Celebrating 50 Years of Miracles
conference > Sonny Arguinzoni
Wednesday
June 25, 2008
Sonny Arguinzoni grew up on the mean streets of New York City. At the age of 12, he ran with a gang and carried a homemade gun. At 15, he was a hopeless heroin addict. He was incarcerated ten times for crimes committed to support his habit, including hard time at Rikers Island Penitentiary.
In the midst of this darkenss, Sonny saw the light. Through the help of Teen Challenge and the tough love of a notorious gang leader, Nicky Cruz, Sonny discovered the liberating truth of Jesus Christ. Through God's transforming power, he was able to beat his addiction.
Yet it wasn't enough to unburden himself. Where others wanted to put away the criminals in the inner city, Sonny wanted to set them free. Sonny and Julie were married June 6, 1964. After graduating from Latin American Bible Institute, together they felt a unique calling to reach out to the drug addicts and gang members in East Los Angeles, California.
Victory Outreach was born. Originally dubbed "The Addict Church," Arguinzoni developed a rigorous rehabilitation program to lead junkies off the street and into productive lives. Many ex-addicts have been called into full-time ministry, reaching out to the very people still lost in the inner cities. Victory Outreach churches and rehab centers were started in cities across the U.S. and then the world.
Today, Victory Outreach International has over 500 rehabilitation homes and churches in the U.S. that support them. These vibrant facilities help men and women beat substance abuse, leave gangs and prostitution and discover their unique purpose in life. They also have centers in 18 countries from Mexico to the Netherlands to the Philippines. The original church he started in Boyle Heights has grown to over 4,000 members on 20 acres in nearby La Puente, California.
Sonny has also started training centers in the east coast, in Los Angeles and in Manila. He founded programs specifically designed to undergird and support men and women in ministry. He has instituted evangelism and ministry programs that reach out to gang members, prostitutes, prisoners and hard-core drug users.
But Sonny is not content to rest. He recently turned the responsibility of the La Puenta church over to his son so that he could focus on taking the life-giving message of Victory Outreach to the world. Sonny contines to oversee Victory Outreach International as it expands to every nation. As long as drugs, gangs and violence continues, Sonny will be there to help people devastated by this modern day curse.
As Sonny says with conviction, "I will be dedicated to Victory Outreach for the rest of my life. That's why God changed my life; so I could help others. I am driven by that purpose."