“I’ll Just Plan on Meeting You at the Airport in Pittsburgh!”- Ohio Crusade and Jacksonville Preview

 There are several things that I had planned not to say this week.

Things such as:

“That was a brilliant move by the Chicago Bears management to acquire that quarterback“

or

“I wish my Maserati got better in town gas mileage“

or

“I just knew that those good folks in Springfield would get that whole budget thing figured out!“-  (Must be a resident of Illinois to understand this one!)

Also included on this list was:

“I guess I’ll just plan on meeting you at the airport in Pittsburgh!“

Normally I would have no reason to ever say that sentence but I actually did find myself texting that to my good friend and Southeast Regional Director, Jimmy Cochran earlier this week.

Due to some logistics there was an opportunity for a couple of Missionary Athletes to join the Pennsylvania Saints team on a five day trip to Northeast Ohio next month.  I had been planning on going on the Fall Crusade in Florida but I am looking forward to serving in Ohio.  Ohio holds a dear spot in my heart since that is where I went on my first Crusade in 2011.  Ohio is also where the Cubs won the World Series last year so that of course holds the rest of the dear spots in my heart!  I am looking forward to this trip for some sentimental value but I am looking forward to the opportunity to share the Gospel in six different Ohio facilities with some great guys from the Northeast part of the ministry.  I will be flying to Pittsburgh and will be meeting up with the team as we continue on to Northeast Ohio.  I will be sharing some more details about the trip in the coming days but please keep our team made up of missionary athletes from Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Illinois in prayer!

Our Illinois team will hit the field again next Saturday (7/8) as we travel to Pittsfield and Jacksonville Correctional Center.  This will be our third trip to these facilities and we are looking forward to sharing the Gospel with them.  Sam Isbell will be sharing his testimony and Robert Cook will be sharing the Gospel with the men at Pittsfield Work Camp.  Jesse Miller will be sharing his testimony and I will be sharing the Gospel with the men at Jacksonville Correctional Center.  Since this is our third trip, please pray for the men who may have heard the Gospel previously and pray that they might make a decision to follow Jesus.  Also pray that we will engage them boldly on and off the field.

There is a God in heaven who has planned out each moment of 2017 and He desires that each man we encounter in prison to know Him!  Please keep us in prayer as we share the news about Him!

2017 Louisiana Crusade Day 4

 Day four of the trip was the busiest day.  We saw three different groups of men and had the opportunity to share the Gospel with each of them.

The first group we visited with was Camp J which was also called a Trustees Camp.  the men there have years of good behavior and the security isn’t as high as other parts of the prison.  The men there did an excellent job of preparing the field.  We played two competitive games and won them both.  Kevin Greene did a great job of sharing his life story with the men on the yard there.  Kevin is one of the most genuine guys in the entire ministry and I appreciate his story about how God changed his life.  Kirk Smith shared several laughs with the men on the yard before explaining to the men how important it was that they know Jesus as their Savior.

The 2nd stop of the day was to the east side of the main unit.  We lost the game, but Jason Culver shared his story about how he came to meet Jesus, and Jimmy Cochran shared the Gospel during the preaching time.  Kevin Greene and I were able to hand out literature and had several good conversations during the preaching time.  We ran into one inmate who was a believer.  We talked with him for a few minutes and prayed for him and his kids.  We ran into another inmate who was a little more confrontational about the Gospel and was a little defensive to our being there.  He told us that he was surprised that we weren’t there to condemn him and the other inmates for what they had done.  We had a few brief moments to share that God has forgiven us all of so much and that His Grace is extended to everyone.  Sadly, he really didn’t want anything to do with what we said.  Conversations like that happen from time to time.  We can take comfort in knowing that God doesn’t hold us responsible for whether or not he made a decision to follow Him.  He does, however, command us to share the Gospel.  Although I am sad that he was too proud to discuss where he stood with Christ, I am glad that we obeyed and talked with him as long as we could.

After the game the Chaplain took us to the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary building.  This is an actual four year Bible College inside of the prison that has been around for over 20 years.  Since its inception, the prison has seen 274 inmates graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Christian Ministry.  Several of those graduates have become pastors and mentors inside of the prison.  Others have left Louisiana State Penitentiary as missionaries so they can plant churches in other state facilities.  Needless to say, no other facility I have ever been to has a program like this!  It was a great blessing to see how God is working in Angola to use men for His purposes.

Our final stop of the day was back in the main unit.  We played an evening softball game (which we won!).  Doug Metzger shared his incredible journey how God has pulled him through several years of running from God.  His testimony is so powerful and resonates with the men on the yard.  Ed Mosely shared the Gospel and shared a solid message on how God forgives us from sin and how important it is to follow Him!

Overall on the day we saw 11 men indicate that they wanted to follow Jesus!

2017 Louisiana Crusade Day 5

 My personal threshold for enduring trips like these are generally three days.  After three days, I am no longer running at full mental capacity and the physical ailments start to become a distraction.  It is hard to be sharp in a conversation because you are thinking about what time flights leave and seeing your family when you get home.  Still, regardless of how sharp or dull our senses are, Day Five must happen with the same intensity of Day One!

When we arrived at the prison the Chaplain told us that we would be delayed getting on the field because of the fog that morning.  Often times inmate movements are delayed over weather issues such as fog.  Because of the delay, we would have to play one short game and then share the Gospel afterwards.  We lost the game but we did have a solid ministry time with my Illinois teammate, Kurt Hand sharing his testimony and Johnny Adams sharing the Gospel.  God has really used Kurt so much over the years and his story of growing to be more like Christ out of a painful situation is a powerful one with the inmates.

