2020 Saints Prison Ministry End of the Season Update

 Proverbs 3:5-6-  Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Dear Friends and Family,

Well, this is usually the part of the Saints Prison Ministry season that I would have given my final update on how our last visit of the year.  I would have written an update on the visit that should have happened at Robinson CC on September 19th.  I would have wrote how excited I was about the October Louisiana Crusade that should have started yesterday (10/7/20).  Of course with the events of 2020, instead of being at Robinson CC, I was at Wildlife Prairie Park walking nature trails with my family.  Instead of being in Louisiana, I was at a prayer meeting with my church family.  And instead of wrapping up day 2 of the Crusade, I am getting ready to watch my Bears play against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday Night Football.  Having to watch the Bears offense try and keep up with Tom Brady during a prime time football game may be the closest thing I have to being in prison this year!

I have had a few updates this year but I just wanted to drop a quick line and update everyone on the final state of our 2020 season.  Unfortunately, after waiting several months, our 2020 prison softball seasons have been cancelled.  I have dealt with several prison event cancellations over the years and it is always an empty feeling but I know that our God is sovereign and the COVID-19 pandemic did not catch Him by surprise.  He will not miss an opportunity to bring glory to Himself even though it looks bleak from our point of view. 

Even though most of our teams never loaded up a bus, traveled to prison, took the field, swung a bat, passed out a Gospel of John, or shared the Gospel behind our microphone in 2020, God was still at work in prison and in our prison ministry in 2020.

Here are a few praises and prayer requests from my 9th season in the ministry.

PRAISES

• Our teams made some trips before the start of the pandemic and lockdown

• Our basketball team visited 12 facilities, handed out 346 Gospels of John, and had 52 indicate that they wanted to follow Jesus

• Our soccer team visited 9 facilities, handed out 267 Gospels of John, and had 21 indicate that they wanted to follow Jesus

• Our ladies volleyball team visited 2 facilities, handed out 48 Gospels of John, and had 8 indicate that they wanted to follow Jesus

• Since our fiscal year begins in October, we had a softball Crusade late last year to Alabama where we visited 6 prisons, handed out 1,176 Gospels and saw 30 men indicate that they wanted to follow Jesus

• There was one softball trip in March that was successfully completed

• The lone softball team that got to play prison softball in 2020 was mainly comprised of a church from Georgia that uses a Saints Crusade for their annual missions trip. 

• Their team traveled to Florida and handed out 1255 Gospels and had 34 indicate that they wanted to follow Jesus!

• Our birthday card ministry never missed a beat

• One of the best ministries we have is mailing each inmate in our database a birthday card.  I have had several inmates tell me in the middle of a softball game how special it was to be remembered by someone on their birthday. 

• Several 2021 expenses have been paid for

• Things like literature, softballs, and jerseys were purchased for 2020 but can be utilized in 2021 and that will help with our 2021 expenses. 

• We had a season of rest

• I almost feel guilty bringing this up, but it was nice to have a summer to rest and have family time.  One of my biggest praises of the pandemic was cancelling out my schedule and being able to tell my family, “You have my undivided attention”.  While things are starting to get back to normal, we have used our downtime to do things like learn how to play guitar, watch Star Wars movies, and enjoy time in God’s Word as a family! 

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Pray for the church in prison

• Believers gathering in prison is complicated, even more so during a pandemic.  The chapel services that are held are sometimes a mixed bag of things.  Some are held by prison chaplains who are there because of job and not a calling.  But there are some services held by chaplains, volunteers, or even inmates who love the Lord and the Gospel.  Please pray that believers behind bars that they would be encouraged and use this time as an opportunity to share the Gospel. 

• Pray for Charlie and John

• I have two pen pals who are currently in prison. Please pray for Charlie in Texas and David from Ohio.  Pray that I have the right things to say to them and that I can share the Gospel with them if they aren’t already believers. 

