Rededicate 250 | Ep. 01: Lorenzo Sewell

Summary

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Episode Overview

Title: Rededicate 250 with Lorenzo Sewell
Podcast: Jonathan Shuttlesworth
Date: May 19, 2026
Guests: Lorenzo Sewell

This episode features an inspiring conversation between Jonathan Shuttlesworth and Pastor Lorenzo Sewell. It explores Sewell's powerful journey from a troubled upbringing in Detroit, including time among gangs and drug culture, to transformational Christian faith and impactful ministry. Key themes include the power of fervent prayer, redemption, the significance of community leadership, and unique experiences with political figures like President Trump.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Power and Authenticity of Prayer

• Fervent Prayer vs. Religious Routine:
  • Lorenzo highlights how true prayer must be passionate, not just ritualistic.
    • "Sometimes prayer can become the rhythm of religion and we just do it." (00:23, Lorenzo Sewell)
• Jonathan commends Sewell for bringing genuine spiritual energy to a weary audience.
  • "You brought the energy back. So great job." (00:43, Jonathan Shuttlesworth)

Endurance, Sacrifice, and Perspective

• Sacrifice Echoes of Past Generations:
  • Sewell reflects on his ancestors’ endurance for civil rights and frames his own hardships in that light.
    • "If I can't survive for 12 hours in the hot sun, I don't deserve to be able to have the blessing and the benefit of this country." (01:17, Lorenzo Sewell)
• The importance of maintaining perspective, gratitude, and purpose in the face of adversity.

From Gangs to God: Personal Backstory

• Upbringing in East Detroit Among Gangs:
  • Father imprisoned for murder; mentorship by violent gangs.
    • "My father is in prison for murder and I was literally reared being raised by the Best friend gang... The Best Friends gang was a murderous gang." (01:31, Lorenzo Sewell)
  • Anecdote of being encouraged to commit violence at 11 years old, and witnessing drive-bys.
• The Uniqueness of Redemption in America:
  • "Only in America could a president... come and talk to a pastor. It can't happen anywhere else." (02:06, Lorenzo Sewell)

Faith, Values, and Political Involvement

• Early Conservative Voting Motivated by Biblical Values:
  • "I've always just believed in traditional marriage, and I've always believed in sanctity of life. Those are my two pillars." (02:28, Lorenzo Sewell)
• Interaction with President Trump:
  • Surprised at Trump's genuine engagement rather than asking for support.
    • "You don't want us to raise money for you. But I forgot he was already rich. That's why I believe he's the only real president we've ever had, because he really didn't need anything." (03:13, Lorenzo Sewell)
  • Trump kept his word: invited him to pray at the inauguration and preach at the RNC.
    • "And he kept his word." (03:28, Jonathan Shuttlesworth)
    • "Absolutely." (03:29, Lorenzo Sewell)

Turning Point: Encounter with God

• Life-Altering Spiritual Experience:
  • April 18, 1999: Sewell, addicted and lost, was prayed for by a security guard.
    • "I was cutting myself. I was on all types of drugs... It was the first time I was convicted, right? We talk about the conviction of the Holy Spirit. I was convicted of my sin." (03:37–04:22, Lorenzo Sewell)
  • After returning to Detroit, he leaves the drug life despite real danger.
    • "I tried to put in my two week resume. That didn't work out, right?" (04:39, Lorenzo Sewell)
    • Drug dealer respects his decision, signifying a turning point.

