A team of 25 members of Remnant Fellowship primarily made up of technological experts, the band and the core prison ministry workers traveled 8 to 10 hours to Ware State Prison this past Friday. The Tech Team set up and the prisoners started entering the room – 150 prisoners plus guards and orderlies. I did not know what to expect. In fact, the prison photos made me somewhat apprehensive. My fears were alleviated immediately when I met inmate after inmate after inmate who had love in their heart, light in their eyes, humility in their actions, and respect and graciousness in their words. In fact, I don’t know when I have ever witnessed that level of humility and I don’t know when I have ever witnessed a sea of humility. There were scores of men who said they had been praying for 3 years to meet me and the church team- they were begging to join the church and be baptized. They rattled off stronghold after stronghold that they had laid down – anger, depression, despair, lust, greed, etc. I was so energized that the 8 hours we met with them seemed like minutes, and at 8:30 they dismissed the prisoners, so we broke down the set and went from there to Applebees with the Prison Chaplin – all sharing our stories with one another. There wasn’t a dry eye and everyone was overwhelmed and forever changed by this experience. These men all claimed that they lived for Fridays – the day that they got to hear one more sermon or lesson from the Weigh Down Series because now they had found a relationship with God. One man described his exit from the prison cell to the Friday Night Strongholds Class like “getting on a concord jet” – he couldn’t wait to be catapulted to class! They no longer saw themselves as a victim, but now got up every day wanting to live and to get closer to God and actualize the commands of God – put them into practice. The Deputy Warden and the Chaplin could not deny the changes in the men and the positive changes to the prison as a result of the Good News in its pure form. I know I was convicted to do more and will never be the same. It was a miracle but, through prayer, 4 cameras were allowed in to help capture this historic event, and it will be coming out soon. I wish you could have seen the light in their eyes. If God can use this suffering to transform hardened men into almost the most loving, grateful, childlike hearts – then give me more of that suffering. I pray that everyone would join with me across the world to make more of an effort in prisons – for what I found there was good soil, and it’s a lot more fun planting seeds when the soil is fertile. Amen. -Gwen