Johnny Adams is the most passionate person I know about sharing Christ with those around him.  If you are waiting next to him in line at McDonalds, he is going to tell you about Jesus.  If you are on an elevator in a hotel, he is going to tell you about Jesus!  If you are in the stall next to him in a public restroom (true story)…he is going to tell how wonderful his Lord and Savior is!  Johnny is a very good communicator but his passion for telling those around him about Jesus is so cool!

The trip back to the hotel is always bittersweet.  I was 100% ready to go home and see my family but I was also still engaged on being a Saints teammate on the Crusade for just a few more minutes.  As we entered the hotel we ran across a guy who was from New York.  He was with another group that was heading to Angola the following day.  Included in his group was baseball legend Darryl Strawberry.  Mr. Strawberry was heading out as we were heading in but he took a few minutes to take a couple of pictures and shake hands.

Overall on the day we saw around 50 men and had 8 indicate that they made a decision to follow Jesus.  On this trip we saw 51 men make decisions and we handed out close to 600 Gospels of John!  Thank you again to everyone who has supported this trip with finances or prayer.  This has been a great trip and I am looking forward to a great 2017 serving with the Saints Prison Ministry!

2017 Louisiana Crusade Day 3

 Until I go home to meet Jesus, I will never fully understand the sacrifice that He made for me.  We had the opportunity to visit the prison museum and gift shop.  Inside the museum is the Electric Chair, nicknamed Gruesome Gertie, that was used for several executions over the years.  I stood and looked at it for a couple of minutes pondering the reality of what it was used for.  As a father of three boys I also thought about the pain and anguish I would feel to know that they were executed but that is what God felt when He sent His Son to take the blame and the punishment for all of mankind’s sins, very much including mine.  God’s Word commands us to take this story to the uttermost parts of the earth, including prison.

Day three included a rare opportunity to sleep in a little bit, have a good Bible study as a team, and visit Camp F at Louisiana State Penitentiary.

We played two softball games (and we won them both!) before sharing the Gospel.  My Central Illinois teammate, Derek Leith, shared his testimony of how he came to know Jesus as his Savior.  I shared the Gospel.  The illustration from the message that I shared was about the time I was cut from my high school baseball team.  The toughest thing about being cut was knowing the harsh reality that I didn’t belong.  God’s Word tells us in Romans 3:23 that we have all sinned and fallen short of His Glory.  We don’t belong but, in spite of our sin, God sent His Son to die for us.

After the games were over, one of my teammates and favorite mentors, Rodney Stewart shared with me that a man named Tommy had made a decision to follow Jesus after the message.  He told Rodney that he had heard the Gospel several times and was really struggling to understand it.  I am so thankful and happy when I can hear stories like that and I am thankful that my good friend Rodney could help Him understand the Gospel.

After the last game was over, we saw some of the woodwork and crafts that the men made and that they were getting ready to sell for the upcoming prison rodeo in April.  There are several men who are incarcerated (not just Angola) that are very talented with woodworking, art, music, and several other things.  My first reaction is usually that it is a shame that all of that talent is wasted behind bars but I am thankful that most have a way to express their skills behind bars and sometimes even use their skills for glorifying God!

Overall on the day, we saw 4 men indicate that they had accepted Jesus as their Savior!

2017 Louisiana Crusade Day 2

 Yesterday we started our day by making our only non-Angola visit to Dixon Correctional Institution.  We played a very competitive softball team and split two games.  During our ministry time, Tim Travis shared his testimony with the men in the yard while Dave “Cogs” Cogliano shared the Gospel with the men there.  During the ministry time I had an opportunity to talk with a guy who knew the Lord but who wanted us to pray and send material to his daughter who was in prison in Texas.  I had an opportunity to pray with him and encourage him.  We were able to hand out 160 Gospels of John and we saw 6 men make professions of faith.

Afterwards we headed back to Louisiana State Penitentiary for an evening visit with another camp.  We won both softball games on the field and had a great ministry time.  Tom Carberry shared his life story which made a powerful impact on the men who were in the yard last night.   Joey Foster shared the Gospel afterwards.  During the Gospel time, I had the opportunity to talk with a inmate who wanted to pray.  He told me he felt very convicted by the message that Joey had preached and how he really needed to take his walk with God more seriously.  He also asked me to pray for his daughter who is serving in the military and who hasn’t had time to visit him in a long time.

We saw around 65 men on the yard and we had 15 men indicate that they followed Jesus last night.

Please pray for us tonight as we return to LSP to visit another camp.  Derek Leith will be sharing his testimony and I will be sharing the Gospel.  Please keep us in prayer as we share the Gospel and play softball!

2017 Louisiana Crusade Day 1

 Yesterday’s journeys took us through Peoria, Dallas, Baton Rouge, a Best Western in St. Francisville, and finally concluded at the front gates of Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana.  The last time we were in Angola, we were there for a brief visit on a rainy Sunday morning.  Yesterday we got the opportunity to play two softball games and visit with 40 guys.

On the softball side of things we started out slow before charging hard and winning the first game.  In between games we did our Gospel presentation with the men there.  One of my best friends and best mentors in the ministry, Rodney Stewart, shared his life story on how a relationship with Jesus is important no matter how good of a person you think you are.  Jason Culver who does an exceptional job of sharing the Gospel, shared the story about Jesus talking with His disciples for the last time and communicating that He wouldn’t be with them any longer.  Jason stressed how awesome of a sacrifice this was and how much He loved us to make that sacrifice. Meanwhile during the preaching time, Jimmy Cochran had a few moments to share the Gospel with an inmate on one of the benches.  That man and seven others in the yard made decisions to follow Jesus yesterday.  Overall on the day we handed out 40 Gospels of John to the men we saw.

Today we are going to Dixon Correctional Center in the afternoon before returning to Louisiana State Penitentiary this evening.  Please keep us in prayer as we play ball and share the Gospel.