Former 'bad boy' works to 'raise the roof for Jesus' Former 'bad boy' works to 'raise the roof for Jesus' (May 31, 2002)

By Candice Shih

When Jaeson Ma, host of KMVT's "Soul Show," appeared before the police with two bags of designer suits he stole, they said, "There's something different about this kid."

Ma's story, growing up as a teenager in the South Bay, wasn't different from too many others until he arrived at that police station in 1997.

He is a second-generation Chinese-American from the Berryessa district in San Jose. Ma's parents emigrated from Hong Kong, and he grew up attending a conservative Chinese Baptist Church.

But, when Ma was about 12 years old, he told God he was going to have his fun.

At the time, his idea of fun meant drinking, smoking and growing marijuana, stealing, and befriending "Asian thug gangster types."

Ma's mother was desperate. His father wasn't around during this time, and his older sisters had been model students.

Her solution was to move him from school to school, expecting that he would find more sober people to hang out with. It didn't work.

"I was a confused identity," said Ma. Perhaps so, but his lifestyle was decidedly hip-hop. He was a performer - a rapper and an actor - but was also drawn to its negative, bad-boy side.

Even a couple cases of theft brought up against him didn't deter him from being a gangbanger but the last one did.

Ma was working at a suit store in 1997 at the Great Mall in Milpitas, selling and stealing Armani and Valentino suits.

He wasn't invincible, however, and the police discovered what he and his co-workers were doing.

Ma soon found himself outside a police station ready to turn himself in. His friends and even his mother suggested that he only turn in a couple shirts so that his crime would be considered a misdemeanor rather than a felony.

But then, he asked himself a fateful question: What would Jesus do?

At that point, he said, he converted and gave his life back to God. Ma marched into that police station with all of the items he stole.

"Everyone thought I was a fruitcake, that I went nuts," he said.

He could have faced significant prison time but instead, his file got lost for six months and then the judge let him off with no probation, no community service, and no requirement to pay the suit store back.

Miracles do happen.

And, when they happen to Ma, he likes to share them. Five years of piety and sobriety later, he is now the host of the "Soul Show," a 30-minute show on KMVT that brings his message about Christianity and his interest in hip-hop culture together.

"Raise the roof for Jesus," Ma said on one episode.

Each show begins with a "breaking crew" breakdancing to music scratched by resident DJ, Rocky Rock, who is now touring with Linkin Park. Then it cuts to an interview hosted by Ma, who goes by the name "J Quest" on the show.

His guests have included Loto, a Samoan-American rapper blinded during a gang fight, Brian "Money B" Moreno, a popping dancer (think Michael Jackson), and Jonathan Fung, a filmmaker and current producer and director of the show.

"The guests are usually Christian but not all Christian," said Fung. "We try to bring on people who have an interesting story to tell."

Following the interview is a flashy ministry clip produced by Highway Video and hosted discussion with the ten or so teenagers in the audience.

"It's very real, very street, very raw," said Ma.

He's also taken that message to today's suburban street - the high school campus. "Soul Show" has visited several Bay Area schools, including Los Altos High School, sharing its message of making positive choices.

Ma said he used to be an instigator, goading his friends to drink and smoke weed with him. He's instigating something quite different now. The "Soul Show" airs on KMVT on Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m.