Hurry Up and Wait- Sonshine State Florida Crusade- Day 4

 A couple of posts ago, I talked about the four things that we always face during a Saints day.  One of them is the fact that we minister inside of prisons and nothing else runs quite like a prison!  We arrived on time but had to wait a long time to get in.  There is nothing we could do to expedite our way in.  This was a combination of frustrating and relief.  It is frustrating that we lost yard time with the men we went to see.  There was also time for us to have a few moments to hang out one last time as a team before we returned to “normal life” in places like Peoria, Hainesport, and Woodstock.  My appreciation for God’s sovereignty has increased as I get older and spend more time with the Lord.  He ordained that time and allowed us to wait.  Maybe He protected us from something going on behind the fences or maybe He wanted us to have that last 60 minutes of fellowship.  No matter what, it was nice to take our game faces off for a little bit before getting the call to go in. 

We had a good Sunday morning visit to Zephyrhills CI to close out the trip. We played one game in the morning and won pretty easily but had a ton of fun in the process.

Chris Onken shared his testimony about getting right with the Lord on a church missions trip and Wayne Errig shared the Gospel in front of a small crowd. Wayne preached from John 18 and talked about while we are all sinners and have all messed up, Jesus led a perfect life and is the only perfect sacrifice for our sins.

This trip has been a blessing and it has been tough not to be emotional at times. I have had teammates on this trip with whom I have served with several times.  Some were with me on my first ever trip to Ohio in 2011.  It has been nice to serve with guys who have never before been on a Crusade. It has been cool to see them use their love of the game and love of Jesus to tell people about Him in prison.

During our 4 day Crusade, we handed out 439 Gospels of John and saw 10 men make professions of faith in Jesus Christ. 

Please pray for three different groups that we ministered to this week:

*Those 10 men who made decisions to follow the Lord- Pray that God brings Godly people in to their lives and that He helps them to grow.

*Those who were already believers- Pray that God brings encouragement. I heard a few different times during the trip about how hard it is to be a Christian in prison. Pray that God gives them peace and encouragement.

*Those who heard the Word- Pray that God works in the hearts of these men and that He draws them towards Him. Pray that others will come behind us and water where we have planted.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me this year and over the last several years. I have been blessed to do this and I can’t wait to go back!

A “Good” Visit- Sonshine State Florida Crusade- Day 3

 One of my favorite authors and podcasters is former Navy SEAL Jocko Willink.  Jocko and I have pretty much nothing in common.  He is a successful writer and one of the strongest and baddest people on the planet.  People are constantly looking to him for leadership advice.  I have yet to be called a successful writer, and, when people call me bad, they actually mean bad. As of this writing, no one has yet to ask me to write a leadership book. 

I appreciate Willink’s simplistic way of addressing problems by using the word “good”. 

• We have problem- “Good.  Now we have an opportunity to figure out a way to solve it”.

• I didn’t get promoted- “Good.  Now I have more time to get better”.

• We got beat- “Good.  We had an opportunity to learn”

As we took the field at Avon Park CI, we faced another day of heat and a muddy field.  While I was sweating and standing in muddy water, I was secretly saying to myself, “Good.  Now I have an even better story to tell on my blog!”

We had a HOT morning for sure but we won a pretty close and competitive game.  We had a larger but more spread out crowd. I had 4 good conversations with guys out in the prison yard while Chris Onken and John “Chiz” Chisholm shared the Gospel.  I talked to a few guys who knew the Lord and we talked about some struggles and frustrations that they were having.  I had a chance to pray with them and hopefully encourage them.  I also talked to a guy who was Hebrew Israelite

For lunch, we had a nice air conditioned meal at the local Walmart Subway.  I haven’t dined in too many Subways but I was thrilled to have some air conditioning and a light meal on such a hot day. 

As we were leaving Subway and the Walmart, it began to rain, and rain some more, and eventually, there was even more rain with thunder and lightning. We made it through security but we were delayed and nearly cancelled for the second half of our day.

We got to go to the chapel and sit through the beginning of another outreach ministry’s service for a little bit. Eventually, the storm stopped and we were allowed back onto the field.

