Burning crosses, issuing threats, organizing riots and even becoming part of police setups were once part of Johnny Lee Clary’s life.

He quickly moved up the ranks with the Klan, eventually becoming the imperial wizard of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Sam Bowers’ successor. He hated people from any ethnic background besides his own. He marched on African-American churches.

But, the man with so much hatred for other people throughout his life now preaches a different story. He says he submitted his life to God and went into the ministry. Churches across the nation, and even around the world, invite Clary to preach race reconciliation. He is preaching a revival in Laurel this week at Evangel Temple on Old Bay Springs Road.

Pastor Paul Edwards admits he was nervous until Clary’s first sermon earlier this week. Edwards said he got Clary’s name from his nephew, who preaches in Florida. He said members of the church prayed for guidance of an minister for revival, and Clary’s name kept coming back up.

“We felt the Lord leading this way,” Edwards said. “God confirmed in everybody’s heart. The first speaking Sunday, I don’t believe there was a dry eye in the house.”

A life of hatred

A Christian at an early age, Clary had fallen away from church and a religious surrounding. He dealt with issues as a child adults couldn’t handle.

He grew up in Del City, Okla., during the Civil Rights Movement. His father wasn’t in the Klan because he was Catholic, but his uncle was a member. He said his father would tolerate people of different backgrounds, but his grandfather wanted everyone killed. He was taught all black people wanted to kill, steal, and break-in on white people.

“I was taught to hate,” Clary said. “He (father) planted the seed to hate.”

Clary said the first time someone tried to change his mind was on a Sunday School trip. He was on a church bus and called a passing African-American man the n-word. His Sunday School teacher pulled him aside and taught him the words to the song, “Jesus Loves the Little Children.” Clary went home singing the song and his father pulled him out of church and that took away a sanctuary.

“My mother was an alcoholic,” he said. “I went to church to avoid the fighting.”

The time came when his mother cheated on his father and he then watched his father commit suicide. His mother then moved her boyfriend into his father’s house and kicked out the children. Clary ended up living with a sister in California and spent much time on the streets of East Los Angeles because his sister only wanted him around to get his part of inheritance for drugs, he said.

“My whole world changed from that point on,” Clary said. “I was a kid taken from a middle class home to the middle of street gangs. I was learning to become a street fighter. I was becoming a mean kid.”