Rick Green: 0:11

Welcome to the intersection of faith and the culture. This is WallBuilders. We're always taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective. Thank you so much for joining us. My name is Rick Green. I'm a former Texas legislator and America's constitution coach. And it's my honor to be here with the Barton family, Tim Barton's, a national speaker and pastor and president of WallBuilders David Barton, America's premier historian and our founder at WallBuilders. This is going to be fun, folks, David Barton, David and Cheryl got to meet Boomer Bennett at the pastor's conference, that Turning Point had this Turning Point Faith event a couple of weeks ago, and what an incredible testimony and Boomer agreed to come on the program and share with us and it's our privilege to have you on man, thanks for coming on Boomer.

Boomer Bennett: 0:47

Man I am... I've been praying for this moment for quite a long time big brother. So thank you guys back.

Rick Green: 0:53

Well, you're out there doing incredible ministry and and David was just blown away by your testimony, what you're doing now with your Jesus follower lifestyle, and just all the cool stuff that God's doing through you. And then to just find out your entire story, he said, Rick, you got to get this guy on the show. So here we are, bro. I'm excited to hear your story. And our listeners be able to hear it. So tell us a little bit about your background, how God got a hold of you and what you're doing now.

Boomer Bennett: 1:21

Amen. A little bit about my background. I'm originally from South Central California. I was born and raised during the gang era in the early 90s. I was born without the... one of the most essential pieces of a young man's life which is a father. He left that two months here when I was two months old. And my entire life literally, I've been seeking fatherhood. It just so happened that I found a semblance of fatherhood through being a gang member. So at 11 years old like, I started gang banging and at 11 years old, 12 years old, I started committing random acts of violence and crime. So from 11 to 12, I was in and out of camps in juvenile halls, from 15 to 18, I did three years in California Youth Authority.

Rick Green: 2:05

Let me stop you for a second because you said something that I want to zero in on just real quick. You just happen to find fatherhood in the gangs?

Boomer Bennett: 2:11

Yes, that... so that was when you go to prison or you when to or you go to jail or you go to camps you go to placement, whether it's a female or male, the one component that we all share in common that our Father was absent whether he was there and he wasn't there and... or he was never there. And, but that hurt is what drove us to each other which is why we... I don't know, you know a lot of times individuals think like man, why do people gang bang it's a stupid idea. committing crimes against each other being a Crip being a Blood or being these things. So from the outside looking in, it looks reckless, looks pointless, and looks stupid, but from the inside looking out, we all are dealing with the same thing. So you can't tell me this lifestyle is stupid. If every one of my homies or every one of my compadres are dealing with the same father wound. We're dealing with the same self neglect. We're dealing with the same worthlessness. We're dealing with all of the same abuse. We all came together under this false premise that gangs were the answer.

Rick Green: 3:13

Yeah. That's, man. That's powerful. Okay, back to your story.

Boomer Bennett: 3:18

Yeah, I wanted to go to jail. It's where again, that's where I... that's where my sense of community was. That's where my homies was. That's where this love that I knew and grew, that's where it was at. I just didn't connect well, but when I go to prison, I was welcomed. People who've had the hand dealt that I've been dealt, this is where we belong. It was a sad way of thinking because the enemy wraps it up in a bow from so young. And when you unwrap that gift, you think it's a gift and when it isn't, it's really a carrot at the end of the stick that you're continually chasing the only pure unconditional fatherly love you're ever receive is from God. Even to this day men and young women think that you'll find it in gangs. I rightfully deserved prison and I rightfully got prison it could have end up way worser and I went to prison, even more invigorated that the lifestyle that I was living, the gang banger lifestyle that I was living was the right style for me, because I was getting all the accolades from the men that I so desired to be loved by, they were giving me all the accolades, I got all of the love and now I'm now giving authority. And it seems as if all of the love and the recognition that I desired as a youth, I'm now starting to really, really receive an enjoy. Now this is where you develop the god complex. Your flesh is really, really, really being puffed up and you think that you are the one who can do no wrong. That was a lie from the enemy. But you couldn't tell me that at that time. I sincerely thought this was a truth of what my life was at the time. And at the age of 24, there was a race riot between the blacks and Hispanics and some men died. This riot that didn't have to happen that I instigated, this is what brought me face to face with God. It was sad to be honest. It was really sad.

Rick Green: 5:08

And that was in the prison, you said?

