Christmas Music, More Airports, and a Quick Return to Louisiana! Saints Travel to USP Pollack!

I am currently sitting in a study cubicle on the lower level of our local community college outside of the choir room.  My wife sings in the local Philharmonic choir and they practice every Tuesday night.  I drop her off and I wait in the study area while she goes to practice.  I use this time to work on church and Saints stuff.  

They are currently working on Christmas music for their Christmas concert in December.  

They are currently singing "Deck the Halls" to be specific.  

Christmas time comes up quicker when you are an adult.  It means that we are close to the end of the year.  

That is somewhat appropriate because tomorrow I am traveling on my last Saints trip of the year.  We are heading back to Louisiana to visit USP Pollack for three days- the prison is big enough that we can spend three days ministering to the men there!

While I will most likely be the only guy on the field, or in the entire prison for that matter humming Christmas carols, I am really excited about the opportunity to visit USP Pollack and share the Gospel with the men that we will see!

Here are some ways you can pray for our team this weekend:

(Note:  This looks like I totally copied and pasted this from my last email from our trip to Louisiana but trust me, I updated it for this trip!)

Traveling Mercies– There are six different states represented among the 14 men going on this trip.  Our last trip to Louisiana two weeks ago included lots and lots of plane delays, rental cars, and more airports than we had planned.  Everything worked out OK and we made it to the prison and made it back home...eventually!  

Please pray for traveling mercies as we will navigate airports and some more Louisiana country roads!

Team Unity– This is a really fun group of guys to travel with this weekend.  There are guys who have been with me since my first Saints journey in 2011 and lots of guys who have been with me throughout my Saints travels over the years.  Please pray that fellowship will be sweet and morale will be high as we serve together.  I will be leading the team devotions each evening so please pray that those go well.  

Team Performance– The results of the games aren’t important but it is critical 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.  I really like the talent level of the team and I'm looking forward to us all being together on the field.  Please pray that we play well and that we avoid the injury bug!

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 Saturday so please pray for me!

Families– Several of the 14 Missionary Athletes are leaving a family at home so they can minister. Please pray for all of the wives and moms who have to brave work and kids by themselves. I’m very thankful for the support that I have from home on these trips!

Inmates– Most importantly, pray for the men that we will encounter as they are the purpose of this trip. Pray that they hear the Gospel and will see a need in their lives to follow Jesus!  Pray that God works in their hearts and that God draws them to Himself.  

I will be updating my Facebook page throughout the week.  

Thank you in advance for the prayer support and for all of the encouragement many of you have given over the last several years! I’m looking forward to having some time to write updates about FCI Oakdale, Pittsfield WC, and Jacksonville CC.  This has been a busy stretch but I am so blessed to be part of this!

Praying for 20 Men- Pittsfield WC and Jacksonville CC Follow Up

When he's not cutting down trees, playing softball, or working on computer issues, my friend Bruce Buri is an amateur comedian.  All that means is that no one is paying him to be funny but he's going to try to be funny anyway!

Bruce has been a good friend and will often send me funny memes and pictures about cats, the Cubs, the Brewers, the Bears, the Packers, and pretty much anything that pokes fun at the Midwest.  Bruce has been an awesome friend since he joined the ministry in 2019.  Bruce drove down for this weekend's visit to Pittsfield WC and Jacksonville CC.  One of Bruce's prayer partners told him that he would be praying that we would see 20 men make professions this weekend.  

This was our last outing of the Illinois season and it is always a bittersweet time to pack up the gear knowing that this will be the last opportunity to do this for a while.  

I woke up early on Saturday morning and our Saturday started out in typical fashion...with some vehicle issues...

The van that we borrow had some problems shifting into gear.  We scrambled and found some guys who would be willing to drive.  We also altered some plans since we started out the day with a slight delay and decided to have breakfast in Morton instead of further up the road.  

Once we finished breakfast, we gathered up to pray before making the trek to the Pittsfield Work Camp.  

Pittsfield is one of my favorite places to play softball.  It is out in the country.  There are typically either horses or cows on the other side of the fence and it is a fun place to play an early morning softball game.  

We came out of the gate swinging the bat really well and never looked back.  We won our first game fairly easily.  In between games, Nick Munao shared his testimony of how he came to know the Lord and how his faith in Jesus Christ helped him through the early parts of his life.  Brent Gerber followed up by sharing the Gospel.  