Spiritual Formation and Call to Preach

• Spiritual Training in Prayer:
  • Began as a janitor at a major Detroit church under Bishop Merritt, introduced to "three hour prayer" culture.
    • "My encounter and my definition of Christianity was three hours of prayer every day." (06:30, Lorenzo Sewell)
• Intense Study and Solitude:
  • God used loneliness and the loss of his old friends to push him into deep Bible study—five hours daily.
    • "The only thing I had was the Bible... the wilderness experience... All of God's friends go to the wilderness." (07:25, Lorenzo Sewell)

Ministry Breakthroughs and Community Impact

• Growth of Ministry and Personal Leadership:
  • Became a pastor at 21; since 2018, leads a church in a severely disadvantaged Detroit neighborhood.
• Defining Moment: President Trump's Visit
  • Trump’s visit marked a “breakthrough” moment—God’s reminder of purpose.
    • "You can't keep asking poor people to give, to transform a community they don't even want to live in. So that's when I was able to get involved in politics." (08:49, Lorenzo Sewell)
• Addressing Election Integrity and Civic Engagement:
  • Example of a congregant being "voted for illegally" drove new political focus at the church.
    • "His name's on it. Shows me his Ohio ID. I'm like, what? So that put me on a trajectory in terms of politics." (09:20, Lorenzo Sewell)

Ministry Today & Connecting with Lorenzo

• Outreach and Platform Expansion:
  • Active on Instagram, TikTok, X, and encourages listeners to connect for ministry resources.
    • "I'm on Everyone. Just my name, Lorenzo." (10:25, Lorenzo Sewell)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Sometimes prayer can become the rhythm of religion and we just do it."
  — Lorenzo Sewell (00:23)
• "If I can't survive for 12 hours in the hot sun, I don't deserve to be able to have the blessing and the benefit of this country."
  — Lorenzo Sewell (01:17)
• "Only in America could a president... come and talk to a pastor."
  — Lorenzo Sewell (02:06)
• "I was convicted of my sin... I knew the God of the Bible."
  — Lorenzo Sewell (04:19)
• "My encounter and my definition of Christianity was three hours of prayer every day."
  — Lorenzo Sewell (06:30)
• "All of God's friends go to the wilderness."
  — Lorenzo Sewell (07:28)
• "You can't keep asking poor people to give, to transform a community they don't even want to live in."
  — Lorenzo Sewell (08:50)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | Details | |:-------------:|:--------------------------------------------------------:|:----------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:23 | Power of real, fervent prayer versus ritualistic prayer | Lorenzo on authentic prayer | | 01:17 | Sacrifice and perspective on hardship | Lorenzo references ancestors' endurance for rights | | 01:31–02:18 | Life in Detroit, mentorship by gangs, violence | Lorenzo's upbringing, Best Friends gang | | 02:20–03:20 | Political values, meeting President Trump | Why he’s conservative, Trump’s engagement with church | | 03:37–05:33 | Encounter with God, leaving drugs | Turning point at 18, danger in leaving drug world | | 05:53–06:34 | Call to preach, foundation in prayer | Started ministry as janitor, three-hour daily prayer | | 07:21–07:59 | Wilderness, Bible study, spiritual formation | "School of the Spirit," study after losing old friends | | 08:38–09:26 | Church breakthrough, Trump’s visit, community challenges | Marked moment of transformation in ministry | | 09:26–10:02 | Election integrity discovery, new political focus | Congregant’s identity used illegally in voting | | 10:15–10:46 | Social media/platforms, reaching wider audience | Encourages listeners to connect on Instagram, TikTok, X, etc. |

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Conclusion

This episode offers a moving and dynamic portrait of Pastor Lorenzo Sewell’s personal and ministerial journey—one that is marked by redemption, perseverance, and community transformation. Lorenzo’s candid storytelling provides hope, both through his testimony of deliverance from crime and addiction and his passion for serving those often overlooked by society. The discussion also highlights the intersection of faith, leadership, and active engagement in the broader social and political life of the nation.

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Transcript

[Jonathan Shuttlesworth]

Welcome to the Jonathan Shuttlesworth podcast. To stay connected, go to revival today dot com. And now here is evangelist Jonathan.

[Podcast Host]

Great to have you on. Thanks for coming on. You might know these next couple.

[Lorenzo Sewell]

It's the fervent effectual prayer of the righteous.

[Podcast Host]

Yes.

[Lorenzo Sewell]

At the end of the day sometimes prayer can become the rhythm of religion and we just do it.

