After gang attack, Gospel singer died for 30 minutes, saw heavenly city
By Mark Ellis, Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (ANS -- November 21, 2016)
-- He gave up his first love -- singing R & B — when he rededicated
his life to Christ. But after he devoted his music to God he became the
random victim of a gang initiation that left him hovering near death,
losing nearly half his blood.
After his out-of-body experience, God brought him back to share a message of hope in Jesus Christ.
Tony
Davis was one of six children raised in Canton, Mississippi, by a mom
who insisted they attend church every Sunday. As a teenager he accepted
Jesus as his Savior. After college he began to pursue his dream of
becoming an R & B singer one day.
He
moved to Hollywood and his group, A Touch Plus, landed a record
contract with Warner Brothers. The music scene drew him in with some
powerful distractions.
“I
began to party hearty,” Tony recalls. “I did the Soul Train dancing
stuff. But I knew something was missing. Every time I left a party I
felt empty.”
One
day, feeling somewhat dejected, he was driving his red 300 ZX on
Mulholland Drive, came around a curve too fast and almost went off a
cliff.
He
pulled over in the dirt next to the edge and lifted up a prayer to God.
Thank you God I didn’t go over that cliff. I know I have to change, he
mouthed.
Rededication
To
escape the fast lane, Davis moved to Atlanta and began to attend
Hopewell Baptist Church. A “fire and brimstone” message pierced his
heart and he rededicated his life to Christ.
A few days later, he asked God to remove his desire to sing R & B music.
He heard a voice speak to his heart: Take one step forward.
Standing
alone in his apartment, he took one step forward and something
surprising happened. All his feelings to sing R & B went away. He
shook his head, thinking, What just happened?
He married his wife, Chriselda, in 1995 and began to pursue his new passion, singing Gospel music.
One
evening he was on his way to pick up his wife from work at a board and
care facility in South Central L.A., when he got a phone call from her.
It
seems her friend’s car had broken down, two streets away from the
facility where Chriselda worked. Tony found the friend and her children,
put them in his jeep, but when he turned the corner and pulled up to
the facility, gunfire began to ring out.
“Bullets hit the front of the jeep and one hit my door,” Tony recounts.
Photo captions: 1) Tony Davis. 2) Illustration of Tony Davis in Heaven. 3) Tony and his wife Chris. 4) Mark Ellis.
About the writer: Mark Ellis is Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net), and also founder of www.GodReports.com, a website that shares stories, testimonies and videos from the church around the world.
** You may republish this or any of our ANS stories with attribution to the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net).
Please also tell your friends and colleagues that they can receive a
complimentary subscription to ANS by doing to the above website and
signing up there.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar