TULSA, Okla. — This weekend a local church is hosting a Faith and Blue event.
The pastor and congregation invited Tulsa police and the Tulsa County District Attorney’s office to the event.
On Saturday, people can learn about clearing tickets, fines, and even warrants in what the church is calling “a day of grace”.
“I tell people all the time, God had to lock me up to set me free,” says Pastor Dixie Pebworth.
It was 1987 when Dixie Pebworth was found guilty by a jury on three charges related to drugs and a firearm.
The jury recommended Dixie serve 80 years in prison.
It was his fifth day serving his sentence when he said he was at his lowest point.
“The door popped open about seven o’clock in the county jail and this Baptist preacher came in and the first words out of his mouth were ‘I come here to tell you God loves you.’ And I sat up on my mattress and said if God loves me why am I here.”
But it was that preacher who would put Dixie Pebworth on the path to God.
After serving almost six and a half years of an 80-year sentence. Pebworth was released from prison. A true miracle from the lord above, Dixie says.
“To this day I don’t know how my name appeared on the parole docket. My case manager, counselor, and even the parole investigator did not know how my name appeared on the parole docket.”
In 1994 Pebworth says he walked out of prison a free man in multiple ways.
He says god’s work wasn’t done there in his life.
“Our goal is Luke 4:18. The spirit of the lord is upon me to preach the gospel to the poor. Well, the poor is the helpless and the hopeless not those without material things.”
In 2003, Pebworth founded God’s Shining Light Church in Tulsa.
This weekend, 36 years to the day of Pebworth’s sentencing, God’s Shining Light Church is hosting a free event for the public, Faith in Blue.
“Our number one thing is it’s a day of grace. No one is allowed to be arrested on my property on that day.”
“They are able to come and talk to the police. They are able to talk to the DA’s office.”
On Saturday there will be a concert, games, a bounce house for the kids, and free food.
Pebworth says it’s also a way to thank law enforcement for inadvertently putting them on a path to a better life and God.
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