The field was in awful condition but we got to play a full game. We finally lost on a walk off single in the last inning. Losing isn’t fun but it was cool to see the other team celebrate on the field.

I was able to share my testimony during this session.  I will often start my testimony by talking about the day I got cut from the Limestone Community High School baseball team.  It is sort of a funny story that ends in me as a freshman crying about being cut but the premise of the story is that I wasn’t sad that I got cut as much as I knew I didn’t belong.  I then go into explaining about how I heard the Gospel during an Easter Sunday service as a 7th or 8th grader.  I heard about our punishment for sin and how we deserved hell.  I then heard about why Jesus had to die on the cross.  I made a decision to follow Jesus that morning.  I knew that I made a decision to follow Jesus then but my life didn’t quite reflect someone who was born again.  When I was a young adult, I started to attend the church that I currently attend and got involved with the men’s softball team.  It was there that I built friendships and saw how seriously some of the men took their walk with the Lord.  It was at that point that God really used them to help disciple me and took me from being someone who had made a decision to follow to someone who wanted Jesus to be my Lord.  

After my testimony, Phil Cunningham shared the Gospel.  While Phil preached, I was able to hand out Gospels and talk with a couple of men with Jeremiah Haffner.  They were believers but has questions about unanswered prayers and predestination. This was a good conversation. I was able to share what I knew and encourage them that while we don’t always understand God’s ways, that He is still a good God and worthy to follow despite our lack of understanding. 

We made it back to the hotel, got cleaned up, and enjoyed a fun team meal and some ice cream. 

We finished our 3rd day of team devotions on the topic of “What is a Missionary Athlete”.  Wayne did such a good job with this.  I enjoyed as we studied the model for a missionary in Acts.  I enjoyed studying about our role in evangelism and God’s role in salvation. 

12 Year Olds at Work- Sonshine State Florida Crusade- Day 2

 In my last post I talked about 4 things that impact each trip. 

• Going Inside an Actual Prison

• Sharing the Gospel

• Competitive Softball

• Cross Country Travel

One thing that probably could have been added to that list is the weather.  More specifically, Florida weather in June.  Just in case you ever wondered, it is really hot in Florida in June!  Another thing is, it tends to rain quite a bit in Florida.  We played in some rain and won our morning game.  Jeremiah Haffner shared his testimony.  Jeremiah shared his story of running with the wrong crowd and how Jesus saved him. 

After Jeremiah shared his testimony, I had the opportunity to share the Gospel.  I had just recently had an opportunity to preach during our worship service at my church (Calvary Baptist Bible Church in Peoria, IL).  Anytime I get to fill the pulpit, I try and share a message from the book of John.  The biggest reason I do this is because we hand out the book of John to every inmate we see.  I preached through John 11:46-12:8.  I was able to share the same passage during the Gospel presentation.  In this passage is the account of Caiaphas, the Jewish leader and Mary, the sister of Lazarus.  Caiaphas plots to kill Jesus because Jesus is in his way.  Mary worships and honors Jesus by washing His feet with her hair and by using an entire bottle of a really expensive perfume to anoint Jesus’ feet.  I contrasted both lives and challenged those in prison yard, what are you going to do with Jesus?  Are you a Caiaphas or are you a Mary? 

We left for the prison for our break and had lunch at a really fun family owned restaurant.  Team meals are fun.  There are a few different things that happen during team meals:

• Guys will spend time on the phones checking up on work and social media

• Guys are talking about their families and local churches

• Or my favorite… guys are acting like 12 year olds and giggling about a classic movie scene or something funny that happened during the day’s game or from a game that happened years ago! 

These times have nothing to do with the mission statement of the ministry but they sure are precious moments that I cherish because I sure don’t get to act like a 12 year old at work!

We returned for the afternoon session and we won 2 more games.  Softball isn’t the most important thing we do but it has been fun to play well.  Adam and Mark who are from West Virginia, shared their testimony and the Gospel. During that time I was further out in the yard handing out Gospels and talking with whomever I could.  One of the guys that I had talked to said that he appreciated why we came in, and that he believed in God but that he didn’t feel like he could ever be a Christian or at least a Christian in public while in prison.  I was still able to pray with him and share the Gospel with him.  Please pray for this guy and that he comes to know Jesus. 

