Testimony: Ministries Shine the Light of Christ Inside Prison Walls

The six inmates seated in state prison chaplain Charles Baggett’s office on a recent Wednesday earned their lengthy sentences.

David, Jackie, Michael, Rodney, Tim M. and Timothy W. were condemned to Limestone Correctional Facility, a medium-security Alabama prison, to pay debts to society.

But here, in a world of razor-wire fences, tattooed arms and six-digit inmate numbers, these violent criminals came to believe that God sent his only son to pay a debt for them.

They found faith — and hope — in Jesus Christ. Now, these brothers in Christ teach, preach, lead singing and work hard to share what they discovered with other inmates.

“All of y’all are going to be wearing white one day, too. We just got a jump-start,” joked Rodney, referring to the white prison garb stamped with “Alabama Dept. of Corrections” in bold black letters that identifies Limestone’s 2,400 inmates.

With 2.4 million people behind bars in the United States, jail and prison ministry affords tremendous opportunities for sharing the Gospel, said attendees at the recent 37th annual National Jail and Prison Ministry Workshop.

“White fields of harvest are found in each jail and prison,” said Tom Dugan, prison minister of the Airport Road Church of Christ in Crestview, Fla., which last year baptized 42 inmates and sent 11,000 Bible correspondence courses to prisoners.

The workshop, hosted by the Madison Church of Christ, west of Huntsville, and the NewLife Behavior Network of Alabama, drew 325 participants from 16 states.

“You hear so much about the church, the idea that we’re losing members,” said Baggett, state chaplain at Limestone for 13 years. “The fastest-growing Churches of Christ in the world are inside jails and prisons. We’re growing by leaps and bounds.”

The Rainbow Church of Christ in Gadsden, Ala., averages more than 100 baptisms a year at the Etowah County Jail and operates a transitional home for released female inmates.

Rainbow church member Ray Cox served as charter state director of the NewLife Behavior Network of Alabama, which is associated with Churches of Christ and promotes Bible study, substance abuse recovery, halfway houses and other support programs.

The number of baptisms produced by jail and prison ministries would “stagger the imaginations” of many Christians, Cox said. “But we could sure do a lot more,” added Cox, who describes prison ministry as both extremely rewarding as many accept the Gospel and frequently devastating as many revert to their former ways.

Across the nation, 160-plus ministries associated with Churches of Christ baptized nearly 8,000 inmates in 2009, according to a survey by NewLife Behavior Ministries in Corpus Christi, Texas. Longtime prison minister Buck Griffith serves as president of that national ministry, which developed the curriculum used by the Alabama network.

Griffith told workshop participants that many church members oppose prison ministry, while others simply squirm when they hear reports of inmate baptisms.

Still others wouldn’t mind the church baptizing 100 percent of inmates, “as long as you or I hold them down until they quit bubbling,” Griffith said.

“My phrase is, ‘We’ve got to get over it,’” he said of worrying about such opposition. “That’s just the way it is.”

Each week, more than a dozen members of the Parkway Church of Christ in Fulton, Ky., conduct two men’s Bible classes, a women’s Bible class and a Sunday worship service for women at the Fulton County Detention Center.

The ministry, started less than four years ago, has resulted in more than 70 baptisms, minister Cecil May III said.

“Our experience tells us that every church that has access to the local jail system should have some outreach to that facility,” May said.

Nia Johnson, 25, a member of the University Church of Christ in Montgomery, Ala., teaches in the NewLife ministry at Tutwiler Prison for Women, a maximum-security facility.

Topics include anger management, parenting skills, addiction recovery and positive attitudes and behaviors.

“The first time I went in, I was scared out of my mind,” said Johnson, a marketing and communications specialist for Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes.

But once she got to know the inmates, she said, they impressed her as ordinary people who made horrible mistakes and desperately need the saving power of Jesus.

“The hope I saw in their eyes, their enthusiasm, their thirst for knowledge really struck me,” Johnson said. “I really just love being able to get to know some of the ladies … to just share with them.”

Source: Gospelnewswire