Boomer Bennett: 5:10

Yes, it was in prison. We went on lock down for 16 months after this riot happened. And during this lockdown, I just kept hearing from God. And people say, well, how do you know it's from God? To this point, I have never second guessed doing anything violet, it was a matter of how do I get away with it? Or when I do it how do I get the most out of it? It was never a matter of should I be doing it.

Rick Green: 5:33

Interesting. So there was really no conscious there. So God had to have moved in your heart and brain, basically, to make you suddenly question this.

Boomer Bennett: 5:43

That's the only way I can put it because from four years old until 24, never have I had a conscience against doing harm against any other person, whether they were from my community, from my family, whatever. I never thought about should I steal from this person, mom, family, this thought came to me. And the question was that God asked me, he said, why do you want to commit violence? It was against Hispanics, because three blacks died. One Hispanic died, you have to even the score. So the Hispanics owed us two bodies, basically, prison is very racial. It is a cesspool of racism all day long. You don't know how to live any other way. Because you think that is how life is supposed to be lived. When you're in it. It isn't called racism. We don't use that term. It's us against them. It's blacks against Hispanics, is blacks against white, we don't use the term racism because there isn't. It isn't that I hate you. It is that we're just at odds with each other. I want this and you want this. We're going to be the ones to get it and you're going to be the ones to fight us to get it. You're just in the way, if that makes sense. It's about advancing your cause and your mission, and you're going to obliterate whoever gets in the way. Black, white, Hispanic, boy, girl, school, institution, it doesn't matter. You don't have to put a color on it. If you're getting in the way of our in particular mission that you have to go.

Rick Green: 7:18

I mean, up until the time that God really asked you that question and put that in your conscience. Had you not had any exposure to faith or religion or God or any of those things? Or had you just dismissed it when you did get exposure to it?

Boomer Bennett: 7:33

I dismissed it when I got exposure to it. There was one instant that never left. When I was four, it was a church in Watts, Watts California. My great grandfather and great grandmother came from Louisiana, and they were sold out for Christ. And they made sure, you know, the whole family went to church on Sunday. So it wasn't something that I willingly wanted to do but they made sure we went to church and their kids went to church. We have a very big family. So but when I was younger, I was a kleptomaniac. I couldn't stop stealing if I wanted to. And I mean, I will go into grocery stores with my mom and still find myself stealing something. My hands were a magnet to things that were not mine. In that church at four years old, the pastor said, he says, Have you ever did something you didn't want to do? Have you ever tried to stop something that was bad, but you couldn't stop it? And I'm like, you know, I got that moment when you think the pastor is talking to only you, right? And he's like, you are a slave to the flesh. You have no choice, but do the things that you don't want to do because you are not your own. And I was like, What the!

Rick Green: 8:42

That hit home?

Boomer Bennett: 8:43

It hit home and he said, This is why Jesus Christ came. So you're no longer a slave to the enemy. But you're now a servant to God. So that never left me because that was the reality of my life at the time. But did I act upon it? Did I accept Jesus? No, I didn't. I didn't really care about the faith walk. I didn't know what it meant. I didn't understand none of that. But I knew that, from what he said I was a sinner in desperate need of a Savior.

Rick Green: 9:11

What finally broke you?

Boomer Bennett: 9:13

What broke me was that those men that died on that prison yard are men that I knew. I knew their kids. I knew the mother of their children. I knew their mom. And they died over something so insignificant. They died over water. In prison they have... you have four of everything. You have for basketball courts, you have four workout stations, you have four handball court, you have four urinals, because every race needs their own- blacks, the white, the Hispanics, and the others, except there's only one water canteen that a thousand people have to drink from at any given time. You can only go if you have three or more of your own race with you. It has to go on in a clockwise manner, and you have to give a certain footage away from the race that's in front of you. We're in a desert in Calipatria, California, which is one of the hottest places in California during the summer time. We need to figure out a system to make this work. And that was our system. And it just so happened that that day, we broke system's code. And because we broke the system's code, those men died. And I was the instigator of breaking the system's code.

Rick Green: 10:31

Now did... were... did you have somebody in prison that you were able to reach out to to ask questions from a faith perspective? Or did the God bring somebody into your life? I mean, you had to have...

