T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM - Pastor Randy Ponce with Alice Church of God tells the congregation at the Saturday tent revival service in Conrad his testimony and shows them where he used to hold his 38 special. He went from a life of violence in California to being saved by God and living in Iowa.

CONRAD – Under a white tent and in the company of almost 100 people, Alice Church of God Pastor Randy Ponce shared his personal testimony during the Saturday Conrad tent revival.

The event was held in the Conrad City Park, and began with a worship team leading the congregation in Christian songs. Then Ponce took the stage and spoke for more than 20 minutes, thanking the churches and pastors for coming together in unity.

“It’s not about being a church,” he said. “It’s about lifting up the name of Jesus Christ. It’s about loving God and loving people.”

Ponce, 66, is not only the pastor at the Alice Church of God, but also the chaplain at the Iowa State Training School for Boys in Eldora, where he said the students are all in survival mode as it is all they know. Young boys getting into trouble is something he is familiar with. Ponce was born in California, had a father who was a functioning alcoholic and eventually engaged in illegal behavior in an effort to survive.

“I’m not proud of it,” he said. “It’s the grace of God I’m alive. My oldest brother was killed in 1963 in east Los Angeles. . . . I got caught up and bound up and was lost, bound, hurting and broken from 12 until I was 23 years old. I was in and out of institutions.”

When Ponce was 14, he was carrying a 38 special to protect himself. He repeatedly said he was not a tough guy, but if someone shot at him, he would shoot back. When two of his older brothers went to Vietnam, Ponce began going into the neighborhood just like his oldest brother who was killed. By the time he was 16, he was mainlining heroin.

“From that point on, I turned into an animal,” Ponce said. “I robbed, everything you see on TV – been there, done that. I tell the kids I work with there are three roads for that lifestyle – death, incarceration, drug addiction.”

When he reached the age of 18, he was sent to Soledad State Prison in California, a facility which also held Robert Kennedy’s assassin Sirhan Sirhan. One of his best friends testified against him in court, which angered Ponce.

“It took me 17 years as a man of God to find this man, and [forgive him,]” he said. “There is freedom in forgiveness and God showed me that I had to forgive. No matter the wrongs that have happened to you in your life. . . . Jesus can set you free, but you got to surrender.”

Ponce did not find Christ while in prison, but rather through his friend Ray Washington, Jr.

“He loved me unconditionally to Jesus Christ,” he said. “Every week he would share a scripture with me. . . . I was mean. I was racist against anybody – black, white, my own.”

Saying he had gotten ugly, Ponce testified he robbed Mexicans because they would not call the police.

“I’m not proud of it, but the grace of God pulled me out of it,” he said. “. . . God is good. All the time.”

Ponce also did not like Christians and would pick on Washington because of his economic status. However, his friend would help him, no matter how mean Ponce got.

Ponce ended his testimony by telling the audience about a dream he had at 23 years old in which he was standing before God. He felt himself get picked up by the back of his neck and thrown into the pit. That night when he read the Gospel of John, Ponce decided who he would serve.

“The Lord knew when I got to that place where I was sick and tired of being sick and tired,” he said. ” . . . I was in my bedroom. I wasn’t in a church, but the word of God had been implanted in my heart. . . . I cried out to God and the Lord heard it.”

Ponce was not the only pastor to speak at the tent revival. On Friday, Tim Freeman with Beacon Christian Church and John Richter with Unity Community Church. The three-day revival ended with John Erthein with First Presbyterian Church on Sunday.

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Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.