On a grim December night in 1999, Broderick Connesero lay hogtied and naked in a bathtub. The metallic snap of a gun jamming rang in his ears. His racing heartbeat was a soundtrack to the scenes of a dangerous life that flashed before his eyes.
Earlier that night, an associate robbed Connesero at gunpoint while he sat counting the day's receipt of drug money. Unable to kill Connesero, the assailant bound him and placed him in the tub. Ironically, a junkie rescued the 27-year-old drug dealer. His life was spared, but his career as a drug dealer would end.
For 15 years, Connesero sold drugs, first on the streets of Compton, Calif., and then in Memphis. His targeted areas in Memphis, or his block as it's called, were the Whitehaven suburb and Richardson Towers at The University of Memphis. After his brush with death, his drug business dried up and he lost everything. His life fit into two garbage bags. Connesero hit rock bottom.
It was then he took the first step toward his eventual destiny."I told God, 'Whatever you want me to do, I'll do it,'" he recalled, and he did.
During the next two years, Connesero went from peddling drugs to praising God. He accepted a call to ministry and began working as the director of the Recreation Outreach Center (ROC) at Germantown Baptist Church. His goal was to save at-risk kids from the street life that nearly killed him. Connesero soon realized that the ones he wanted to reach were not going to church so he decided to take his ministry to them.
In Oct. 2002, Connesero and friend Chris Davis began visiting religious events in the Memphis area bringing their inspirational message about God. Connesero spoke and Davis, a deejay, played music.
The BLOC Experience was born.
The BLOC (Building Lives Outside of Church) Experience, an extension of the ROC at Germantown Baptist Church, is a non-profit outreach ministry conceived by Rev. Connesero.
"There are all kinds of misconceptions teens have about life, God, and how they treat each other," Connesero said. "We have what many of these kids want and need, and they want to participate."
The BLOC has since orchestrated several of its own theme events for at-risk teenagers such as "Bamboozled," in July 2003. The BLOC hosted youth at World Overcomers Church with food, live music, dancing and inspiring messages. The BLOC also holds two sports camps, "12" for football and "Hoops Society" for basketball. The camps bring area high school teams and aspiring players to GBC to get help with their preparation for the upcoming sports season.
In addition to recreational events, the ministry also reaches out to area students for help and support in academics and their personal lives. Shamieka Boyce, a senior at Trezevant High School, knows the rewards of the BLOC experience. She met Rev. Connesero (whom she affectionately calls "Rev") when she volunteered at a summer camp last summer.
"Since (experiencing The BLOC), I have become more focused on my career and my goals," Boyce said. "They make sure I have everything I need and support me 100 percent."
The BLOC Experience isn't just for students. In August 2003, The BLOC presented a weekend of music, drama and outreach held at GBC benefiting Families of Incarcerated Individuals, Inc. (FII). FII is a Memphis-based non-profit organization that lends support to families of prisoners. In April, The BLOC presented "A Woman's Worth" at GBC, a one-day program designed to empower women through God's word. The ministry prompted a weekly women's Bible study by the same name, as an extension of the conference. The Bible study is held Wednesdays at the Baptist Student Union on The U of M campus.
"Many women feel devalued or unworthy," said Connesero's wife, Karolyn. "We want women to think about where they are in life."
Although The BLOC continues to plant seeds of salvation in the community, it also ministers to students at The U of M. Earlier this year The BLOC moved its headquarters to the Baptist Student Union on campus. Connesero, Davis and Chester Sharp, a U of M junior who joined The BLOC in 2003, set out to make The BLOC Experience a presence on The U of M campus. They began The R, a church ministry that offers alternatives to traditional church services for students seeking something different. Former U of M student Ilia Bethea, 24, came to The R five months for that reason.
"I had decided that I didn't want to 'do church' anymore," Bethea said. "I have learned selflessness from The BLOC and what it takes to make a ministry grow."
A rapper and poet, Bethea is now a member of The BLOC's music ministry.
Connesero is also a former U of M student. He said that he was amazed at how alone he felt at a school as diverse as The U of M. He added that he wanted to start a ministry at the school that would serve as a platform for expression through music and the spoken word in an effort to bridge gaps and bring students together.
"I felt alone on campus and couldn't identify with people, and I realized I wasn't the only one that felt that way," Connesero said. "We stay divided because of diversity when diversity should bring us together. The BLOC tries to communicate differences between people that aren't really different at all."
The BLOC holds two weekly non-traditional church services on The U of M campus aimed at reaching students. They are a Bible study called the Root (Realizing Our Obstacles Together) held Sunday evenings at the Baptist Student Union and The Asylum, held Sunday mornings in the Psychology Auditorium. These services also draw non-students looking for a new way to worship God, like 37-year-old Sharon Jackson.
Jackson met Connesero at a church he visited seven months ago. Jackson said she left the church to join The BLOC experience because she liked what the organization was doing for youth in the area.
"I felt stagnate (at my old church)," she said. "I saw the work they were doing with young people and knew I had a calling to deal with young people too."
Rev. Connesero's drug experience almost killed him. He now uses the lessons he learned to save others. Having reached more than 1,700 youth since its inception and bringing nearly 300 to a life with Christ, The BLOC Experience is changing lives and bridging gaps in the Memphis Area.
"Rev is like a father to me," Boyce said. "The BLOC is like another family, a home away from home."
