David Holland says his single mom raised him right. He went to church and knew about God. But when he got older, he \u201cbranched out into different areas.\u201d Soon, he was mired in a life of crime and addiction.<\/p>\n
Between the ages of 21 and 40, Holland estimates he spent eight-plus years incarcerated for short-term sentences on a range of charges, such as cocaine possession with intent to sell and domestic violence.<\/p>\n
Incarceration, Holland now believes, was God working to rescue him from his addictions to alcohol and crack cocaine. His brother remembers him as looking like a dying HIV patient during that time.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of my friends are dead,\u201d said Holland, of Norwich, Connecticut. \u201cIf they aren\u2019t dead, they probably wish they were because they are crippled, paralyzed or addicted to drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Violence claimed the life of one of his closest friends, gunned down by rivals in broad daylight. The friend\u2019s death gripped Holland with fear, so he went home and destroyed all of his drugs and related paraphernalia, then started praying.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just started praying to God, and it was scaring me more because I knew He was hearing me,\u201d Holland said. \u201cI knew He was answering me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The answer started with a carpet-cleaning job. One of Holland\u2019s first assignments was to clean the carpet at a Southern Baptist church plant, Cornerstone City Church. While struggling to clean a pesky stain, he was approached by pastor Shaun Pillay.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know that stain you keep trying to get, we have them in our heart too,\u201d the church planter said. \u201cSometimes when we try to get rid of them we can\u2019t. But Jesus can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pillay gave Holland a Bible and pointed him to Psalm 46:10, with its instruction to be still as God does His work in and through a person\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
Pillay, an Asian Indian who grew up in Durban, South Africa, had come to Norwich to start an inner-city church. The launch was upcoming on Easter Sunday, April 7, 2009, and he invited Holland. During the service\u2019s invitation, Holland responded.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like God took everything off of me,\u201d Holland said. \u201cMy socks, shoes, and shoestrings. It was like I was stripped naked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was reborn that day in that church. We have those stains in our heart that only Jesus can clean.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pillay not only gained the church\u2019s first convert, he gained a person of peace who connected Cornerstone to the city.<\/p>\n
The Rose of New England<\/p>\n
Norwich, in southeastern Connecticut, has a rich history of manufacturing and shipping. The city played a significant role in the American Revolution with its production of ships and munitions. Today, it has about 40,000 residents and is called \u201cThe Rose of New England.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s heritage had little effect on Holland. By the time he was in high school, his reputation as an athlete was beginning to gain him favors — playing with older students who started giving him drugs.<\/p>\n
The last of five children, Holland kept his newfound habits from her. When she finally figured out what he was doing, she was deeply hurt. Holland\u2019s mom was the first of many who would be hurt.<\/p>\n
By 21, he met someone who offered him the opportunity to make money selling drugs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seemed good, but it never was good,\u201d Holland said. \u201cIt was nothing but total chaos. Not one bit of it was fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those years are painful to remember, but Holland now understands that his previous drug use was a boot camp for his current ministry as Cornerstone City Church\u2019s community outreach organizer. He\u2019s like a one-man fire department, on call 24 hours a day to respond to emergency calls from addicts, homeless and others.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are the number one church called to do anything,\u201d Holland said of Cornerstone\u2019s reputation in the region.<\/p>\n
His old haunts are now his mission field.<\/p>\n
Shortly after his conversion, Holland started street witnessing. The pastor knew that Holland needed mentoring and discipleship first. For the next few years, they met regularly for that purpose. And they intentionally met in different places around Norwich because wherever they went Holland knew people.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has had significant growth in Christ,\u201d said Pillay, who is also a North American Mission Board church planting catalyst. \u201cAll the people that he used to sell drugs to he was intentional to go back and reach them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Holland\u2019s transformation has been evident beyond Cornerstone. He and Pillay have visited with Connecticut Gov. Daniel Malloy on several occasions, and he has connected with the ministries of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich. And he received a Connecticut NAACP Humanitarian Award for 2015.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
David Holland says his single mom raised him right. He went to church and knew about God. But when he got older, he \u201cbranched out into different areas.\u201d Soon, he was mired in a life of crime and addiction. Between the ages of 21 and 40, Holland estimates he spent eight-plus years incarcerated for short-term […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[835,532,391,550,1130,546,2527,434,2261],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6869"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6869\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}