”  

Kelly Braun, one of the event co-chairs, said the rally began about five years ago as a small event in August designed to bring people from all over the island together for a common purpose: to worship God.

But as the amount of attendees gradually increased over time, Braun said the host organization, Kauai Island Ministries Youth program, added the New Year’s Bash to their annual schedule.

“We want the kids to know that they’re not the only ones who believe in Christ, even though their church may not have a big youth group,” Braun said. “There are other kids out there and we want them to know that this is their family — we’re the body of Christ, we’re the family of Christ.”

And the message, she said, is especially important for those who are going through a tough time.

Being a teenager, White said, is especially difficult because many of their peers are influenced by outside social pressures.

“When a child finds out that God’s their father and heaven paid such a high price for them, that takes them out of a place of rejection,” White said. “When the youth find out that they have been accepted by God, then they don’t have to be cool in front of their friends or they don’t have to get the most amazing guy or girl. Like in football, when they’re running with Jesus, they always have the ball, they’re always on offense and they’re always burning with the desire to be pleasing before God.”

What is most important, he said, is that no one is outside of God’s reach or grace. It is a gift that prompted him to turn his life around, White said.

“In this world, if the price that is paid for something determines its value, then in the gospel, the price that heaven paid for you is the value that you have before the eyes of God,” White said. “Heaven went bankrupt and gave everything up just to get us back.”

But learning God’s word through the Bible, he explained, is not enough.

“The Bible isn’t something that you can just say you read in a year and got it,” White said. “The Bible is something that is a continuing manifestation of who God is, so it is not meant for your brain — it’s meant for your heart. Your heart can take you places that your brain can’t fit.