Inside the Mind of Gibby- 35 Years and Counting

We spent 2022 celebrating 35 years of prison ministry and are almost ready for year 36…but not yet!  Our squadron of crack researchers at the Mind of Gibby compiled a list of things to look back on from this past year before we flip the calendar to 2023. Please join us as we celebrate our 35th anniversary one last time!

We added the West Virginia Team and at the Same Time Finally Solved the Puzzle of Making Regular Visits to Ohio!

I am a firm believer that nothing happens by chance, but after 35 years, you would think that we would have at least accidentally started a team in Ohio by now! Ohio has been an incredibly open mission field for our ministry for decades, but it isn’t always easy to get there. Fortunately, we have a team in West Virginia now, and they are close enough that they can visit several of the Ohio prisons that the rest of us can’t get to on a regular basis. They have done a fantastic job in their rookie season, and it is hard to make fun of them. Most of them are Cincinnati Reds fans, though… that’s comedy gold on its own!

We Still Didn’t Recruit Tim Tebow

I have mentioned this in a previous article, but I still have people walk up to me and remind me, “You guys need to get Tim Tebow to go with you to prison!” I usually roll my eyes and make it a point to forever avoid the person who suggested this, but for crying out loud, they’re not wrong.

Tebow used to have a legit excuse for not joining our ministry; he was an NFL quarterback. After that, he was still too busy for us because he was playing minor league baseball. At this point, all he is probably doing every day is sitting on the couch and eating bags of chips. I’m also fairly sure he reads all of our stuff, so he clearly knows how to get a hold of us. The ball’s in your court, Tebow!

The Next Generation Showed Up

This was a fun year for several families in our ministry. The Smiths, DiBenedettos, Cochrans, Browns, and yes, even the Gibsons enjoyed father-son time on the mission field. There is something about being on a field with your kid and seeing them share a moment on the field with you and even more special to see them want to serve the Lord. The best part is our teams are now stacked in the event that we play Mario Kart, Minecraft, or Fortnite instead of actual sports!

Dave Cogliano ran a Crusade… and we lived to tell about it!

When our initial instructions included “devotions start at 1600 hours”, we knew we were in trouble…

“The Mind of Gibby” hasn’t been Canceled Yet

I know, right? I’m as shocked as anyone. Believe me, after years of insulting teammates, complaining about broken buses, and missing publishing deadlines, I thought that I should have been canned a long time ago, but here we are!

Well, here is to a great 2022 season and an even more exciting 2023! Of course, the excitement level will vary a little depending on whether or not we finally kidnap Tim Tebow!

Ohio Crusade Day 4- Allen Oakwood CI- The Key to Winning in Ohio is…

One of the keys to beating an Ohio team is to have Michael Jordan heat a dagger of jump shot over Craig Ehlo with three seconds left.  

Another key to beating an Ohio team is to just let the Alabama Crimson Tide play them!

Of course, my favorite key to beating an Ohio team is to have Ben Zobrist hit a clutch double down the left line in the greatest baseball game ever played!

However the key to beating an Ohio prison softball team is…unknown to me!

We ventured out Saturday morning for our last day of the trip.  On the field this trip had not gone the way we planned and that is always a tough pill to swallow.  We are there for the ministry but we do want to do the best we can on the field and earn the respect of our opponents.  However, this was a great mix of guys from across each part of the ministry in terms of geography.  It was a fun mix and I really enjoyed hearing our guys boldly proclaim the Gospel on and off the field all week.  

We took the field against another good Ohio prison team.  Once again we hit pretty good but not good enough to keep up with Allen-Oakwood as they hit several home runs.  We ended up losing both of the games.  In between games, David “Cogs” Cogliano shared his testimony and Wes Brown shared the Gospel.  During that time, I was able to go around the compound area and hand out literature.  

