Indiana Crusade Day 5- Heritage Trail CF- The Last Day of the Trip

The last day of the trip is always bittersweet.  After 5 days of softball, you are just ready to be home and get some rest.  At the same time, it is tough to leave behind the mission field of prison and the team that you have spent so much time with. The whole point of doing something like this is to minister to the guys in the prisons and share the Gospel.  At the same time, there were several of us (if not all of us) who were able to use this as a much needed men’s retreat with fellow brothers in the Lord.  It was great to battle on the field as a team.  It was great to see each other share the Gospel not only in prison but also in the team hotel, restaurants, and gas stations.  It was great to laugh with each other during the down times.  It was sobering to know that other guys faced struggles in their own walks with the Lord too and that we could comfort each other not with our wisdom but pointing each other back to the Gospel and to the Lord who loves us.  There is nothing like seeing your family and getting back to our church families but it is most certainly bittersweet leaving a special group like this behind.  

Heritage Trail is another privately run prison that has been operated by the GEO group since 2014.  The buildings are quite a bit older and I did a little bit of research and found  that it was once the Indiana Boys School, a correctional facility for adolescent boys.  

The softball field was actually a tranquil setting.  The field was mostly grass but it was surrounded by trees and some old brick buildings

We had a lot of fun with the teams we saw.  The games were somewhat competitive but we won them both.  We had quite a bit of friendly trash talk during the games which made it a lot of fun.  

In between games Jimmy Cochran shared his testimony and the Gospel.  Jimmy was able to share about his special needs daughter.  Jimmy did a good job of tying that into having his faith in His heavenly Father and why it important that the men there knew about that faith as well.  

After the second game, we circled up around the pitcher’s mound and prayed with the guys one last time.  

Overall on the day we handed out 35 Gospels and had 8 men indicate that they trusted in Jesus Christ that day.  

Like I mentioned above, this was one of my favorite trips and I really appreciate the guys that I spent time with during this trip.  

Over all on the trip we won 14 games while losing 2.  We handed out 372 Gospels and saw 53 men make professions of faith in the Lord.  

Thank you to everyone who has supported me over the last 10+ years!  God worked in a mighty way during our time in Indiana and it was a blessing to be there!  I am looking forward to more visits this summer and fall!

Indiana Crusade Day 4- New Castle CF- Cheesecake, Patriotic Feelings, and Legendary Cubs Announcers

“Sure as God made green apples, someday the Chicago Cubs are going to be in the World Series, and maybe sooner than we think.”

- Harry Caray- Game 162 of the 1991 Season, October 5, 1991

Being a Chicago Cubs fan isn’t easy.  For every happy thought about the Cubs, there are at least 5 things that make you sad or flat out angry.  Besides the 1984, 1989, and 1998 seasons the 1980s and 1990s were not kind to the Cubs.  The one constant through most of those years was Harry Caray.  

Most of the baseball world either loved or hated Harry.  He most certainly was not a polished speaker.  He often struggled to pronounce names and sometimes some Anheuser-Busch products affected his Hall of Fame announcing ability on air.  

For me, Harry helped to just love the game.  When the Cubs were 80 games out of first place in August, it was fun to see him try to figure out how to say “Hershiser” backwards or try and point out that Shawon Dunston could be a Hall of Famer if he could just get his average over .240.  

One of the fun things that Harry did was sing “Take me out to the Ballgame”.  Somehow, someway, that factored into our Saturday visit at New Castle…

This was my second time visiting New Castle CF.  It is a privately run prison that is managed by the GEO Group.  It is a newer and nicer facility and they were very excited that we were there.  

They had some unique yard times and inmate movements so we had the opportunity to take the field against 5 different teams in 5 shortened games.  We won all five games fairly easily.  One of the fun things about the yard time was that there was a sound system with a laptop and keyboard.  We had several different walk up songs and lots of music in between innings.

In between games we got to eat in the prison.  This prison had a culinary arts program and we had a nice meal with some prison cheesecake that was incredible!

During our ministry time in between games, we had two different Gospel presentations

During the first presentation, Drew shared his testimony.  Drew grew up in a pastor’s home and learned about God from an early age.  Like so many of us, Drew drifted from God starting in his teenage years.  He talked about the things he did during those years which several guys in the prison yard could relate to.  He then talked about how he came back to God later in his life.  God uses everyone’s testimony in a big way but stories like Drew’s help guys in prison see that there is hope and there is a Heavenly Father who wants to take joy when we run back to Him.  