[Podcast Host]

That's what I was gonna say. It was nice to hear a non red prayer total. And then these people have been baking in the sun. It's 5pm I was telling the crowd while you were. Or the people on tv, they don't understand there was no energy in the crowd because everybody's been. And you brought the energy back. So great job.

[Lorenzo Sewell]

Thank you. You know, I feel like our forefathers and foremothers, they would be happy because they say you still believe. You believe in the sacrifice we've made you believe in the sacrifice of Jesus and to pray fervently even though we've been. I've been here since 5:30 in the morning.

[Podcast Host]

You have?

[Lorenzo Sewell]

Absolutely. But you know what? I realized my ancest. They walked for 385 days to get rights on buses. I realized my ancestors went back down to the south to free people so they can be able to experience the greatness of this country. So my question is if I can't survive for 12 hours in the hot sun, I don't deserve to be able to have the blessing and the benefit of this country.

[Podcast Host]

It's a great perspective. Tell me what you mentioned up there, that you were mentored by murders and stuff. How did you start out in east Detroit?

[Lorenzo Sewell]

Yeah, my father is in prison for murder and I was literally reared being raised by the Best friend gang. And if you look in the FBI and you look at who are the top gangs. The Best Friends gang was a murderous gang. And I remember 11 years old getting into a fight and my friend said, well, let's go and get some guns and shoot the guy. And I remember, can you imagine that? 11 years old I was in the drive by playing Atari video games. Before there was Xbox, before there was PlayStation. Right. There was Atari and Atari. I was playing the game and a house got shot up. So I was mentored by that. So only in America could a president. I mean think about that. I'm not a prestigious man. I don't come from an amazing legacy. I don't. I'm not rich. But for a president to come and talk to a pastor. Yeah, that's only can happen in America. It can't happen Anywhere else.

[Podcast Host]

So where. Where did that connection come with President Trump?

[Lorenzo Sewell]

Literally, he came and, you know, I thought I was a. I've always voted conservative. Never consider myself a real Trump guy.

[Podcast Host]

So tell me why you voted conservative.

[Lorenzo Sewell]

Because I believe the Bible. I've always just believed in traditional marriage, and I've always believed in sanctity of life. Those are my two pillars. If you had RNX in your name,

[Podcast Host]

I'd vote for it because of those things.

[Lorenzo Sewell]

Absol. I didn't even check it out. At that point, I wasn't as politically astute as I am now in terms of righteously regulating resources. I didn't understand the importance of fair elections. I just voted. I did it because I was told that my forefathers, they sacrificed for me to be able to vote. It was literally that simple. So when he came, I was like. The first thing was I didn't believe he would come because I didn't ask him to come. But his team reached out to me. His advance seemed to say, yeah, he's coming. And I'm like, so when we met, he was like, yeah, I want to listen to you. Like, okay, you don't want to check, Right. You don't want us to raise money? Because my. My mindset was his politics. You want us to raise money for you. But I forgot he was already rich. That's why I believe he's the only real president we've ever had, because he really didn't need anything.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Lorenzo Sewell]

And so for him to promise me, I would pray at the inauguration, I would preach at the rnc, and for me to have a stage like this, Only you can do that in America.

[Podcast Host]

And he kept his word.

[Lorenzo Sewell]

Absolutely.

[Podcast Host]

Which not everybody does.

[Lorenzo Sewell]

Right.

[Podcast Host]

They just say what they need to say when they're in town. So when. When did you have your encounter with God that took you out of a life of drugs and all that?

[Lorenzo Sewell]

Good question. So I'll never forget it. It was April 18, 1999. I was a lib. I was cutting myself. I was on all types of drugs. Ecstasy, acid, shrooms, my dad being in prison. I was searching for somebody to validate me in the midst of the pain and the pressure of being a young man. Mom did all she could. She's my hero. But there's a point where a man's got to look at a man to make them a man.

[Podcast Host]

Right?

[Lorenzo Sewell]

And I didn't have that. And the only surrogate fathers I had were drug dealers. And I was in Daytona beach cutting myself. And it was a security guard. He came up to me and he said, can I pray for you?