After the second game we were able to eat lunch with the inmates in the chow hall.  I sat down with a guy that had played in the game.  I’m not completely sure where he stands with the Lord but we talked about the Gospel.  He talked about how hard it was to be religious in prison and how much pressure there is to not appear weak.  I have heard that several times before over the years.  Pray that the Gospel reveals a need to have Jesus as Savior and Lord but also pray that guys see Jesus as more beautiful than pride.  

I talked to another guy who claimed to have a pretty wild life as a drug runner in the 70’s.  I have a feeling that he might have been totally honest with me but I let him tell me his story which included lots of drugs, international travel, and rock and roll.  We talked about the consequence of sin and we talked about what it meant to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.  He thought that what we did was a good thing but really didn’t have any interest in the Gospel.  Please keep this guy in prayer and that God breaks his heart and draws him closer to Himself.  

We played our third and final game of the trip and we took another tough defeat.  After the game, Craig Finger shared his testimony and Jon Isbell shared the Gospel.  Overall on the day, we handed out 318 Gospels and saw 9 men make professions of faith.    

After the games we made it back to our hotel and enjoyed some pizza and wings in the breakfast area of the hotel.  We wrapped up our 1 Peter devotions time and got to hang out one last time as a team.  

Once again, thank you to everyone who supported us on this trip.  Overall on this trip, we handed out 740 Gospels and had 41 men make professions in Christ.  

I am looking forward to what the Lord does in 2023!

Ohio Crusade Day 3- Marion CI and North Central CC- Don’t Bet on the Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears didn’t beat the Green Bay Packers.  The Chicago Bears were never going to beat the Green Bay Packers.  And I knew this too.  But, I made the bet anyway.  I bet my good friend, and die-hard Packer fan Bruce Buri that the Bears would beat the Packers during the Sunday night football game before our trip.  While the Bears made it interesting, they inevitably fell behind and lost the game.  Of course, like any good sports fan, I made a bet on the game and like any good Christian, I didn’t bet money.  I bet something worse than that. We agreed that whoever lost would have to wear the opposing team’s jersey on this trip.  It got some laughs and I have a picture so that I can remember my ill judged decision to step into the dark world of sports gambling.  

Our first prison of the day was Marion CI.  I had previously visited Marion back in 2011 during my first ever trip with the Saints.  Part of the yard was under construction so we played in a different yard in a different part of the prison.  We passed by a machine shop that several of the inmates worked in.  They made metal products that could be used by the state.  It was cool to see the different machinery and the amount of skill and talent that these guys had to have to work in the shop.  

We made it to the field and snapped our losing streak by winning the first game.  In between games, Bryce and Bruce from Wisconsin shared their testimony and shared the Gospel.  While we had a few more problems with the sound system, Bryce and Bruce did a really good job sharing with the crowd that was there.  

After our ministry time, we started our second game.  Unfortunately, we lost the 2nd game of the day before leaving for our next facility.  

Overall during our trip to Marion, we handed out 82 Gospels and had 9 men indicate that they wanted to follow the Lord.  

After we left Marion, half of the team headed for Wendy’s while a few of us went to a local guitar and music store to buy a new microphone.  We found a microphone and went straight to the Wendy’s for a quick meal before heading to our next prison.  

Our next stop was North Central Correctional Center.  I have played here before and these guys typically take their softball very seriously.  We played as competitively as we could in very windy conditions but we just couldn’t keep up with their hitting and we lost both of our games to what may have been the best team we saw on the trip.  In between games, Adam Blankenship from West Virginia shared his testimony of how he came to know the Lord and I shared the Gospel.  This was kind of a weird yard to share the Gospel in because there was a fence and a walking track between the field and most of the yard.  It didn't seem like too many guys were listening but we did hand out 175 Gospels and we had 5 guys make decisions to follow the Lord during our ministry time.  

After we left the facility, we went back to our hotel to clean up before a wonderful Chinese buffet dinner.  After dinner we huddled up for devotions and continued our discussion  through 1 Peter.  We talked about what it looks like to share the Gospel with someone who doesn’t or won’t believe.  We emphasized verse 15 about being gentle and respectful when sharing the Gospel.  

