Dear Friends and Family,
Once we get past Christmas, the winter seems to drag on. As I write this, there are three inches of snow on the ground and it is still coming down. Since the Chicago Bears have hibernated through the playoffs the last several years, I try and look forward to some winter dates to use as milestones to help me get through the winter. There’s the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500, the day pitchers and catchers report to spring training, and March Madness. After March Madness, the snow melts away, and it is time for baseball season! With baseball season comes another year of Saints Prison Ministry!
Our typical offseason involves traveling to marching band competitions, volunteering in our church’s youth group, and helping kids back and forth to robotics! This winter Kelly and I have been taking a Systematic Theology class and we are enjoying the class. (I am weird because I enjoy the lecture format and I also enjoy writing 5 page papers!) I am enjoying a Bible study that our team is currently going through and am looking forward to our pre-season meeting on February 8th.
I’m heading into my 9th year of being a missionary athlete with the Saints Prison Ministry (www.saintsprisonministry.org). For the last several summers we have loaded up on our bus or on a plane and have headed to prisons across Illinois and the rest of the country to not only play softball in prison but also to share the Gospel with the men who are incarcerated.
2019 YEAR IN REVIEW
2019 Central Illinois Team
Our team here in Central Illinois just completed their 8th season. The team looks a little different than what it did eight years ago, but it has been fun to see how God has worked and provided for our team. I even appreciate the bus! I appreciate the men that God has brought into my life to serve with. Several of us are currently going through a Bible study about the Gospel, and I am looking forward to what is in store in 2020!
In 2019, we visited eight prisons and visited Kewanee for the first time. During our Illinois trips, we handed out 1,251 Gospels of John and we saw 113 men make professions that they followed Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior!
Alabama Crusade – October 2-5
This trip will always hold a special place in my heart. There were plenty of fun (and funny) moments that made the trip enjoyable, but it was incredible to see God provide opportunities for our team to share the Gospel. One of the prisons that we visited was on lockdown, but the warden lifted the lockdown long enough for us to play softball and share the Gospel with a small group of men. Overall on the trip we saw 30 men indicate that they had made a first-time profession of faith, and we handed out 1,176 Gospels of John.
HOW TO PARTNER IN 2020
2019 was once again a great year for our team in Illinois and for the ministry. God has blessed me and the team here tremendously as He has faithfully allowed us to take the Gospel into prison the last year. I’m looking forward to 2020! Our Spring Crusade will be April 1st-4th in California. A Crusade is a short-term missions trip to an area or state that doesn’t have a Saints Prison Ministry team. Lord willing, this will be my 17th Crusade. I am also planning on going to Wisconsin for a Crusade in July. Our Illinois season will start on May 9th and we will visit approximately 7-9 different prisons across the state.
As a Saints missionary athlete, I am asking for your support in two areas.
I need to establish a team of people who will pray for me, the Saints team, and the inmates to whom we will be ministering. If you would like to pray for me in 2020, please let me know so I can add you to my email list and I will keep you updated on how to pray for our team this season.
I personally need to raise $2,950 this year to cover my travel, Crusade expenses, literature, inmate study materials, and softball equipment for the 2020 season. As a team, our Central Illinois team needs to raise $11,500 this year. I would ask you to prayerfully consider making a tax-deductible offering to support the Saints Prison Ministry in 2020. Please visit www.saintsprisonministry.org if you wish to donate online.
I will be posting updates before and after each visit on my blog at www.tomgibson.me . While you are there you can also sign up for my email updates.
Thanks again for your support, and Go Saints Go!!
In Christ,
Tom Gibson