[Podcast Host]

Really?

[Lorenzo Sewell]

And I thought, and really, to be frank with you, I felt like I was offended because I was like, who do you think you are? You know, I pulled out money I had. I'm like, I mean, what do you got? He said, no, no, I'm not trying to offend you. Can I pray for you? And he laid his hands on me and he prayed for me. And at that moment, it was the first time I ever felt in my life that drug dealing was wrong. It was the first time I was convicted, right? We talk about the conviction of the Holy Spirit. I was convicted of my sin and then I went back to Detroit, talked to all my boys and they're looking at me like, they're like, yeah, right. I said, no, man, I'm done. I tried to put in my two week resume. That didn't work out, right?

[Podcast Host]

No.

[Lorenzo Sewell]

So I talked to my distributor and he's like, what's wrong with you? And I was like, man, I really. He was a murderous man. And I was.

[Podcast Host]

And that could be trouble asking to leave.

[Lorenzo Sewell]

I was afraid for my life.

[Podcast Host]

Yes.

[Lorenzo Sewell]

I mean literally. And he was like, I respect you. He said, I respect you. He. And even though I didn't know the Bible from a blunt, I would smoke weed. I would smoke weed out of Bible papers. That's all I knew about Bible. Seriously, we'd run out of blunts, I grab a New Testament. I mean that's what I did. So. But I knew the God of the Bible. I knew it with. And this is the Holy Spirit, right. I just knew that he was real. And so for me to stand up on the stage and kind of declare Jesus is the only. I'm not doing that because it's something nice to say or I'm afraid somebody's going to get offended.

[Podcast Host]

Saved your life.

[Lorenzo Sewell]

Totally. I mean, if I'm in a ministry of ocean and you come and you throw me a life preserver, I'm gonna say you're the one that saved my life. So it is. I wasn't raised in church. I had an encounter with Christ.

[Podcast Host]

So then tell me this. You got, you had an encounter with God and that got you out of sin. Where did you get like the impartation to preach? Because you're not a, you're not a talker, you preach. So where'd that come from?

[Lorenzo Sewell]

That's a good question. So I literally how God works things out. Right. So I became a janitor. So I'm start working at the church. You Know, and I'm just working and cleaning and what kind of church it was a. So my bishop, Andrew Jonathan Davis Merritt. Bishop Merritt he was. Which I didn't know. We had the largest church in Detroit, which my grandmother went to. But you don't know it's from the streets. So I mean you go into a church thinking this is what a church is about. Right. So my first encounter with Christians was three hour prayer. So I didn't know like you couldn't. My. My encounter and my definition of Christianity was three hours of prayer every day.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Lorenzo Sewell]

So in those fervent prayers, that's where the preaching came from.

[Podcast Host]

I see. When would they pray? What, three hours? Nine to 12?

[Lorenzo Sewell]

No, no, from 5:00am to 8. Yep. Every. And it happened every day. So you gotta remember I'm an 18 year old kid. Right. So you know, you walk into something, you're like, this is what Christianity is. You don't have. You have no reference for Christianity. I wasn't raised in the church, I just didn't have any reference. So my reference was prayer and intercession and crying out to God. So on a stage like this, it's just, it's just natural that you've already been doing it.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, I like that. I like that you didn't read your prayer and it was anointed, you know, you could feel it.

[Lorenzo Sewell]

Thank you so much.

[Podcast Host]

I'm glad you were a part of it. So tell me what you have going on. Okay, so then now you have your own church?

[Lorenzo Sewell]

Yes, I do.

[Podcast Host]

You, how long have you been the pastor there?

[Lorenzo Sewell]

Yeah, so I got. Or then when I was 19. Pastor. My first church when I was 21, the pastor. And I'm at the.

[Podcast Host]

So hold on, when was Daytona? How old were you there?

[Lorenzo Sewell]

18.

[Podcast Host]

So you got saved and you got like. Right.