After our devotion time, we played some “Youth Group” style games.  We played a game where we had to start with an Oreo cookie on our foreheads and without using our hands, we had to figure out how to eat the cookie!  We also did a game where we had to see how many pencils we could catch in mid air and another where we had to do a puzzle blindfolded.  These were a lot of fun and it was a good time to laugh together after a tough few days on the field.  

Ohio Crusade Day 2- Richland CI and Manfield CI- The Shawshank Misfortune

 After 35 years of ministry, there is probably enough material to make a pretty funny, inspiring, adventurous, dramatic, action-packed movie.  There are countless guys in the ministry who would be delusional and claim that they should be played by Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise.  As for me, I want my part to be played by Adam Sandler but I digress.  

I’m pretty sure that if we had to pick out an abandoned prison to do most of our filming, we would probably all agree on the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio.  That was the prison where “The Shawshank Redemption” was filmed.  

The prison we visited today was Richland CI which is only a few hundred feet from the stone walls of the old historic Ohio State Reformatory.  Seeing it up close was quite a sight.  It was cool to appreciate the part it played in movie history but it was also cool to see all of the attention to detail that went into the building when it was built way back in 1886.  

Once we got a good look at the old prison, we walked the opposite direction into the entryway of Richland CI.  Once we arrived at the prison field, we got settled in and huddled up as a team.  Our coach, Wes, told us that this was always a tough team to play against and that we needed to jump out to an early lead because the Richland teams were always really good on every Ohio Crusade that he had been on…and he was absolutely right…

We did manage to get out to a decent lead but we had trouble keeping up with their offense and found ourselves on the losing end of game one.  

After our first game, Greg shared his testimony and Jimmy Cochran shared the Gospel. During the ministry time, I had an opportunity to talk to the chaplain on the bleachers.  He told me how thankful he was that we had visited.  

Right before our 2nd game, I received a response card from one of the men in the yard.  The card indicated that he made a decision to follow the Lord.   He took the field for game 2 before I could get to him.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t keep up with their hitting and we dropped the 2nd game of the day.  The other team had to leave the field because their yard time was over.  I was able to find the man who gave me the response card and I was able to talk with him very quickly about the Gospel and the decision that he made.  I think his decision was genuine and I’m glad that I could talk to him.  

Overall on the day at Richland, we handed out 150 Gospels and had 5 men indicate that they wanted to follow the Lord.  

We packed up our stuff and headed for the local Arby’s for a quick lunch.  We were hopeful that some fast food roast beef and curly fries would wake up our offense but we were in for another challenge when we arrived at Mansfield CI for the second half of the day. 

When we arrived at Mansfield, we were told that we couldn’t bring in our bats.  We ended up using the same aluminum and wood bats that the inmate teams had to use.  It was fun to hit with a wood bat but once again, we ran into another really good offensive team and lost our first game.

In between games, Zach Brown shared his testimony and Rob Fogel shared the Gospel.  

I had an opportunity to discuss the Gospel with a guy off to the side of the field.  I talked with him about why it was important that Jesus Christ had died and had risen again so that we could have our sins forgiven and know God forever.  This guy was very polite and let me talk about the Lord but told me he wasn’t interested.  I don’t know this guy’s name but please pray that God brings other people into his life to share the Gospel with him.  

We played another game and well, we got beat again.  Not only did we get beat, but our sound system quit working and our best outfielder went down with a pretty serious hamstring injury.  It wasn’t the best day on the field for sure but we saw 7 men make professions of faith in the Lord.  We also handed out 75 Gospels in the prison yard.  

We made the trip back to the hotel and got cleaned up and went to a local BBQ place for dinner.  This place was really good and we had a good time fellowshipping.  

When we got back to the hotel, instead of doing a typical devotion, we prayed for one of our teammate’s who needed some prayer for his family.  This wasn’t a typical Saints devotion but it was nice to have a moment where we could all be “real” and openly share a burden that was on a teammate’s heart.  