Boomer Bennett: 10:40

Yeah, so we had MA lead ministry, and these men, Wayne Burlison, Steve Brigitta, Jeff Hall, Dan Wilhelm, Remy King, Rayvine Williamson, these men had life without the possibility of parole. But these men were sold out for Christ. These men were theologians on another scale, because they knew that what they came to jail for was against God. And when they sold their life out for Christ, they sold their life out for Christ. And accepting Christ in prison is not easy. It is not something that you want to do on an everyday basis. Very rarely do men do it openly and outwardly, like we did. But these men taught us hermeneutics, they taught us apologetics, they taught us Old Testament survey, they taught us Greek, they taught us Hebrew. They taught us how to evangelize and we just evangelized our yard, the gifting that God gave me, he gave me the ability to be an influencer. And I'm a teacher, meaning that influence culture, I influence men and women, not because I'm that guy. It's just a call that God has put on my life. And up until that point in at 24, I've been influencing the cultures, to gang bang, to steal, pillage, rob, and destroy, and murder. That's what I was known for. And I taught men how to do that very well. Not only did I come to Christ, but the pivotal point in my relationship with God is when I found out that God was my father. That revolutionized my life, my worldview, my perspective, my everything. Not only did Christ come and die for me, but as I accept him, the God of the universe is no longer not only my creator, but he's now my dad. And my whole life, this is what I've been looking for. I've been looking to be influenced by Father. When I wrapped all of that Scripture together, I took my Christianity very seriously. When I was a gang member, I was an extreme personality, I did everything to the letter to the T, I advanced it as much as I humanly possibly could without getting killed. And so when I came to Christ, I kept that same mindset. I kept that same philosophy, I kept that same vigor because this was the whole reason God gave it to me in the first place. And so one of the most pivotal courses that I went through, was the American Heritage Series, by David Barton.

Rick Green: 13:03

No kidding!? And this was in prison, you got this in prison?

Boomer Bennett: 13:09

This was in prison. It was a 10 disc, DVD disc set, the American Heritage Series, he went through the American story, like I've never fathom or heard of it in my life. Now, mind you, it's about 60 of us who are going through this course at the time. All of us have just accepted Christ, or a lot of us are babes in Christ. And how he's articulating the American story is not how it's been conveyed to us in our life. A lot of individuals who come from the hood, a lot of African Americans and Hispanic Americans and white Americans who come from poverty, they don't know they have an impoverished slave liberal mind state until it's challenged. We didn't know we had a leftist mind state. I didn't know that I had communist socialist ideas. I didn't know that I was a Democrat until he... this course, he started to challenge certain things that I never was on fire about. But I'm starting to feel some kind of way about the stuff that he's revealing about America. And to be honest with you, it was ticking me off because at this time, I'm 25. And you're telling me for 25 years, nobody has ever exposed this truth to... It took a white guy on a DVD for me... in prison to expose this truth in me. I was, I was, I was mad brother.

Rick Green: 14:38

I'll bet. Were you alone? Or did you see some of that and other guys that were in the class?

Boomer Bennett: 14:43

So a particular DVD came and it was Black History in America. This is the DVD. This was the part of the America Heritage Series that changed my life forever. Now I accepted Christ. God is my dad. However, just because I'm sold out for Christ doesn't mean I have a biblical worldview. Just because God is my Father don't mean that I'm living, right for him. I want to but I don't know what that looks like, necessarily. And this is how instrumental the David Barton series was. Because as a African American in prison, I have to abide by certain guidelines and conduct and a lifestyle in order for me to stay safe, but in order for me to uphold my community, that's the protocol. And that's for every race. But specifically, because I'm African American, this was the protocol. So when I'm looking at this David Barton, specific Black History in America, he's laying out the foundation of the process to the Civil War. And the thoughts that Abraham Lincoln had, and how the freed slaves came to the north, and the tree slaves were conservatives, not only were they conservatives, that the most of them were pastors, and they were all African American. He gave some of their names. And he gave statements that they made from behind the pulpit, as Christian, conservative African American men. Bro, it split the class in half.

Rick Green: 16:11

No kidding?

Boomer Bennett: 16:12

Because some of us were like, this is radical, but if it's the truth, I will not live any other way.

Rick Green: 16:22

You had a basic love of truth. I mean, that speaks for itself, right there. And you're saying, if what I believe right now isn't lined up with truth, I have to change what I believe.

