God is Not Restricted
Over the past fifteen years, I have met with prisoners individually, in small groups, and spoken to them at large events. One of the questions I like to ask them is “How many of you had some kind of connection with God before you came to prison?” Almost everyone raises their hands or in the smaller venues shares their experience.
This is not to say most of the residents in prison are committed Christians, just that most of the ones who show up to our meetings have some sort of experience with Christianity or the church in their backgrounds and are at least curious about connecting or reconnecting with God.
This presents an amazing missionary opportunity on at least three levels. First, to introduce the curious to Jesus Christ. Second, to come alongside and encourage those who are trying to know, love, and obey God. And third, “to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.”
Over 90% of those currently incarcerated will be released back into society at some point, and our mission is to help as many as we can come back as serious followers of Christ. Unfortunately, the probability of someone going to prison and coming out a follower of Christ without help is not high. Prison is a bubble world that tends to reinforce all the wrong attributes and attitudes among the incarcerated. And the temptation to give up and give in to these things is strong.
The problem as I see it comes down to the need for more godly influences for the inmates on the inside, and believe it or not, the situation with COVID has opened the door for us to start to provide that for them. Prior to COVID, we primarily focused on opportunities to speak to inmates in person and disciple them within our limitations as volunteers. Since COVID, we’ve been shut out, which has forced us to adapt.
Last month, I had an eye-opener at a Zoom seminar a prison allowed us to have. I was invited by a chaplain to teach some inmates about life coaching. It ended up being a five-hour class with twenty inmates. The chaplain informed me that because of COVID they had to maintain social distancing and therefore could only allow twenty to attend. He said that he had close to a hundred that wanted to be there.
To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect as far as if this would be anything like the seminars I do in person. There were a few adjustments, of course, and it took about fifteen minutes for me to get used to the setup, but once I had the opportunity to hear from each of the men, it was as if I was sitting in the room with them face to face.
I began by asking each of them to tell me why they signed up for life coaching. Each one expressed a desire to help other inmates grow in their relationship with God and to help them be better prepared for success after release. One of the attendees was serving a life sentence, but he wanted to use his time inside to disciple others. These men were attentive, engaged, and not only had some good questions, but also made some astute observations about the benefits of life coaching. At the end, one of the students raised his hand and said, “I think if I apply what you’ve taught us today, I can start coaching myself and others to a better life.”
Because of the time constraints and schedule, I did not have the opportunity to discuss with the chaplain how he thought it went. However, I did get a voice mail on my phone later that day and here is what he said:
“I'm just leaving the prison. You don’t need to call me back today, but I wanted to at least leave you a message… Gary, I just think this works fantastic. I thought it was great. The guys loved it. It was really, really, good. Thank you so much for doing this. I’ll talk to you this week but just know, brother, that I just think that it was fantastic and so did everybody else.”
Obviously, after such a positive response, I am excited to have more opportunities like this in the future. If COVID restrictions continue to keep us from directly discipling the inmates, then we’ll use what means we do have to help them learn to coach each other. What is stirring in me the most is the possibility of doing what I mentioned above, “to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.” And I am encouraged and comforted to see how no matter what obstacles life puts in front of us, God still finds a way.
Here is what we currently offer:
The Lessons for Life Correspondence Course
A free Bible
A free copy of my book Plain Vanilla Wrapper (the story of my journey with God in prison)
The Lessons for Life teachings on video
Here are some projects we are working on:
Life coaching seminars via Zoom in multiple prisons
A life coaching correspondence course
Life coaching certification for those desiring to help those being released from prison
A ministry training academy to teach inmates how to be effective missionaries on the inside
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Happy New Year!
Regarding life coaching certification: If you have already started the process or are interested in getting started, please contact me at gskinner3@mac.com or text 719-337-8858. We will be offering classes beginning in February.