[Lorenzo Sewell]

I really. Well, you know what it was. And this is how God in his goodness, I lost all my friends. Right. Because I'm not a drug guy anymore. So God strategically set it up where the only thing I had was the Bible. So the only like for me to study the Bible for five hours a day, it wasn't like you'd probably look at that today or I would look at it today and say, what are you doing? Well then you got to remember my 18 year old kid, I didn't have anything, no cell phone. Only thing I had was all my friends were gone. And that was a little bit of what God used to drive me to. His word was the fact that he used the wilderness like the wilderness experience. He takes Abraham to the wilderness. Moses to the wilderness. Children of Israel, Jesus went to the wilderness. All of God's friends go to the wilderness. So he put me in the wilderness, and that's where I was able to learn. Before Bible school or anything, I was able to learn the ways of the Spirit. The school of the Spirit.

[Podcast Host]

Right. So then you took the church at 21.

[Lorenzo Sewell]

Yes. So the church that I have now, we've been there since 2018. And then I've also passed pastored in other churches. I've been assistant pastors. But my wife and I, we've been able to start churches, dream centers. It's been very humbling. It's been God's word.

[Podcast Host]

When you took the one in 2018, what, what if you looked back, I'm sure a lot of good things happened, but what was like a day or something that happened where you were like, you knew, you hit your breakthrough at that church and it went from being like a. One of many churches to like a top one?

[Lorenzo Sewell]

Yeah. You know, that's a very good question. When President Trump came to my church, you know, because I'm in the. I'm in the ghetto. Like, if you, if we were in front of my church right now, you'd see women getting human traffic, kids can't read, write, do math. You can go to the store and lose your life. Like, I'm in the hood. Like, I'm in the place that you tell your wife not to stop there and get gas type of thing, right? I mean, I'm. I'm in the hood, right? So when President Trump came, it was. That was the moment where I felt like God was like, I haven't forgot about you because, you know, you hustle, you pray, you believe God, you raise money, you do everything you can, but you're. You can't keep asking poor people to give, to transform a community they don't even want to live in. So that's when I was able to get involved in politics. So now I teach actually on politics three hours a day. So I have a political mentor at my church.

[Podcast Host]

Way to go.

[Lorenzo Sewell]

God brought him there because he was voted for illegally in the election. So he got this black guy. You got to think about this. Got this. I mean, like, this guy's from, like, our area, which, you know, these guys kill people, man. I mean, these are murderous men. These. I mean, I was voted for illegally. Like, what do you mean voted for? He said, I moved outside the city of Detroit. I moved to Ohio. I was re registered back to my old address, and I was voted for, illegally pulled out the voter rolls. His name's on it. Shows me his Ohio id. I'm like, what? So that put me on a trajectory in terms of politics. So that was the defining moment. It was really the day after President Trump's birthday.

[Podcast Host]

That's interesting.

[Lorenzo Sewell]

Like, I know I got saved. April 18, 1999. If you would say, what was the demarcation in terms of me knowing that this wasn't just a regular church. President Trump's Birthday is on the 14th of June. It was the 15th. That's the day came.

[Podcast Host]

That's a great story for everybody that's watching on Real America's Voice that liked what they heard both at the inauguration and today and your interview, and they want to know more about you. Where's the best place for them to go?

[Lorenzo Sewell]

So what they can do is, I'm on Instagram, you know, and before, you know, I was praying. I never was on Instagram. I never was on Tik Tok. But I want all those social media handles now because it's a ministry now, right? X and all that. So I'm on Everyone. Just my name, Lorenzo.

[Podcast Host]

SE S E W E L L. That's it. Thanks for coming on with us. I'm glad I got to meet you. It's an honor.

[Lorenzo Sewell]

Thank you so much.

[Jonathan Shuttlesworth]

Thank you for sharing the Jonathan Shuttlesworth podcast. If you're interested in supporting our mission to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to our Generation, please visit RevivalToday.com and click on Give now to become one of our monthly partners. Thank you in advance. We hope to see you soon.