Jim Jefferson shared the Gospel during the morning session and did an outstanding job with clearly communicating the Gospel.  

During the second presentation, David “Cogs” Cogliano got to share his testimony.  One of the teams we faced towards the end of the day was a team made up of inmates who had all served in the military.  During each at bat they had their name announced and which branch of the armed forces that they served with.  It was fun seeing the guys, despite their current circumstances, have a moment where they were recognized and could take some pride in their service.  Cogs’ testimony was quite fitting because he spent his career in the Air Force and it related well to several guys in that group.  

Andy Solomon shared the Gospel after Cogs’ testimony.  Andy once again did a good job clearly explaining the Gospel.  

I don’t remember which game it was but one of our guys pointed out to the PA announcer that I did a Harry Caray impression.  I announced a couple of batters and had an opportunity to sing “Take me out to the Ballgame” as Harry.  Everyone laughed and had a good time despite the terrible singing!

Overall on the day, we saw 21 men make decisions to follow the Lord and we handed out 170 Gospels.  

After we left the prison we went back to the hotel and got cleaned up.  We had pizza and wings in the hotel breakfast area and we also had our final devotion time for the trip.  During our devotion time we talked about how does one of God’s servants perservere?.  We looked at the Kent Hughes book “Disciplines of a Godly Man”.  In his book he takes a look at the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11 and then looks at the first three verses of chapter 12.  

Hebrews 12:1-3-  1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

The author of Hebrews goes through basically a Hall of Fame of men and women from the Old Testament in Chapter 11.  The overall theme is the faith of these Hall of Famers and what it looked like when they persevered.  

In chapter 12 the writer starts out with the illustration of a stadium filled with these Old Testament saints who are witnessing New Testament believers run the race of faith.  The writer says “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.”  The writer is probably writing this to inspire his audience.  

One of the things that Hughes points out is the importance of “laying aside every weight and sin”  We talked about what that looks like as men to lay aside things we know are sinful and things that aren’t sinful but aren’t necessarily good for our walks with the Lord.  

Afterwards we were able to get some ice cream and enjoy our final evening as a team before our visit of the trip at Heritage Trail CF on Sunday. 

Indiana Crusade Day 3- Pendleton and Correctional Industrial Facility- Think About These Things

 I keep the following bible verse thumbtacked to my wall by my desk.  

Philippians 4:8-  Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.  

The last few years have brought forth all kinds of discouragement.  I’m sure that most anyone reading this has been discouraged about our nation, pandemics, parenting, marriage, work, and not but not least, Chicago sports teams.  Ok, maybe that doesn’t belong in this group but it is discouraging nonetheless!

I often try and think on this verse when I am discouraged.  One praise that I can think of that I can apply to this verse is the way God has used teammates to encourage and exhort me over the years.  I really appreciate the way God has supplied Godly men into my life through this ministry.  We had such a wide range of teammates on this trip.  Some guys were making their first Saints trip while some were on the ground when I made my first trip in 2011.  This was one of my favorite set of teammates on a Crusade

While on this trip, I was reminded that one of the good things I can think about is my Saints teammates.  It is cool to think about the way God has brought other Godly men into my life not only to make me a better person, but to help me love Him more.  I’m glad that God gave us Phillippians 4:8 and good teammates!  

Our day three journey includes two different prisons.  Pendleton CF and Correctional Industrial Facility.  

The Pendleton CF building is an older building but it has a very historical look.  When you try and imagine what a prison would look like in a movie, this building would probably meet most of your expectations.  The prison yard has the same historical look with concrete walls all the way around the prison yard.  

We actually visited Pendleton in 2018 and actually made it all the way out to the prison yard but we were not able to have a typical yardtime ministry with the men because of an incident earlier in the day.   

Pendleton had a pretty good softball team.  Unfortunately, we did not play very well and we lost game one.  

In between games, Bruce Buri shared his testimony.  Bruce is a Missionary Athlete from Wisconsin and helps run the Brother Bob’s Outreach prison ministry in the greater Milwaukee area.  During Bruce’s testimony time he shared about the loss of his wife to cancer.  He shared about his relationship with Christ was something that he could take comfort in during such a devastating time.  He also stressed how his wife knew the Lord and how that gave him joy through a very difficult trial.  This is always a powerful story to hear and I appreciate that Bruce reminds the men about the urgency to make a decision about the Lord.  After Bruce’s testimony, Jimmy Cochran shared the Gospel.  I really appreciated the message that Jimmy shared with the men using the Gospel of John.  We then played another game and unfortunately suffered another loss from another good team at Pendleton.  