One of the biggest blessings of this ministry is the friendships we have as teammates whether it is local or across the country.  I know that there are times when we set out to draw the inmates closer to God but God ultimately uses the ministry to draw us closer to Him. 

Ohio Crusade Day 1- Lebanon CI- How to Win a Fantasy Baseball Championship

 I usually don’t win stuff very often.  I won a video game Madden football tournament one time at a Walmart.  Our high school marching band won a state championship in 1996 (Go Marching Rockets!).  I also once won a raffled Sammy Sosa bat…back when it was cool to win a raffled Sammy Sosa bat.  

Well, I can add one more milestone to that list.  On October 5th, I won the 2022 Saints Prison Ministry Fantasy Baseball League!  After months and months of getting up early and making my best guess who would play well every day, I came away with the championship!  

How do you win at fantasy baseball?  I’m glad you asked.  Here are my secrets to success:

• Focus your early draft on proven home run and RBI guys.    

• Don’t waste good draft picks on closers.  

• Pitch and ditch starting pitching.  

• Punt stolen bases.  This isn’t 1983 for crying out loud...

The one thing that made the championship extra special was getting to spend the day with the guy you’re playing against in the championship game!

The Illinois and Wisconsin Saints left Tuesday night and met up in Indianapolis.  The following morning we drove to our meeting spot in Ohio.  While we were waiting for the Georgia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and West Virginia parts of the team to arrive, we enjoyed a nice breakfast/lunch at the local Waffle House.  

Shortly after our meal, the rest of the team arrived and we were off to our first prison of the trip.  We arrived at Lebanon CI on time and we were greeted by an excited group of guys who were thrilled to have an outside group come in.  I was the third base coach and we had a heckler talking heckling us until we won our first game.  (If we would have known how the rest of the week went, we probably would have enjoyed that win a little more!)  

In between games, Nick Sauder shared his testimony and Brent Gerber shared the Gospel.  I didn’t really have a standout conversation during our ministry time.  Nick and Brent are both part of our Illinois team and have done a good job of sharing testimonies and the Gospel all year long.  

After our sharing time, we started the second game of the day.  It was a tough game and we ultimately tied the other team because yard time was called.  

At the conclusion of our game, we went back to the hotel and got cleaned up before our team meal.  We went to a local restaurant called Boston’s and I ordered the pizza burger…which was incredible!  During our meal, I was fortunate to sit across from Adam Blankenship from the West Virginia team.  All year long we had been battling it for the top spots in our fantasy baseball league.  Adam wasn’t originally planning to be on this trip but due to some unforeseen circumstances, he was added to our roster at the last minute.  Tonight was the last night of the regular season and this was the championship week for our league.  I had a pretty good lead when we sat down to eat but Adam wasn’t completely done yet.  During the meal, my fantasy first baseman, Matt Olson, hit a home run which gave me a sizable lead over Adam and that iced my victory over Adam!

After our meal, we went back to our hotel for devotions.  Our coach, Wes Brown, lead the devotions and used 1 Peter 3:13-17 as our passage for the trip.  

1 Peter 3:13-17-  13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” 15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

Tonight’s devotion focused on verses 13 and 14.  We talked about our eagerness to share the Gospel in prison but how we are sometimes shy about sharing it with family members or those we work with.  These were a couple of really good verses for us to cover because I know that I really struggle with the fear of man and it was comforting to see the rest of the room share that fear as well.  It was a helpful reminder that God tells us not to be frightened or to fear suffering.  We also reminded each other that we aren’t promised a set number of years so we don’t know how often we will have an opportunity to share the Gospel with those around us.  

Overall during our trip to Lebanon we handed out 115 Gospels of John and had 6 men make decisions to follow the Lord. 