We played another game and just kept hitting really well.  The game was a little closer but we won fairly easily again.  We circled up on the field with the men.  We do this after each game but we circled up with the men on the field and challenged them to consider the Gospel they heard and to consider where they stood with Jesus.  We prayed for them and we hit the road to Jacksonville.

During our time at Pittsfield we handed out 61 Gospels of John and saw 10 men make professions of faith.  

We had enough time in between games for a quick meal.  We first tried to stop at the local Wendy's.  This Wendy's was apparently being run by one teenager.  We waited in line for several minutes before we eventually gave up and drove up the road and stopped at a local Casey's.  Our fine dining experience included Casey's pizza, gas station food with preferred seating on the sidewalk in front of the store.  

Of course, Casey's pizza and sidewalks don't have anything to do with prison ministry but it was cool to see our guys rolling with the punches of the day.  Lunch didn't matter to these guys.  No one complained because they understood that we were there for the inmates and being on time to the next prison was important.  It's little moments like that, that bring me joy as a coach!

We arrived at Jacksonville and made our way through security.  The security was a little tougher than the Pittsfield Work Camp but we made it through and got out to the prison softball field.  

The Pittsfield team was already on the field ready to go.  We started the game and it had a slightly different feel to it than the rest of the games we had played all year.  We came out and scored 4 runs and they responded by scoring 4 runs right back.  This continued on for a few innings until we finally pulled away...or so we thought!  The Jacksonville team came back and had a huge inning of really good hitting and brought the score within 5 runs.  There was one inmate who rallied the team and the Jacksonville crowd by slapping his stomach each time he got a hit!  After that inning we broke for our ministry time.  

Kris Mettelmann shared his testimony and Kyle Krall shared the Gospel.  Kris and Kyle just wrapped up their 4th season on the team.  They both serve as elders at their church.  It has been great to have them as teammates and they have been a blessing to have as friends as I have gone through the elder process at my own church.  

I was able to have a couple of good conversations with some men during our ministry time.  Anytime someone marks on the response card that they made a decision to follow the Lord, I try and follow up with them to make sure they understood how they responded.  

After the ministry time, we continued on with our game.  We were able to score a few more runs and hold on to win the last game of the year.  

Just like in Pittsfield, we circled up with the men and shared with them that we loved to play softball with them, that we loved them, but ultimately, the Lord loved them enough to send His Son to die for them on a cross.  We prayed with the men before we left the prison.  

We circled up in the parking lot and shared some praises on how the day and how the season went.  We prayed one last time as a team and hit the road to Springfield for some authentic Springfield, IL horseshoe sandwiches before driving home.  

Overall on the day at Jacksonville, we handed out 72 Gospels of John and saw another 10 men make professions of faith.  

Bruce's supporter that I mentioned at the beginning had prayed for 20 men to make a profession that they were going to follow the Lord.  God answered that prayer between the Pittsfield and Jacksonville.  That was a blessing to hear Bruce share about his prayer supporter.  God worked in a big way today and He has worked in a big way all year.  

This concluded my 13th season of being part of the Saints Prison Ministry Illinois softball team.  I was very encouraged by our younger guys stepping up in big ways.  I was very encouraged by our veterans just being faithful throughout the year.  

I was incredibly encouraged by those who supported our team all year long and who prayed for us.  Just like that supporter who prayed that we would see 20 men make decisions, I believe God has been answering prayer all year long!

Overall on our season, we visited 9 prisons,  handed out 811 Gospels of John, and saw 87 men make professions of faith.  

Thank you again for praying for our team this summer!  The 2025 Saints IL season was great but there is still one last trip to go as we are traveling back to Louisiana this weekend!

Saints Head to Pittsfield WC and Jacksonville CC This Weekend!

This past weekend our Saints Prison Ministry Federal team visited FCI Oakdale in Oakdale, Louisiana.  

I also spent time in five different airports but that's beside the point!...

I will be writing a couple of FCI Oakdale posts in the coming days but to summarize, we saw three different populations over the weekend.  We handed out several hundred Gospels of John and saw several men make a profession of faith!

I am looking forward to writing more about this trip (and perhaps a little about airports, delayed flights, and rental cars!) but, no time for that now, because we are on to our next weekend of prison ministry!

This weekend our Illinois softball team is visiting two different prisons.  We will start the day at the Pittsfield Work Camp.  

At Pittsfield, Nick Munao will be sharing his testimony and Brent Gerber will be sharing the Gospel.  

