Profile: Matthew Taufetee
Matthew Taufetee left gang life for God, and now helps ex-cons find new life in faith.
"We were a Blood gang ... probably the worst Blood gang in Hawaii. ... I was ruthless."
"Preacher's kids" have a reputation for being "bad," but Matthew Taufetee may be the worst "PK" you will ever hear about.
 At 14, Taufetee got involved with a gang and began stealing purses from elderly women. By the time he was 28 he had been in prison twice for violent crimes and was addicted to alcohol and crystal methamphetamine.
"I kept hearing stories that pastor's kids are the worst," he said. "I can testify to why we are the worst."
Taufetee's father, a United Methodist pastor, often knew the "guys who were making trouble" because he was called on to help them. As a teenager those were the guys Taufetee "clicked" with.
His first prison term came when he almost beat a man to death with his bare fists. His second prison sentence came after he stabbed another man to death with a knife from his mother's kitchen.
Three months after he was in jail for the second crime, word came to him that his older brother had been killed by a rival gang in retaliation for what he had done.
 Taufetee says he killed his brother too.
"At that time I didn't really know about God even though I went to church," he said. "I had people writing letters to me from different churches telling me 'God loves you' but I never really took that to heart."
After many hard years and many relapses, Taufetee finally turned his life around and founded "LAP," Life After Prison, a faith-based program that integrates former prison inmates back into the community. He is also a lay minister at Pacific Islander United Methodist Church where his father, Rev. Faaagi Taufetee, is the pastor.
It took "Men of WAR" to finally get him back to God.
Those Christian men of WAR (Wisdom, Authority and Righteousness), followed Taufetee into the bars where he was partying and told him about Jesus.
 "They would always ask for me, talk to me, minister the word of God and tell me that Jesus loves me. And these were former gang members. Actually one of our rival gangs who was the leader of this ministry, he was the one who really preached the word of God into me."
Taufetee finally relented and went to church at the Word of Life Christian Center.
"I remember seeing this Mexican pastor just ministering the Word and all it took was for him to say 'Jesus loves you.'"
"It was a feeling I cannot describe," he said. "I felt like the burden was lifted finally, and I felt like I had a future."
Taufetee began to envision a program to help other people like himself get on the right track coming out of prison. "LAP" was started with a grant from the United Methodist Commission on Religion and Race.
 In Hawaii, an inmate must get a full-time job after being released. The first hurdle begins when they have to check the box that asks if they have been convicted of a crime.
Because he has been there and knows what he is talking about, Taufetee gets a lot of respect from ex-prisoners.
"I really felt this was something I could do, share the same love of God that I really felt and let them know that God loves them and there is hope."
If you'd like to help support the LAP program, you may contact Matthew at lapfirst@yahoo.com.
The following people contributed to this Profile:
Print story by Kathy Gilbert; audio story by Mike Hickcox; videography by John W. Coleman Jr., General Commission on Religion and Race.
UMC.org Profiles are produced by Pam Price, 615-742-5405.
Matthew's Spiritual Gifts
- Servanthood
- Compassion
- Healing
- Interpretation of Tongues
- Shepherding
- Miracles
Learn more about your spiritual gifts
Matthew's Recommended Resources
Courage by Ed Cole
The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren
The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer
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