Overall during our morning at Pendleton, we handed out 60 Gospels and saw 6 men make professions of faith!

We then took a break for lunch and got some Wendy’s nearby the prison.  Do other athletes eat Baconators in between sporting events?  Probably not, but, the fast food meals in between games are always a fun time to hit the off button, enjoy some laughs, and just relax for a quick moment.  

After lunch we went to the Correctional Industrial Facility.  We had about an hour wait before our game started.  There were a few dogs out on the yard with some of the inmates.  There are a few different programs out in several different prisons that I have visited that save dogs from euthanasia and allows them to live in the prison and learn some basic obdience.  The dogs are usually eventually available for outside adoption at some point.  I am an animal person and I really enjoyed hanging out with the dogs while talking to the guys in the yard.  

We played our first game and won our first game.  This was a very close game against a pretty good team.  Usually by this point in the trip, everyone is tired and pretty much everyone has some sort of injury but we were able to hold on and win the game.  

In between games, Bruce shared his testimony again and I shared the Gospel.  I preached from the passages in John 11 and John 12 talking about Caiphas and Mary.  Caiphas hated Jesus because He was in Caiphas’ way while Mary devoted everything she had to Jesus.  I made the point that if we want to follow Jesus, we need to be devoted to Him with everything we have.  

After the ministry time, we played another really competitive game and won!

During our time at CIF, we handed out 30 Gospels of John and had 5 men indicate that they trusted the Lord.  

When we returned to the hotel, we did our evening devotion.  The topic was “What Kind of Sacrifice is required to be God’s kind of servant?”

I used a few excerpts from Donald Whitney’s book, “Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life”.  In chapter 7 of his book, Whitney uses an illustration of a recruiting poster for the Pony Express:

“Wanted-Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over 18.  Must be expert riders willing to risk death daily.  Orphans preferred.”

We discussed a few passages of Scripture where we see that following Jesus is a life of sacrifice.  One of the cool parts was that we could take a look at how we need to sacrifice as believers, members of the Saints Prison Ministry, and members of our local churches.  

After our devotions, we enjoyed a fun meal at a local BBQ restaurant.  There is usually a BBQ stop on each trip and this one certainly did not disappoint!  

During the meal, Tom Carberry worked out a trade in our fantasy baseball league.  Tom was there for our first Illinois visit in 2012 and has been a dear friend ever since.  

It was a joy to serve the Lord on a Friday in the two prisons we visited!

Indiana Crusade Day 2- Westville CF- "In my Experience, There is no Such Thing as Luck.

 One of the things that our family has really enjoyed the past few weeks is the Obi-Wan Kenobi series that has been on Disney+.  From the casting, to the special effects, to the great writing, this series has been super enjoyable.  Now that I’m getting older, Obi-Wan has been one of my favorite characters. 

Hypothetically, if Obi-wan had traveled with us on this Saints trip, he probably would have said things like:

• “If his ship is as fast as his boasting, we ought to do well”.

• “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.”

• “I have the high ground!”

• And my personal favorite, “Hello there!”

But, there is one line he would have re-used for sure during our trip to Westville CF.

“In my experience, there is no such thing as luck.”

The thing is, we weren’t supposed to be going to Westville CF. In fact, for a day or so, it didn’t look like we would be going anywhere because the prison that we originally had scheduled had to cancel on very short notice.  Our Executive Director quickly worked the phones and was able to get Westville to fill our Thursday slot in the schedule.  This isn’t easy to do but props to our director for persevering and finding us a place to go.  

We might be tempted to say that it was just dumb luck that another prison would take us in on short notice like that but as believers we know better and we know that God is behind every detail of His creation.  It is cool how God works through His sovereignty and is in control of each detail of a Saints trip.  

Theologian and writer, Wayne Grudem (not to be confused with Obi-wan Kenobi!), defines sovereignty in his Systematic Theology book as:  “God’s exercise of power over his creation”.  