High Scores, The Legend of Jerry Van Dyke, and a Week in Ohio! - Saints Prison Ministry Danville Follow Up and Ohio Crusade Preview

I’m pretty sure that the hardest thing about being from Danville, IL is having to live up to the legacy of Jerry Van Dyke.  Jerry didn’t quite have the career that his older brother did but he has cemented his place as the most famous person born and raised in Danville, IL*.  If you are from Danville, you have to wake up every morning and quickly come to the conclusion that whatever you do, you will never be as popular and famous as Jerry Van Dyke.  

I realize that there is a generation that has no idea who Jerry Van Dyke is and I truly feel sorry for them.  Jerry’s most famous role during his long career was his part as Luther Van Dam, the assistant coach of the fictional Minnesota State Screamin’ Eagles college football team.  Jerry was nominated four times for a Primetime Emmy award.  The lovable and sometimes befuddled Coach Van Dam was a fan favorite during the show’s eight year run.  

Besides being the birthplace and hometown of Jerry Van Dyke, Danville is also known by some as being the location of the Illinois Saints second ever prison visit.  We first visited in 2012 and have been back several times.  Our 2012 visit might not get the fanfare that Mr. Van Dkye’s connection to Danville does, but it is a special part of our story as a team.  

*This article really could have been about Hall of Fame baseball star Robin Yount or actor and older brother Dick Van Dyke but it went to Jerry on a technicality.  Robin Yount was born in Danville but was raised in California.  Dick Van Dyke was raised in Danville but was born in Missouri.

Danville is always a fun trip to make as a team.  It isn’t quite as far as some of the other prisons.  We travel through Champaign on the way home which means we have a fun team dinner somewhere, but, without a doubt, the most special thing is the warm reception we get every year from the administration and the men that we see in the yard each time we visit.  

On the morning of the trip, we gathered together at the Morton McDonald’s and prayed for the day before taking off for Danville.  After a quick breakfast stop, we arrived at the prison at 7:30 am.  We were processed through and on the prison yard rather quickly.  

We played our first game and it might have been the highest run scoring game that I have ever been a part of during my 11 years in the ministry.  After slugging it out for several innings, we came away with a 46-33 victory.  By the time the dust settled there were several men on both teams who were exhausted from all of the running!

In between games Ray Koonce shared his testimony.  After Ray spoke, Josh Frederick shared the Gospel.  Josh preached from John 8:31-36 and talked about what it means to be free from sin.  

In between games, we ate lunch in the gym with some of the men.  After lunch several of us were able to play bags, see the music and art rooms, and play a little bit of basketball with the men in the gym.  

After our lunch break, we took the field for the second half of the day.  We played 9 innings but we lost in the bottom of the 9th on a walk off home run.  

During the middle of the game, we broke for our ministry time.  Nick Sauder shared his testimony and Brent Gerber shared the Gospel.  

After the game we circled up with the men and we were able to pray with them one last time before we left.  Overall on the day we handed out around 80 Gospels and had 18 men indicate that they followed Jesus.  

On our way home we stopped at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Champaign for dinner.  It was fun having a team meal although there were several of us who had trouble walking with muscle pulls after a long day of playing softball!

When we got back to Central Illinois, we said goodbye and made plans for our final visit on 9/24.  Unfortunately, the prison we had planned to visit on 9/24 had to cancel so our Illinois season is now over.  I’ll share some final numbers from our season in a future email.  

So while our Illinois season may be over, I am off one last time this year to visit Ohio for a 5 day trip where we will visit six different prisons.  

Please keep our team in prayer as we will have guys traveling from Georgia, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and of course, Illinois.  Here is our schedule for the week:

• 10/5-  Lebanon CI

• 10/6-  Richland CI

• 10/6-  Mansfield CI

• 10/7-  Marion CI

• 10/7-  North Central CC

• 10/8-  Allen-Oakwood CI

I will be sharing the Gospel at North Central CC on Friday.  Please keep me in prayer as I preach!

Thank you again for all of your prayer and financial support all year!  It has been fun to see how God has been at work in the prisons across the country in 2022!