God places the lonely in families

“God places the lonely in families,” said Denzel, quoting Psalm 68:6 with hope illuminating his eyes, “There is no such thing as too hard or too dark.” 

Denzel knew what he was talking about. For the first 30 years of his life, he was like an orphan who did not know the unconditional love of the Father. His family read the Bible and prayed each day, but Denzel had no understanding that Jesus is one with the Father, or that he could be saved by grace. He was taught that Jesus is the son of God, but He is not God, so he was afraid to pray to Jesus. His life was full of endless attempts at reaching a right standing before God through good works. He was always aware of his sin.

“There was so much shame and fear of falling short,” said Denzel. “I did not have assurance in my salvation. I believed in Jesus’ return, and I was sure He would tell me to depart from Him. I thought that I would be a goat separated from the sheep.”

For many years, Denzel also struggled with an addiction to pornography. He desperately prayed to be free. 

 “I opened up to my friend. He told me to pray to Jesus,” said Denzel. “He said that Jesus carries all power and all authority. Later, I cried out to Jesus one night when I was tempted to look at porn. Then, at that moment, another friend called me past his bedtime. I was like, ‘why are you calling me?’ and he said, ‘you just popped into my mind.’ I knew the Lord was answering my prayer.”

That night marked the beginning of Denzel’s process of deliverance. He began to know Jesus as both his Savior and Lord. He began to see Jesus as one with the Father.

“I found out that God the Father was okay with me praying to Jesus,” said Denzel. “Another night I cried out to Jesus when I was tempted to look at porn, and my computer went dead on its own, though it was fully charged. I believed it was the Lord helping me fight sin. That was the beginning of me believing that Jesus is who He says He is. That He really does have all power and all authority.”

At this time, Denzel was a part of a well-known theatrical percussion group in New York. It had been Denzel’s dream his entire life to make it into the group. And he had. He was living the dream. But he still felt unfulfilled.

“I quit, and told the Lord I would work for Him,” said Denzel. “He was changing my life, but I still felt I needed to earn God’s love. I did overseas ministry, and then started a homeless ministry in Richmond.”

Still believing that he needed to do more, Denzel started to face burnout.

“I loved creativity, dance and music. But I had the idea that anything that I enjoyed, I needed to give up,” said Denzel, who had been in marching and indoor band growing up, and had performed in theatre since the age of seven. It wasn’t until later that he would learn that the Lord gave him those unique talents and desires, and that the Lord cared about his heart.

He spent three years running the homeless ministry with a friend.

“It was just me and my ministry partner. We had financial support, but we didn’t have anybody checking in on us. No worship and prayer. No teams. It was so much spiritual warfare. People downtown facing trauma. Drug use. Race riots in front of our ministry. Demonic manifestations. I was in way over my head,” said Denzel. “The Lord used those three years to bring me to rock bottom.”

Finally, in the tumultuous month of September 2020, a friend introduced Denzel to MAPS Global and told him about the Prayer Room.

“I would come to the MAPS prayer room and just sit in the prayer room,” said Denzel. It was a place of peace for him. 

Around this time, he began to also discover the power of worship.

“One day was a particularly chaotic day at the homeless ministry. The spiritual warfare was heightened. Someone had given us a piano and it just sat there forever. We never used it. But this homeless guy actually asked if he could worship and play the piano,” said Denzel. “I said, ‘yes, if you’re good.’ The man said he used to play at David’s Tent. So, he began to minister to the Lord. I passed out sheet music. We started agreeing in worship, and the atmosphere changed. There was a guy there who could never sit still for more than ten minutes. He would always start screaming and yelling. That day, it was a King Saul and David moment. As we were ministering to the Lord, the evil spirit left that guy. He was so calm he fell asleep!” After that, Denzel began to have a friend play his guitar in worship at the homeless ministry whenever things would get chaotic. 

Recognizing the presence of God in worship was a perspective shift for Denzel. He began to see how the Lord had carved the puzzle pieces of his life to fit together. He wasn’t being called to give up creativity, dance and music. The Lord had given him the creative talents he had, and wanted him to step into a season of enjoying creativity, dance and music with the Lord. And not alone, but in the context of a spiritual family. 

After Denzel felt led to leave the homeless ministry, he and his wife joined MAPS Global. Then, in March of 2024, they joined a friend in establishing the MAPS Global Outreach Center. 

“I had a desire to see salvations, deliverances and healing. We only had one salvation in those three years [at the homeless ministry],” said Denzel. “I knew I needed to do this type of ministry with MAPS. One hundred percent.”

Today, the Outreach Center is saturated in worship, prayer, and evangelism and focuses on “the least, the last, and the lost” of the city. Open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, they serve free coffee, water and prayer. At less than a year old, the Outreach Center has reported 20 salvations, multiple healings, and many testimonies of the Lord’s handiwork.

“When the Lord gives you an assignment, he doesn’t want to break you. He wants to strengthen you to carry it,” said Denzel. “There are still challenges in ministry. But there is family. Inner healing. The Holy Spirit. There is fruit.” 

After going from a lonely existence of trying to earn the love of God, to joining a family of believers, Denzel is passionate about seeing others come into a place of family. He wants to see those without a home find their home and the lonely placed in families.