• Pray for wisdom for our ministry leadership

• We all know someone who has had to make tough decisions involving events during 2020.  Those decisions are not always popular and are often easy to criticize.  Please pray for our directors and board members as they make key decisions regarding this next year.  There will no doubt be new guidelines in place that will affect our budget and availability.  Please pray that God will bless us with wisdom during these uncertain times.   

• Pray that the Gospel still goes out

• One of the sobering realities about prison ministry is that God doesn’t need us in order to share His Word.  He could use a multitude of different ways to bring people closer to Himself.  Please pray that the Gospel is still preached even though we or other volunteers aren’t allowed in.  Please pray that souls who need Jesus Christ hear about Him and will follow Him!

Thank you for supporting me and the ministry through the most bizarre year that I’ve ever been through!  Your financial and prayer support have still made a difference in the lives of inmates across the country. 

I’m not sure what 2021 is going to look like but I am excited to be part of it!

Your partner in Christ,

Tom Gibson

Inside the Mind of Gibby- I Guess it’s not all Bad…

 Let’s face it, producing an article that pokes fun at prison ministry while trying to live through the Medieval Plague of 2020 is a really tough task. I mean, do I write another passive aggressive article about how the Northeastern guys drive, or yet another article about our bus with yet another secretly-coded message desperately pleading for anyone to come rescue me with their fleet of new reliable buses?

This year has been tough as our season was postponed, postponed again, postponed some more, and then eventually cancelled. We all miss sharing the Gospel in prison. We all miss the games and the competitive fellowship and comradery that we have among our teammates and the inmates. We miss talking about the stories that we hear from the men that we see and how some of them chose Jesus in their darkest hour. We miss the long bus rides and meals after the games. But here are some of the things that I haven’t missed in the slightest!

I HAVE NOT MISSED, Waking Up at 2:40 am

It is physically impossible to be in bed before 11 p.m. the night before a Saints prison visit. There is always a kid’s activity on a Friday night that will run late. There is always one part of your uniform that didn’t make it into the washing machine yet. The printer will run out of ink as you are printing your Gospel message the next day, resulting in a trip to Walmart. And, of course, there is always that elusive right-handed batting glove that is somewhere between your garage and diamond #2 at the local park. Of course, you are playing at Mayberry State Prison which is on the other side of the state and 4 hours off of the highway. Of course, they have requested that you arrive at 7 am. This will require meeting in the middle of the night with several other zombies who also left a batting glove at diamond #2 earlier in the week!

I HAVE NOT MISSED, Gas Station Food

Naturally, there isn’t a restaurant nearby Smallville State Prison so, of course, we will dine at the local Shell Gas Station. No, it’s not the nice one near the interstate with the Subway or Arby’s attached. It is the one in Middle-of-Nowhere, IL that has the four rolling hot dogs and the out of order fountain soda machine. There is always the gas station pizza option… but everyone is afraid to try that. There may be some local stuff like Farmer Jenkins’ Beef Jerky, or Junior’s Boiled Peanuts but this meal will most likely consist of Jack Links and a bag of Hostess frosted donuts.

I HAVE NOT MISSED, Prison Food

I take back all of the bad stuff I said about the gas station pizza…

I HAVE NOT MISSED, Getting Blown Out by a Prison All-Star Team

We have a pretty good record overall when we play against the inmate teams but sometimes you play a team of destiny. They got the notice about your August visit back in February and they have been doing a Rocky IV training montage-type practice every day since that Saints poster went up in the prison gym. They will recruit the guy who played AAA baseball and some guys who played in the NCAA tournament a while back as soon as they hear about this prison visit. This game is usually ugly. Your outfielders will either quit on the spot or go hide in the crowd. Your team will either leave the field humbled or ready to retire and join a basket weaving ministry.

Don’t get me wrong, I would be more than happy to get up early and eat some bad gas station food before playing against the prison all-stars tomorrow if asked – but those aren’t at the top of my list of things I missed the most about not going to prison in 2020!