Prison expectations

Last Monday we had our first opportunity to do prison ministry. We went with Sharon, a local pastor, to two different prisons just outside Bethany, MO. My expectations of the evening were that we were going to get locked up, we would tell these poor lost souls about Jesus, they would stare at us with hard faces and think we were ridiculous for even trying, and then we would leave and feel better about ourselves for the effort. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Well, I suppose I was right about one thing. When we arrived we were locked in with the group of inmates we were speaking to. Regarding everything else, though, I was pretty far off the mark. Pastor Sharon asked each group (we spoke to 7 that night) to put out their smokes, turn off the TV, and gather around to hear something important. I watched, surprised, as the first group of men dressed in orange smiled, got down off of their bunk beds, and circled around us with intrigued expectation on each of their faces. Pastor Sharon shared that we were here to bring them Christmas bags filled with baked goods, hygiene products, and reading material. She went on to share the gospel with them, letting them know that no matter what they've done, no matter how badly they have screwed up, accepting Jesus into your life will wipe your past clean. They grew more attentive as she spoke and soon there were several 'Amens' being shouted from the crowd. After reiterating that they were going to get their gift bags regardless of any decision they made that night, she asked for a show of hands of how many people would like to follow Christ and start a new life that night. Ten hands shot up right away and then were followed by another twenty... That night we watched as probably 25-30 people accepted Christ as their Savior for the first time and another 150 rededicated their lives to Him. We only spoke with about 220 total.

People just want to be loved. The role we played that night was just to talk to those men and women who never get to be heard...they couldn't really grasp why we, four people not even members of Pastor Sharon's church, would spend a day putting together gift bags for them and then share our evening with them. But they are well on their way to figuring that out now, I hope, as we also handed out over 100 Bibles and devotional books that night.

It turned out that reality of the night was that after we showed up and were locked up, we told these people that they were children of God and that He loved them despite their problems, and they stared at us with grateful faces and thought we were wonderful for sharing, and then we left and praised Jesus that He has the ability to change hard hearts. We felt joy because so many more souls had just entered His kingdom.

Kelly