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The Shot Caller: A Latino Gangbanger's Miraculous Escape from a Life of Violence to a New Life in Christ Kindle Edition

by Casey Diaz (Author), Mike Yorkey (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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When you feel like you've made too many missteps to go forward, how do you find the strength to carry on? Join Casey Diaz as he tells the remarkable story of God's heart for second chances.

The son of El Salvadorian immigrants, Casey Diaz was brought to Los Angeles at the age of two. An abusive, impoverished family life propelled Casey into the Rockwood Street Locos gang at just eleven years old.

Casey was willing to do anything to be number one, but years of chasing rival gang members led to a dramatic ambush and arrest by the LAPD. By age sixteen, Casey was sentenced to more than twelve years in solitary confinement in California's toughest prison as one of the state's most violent offenders.

He thought his life was over--but as the days in solitary wore on, Casey realized someone else was calling the shots. What happened next can only be described as a miracle.

Join Casey as he shares how we can all:

Embrace the incredible gift of God's redeeming love
Change our lives for the better
Find our God-given purpose

A visceral insider's look at the violent world of gangs and prison life, The Shot Caller is a remarkable demonstration of God's reckless, unending grace, and desire to reach even the worst of sinners--no matter where they are.

Praise for The Shot Caller:

"When I read about the life of Casey Diaz, I see so much of my own life. This is a story of a tough young man who lost his way, and of a loving God who never forgot him, no matter where he was. I know you will be inspired by Casey's story. I hope you, too, will surrender to the love of Jesus Christ."

--Nicky Cruz, bestselling author of Run Baby Run

Print length

222 pages
Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publisher

Thomas Nelson
Publication date

April 2, 2019
File size

1458 KB
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From the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Former gang member Diaz unleashes a tale of domestic violence, street savagery, imprisonment, and ultimate redemption in his bold debut. [...] Diaz's fraught life story illuminates the destructiveness of gangs and the power of redemption.' -- Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Darwin “Casey” Diaz is a native of El Salvador and a former gang leader. Growing up on the mean streets of Los Angeles, he was forced to fight for his life. He was eventually incarcerated as one of the most violent criminals in California and placed in solitary confinement. His life was forever changed in that cell when one day God approached Casey in a miraculous way. Upon his release from prison, Casey landed a job making signs and today runs his own company, Cheap Signs. Casey enjoys teaching at church and sharing his story with audiences around the country. Grateful for a second chance at life, Casey is now married to Sana and is the father of three children.

Mike Yorkey is the author, co-author, editor, or collaborator of one hundred books. He has written for The Los Angeles Times travel section, Skiing, Tennis Week, World Tennis, City Sports, and Racquet. He lives in Encinitas, California.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07GCWHM3F
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thomas Nelson (April 2, 2019)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 2, 2019
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1458 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 222 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #482,848 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #392 in Biographies of Organized Crime
- #421 in Biographies of Christianity
- #818 in Biographies & Memoirs of Criminals

Customer Reviews:
710

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Mike Yorkey
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Mike Yorkey is a veteran author, much-in-demand collaborator, and seasoned editor who has worked with a considerable number of high-profile speakers, authors, and sports figures over the last twenty years. He has authored and co-authored (as a collaborator) more than 100 books with more than 2 million copies in print.
Mike has collaborated with former gangbanger Casey Diaz in The Shot Caller; pastor and speaker Ron Archer in What Belief Can Do; baseball’s Steve Springer in Spring Time; Cyndy Feasel, an ex-NFL wife, in After the Cheering Stops; the Chicago Cubs’ Ben Zobrist and his wife, Julianna, a Christian music artist, in Double Play; KKLA talk-show show host Frank Sontag in Light the Way Home; Washington Redskins quarterback Colt McCoy and his father, Brad, in Growing Up Colt; San Francisco Giants pitcher Dave Dravecky in Called Up; San Diego Chargers placekicker Rolf Benirschke in Alive & Kicking; tennis star Michael Chang in Holding Serve; and paralyzed Rutgers’ defensive tackle Eric LeGrand in Believe: My Faith and the Tackle That Changed My Life; and pop singers Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. in Up, Up, and Away.
Mike is also the co-author of the internationally bestselling Every Man’s Battle series with Steve Arterburn and Fred Stoeker. He has co-authored several fiction books, including The Swiss Courier and Chasing Mona Lisa.
He and his Swiss-born wife, Nicole, are the parents of two adult children and make their home in Encinitas, California.
Mike Yorkey’s website is www.mikeyorkey.com and his Twitter address is @MikeYorkey.
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Casey Diaz
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Casey Diaz is a native of El Salvador and a former gang leader. Growing up in the mean streets of Los Angeles he was forced to fight for his life. He was eventually incarcerated as one of the most violent criminals in California and placed in solitary confinement. His life would be forever changed as God approached Casey in a miraculous way. Today Casey enjoys leading discipleship training classes, and sharing his story with audiences around the country. Grateful for a second chance at life , Casey is now married to Sana, is a father to three children and a Community Pastor at a local church in Burbank Ca.
See more on the author's page

