THE STORY OF GIBSON

I was born in Bandung in Indonesia on July 11, 1979. I had three siblings; one sister and two brothers. My father came from the Batak tribe and had an ill-tempered nature. Whenever I made a mistake, he beat and kicked me. It made me sad and disappointed. At that time I even considered buying a gun and shooting him.

When I was in junior high school, I had many friends from various places and with various characteristics. Several of them were indecent, immoral kids. From them I learned to drink, smoke, steal, rob, listen to hard music, watch pornography, fight etc.

In 1995 I went to senior high school. Here I met a new friend who was a member of a punk band. His name is Bayu and the name of the band was Chaotic Squad. From him I heard and learned all about music, lifestyle, and the idealism of punk. At that time I really liked punk and tried to apply all its principles to my life. I got myself a Mohawk hairstyle, colored it and wore a leather jacket and boots.
I was rebellious and daily made trouble at school, beating the headmaster and fighting with teachers. I used marijuana daily and got into drug abuse, free sex, gambling, etc. One day I stole something in a mall and was caught by security. Several days I stayed in prison.
In my second grade in senior high school I got a girlfriend, but nevertheless I got more and more out of control. I was seldom at home and I drank alcohol daily. After I had finished my second class, I dropped out of school. I had to move to another where I met bad students and felt my life to be more chaotic. Yet I liked it, because I felt I could practice here all the punk doctrines and principles.

I remember one bad experience in my life. My father was one of the teachers of English at this school. One day in class I made trouble and the teacher (who was my father) became angry with me. I really got angry with him too and beat my father. At that moment I felt proud about it, but now I really regret it.

At one time my mother asked me, “Do you still believe in Jesus?” I said, “No, I don’t believe in God and neither in Jesus”. I was inspired by the following lyrics of the song Anarchy in the U.K. by the English punk band Sex Pistols:
I am an antichrist
I am an anarchist
Don’t know what I want
But I know how to get it

This reminds me of an experience on a Sunday in 1997. I had gone to a punk rock show, but got ill that night. I couldn’t breathe and felt I would die. I couldn’t walk and had a painful stomach. I laid down in the bed but couldn’t sleep. My father came and prayed with me. I couldn’t understand what he prayed, because he prayed in a different language. After he prayed I could sleep and when I woke up in the morning I felt healthy again. Unfortunately this experience didn’t bring me to repentance and I went back to the dark side of my life and even considered burning down a church building one day. I committed many bad things in that period of which I will not tell now.

In July 1998 I finished school, but two weeks later I fell into a stressful depression. I think I was contaminated by a HIV virus because I had free sex with prostitutes. I feared I only had one or two years to live, so I just stayed in my bedroom all the time. One midnight, I heard a closing song at a secular radio broadcast. I wondered why this radio broadcast ended the day with a Christian song. I heard the lyrics and they made me cry. I said, “If God is there, please change my whole life” I felt myself joyful and happy, and released of all of my heavy burdens. I believe God arranged it to bring me to repentance. After that I decided to leave behind all my bad behavior. I didn’t want to consume alcohol anymore or use drugs, have free sex, etc. It was not easy to quit smoking, but finally I succeeded in 1999, until now. I left my punk band, called Aral RD [Anti Racial Radical Democracy]. All the members of the band were angry because they couldn’t finish a recording, but I didn’t care and left both the band and the punk life. I changed my lifestyle too. I burned all my punk attributes, except my boots. I reconciled with my father, my mother and my family. From then on I have always loved them and I went to church again. I had changed my lifestyle.

After this experience, I was thinking of taking up my study again. I took a one-year pre-course at a State University and passed the examination in 1999, then to start a full study at this university.

My ministry story started when one of my friends took me to a Charismatic Church. I liked this church, because they had simple Bible studies and they used drums and other modern music instruments. Here I felt I grew up in my faith. I had one counsellor from whom I learned more about the Bible.

One time I saw a punk kid walking in front of me, complete with a red Mohawk hairstyle. In my heart I said, “God, actually I still like punk rock style but I want to be like you”. After I had been following Jesus one year, my counsellor got a job in the Netherlands and I got another counsellor. My new counsellor had a metal music background and was a leader of youth creative ministry. From him I learned how to serve God with our hobby. He said, “All music came from God including punk music. Satan never created music, he just stole it from God. So we must bring back all for the glory of God, including punk music”.

In 1999 I used my punk style again, complete with Mohawk hairstyle and red color. In 2000 my counsellor gave me a responsibility to start and build an underground music ministry. With other friends in this church, who had the same background hobby music I had, we built up this present ministry called Bloodlamb. In 2008 we introduced this ministry in another city. It resulted in a network called 68 UNITY. This expanding ministry included outreach, Bible study, discipleship, hangout, and underground music concerts. From 2000 until now we have performed over 100 concerts. We have about 500 members across ten cities in our country. To serve punk people is not easy, but I believe God will give us strength to continue this ministry. We eventually want to expand this ministry to other countries. God bless you all. Amen.

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