Boomer Bennett: 16:31

I have to change my worldview. And the other half of the class was like, this shouldn't be taught. This is prison. There's no place for this. You know what I mean? And they were timid and scared and perplexed that this kind of truth was being given in prison. They were not ready to let their race submit to Christ. That's the reality. What's the reality... when you look at the landscape, that's really what the main factor is. Either you're going to submit everything, to the head of Christ, everything and whatever doesn't rise, you will get rid of, or you will attempt to have two masters, your relationship with Christ, and also your identity, as a African American or whatever color you are. And that's what happened. And this is what tore me and my relationship with a lot of other African American men who accepted Christ, we all accepted Christ during the same time. But after this video, it broke the relationships. And I, bro, I promise you, I watched that video about 30 times by myself because it was so revolutionary.

Rick Green: 17:52

And I'm guessing, Boomer, that that same split that you just described, whether we're going to be truly under the Lordship of Christ and follow whatever truth turns out to be, or we're going to go with our race, our feelings, our, you know, culture that we've grown up in, or whatever it might be, I'm guessing that continued to be the deciding factor after you got out of prison, and as you went into ministry, you find the same thing. Are people willing to submit to the Lordship of Christ and the whole Bible and the whole worldview like you describe? Or are they hanging on and trying to serve two masters?

Boomer Bennett: 18:22

Yeah, and I came home Christmas Eve, 2016. That's still been my hangups since I've been home from prison. There's a certain lifestyle of Christianity that I love in prison, because you can't fake it. If you accepted Christ, you can't tempt to be a Crip and a Christian. You have to be one. And if you're caught playing both sides, then there's severe consequences for that, right? Out here in the free world, it's different. You can do both, and still go to church and still be commended and still be given and never be caught out or never admonished? Or... it's very sad, bother, the state in which the body of Christ is, however, our Lord and Savior said that the gates of hell will not prevail against his bride. So I live in dwell in that right there. Regardless of how the church might look in the state we might be in in how compromising we are. I got to remember that I'm the Bride of Christ. And so I need to do my best to live out my Christianity in such a way that it motivates those who desire the same thing and it convicts those who are living contrary to... and likewise if I see a man or woman of God, living their Christianity in such a way and I am not...

Rick Green: 19:43

It convicts you.

Boomer Bennett: 19:44

It's opposed to. Or if I see a brother or sister in Christ living in such a way that motivates me, then I'm going ahead and try to reach out to them just like I did Dave, bro. When I seen Dave was on the schedule. Bro! From California to Tennessee, bro, I was there immediately. And I would like to know what... I'm not gonna like geek out and like, like, I'm be wise I'm gonna be gentle. I'm not going to hold this man hostage. But I really need your organization to know. You guys changed the worldview of one person that God has let loose on the world and I promise you, bro, I am spending every waking minute of my life, me, my wife, our kids, we do damage for the kingdom in such a way based on the principles that I learned from David Barton and the WallBuilders.

Rick Green: 20:40

Oh Brother, I tell you what, man, I can't tell you how much you blessed David and Cheryl, and that you blessed me right now just hearing this story. And our listeners. I wish so bad we weren't at a time, because I want to visit with you more. We got to do this again. Give out your... How can people reach you for your ministry to support your ministry or to bring you in to speak whatever?

Boomer Bennett: 20:57

Oh, for sure. So on Instagram and Facebook, my name is Boomer Bennett. And you guys can message me anytime or day and book me. Or even if you just want to speak and chill and pray and hear my testimony, me or yours just build the kingdom together. Those are the ways to hit me up. So Boomer Bennett, and you'll see me, I'm the only awesome handsome fellow with a name like that on any one of those social media platforms under those names.

Rick Green: 21:24

I love it. I love it. I actually pull it up right as you were saying it. So I got you right here. I'm sending you a follow right now and encourage our listeners to do the same. We'll do a link at our website, today at WallBuildersLive.com . Boomer it's been a pleasure, man. Let's get you back again soon.

Boomer Bennett: 21:37

I appreciate you... you guys have an awesome day, man, and stay awesome in Christ.

Rick Green: 21:41

Appreciate it. Stay with us, folks. We'll be right back with David and Tim Barton.