When we got back to the hotel, we had pizza and wings before having our team devotions. We continued our team devotion topic “What is a Missionary Athlete?”. We discussed the mission of a MA and continued studying through the book of Acts. That has been a blessing, refreshing, and a reminder of why we are ministering to those in prison.

Prison Ministry Chaos Theory- Sonshine State Florida Crusade- Day 1

 Chaos theory is a branch of mathematics focusing on the study of chaos- dynamical systems whose apparently random states of disorder and irregularities are actually governed by underlying patterns and deterministic laws that are highly sensitive to initial conditions. 

I’m sure that definition means something to somebody out there, but the coolest thing about chaos theory is that it plays a role in one of my favorite movies of all time, Jurassic Park!  Dr. Ian Malcolm, played by Jeff Goldblum, predicts the downfall of the dinosaur park because of chaos theory.  While Malcolm and most of his cohorts escape the island, the dinosaurs end up dining on several engineers, a few park workers, and at least one lawyer!

There are four elements of potential chaos that must be considered anytime we have a Saints Prison Ministry trip. 

• Going Inside an Actual Prison

• Sharing the Gospel

• Competitive Softball

• Cross Country Travel

Those are four tough plates to keep spinning at the same time.  Unfortunately, sometimes one or two of the plates fall and crash during a Saturday visit or during a Crusade. 

Sometimes we show up at a prison and get turned away because of an incident outside of our control.  There is no waiting it out.  When a prison says no, there is nothing we can really do.  It is a prison and not a park district recreation team! 

Maybe we go to share the Gospel and we find that the prison yard is indifferent to the message that Jesus Christ died for our sins and that by believing and repenting, we may have eternal life.  Maybe they just aren’t interested or maybe they are just caught up in the handball game that is more entertaining. 

Then there is softball.  Maybe we show up and we can’t just can’t play well and we are losing the attention and respect of the yard. 

Last but not certainly not least in terms of annoyance, is cross country travel.  Well, that is the plate that hit the ground during our travel day.  The Georgia guys made it to our hotel without issue.  The West Virginia guys arrived on time.  For crying out loud, even the travel-plagued Illinois guys made it without issue.  However, the poor guys from New Jersey and Pennsylvania spent the entire day in the Philadelphia airport.  Instead of a direct flight arriving at 4:30 pm in Tampa, they arrived at Miami and took an unplanned rental car to the hotel we were staying at just south of Orlando!  They arrived around 1 am and then had to turn around and be out the door by 7 am for our first prison on our trip.  We always preach that the key to prison ministry is flexibility, but man that was a tough travel day for the Northeast guys!

Our first prison on the trip was Sumter CI.  We won our first game. Tim Travis shared his testimony about how he came to believe in Jesus and what He has done in his life.  Our Director of Team Operations and longtime teammate, Jimmy Cochran, did a good job sharing the Gospel.  Jimmy preached out of John 3 and parked on John 3:16.  Jimmy talked about how Jesus died for our sins and there wasn’t anything that God could not forgive.  He used the illustration of DeWayne “The Rock” Johnson saying, “It doesn’t matter what you think!” when referring to someone wondering if he could be forgiven.  It was a nice touch to a good message and I think that it hit home with the audience.  Just like the April trip, it was good to hear our guys share their life stories and preach the Gospel again after missing an entire year due to COVID in 2020.  We handed out around 30 Gospels of John and had a good time to have one on one conversations and pray with the inmates. 

We had a nice team lunch at a local Arby’s.  This isn’t newsworthy, but Arby’s is one of my favorite fast food places.  The Central Illinois Arby’s aren’t open for indoor dining yet, so it was just fun to eat at an Arby’s with the team!

We returned and had a good 2nd half of the day at Sumter CI. We won both games and both games were fun prison softball games filled with some good softball and some good laughs!