Grudem continues in chapter 16 of his book:  

There Is No Such Thing as “Luck” or “Chance.” All things come to pass by God’s wise providence. This means that we should adopt a much more “personal” understanding of the universe and the events in it. The universe is not governed by impersonal fate or luck, but by a personal God. Nothing “just happens” — we should see God’s hand in events throughout the day, causing all things to work together for good for those who love him. This confidence in God’s wise providence certainly does not equal superstition, for that is a belief in impersonal or demonic control of circumstances, or control by a capricious deity concerned for meaningless ritual rather than obedience and faith. A deepened appreciation for the doctrine of providence will not make us more superstitious; it will make us trust in God more and obey him more fully.

Usually I share numbers at the end of my posts, but we were able to minister to 27 men at Westville and we saw 4 of those men indicate that they made decisions to follow the Lord.  God worked through a cancellation and all of the details to book Westville CF on short notice to draw those 4 guys to Himself.  We serve an incredible sovereign God!

The day started well.  One nice thing about this trip was that we didn’t have any crazy early mornings.  We were able to eat breakfast at the hotel and then depart each day at a reasonable 7 am.  This was the longest drive of the trip but it was nice to be able to talk to our teammates about prison ministry, life, and how we serve in our churches.  

We arrived at the prison and we had an hour wait in the prison gym before our first game started.  We played three total games and we won each of them fairly easily.  In between games, Jon Isbell shared his testimony about how God has worked in life.  Jon is on our Illinois team and I appreciate his heart for the ministry and his willingness to serve.  After Jon was done, Andy Solomon shared the Gospel.  Andy started in the ministry about the same time I did and he is one of my favorite Saints to hang out with but it is great to see him minister in prison.

After we left the prison, we stopped for a late lunch and then traveled back to the hotel.  Once we got cleaned up we met for devotions.  I had the privilege of leading devotions on the trip and the topic I picked was “God’s kind of Servant”.  The first devotion was on what God looks for in a servant.  We spent most of our time in 1 Timothy 3.  These are the qualifications for pastors and deacons.  We looked at the qualifications and that the common theme was that most everything that God is looking for in a servant has something to do with character.  While the passage was speaking about pastors and deacons, we could all relate to it because these are all qualities that we should have as mature Christians.  

After devotions, we enjoyed a delightful dinner at a local Mexican restaurant.  The highlight of the meal was seeing our rookie, Luke Freeze, serenaded by the restaurant staff with a chorus of Happy Birthday.  Of course Luke’s birthday isn’t until September but the Saints tradition of celebrating birthdays is still alive and strong!

Luke most certainly wasn’t expecting to be celebrating his birthday and we most certainly weren’t thinking about Westville CF but it was a joy to experience both!

Indiana Crusade Day 1- Plainfield CF- Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!

There is a dead space of time between the Super Bowl and Spring Training baseball where there isn’t a whole lot of sports on TV.  I know, I know, there is the NBA, NHL, and NCAA basketball but those sports really don’t get exciting until their playoffs and tournaments start up.  

Something I look forward to that breaks up the lack of sports is the Daytona 500.  For one day, and one day only, I look forward to the fans, pit crews, announcers, and drivers obsessed with the strategy of going fast and turning left.  I enjoy the funny commercials, I enjoy the former racers commentating on the race.  For this one day I am totally immersed into the drama of when to stop for gas or tires.  I enjoy the tension between teams, and crashes…glorious crashes!  

Shortly after the winning car does his final burnout in the infield grass, I am checking to see when the first baseball spring training game starts up later in the week and I am done with NASCAR for another year.  

Indiana has their share of auto racing history, and I often think of that when we travel there.  For several of us this was also our first Saints experience of 2022.  After a long winter and even longer spring and early summer, quite a few of us had yet to have made a Saints prison visit.  

The Illinois part of the team left Peoria, IL before 6 am last Wednesday and began our trip to the Indianapolis airport to meet the rest of the team.  We had one other guy drive in from Wisconsin but everyone flew in from New Jersey and Georgia.  We made a stop at the Champaign, IL Chick-fil-A for breakfast. 

We had one young man on our trip who was making his first trip.  Luke Freeze grew up as a missionary kid and spent most of his childhood in Cambodia.  I had the privilege of being Luke’s Youth Group leader whenever his family was home on furlough.  I had been prepping Luke for this trip for a few weeks but we used that Chick-fil-A breakfast to explain some of the finer points of the ministry.  

We got back on the road and eventually met up with our teammates from Georgia and New Jersey at the Indianapolis airport.  Our first prison of the trip, Plainfield CF was scheduled shortly after everyone landed but fortunately, it was nearby the airport.  