Tim Barton: 21:43

Hey, guys, we want to let you know about a new resource we have at WallBuilders called The American Story. For so many years, people have asked us to do a history book to help tell more of the story that’s just not known or not told today. And we would say very providentially in the midst of all of the new attacks coming out against America, whether it be from things like the 1619 project that say America is evil and everything in America was built off slavery, which is certainly not true or things like even the Black Lives Matter movement, the organization itself, not out of statement, Black Lives Matter, but the organization that says we’re against everything that America was built on, and this is part of the Marxist ideology. There’s so many things attacking America. Well, is America worth defending? What is the true story of America? We actually have written and told that story. Starting with Christopher Columbus, going roughly through Abraham Lincoln, we tell the story of America, not as the story of a perfect nation or a perfect people, but the story of how God used these imperfect people and did great things through this nation. It’s a story you want to check out WallBuilders.com , The American Story.

Rick Green: 22:51

We're back here on WallBuilders. Thanks for staying with us. That was Boomer Bennett. We're back with David and Tim Barton, guys, man. Oh, wow. Okay, that was cool. David, I'm so glad... I don't know if you grabbed him at the conference or he found you and tracked you down. But I'm so glad y'all met. I remember when you and Cheryl told me later that afternoon at the hotel, how amazed you were and how excited you were so just really cool that we got to get him on the

David Barton: 23:11

It was really cool. Like with a lot of program too. conferences where they have a lot of speakers they kind of move you through the line pretty quick. You got to be at a certain point to get mic'd up and then you go on stage and you're off stage and he was waiting outside the greenroom. Now he's part of staff and he said, hey, can I get a minute with you? And so he told me this stuff. And I'm standing there kind of like wide eyed open mouth. Like you're kidding me. Because you look at him, he is one of the sharpest, cleanest looking guys out there. Nothing that would have suggested gangs, nothing that was suggested the behavior that he had and talked about the violence that had characterized his life, and it was a total turnaround for him. He is really a great representative for Turning Point USA. He is one of the guys who interfaces with pastors to get them involved in cultural things and kudos to turning point USA for what they're doing. The conference they had six months ago, they had 300 pastors, they're looking at getting civically engaged, this time it was 1300 pastors. They picked up 1,000 pastors in just that six months and that's because of guys like Boomer out there talking about it. And I've got to tell you, I was shocked when he said that it was all those videos that turned him around in prison. Going through the American Heritage Series is totally what turned him around. But we know that to be true, not from the series standpoint, but when you get reconnected with your history, especially history you've never heard in your whole life. And it turns out that that history is what you've wanted to be and it kind of fills a niche in your soul that God had put there to, to learn about him. It was really cool to hear what he was saying, and to hear the impact it's had on his life and on so many others as well. And then to hear him talk about his family because he's raised without a family didn't have a clue who his father was. And he's learned to be the father that he never had. And that's sometimes hard for people to do is to not have an example. But he got that through the scriptures. And so it's just really good to see such a transformation happening in the guy's life like that. And it was just really fun to be with him.

Tim Barton: 24:59

Well and to this point Dad, I've only heard the stories, although now hearing some of the interview, still, I've not met Boomer yet, but certainly this is something that is just a couple, I guess maybe a week whatever ago now we celebrated Father's Day. And as you're mentioning, when you're growing up without a father, the potential for negative impact that is there, and so for him to say he's going to do something different, he's going to turn things around. And what that's going to mean for future generations is so significant in my mind, but not just what he's doing in his own family. What now, the ministry he has that he can speak to some of these things, and it's certainly so cool. We were able to send out a note to some of our donors telling them thank you because the reason we are able to give to some of these chaplains in some of these prisons or, in that case I mean chaplains military, right. Anytime we get a request from chaplains, we pretty much fill those don't charge them anything we want to help people in need where we can, but it's because we have donors along the way. And so to hear this kind of testimony is the kind of thing you always hope and pray for you never really know what's going to happen. Absolutely incredible what God has done in his life through his life and certainly what God is going to do with him going forward.

Rick Green: 26:04

Good stuff and Tim what... like you mentioned, I mean, the difference that makes for his family, for other families, I was just last week for father's day reading Terry Schilling's post about his dad and how he was a drug addict early in life, turned his life around ended up raising a great family, Terry now you know, very involved in the family movement and leading a major organization on that. So it's just really cool to see what can happen there and what a blessing for WallBuilders to get to be a blessing in Boomer's life and now for Boomer to be a blessing to so many people out there. Thanks for listening today, folks. You've been listening to WallBuilders.