I have been to Kewanee twice in my life. Once when I was little, I begged my parents to go to Good’s Furniture store so we could eat at the restaurant, ride the glass elevator, and see the store that was advertised countless times on our local 3 TV channels. I really don’t remember anything else about that trip other than it seemed like a long car ride and that Mary Good didn’t wave back when I waved at her in the store. The other time I’ve been to Kewanee was to deliver a box of antique bottles that I sold on Craigslist. For those of you younger people who don’t know what Craigslist is, it is similar to Facebook Marketplace, but, with Craigslist, there was always a good chance that you would be murdered because you used it!
Yesterday was my third time going to Kewanee, and it was quite a bit more special than the previous two trips!
Yesterday, we met at 6 am at my church. Meeting at 6 am was incredible as most of our trips require us to meet at 5 am or earlier. It was good to see the team re-assembled and in full uniform. With our new missionary athlete on our team, we had fun as we went around the circle and introduced ourselves while saying who our favorite player was growing up. This was something that had little impact on the day but was interesting to hear some of the answers that reflected our diversity and ages:
Ryne Sandberg
Steve Garvey
Jose Canseco
Ken Griffey Jr
Frank Thomas
Curt Flood
Mark Grace
Lou Brock
Albert Pujols
Orel Hershiser
Rod Beck
Wally Joyner
Ozzie Smith
We loaded up on the bus, made a breakfast stop at Chick-fil-A, and then headed to Kewanee. Once we arrived, we were greeted by our contact person. We also heard several times that this prison hasn’t had an outside team like ours for a very long time. We were greeted on the field by several inmates who had seen us at places like, Illinois River CC, Danville CC, and Centralia CC. Their excitement to see us again was rewarding, and we were encouraged that the ministry was represented well over the last eight years.
The first game started as a see-saw battle, but we eventually pulled away and won the game. Between games, Brent Gerber shared his testimony of how he came to know Jesus as his savior. Brent had a rocky stretch in his life before he met Jesus that several of the inmates resonated with. His testimony shows that it is the Gospel that changes people.
After Brent spoke, I shared the Gospel. I spoke from John 6. I used an illustration of what it would look like if I bought the Chicago Cubs. To summarize, if I bought the Cubs, it would cost me approximately $3 billion dollars; the only way for me to buy the team would be to put it on a credit card! $3 billion dollars of debt would be an insurmountable amount of debt, and I told the crowd that God’s Word tells us that we have an insurmountable sin problem as well and that Christ had to die for that. The crowd in John 6 was interested in following Jesus so that they could see Him turn a handful of fish and bread into a buffet every day. They really didn’t understand who Jesus was. He isn’t just someone who makes our lives better and fixes problems, He is our Savior and He is the one who took care of our insurmountable debt problem. He wants us to follow Him.
After our ministry time, we played the second game. Since I didn’t play the second game, I had time to talk to the guys in the yard during the game. I met an inmate who thanked me for what I spoke on, and he told me his life story of how he met Jesus. He had a decent upbringing but got mixed up with some bad friends and ultimately made a decision to be part of robbing someone. He was caught and sentenced to juvenile detention and ultimately prison. While in prison he continued to rebel and get depressed while spending time segregation. He pled for God to show Himself as real. During his time in prison his mother shared the Gospel with him in her letters and she assured him that Jesus would forgive him of everything that he had done. During that time of his life, he met a team of volunteers who visited the prison each week to share the Gospel and run discipleship classes. It was during these classes that he gave his life to Christ. He is on fire for the Gospel and is active in the prison church and meets with other Christian inmates to pray and study. Continue to pray for this young man. Please pray that God would continue to encourage him as he is scheduled to be released in the next 3 years.
Our team won game two and then we broke for lunch. We got to eat lunch with the inmates. It is usually at this point in the story that we have to eat something terrible…like, something awful! That was totally not the case yesterday!
We were served a Famous Dave’s caliber barbeque chicken with a side of cheesy potatoes, broccoli, and the best prison cake (chocolate cake with a peanut butter frosting with little bits of toffee candy on top!) Part of the Kewanee Life Skills program is that it trains inmates for careers once they leave prison. The assistant warden described some of the programs that would help the men get careers in food service and manufacturing.
I did get to sit and talk with another inmate who was discouraged. He poured out his life story about growing up on the South side of Chicago and having little hope. He never knew his dad and he shared how hopeless it is to be a young African American man who has nothing and how a life of selling drugs and ending up in prison is seemingly inevitable. This man wasn’t really interested in hearing about the Gospel if it didn’t result in changing the outcome of poverty and the broken cycle that is common in so many situations like his. I tried to bring the conversation back to God – that we live in a sinned cursed world, that these are the consequences of sin, and that God provides hope through the Gospel. I really struggled to try and say the right things but I’m not sure that I did. He did stress that young men without fathers really, really need men to come alongside them and show them how to avoid the downward spiral of drugs, violence, and ultimately prison. I got to pray to with him. Please pray for him that God would draw this man to Himself and that there would be revival in situations like his across our country.
After lunch, we played and won game 3. We started out with a case of the P.I.B.S. but we overcame that and won the game!
During our ministry break, Kurt Hand shared his testimony of how he came to know Christ as his Savior and how God used a tragedy to draw him back to Himself. Drew Aberle shared the Gospel and preached from John 12:12-16. He spoke about how the disciples and the people of Jerusalem had the wrong idea and wrong expectations of why Jesus came and what His plans were. They expected an earthly kingdom with power and transformation but were initially disappointed. Drew talked about how we are often disappointed with the plans God has for our lives, but that He has bigger and better plans that include sanctification over comfort and eternal things over temporary.
After our ministry time, we played and won game four. It is always fun to go 4-0 on the day, but it was fun to be back in prison and to be able to use a game we love to share the Gospel with the men there.
Overall on the day, we went 4-0, gave out 99 Gospels of John, and saw 4 men make professions of faith. It was a great day and a rewarding bus ride home!
Thank you for all of the prayers, support, and encouraging notes that I receive every year! I am looking forward to our next visit on 6/1 to Pontiac CC.