Butch Smith shared his story of how he came to meet the Lord and of the hard life he lived up to that point. This is a cool story and has always related to the inmates well.  As I listened, I found my eyes watering as I was thankful for the home I grew up in, the strong male leadership I’ve had around me, and that but for the grace of God, I could have had a story like that, too. 

We had a time to pray with guys individually. I talked and prayed with a guy who wanted me to pray for his family. He has three kids but won’t get out until 2028.  As a dad of three boys, that was rough to hear as I know how hard it would be on me and my family if I was locked up for 8 years. I prayed for him and his kids. I also discussed about where he stood personally with the Lord. He told me that he was a Christian and we discussed what that meant. I think he is a believer but be in prayer for this man.

After we left the prison, we had our team dinner at Cracker Barrel and had a nice team devotion (Bible study) time. Wayne Hinkson is leading devotions and chose the topic, “What is a Missionary Athlete?” We are walking through the book of Acts and looking at what missionaries are and what it looks like to be “called”. 

After the first day, our team had the opportunity to remember what it is like to be tired, sore, and mentally exhausted.  However, it had been something that we had been looking forward to for a long time!

Here We Go Again!- June 2021 Crusade

 Dear Friends and Family,

This has been a busy week!  I know that everyone can say that but we have silly busy lately.  It is June but it seems like we are busier with kid’s school activities than we were during the actual school year.  We have busy running kids back and forth to summer practices for football, ROTC, and band.  Ryne is working a lot at Chick fil A while Kelly and I have been working overtime at our jobs.  I had the privilege of preaching this past Sunday morning at my church.  That kept me busy because it is a lot of work to prepare but it was a blessing to share the Gospel in our church’s worship service. 

Anytime I get a chance to be pulpit supply, I use the book of John and this past Sunday I used the text from John 11:45-12:8.  There are two very different people in this passage:  Caiaphas the high priest and Mary the sister of Lazarus.  Caiaphas heard of and maybe even saw the miracles that Jesus did but he did not like Him and was afraid that if more people followed Him, it would result in the Romans taking away his position as high priest.  Mary saw the miracle of Jesus bringing her brother back to life.  She knew that He was indeed the Son of God and she responded by anointing His feet with the very expensive oil. 

Caiaphas hated Jesus because Jesus got in his way.  Mary knew Him as the only way and the only one worth following. 

I am on my way to meet up with 12 other brothers in the Lord as we will depart for Central Florida for our 2nd Saints Prison Ministry Crusade in 2021  We will be proclaiming the message that Jesus is the only one worth following in four different prisons this week. 

Here are a few prayer requests for our team:

Traveling Mercies– There are 13 men going on this trip.  We are flying in from all over the place!  New Jersey, Illinois, and Georgia.  Please pray that transportation won’t be a hindrance to sharing the Gospel this week!

Team Unity– There are a couple of us that made the trip in April but this is the first post-COVID trip for several guys.  This is a very excited and eager group of men and we will be spending several days together. Please pray that fellowship will be sweet and morale will be high as we serve together.

Team Performance– This is going to be a good team but still pray that we are able to play well and that we earn the respect of the inmates. If we play well and earn their respect, they will be more likely to stick around and listen to us share the Gospel.

Please pray for tired arms, legs, shoulders, knees, elbows, and backs as we go through the weekend!

Speakers– Pray for the Missionary Athletes who will be sharing their testimonies of how they met Jesus and for the Missionary Athletes who will be sharing the Gospel.  I will be sharing the Gospel on Friday and will share my testimony on Saturday.   

Families– Each of the 13 Missionary Athletes are leaving a family at home so they can minister this weekend. Please pray for all of the wives who have to brave work and parenting by themselves.  I used to write this part of the email thinking of leaving my wife with a house full of small kids but these days my kids are old enough that they are driving themselves around and are pretty self-sufficient!  Please pray for safety for our kids and for our wives as they minister at home! 

Inmates– Most importantly, pray for the men that we will encounter as they are the purpose of this trip.  Jesus says in Matthew 28:19a, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,”  He also says in John 6:44, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.  And I will raise him up on the last day”.