Then we will travel to Jacksonville CC for an afternoon of more softball and Gospel sharing time.  

At Jacksonville, Kris Mettelmann will be sharing his testimony and Kyle Krall will be sharing the Gospel.  

Please pray for our speakers and our team as we minister throughout the day.  

This will be our last Illinois game of the year.  We will have some time to reminisce about our season on the way home but a couple of us will shift right back into travel and ministry mode as we will head back to Louisiana for another trip to a different prison!  

This has been a wild ending to our season but I'm thankful for how the Lord has provided all year long!  

Thank you again for all of the prayer and encouragement this year! 

Stress Eating and Dangerous Callings- 9/20 FCI Oakdale Day 2 Follow Up

The best thing about a flight delay is the stress eating.  

What was going to be a quick snack has now turned into several snacks followed by chocolate ice cream!  

The second best thing about a flight delay is having time to read.

A book I finished up during my travels was "Dangerous Calling" by Paul David Tripp.  I recently celebrated one year of being installed as an elder at my church.  This book really challenges pastor/elders to examine their own hearts about calling to serve the Lord.  In chapter 8 Tripp brings up Psalm 145 as he talks about the danger of losing our awe of God.  

Psalm 145:3 says:

Psalm 145:3-  Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.   

I spend more time with myself than anyone else does and I know how much I can struggle with my awe of God.  

When I think about how much the Lord has provided for our church and for the Saints Prison Ministry, I should be in awe.  

I should be in awe and not be quiet about it.  

I could write for years and not cover how many different places in our lives we should be in awe but if I just focus on how he has blessed and provided for the Saints, this should drive me to worship Him and praise Him to others.  It should drive me to want to pursue holiness as I seek to walk with Him.  It should drive me to hate my sin. It should drive me to want to be patient and tender with those around me.  There is nothing I can bring to the table that competes with the awe I need to have for God.  That should make me want to be humble, gentle and tender with those around me.  

We indeed serve an awesome God who is worthy of worship.  

I woke up early and got some quick breakfast before we left the hotel at 6:45 to return to Unit 1 at FCI Oakdale.  This is the same unit that we had lunch with yesterday.  It was fun seeing them out on the softball field after spending some time getting to know them.  

We started the first game and they looked really competitive but they couldn't quite keep up with us and we won the first game rather easily.  

In between games, Jon Isbell from our Illinois team shared his testimony and Hugh Dwyer from the NE team shared the Gospel.  During this time, I took quite a bit of literature out to the outdoor exercise area.  I had several good conversations with some of the men out there and actually shared the Gospel with a couple of different groups there.  

We played another game and won again.  We circled up on the pitcher's mound and passed out some awards books for our umpires and MVP's.  

After this, they went back in for count.  We went back to the lunchroom area for some snacks and to get out of the sun.  I had an opportunity to play guitar while we waited for count to clear.  When count cleared, we went back out and played one more game against the same team.  We ended up winning again but we all had a good time!  

After the game was over, we circled up with the men and prayed for them.

Overall on the day we handed out 355 Gospels and we had 6 more men make professions of faith!

Overall on the trip, we handed out 836 Gospels and saw 83 men make professions!

We left the prison and drove to the officer's training center to change out of our uniforms and get ready to head back to the airport.  

Of course we could not escape Louisiana without one last bout with the travel drama...

We were about an hour away from the airport when we all got notifications on our phones that our flight to Dallas had been delayed, and that in turn messed up our return flight to Peoria.  

While we were driving, our director got us re-booked on a flight to Chicago and then got us a rental car so Jon Isbell and I could drive home.  Jon and I finally both made it home a little after midnight.  

Despite the travel woes, it was worth it to share the Gospel with so many men.  

During our 2025 Federal season we handed out 2736 Gospels to the men in the prison yards and saw 223 men make professions!  

Thank you for praying for our Federal team this summer!  It was a blessing to get some extra traveling in and share the Gospel in some places that are harder to get to!

The Stuck in Dallas Blues and Spanish Speaking Softball- 9/19 FCI Oakdale Day 1 Follow Up

So here's my problem with the Lord of the Rings, and I am aware that I'm not the first person to bring this up, but why didn't they just use the gigantic eagles to fly to Mt. Doom and conveniently drop the ring in the fire?    

If Gandalf would have just taken one of the Super Uber Eagles straight to Mt. Doom, the Lord of the Rings trilogy becomes a nice 30 minute Hallmark movie instead of the 11 hour 21 minute epic journey that we know it as now.  