We arrived at the facility and had a short wait before taking the field.  We won our first game of the trip and had a ton of fun with the inmate team.  Between games, Rodney Stewart shared his testimony.  It was nice to hear Rodney’s story about how God impacted his life and worked through bad situations.  It is always good to hear Rodney’s voice and I have appreciated the impact he has had in my life while serving with him.  After Rodney was done, Jim Jefferson shared the Gospel.  JJ was on the very first trip I took with the Saints back in 2011 is one of my oldest friends in the ministry.  JJ is such a good speaker and does such a good job of interacting with the men on the yard.  It had been a few years since I had the chance to minister with him and it was a blessing to hear him share the Gospel.  

We won the second game and once again had a lot of fun with the team and the crowd.  

Overall on the day we handed out 50 Gospels of John and had 9 men indicate that they trusted in Jesus Christ for their salvation.  

After the prison, we drove to our hotel and unpacked.  After getting cleaned up, we went to Bub’s Burgers & Ice Cream.  Bub’s is known for their “Big Ugly Burger” Challenge and has been featured on Man vs Food.  We had a long table and we had a lot of fun laughing and catching up.  We are obviously there for prison ministry but I do appreciate how God sometimes provides pockets of time where we can often have an impromptu men’s retreat.  

God is good and it was a blessing to serve Him in a prison in Plainfield, Indiana!

Saints Prison Ministry Indiana Crusade Starts Tomorrow!

Dear Friends and Family,

The actual week of a Saints Prison Ministry Crusade is always busy but it is comforting to know that Lord willing, we will be ministering in prison less than 24 hours from now!  

Tomorrow I will be meeting up with 11 other brothers in the Lord as we will depart for Indianapolis, Indiana!  We will be playing slow pitch softball and ministering to six different Indiana prisons tomorrow through Sunday afternoon.   

Here are a few prayer requests for our team:

Traveling Mercies– There are 12 men going on this trip and we are arriving from all over the place!  We have guys from New Jersey, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Illinois.  There are a few flights and some interstate miles that we will be covering.  Please pray that transportation won’t be a hindrance to sharing the Gospel this week!

Team Unity– Most of this team is made up of guys who have been through the grueling trials that make up a Saints Crusade.  Most of us have played together and we are going to make up a solid group.  Some of our guys are making their first ever Saints trip.  Please pray that we have good fellowship and that we all rally around sharing the Gospel to those who need to hear it this week.  

Team Performance– We have some really good Missionary Athletes on this trip and we are going to be a good team.  However, we are not bringing along that many extra guys and we are not going to get a lot of breaks.  Please pray that we 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.

All of my fellow Midwesterners already know this but it is going to be hot in Indiana this week.  Like, really, really hot!  Please pray for us as we minister through the elements.  Please pray for tired arms, legs, shoulders, knees, elbows, and backs as we go through this week!

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 afternoon at Pendleton CF.  Please pray that I share the Word clearly.   

Families– Each of the 12 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 can pretty much take care of themselves!  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. I am looking forward to putting the uniform on for the first time this year and serving the Lord in the prisons in Indiana.  

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

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

6/11/22 Robinson CC Visit Update

Dear Friends and Family,

According to the plan, at this point of the day, we would have wrapped up our first two softball games, one ministry presentation, and already had lunch with the men that we would have come to minister to.  Unfortunately, the trip that was supposed to happen today was postponed because of a lockdown at the prison.  

This isn’t the first time that we have had a postponement or cancellation.  This one hurts a little more because it was not only our first visit of the season but our first visit in over two years!  

Fortunately, we can trust that God is sovereign and that He will provide a way for the inmates at Robinson to hear the Gospel, either later in the year from us, or from other believers who come to minister.  

It has been a busy week so it is a blessing to have an unexpected Saturday to spend with our families.  I actually got to help with a project at our church this morning that I hadn’t planned on doing!

In the meantime, please pray for our upcoming Crusade to Indiana.  Two of my Illinois teammates and I will be leaving early Wednesday morning for a 5 day trip to the greater Indianapolis area.  We will be ministering in 6 different prisons.  I will be sending another update about this trip later but please start praying for this trip.  

Also, keep our next Illinois visit in prayer.  Our new Opening day is July 9th as we plan to visit Taylorville CC.  Please pray that we are allowed to go and minister and that God would provide for the trip!

Thank you for all of your support this season and throughout the years as I have had the opportunity to serve.  

Thanks,

Tom Gibson