I was born in Bandung in Indonesia. I have 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. This made me sad, and I contemplated buying a gun and shooting him with it.

When I was in junior high school, I had many friends from various places and backgrounds. Most of them were indecent and immoral. They taught me how to drink, smoke, steal, rob, listen to hard music, watch pornography, fight and so much more. In high school, I met a new friend who was a member of a punk rock band. His name was Bayu and the name of the band was Chaotic Squad. He taught me all about the lifestyle and the idealism of punk rock music. I really liked punk rock and tried to apply all its principles to my life. I got myself a Mohawk hairstyle, coloured it and wore a leather jacket and boots. I was rebellious and got into trouble at school every day. I even beat up the headmaster and fought with teachers. I smoked marijuana, got into drug abuse, free sex, and gambling, etc. I even stole something in a mall. I was caught by security and spent several days in prison. I got more and more out of control. I was seldom at home and I drank alcohol daily. I ended up dropping out of one school and went to another one, where I met even worse students. My life was in total chaos. This allowed me to really put into practice all the punk doctrines and principles I had learned.

I remember my mother asking me; “Do you still believe in Jesus?” I said; “No, I don’t believe in God or Jesus”. I was inspired by the lyrics of the song Anarchy 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”.

I finally finished school, and right away, I fell into depression. I believed I had contracted HIV, due to the free sex I had with prostitutes. I would stay in my bedroom most of the time, in fear that I only had a few years left to live. As I was listening to a secular radio station one night, I heard a closing song. It was a Christian song, and I wondered why it had been played. The lyrics, made me cry. I said; “If God is here, please change my whole life”. Immediately, I felt joyful, happy, and released of all of my heavy burdens. I believe God arranged that moment to bring me to repentance. After that, I decided to leave behind all my bad behaviour. I didn’t want to drink alcohol, take drugs, or have free sex anymore. I found it hard to quit smoking at first, but finally succeeded. I left my punk rock band called ARRD [Anti Racial Radical Democracy]. The band members were angry at me but I didn’t care, and left both the band and the punk lifestyle behind me. I burned everything “punk”, except for my boots.

After this experience, I changed everything about my life, and reconciled with my father, mother and the rest of the family. I started studying again. I took a one-year pre-course at a State University and passed the exam, then went onto a full study at this university.

My ministry 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. I grew in my faith, and had a counsellor who taught me about the Bible. I saw this punk kid walk in, just in front of me one day, with a red Mohawk hairstyle. In my heart I said; “God, actually I still like the punk rock style, but I want to be like you”. After following Jesus for one year, I was given another counsellor. My new counsellor had a heavy metal music background, and was a leader of a youth ministry. He taught me how I could serve God with our hobby. He said; “All music came from God including punk rock music. Satan didn’t create music, he just stole it from God. Therefore, we must bring all music back for the glory of God, including punk rock music”. I started my punk style again, complete with the red Mohawk. I was given the responsibility of starting an underground music ministry, with other friends in the church who had the same background and hobby in music. This expanding ministry included outreach, Bible studies, discipleship, hangouts, and underground music concerts. We have performed over 100 concerts so far, and have about 500 members across ten cities in our country. Serving 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.