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4.7 out of 5

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kk

10/10

Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2024

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best book i’ve read so far
everybody needs to read a book like this
best testimony ever and def life changing

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John R. Desimone

A Stirring Story of Grace and a Changed Life

Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2020

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For too many years, Christian memoirs have been written with the sympathies of the readers more in mind than the experiences of the writer. The gritty details of the mean-streeted lives are usually elided, deleted, glossed over, watered down, or whatever euphemism you want to use to describe the trouble, the abuse, or the crime some authors have dealt with. Admittedly, the dark places we reach before the light of Christ comes into our lives can be traumatic to talk about.

Casey Diaz's memoir, Shot Caller, pulls no such punches. This is a bare-knuckle read. It would be impossible to tell it any other way. Diaz does not mince words describing his violent acts. His description of his anger, rebellion, rejection, and the travails of a broken boy growing up in a broken home will wrench your heart. I for one can certainly empathize with what happened next, a young man looking for affirmation finds his acceptance in street thugs--who jump him into their gang. Acceptance comes through being the most violent, the one others fear, and it's not long before all semblance of the boundaries of human compassion and respect for life vanished from his conscience. His viciousness has a hair-trigger. It can snap at any moment. And it does. This is not a fluffy story.

It's a wonder he survived to reach his sixteenth birthday. The boy that jumped him in, the one Casey looked up to, died in a drive-by. Incarcerated at the age when most boys are just getting the freedom to drive, Casey ends up the big shot behind bars, the Shot Caller, the one others follow in jail, the one who decides who lives and dies. Heavy stuff for a young kid. Saddled with that reputation, he's transferred to a high-security prison in Northern California where he's immediately placed in solitary confinement.

Alone. In a dark cement cubical, he only sees the light one hour a day--oh how the mighty have fallen. He won't see it this way until later his life, but that dark cell is the biggest act of grace God or man could grant him. He's restrained. He's boxed in, cut off from every human voice. He is out of sight and all but forgotten by the prison system. He is beyond the reach of anyone who could help him.

But it just so happens that a black church women, who had ridden a bus all day from San Pedro to minister to convicts, came into Casey's unit. He could hear her voice down the hall. But his cell is at the far end. No one goes down that far except to drop off a food tray. Casey hears her ask, "Who's down there?" He hears the guard tell her to forget that boy, he's beyond help. But she comes to his door anyway and speaks a few chosen words to him.

Look, I'm not going to spoil the rest of the story. You need to pick up a copy and read it. But if you're familiar with St. Augustine's Confessions, there's a moment of despair when he's sitting in the garden contemplating his depressing life, when he hears the voice from over the wall, "Pick up the book." And there next to him is a New Testament on the bench. He opens it up and reads that famous passage in Romans. Or Anne Lamott's description of Jesus showing up in her room in Traveling Mercies.

If you enjoy stories of grace and redemption, and even if you don't, this is a worthy read. It's one you can pass along to your friends and family. It's a testimony of two people. One is the faithful churchwoman who came regularly to the jail and spoke the words of grace at the right moment to the right person. And the second is Casey who responded, and God lifted him out of that dark hole and gave him a new family.

7 people found this helpful

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tanya apolczer

Wonderful story of Jesus pursuing a lost soul and redeeming grace.

Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2023

Excellent!

No Running from the One Who Calls the Shots

Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2019

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I won’t lie. The night after reading Casey Diaz’ account of life in the streets of LA as a hell-bent gangbanger, I lay awake in my house thinking that I was hearing people breaking and entering. He might have pulled some punches in describing doing whatever he could to show his peers how dark he was. But I think he didn’t pull many.

“The Shotcaller” may not be a read for the faint of heart.

But it is a read for people with a heart, and a soul. Diaz’ life was supernaturally transformed through the power of some things that many in the 21st century disregard as old-fashioned, or pure myth. The persevering prayer of a virtual stranger. The life’s work of a carpenter born centuries ago in a stable outside of Bethlehem. It takes heart and soul to read an honest man’s account of a supernatural intervention that he was not looking for or planning on or working toward. When a strong man with a strong mind admits to giving himself up to something so real, so powerful, and so foreign to his previous way of thinking and living – and when he tells us of all of the things that started happening in his life, against all hope – maybe we should listen. Today, one of those men is Casey Diaz.

This is not the story of a rotten-to-the-core man who one day woke up and decided on his own to turn over a new leaf. This is not a testament to the penal system and its power to transform a life. This is the story of a sinful child who was shown mercy by his supernatural father, who created him and whose love for him was unshakable despite that child’s complete and utter rebellion.

Some may find the violence Diaz describes in “The Shotcaller” to be upsetting. But acknowledging the sin may serve to fully illustrate the magnitude of the triumph. And to remind us to be careful in our judgments: no one is beyond the reach of their supernatural father.

62 people found this helpful

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Romanian mami

Deff worth reading!!!!

Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2023

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Honestly I can’t say enough about it coming from somebody that barely read books to now I deff came along ways but if you get a chance give Casey Diaz a chance in shot caller and you will be blown away with all the stuff that encounters. Enjoy !!!

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Eunice

A must read. There is hope even in the worst of circumstances.

Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2020

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This book is a must read. I was actually looking for another book at the time, but the title got me. This book is hard to put down and all that this person lived through is a great testimony to the transforming power of God and the faithful people who persist in praying and seeking those who are lost. Even in the worst of circumstances— there is hope!!

2 people found this helpful

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J.S.

Wow! Amazing story!

Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2023

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Thank you, God! What a testimony! We have bought and given away many of these as gifts. Some parts are graphic and not suitable for all readers though, be advised.

One person found this helpful

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Johnny Morales

Awesome

Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2023

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Great book

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Josh

very inspirational

Reviewed in Canada on March 15, 2022

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This story needs to be shared everywhere. A true miracle of God. A definite must read. You won’t be able to put this book down.

Lisa

A Damascus road testimony

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 25, 2023

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How amazing to read of the reach and power of god's saving grace to transform any life, from any situation. I admire Casey's total commitment to the calling of God, facing death, violence and persecution for the gospel. All spoken of in great humility. A sinner who knows he is found!

Abhilash Philip

Wonderful story of redemption

Reviewed in India on July 28, 2019

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Casey Diaz was a hardened gang leader who relished meting violence on others. Housed in a high security prision in California and that too in solitary confinement, he was approached by a prison ministry group who made intercessory prayers for him and insisted God had a plan for him, only to be met with scornful responses from him. The Lord spoke to him in his heart and through a miracle brought changes in his heart. He announced giving up gang life, experienced backlash from other inmates, didn't waver from his faith, repented when he yielded to his old ways once and brought other inmates to the Lord! The violence can be disturbing at moments but as he says this makes the transformation even more miraculous. If the Lord could change him, so can he change others including you!

Leonie

Amazing

Reviewed in Australia on March 9, 2020

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Praise the Lord for His wonderful grace and miraculous power in Casey's life. The testimony inspires me to be more intentional in praying for unsaved friends and family.

Louise Mellor

Amazing!!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 13, 2023

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This was by far one of the best books I’ve ever read, it fired up my faith so much. We have an amazing supernatural god. Who can do anything and change anyone. I found it well written to the point I was able to imagine every word that was written like a movie. I could not put it down and was so sad for it to end. Praise the lord!!! Even if your a non believer you need to read this book to see the miracle inside.

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