‘Jesus Alone’: Ex-Gang Member Johnny Chang Becomes Prison Minister

Johnny Chang is a prison minister whose testimony is going viral. He went from Wah Ching gang member, which he joined as a teen in the San Gabriel Valley in Southern California, to a life changed by “Jesus alone.”

“There was drugs, gangs, and violence — it was very rampant in those areas, and I was a person who fell into that unfortunately…I was locked up since I was 12 all the way up to 24 years old,” Chang told Delafé Testimonies earlier this month.

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“I was saved and now I’m doing prison ministry – counseling people who are suffering from depression, loneliness, emptiness, void – and I just want to advance the kingdom of God and evangelize people as well,” he added.

As a child of poor Chinese immigrant parents, Chang was raised by an atheist father and a Taoist Buddhist mother but felt emptiness and a void in his heart. His father was an abusive alcoholic who never said “sorry” or “I love you,” which led Chang to have anger and rage. So he decided to join a gang, which felt like the “lesser of two evils” for him.

After he got out of prison, he had a conversation with his mom’s pastor that changed his life.

“No one had ever explained it to me. I was essentially missing the whole point and self-medicating and all that was in vain if – like he gave me the anecdote, basically…[Jesus] has taken care of all of your sins: past, present, and future,” Chang said.

The pastor answered his questions by pointing to Scripture, first telling him sin is “unbelief” and it is “inherited” going all the way back to the first man, Adam.

“It was all by faith and by God alone, in Jesus alone,” he added.

Chang said his gang members laughed at him when he said he was “righteous”: “Johnny, if you’re righteous, then we’re righteous, too, because you’re like one of the worst ones out of the bunch.”

But little by little, he shared his testimony as a messenger: “God, you care about my homies more than me.”

He concluded, “Just the Word of God was leading me to do prison ministry, having my friends come to church, etc. It wasn’t anything that I was doing.”

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Chang has been walking with Jesus for the past eight years. Today he does one-on-one sessions with people that he posts to Instagram, answering questions and hosting Zoom Bible studies in addition to prison ministry in the U.S. and around the world.

“What does the Word of God say versus what do our thoughts say?” Chang asked, adding, “I pray…no matter how right your thoughts feel…accept the Word of God above your thoughts.”

His testimony with Soft White Underbelly has been viewed over 6 million times. Watch his testimony with Delafé Testimonies below:

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Caleb Parke is a Newsmax correspondent. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and connect with him at calebparke.com.