Please pray that God works in the inmate’s hearts and that they hear the Gospel and will see a need in their lives to follow Jesus.  Softball is fun, the fellowship with other missionary athletes is precious, but sharing the Gospel behind the prison walls is why we are going.  Please pray that our trip is fruitful for the Glory of God!

Thank you in advance for the prayer support and for all of the encouragement many of you have been over the last several years!  This is the most excited I’ve been about a Saints trip in a long time.  Lord willing, the wait will be over and we will be on the field this weekend!

I’m looking forward to sharing the stories from this trip!

Please keep checking my Facebook page for updates throughout the week!

2021 Support Letter

Dear Friends and Family,

Please forgive me.  It has been close to 15 months since I have written a support letter so I am a little rusty!  Despite perhaps the most tumultuous year of my 42 year old life in terms of bad news, fear, uncertainty, and yet another season of an underperforming Chicago Bears offense, God has shown Himself to be merciful and good to us.  It has been tempting to dwell on every bad thing that we see in the news, however, as believers, we can share story after story of how God has worked and shown Himself faithful to us, our churches, and our prison ministry during this trying time in our lives.  God has shown Himself faithful to our prison ministry and provided opportunities for us to go back into prison to share the Gospel this year!

I’m heading into my 10th year of being a missionary athlete with the Saints Prison Ministry.  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.  While I wasn’t able to take the field in 2020, we did have softball, basketball, and volleyball events take place before the pandemic. Our ministry was able to visit several prisons and share the Gospel. 

FAMILY UPDATE

Our family is doing well!  Ryne is attending Illinois Central College and is working at Chick-fil-A.  Joe is heading into his junior year at Limestone Community High School and is very active in robotics, band, and the Air Force ROTC.  Calvin has graduated from Norwood Elementary School and is excited about joining Joe at Limestone.  Kelly and I are still working and while we enjoyed our downtime in 2020, we are busy with our kids, our church’s youth group, and occasionally selling baseball cards on eBay!

2021…SO FAR

While waiting patiently for what the Lord would have in 2021, we received an invitation in April to visit three prisons.  We were able to act quickly and assemble a team to play.  Overall on the trip we visited three different prisons where we were allowed to play softball and share the Gospel.  It was a blessing for the inmates to finally have an outside group visit in over a year, but I am sure I was more blessed than that.  It was great to visit with guys.  It was great to hear my teammates preach and pray.  I enjoyed hearing from incarcerated believers who praised the Lord despite being incarcerated and in often cases, being in lockdown during such an unprecedented time. 

HOW TO PARTNER IN 2021

It goes without saying but 2021 is not going to be a normal year.  The Illinois prison system is still in a place of uncertainty of letting volunteer programs in but things are trending as though they will open up later this year.  There are other states allowing volunteer programs back in such as Florida and Georgia.  I will be traveling back to Florida on June 23rd for a five day trip to visit prisons in Central Florida.  I am planning on doing another trip to Florida or another state that is open later this year.  I am still very hopeful that we have an Illinois trip this year as well. 

As a Saints missionary athlete, I am asking for your support in two areas. 

1. 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.  I would ask my prayer team to mail the enclosed orange card back indicating that they will pray for me in 2021.  When you fill out the orange card, please include your email address as I will be sending updates before and after each prison visit this year.  This is the most important area that I need help in and it is a huge encouragement to me and the rest of the teams when you pray for us!

2. I personally need to raise support this year to cover my travel, Crusade expenses, literature, inmate study materials, and softball equipment for the 2021 season.  I would ask you to prayerfully consider making a tax-deductible offering to support the Saints Prison Ministry in 2021.

There are two different ways you can donate this year:

1. Write a check made out to Saints Prison Ministry and mail to Saints Prison Ministry, PO Box 681, Moorestown, NJ 08057

2.  Easiest option:

3. Head to https://give.ministrylinq.com/app/giving/saintsprisonministry

4. Under the Choose Fund drop down, choose “MA Support- Illinois Softball”

5. In the subsequent Note box, enter Missionary Athlete name (critical to confirm the correct MA receives credit)

6. Enter Amount

7. Choose your giving method (Credit Card or Bank ACH)

8. Fill in information, including email for receipt, and click Submit

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