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing better than a Lord of the Rings movie on a sleepy rainy day, but that's not my point.  My point is, if only there was a way of flying a long distance over a short time to accomplish your goal...

...and that is exactly what I was wondering as I sat in the Love Field airport in Dallas, Texas.  

A Saints trip isn't really a Saints trip unless there is some travel drama and of course, we managed to find that drama on this trip and then some!

Our trip began at the Peoria airport.  Jon Isbell from our Illinois team and I were making the trip to Louisiana to meet up with the rest of the team.  We arrived early, made it through security and we were ready to board for our quick trip to Oakdale, Louisiana with stops in Dallas and New Orleans!  

Unfortunately, our flight attendant for our plane was late.  By the time she came running through the airport with one shoe and a tumbler full of coffee, we left 30 minutes late.  

We made it to Dallas just in time to see our next plane leave for New Orleans.  That left us stuck in Dallas.  After going through all of the options to fly out of Dallas, we found a flight to New Orleans....from the airport across town.  We circled the wagons and made travel arrangements and made our way across town via Uber.  We had a really cool Uber driver named Karama.  Karama was from Kenya but who loved authentic Texas BBQ and American football!  Our new Kenyan friend talked football all the way to the airport.  He dropped us off at Love Field and we were excited to finally be on our way.  

We made it through security, found our gate, bought some snacks, and then heard: "Ladies and Gentlemen, please get comfortable..."  The person on the intercom told us that Love Field and the Dallas Fort Worth airports were in a "ground stop" meaning no planes were leaving or landing until a radar issue was fixed.  

We waited that out and eventually got on our new flight to New Orleans.  We landed a little after 10 pm almost 11 hours after our original arrival time.  We met the Saints Executive Director at the airport who managed to have an even more eventful trip than we did.  Long story short, his trip included stops in Philadelphia and St. Louis before getting to New Orleans and his luggage ended up in Kansas City and he was re-routed through Nashville-  two cities that were not part of our original travel itinerary!

We made a quick stop at the local Walmart and Chick-fil-A before making the three hour drive to the hotel.  

We arrived a little before 2 AM but we arrived nonetheless!

We got as much sleep as we would be waking up and heading out the door at 6:45 am for a short ride and 7:00 am arrival.  

We arrived at the prison and went through the security process.  I was still really tired from all of the travel so I don't remember much of it (it must have happened in order for me to end up on the softball field at some point!)

FCI Oakdale had two different units and a camp team they wanted us to play this weekend.  Our first group that we were going to see was Unit 2.  

We made it to the softball field and shortly after arriving there, we realized that the majority of the population in Unit 2 spoke Spanish!  

Shortly after starting the game, we realized that they were also pretty good at softball!

They were pretty good and we hung with them most of the game but unfortunately, they were leading when we ended the game for our ministry time.  

Before I talk about the ministry time, I must remind you that most of them spoke Spanish and not English.  

We found someone who could speak both English and Spanish and he agreed to interpret during our ministry time.  

James Mast from our Illinois team shared his testimony.  James did a good job walking through his story little by little as the interpreter translated it into Spanish for those in the prison yard.  

After James shared his testimony, our Executive Director, Frank Zeidler shared the Gospel.  Frank laid out a very clear presentation of the Gospel from John 3 and did a good job of sharing the message while working patiently with an interpreter.  

After we wrapped up ministry time, we played a second game and pulled out a victory!  

Since we had not prepared to see so many Spanish speaking men, one of our Missionary Athletes ran back to the hotel and got more Spanish literature.  He made it back before the end of our session with Unit 2 so we could give out even more Gospels.  

Overall during our time at Unit 2, we handed out 310 Gospels, with 247 of them being Spanish!  We also saw 71 men make a profession of faith!  

We left Unit 2 and went to Unit 1, not to play softball but to have lunch.  We ate lunch with the men who we are going to play the next day.  We enjoyed some nachos, smoked sausage, and some cookies for lunch.  I had lunch with a guy who was excited about how the Lord was working in the prison and how excited he was to serve Him once he got out.  Conversations like that are always encouraging!

After lunch, we left Unit 1 and drove to the camp.  The camp was a little more relaxed in terms of security.  

We played our first game against the camp and won in pretty convincing fashion.  In between games, Buck Jorgenson from Minnesota shared his testimony of how he came to know the Lord and Jimmy Cochran shared the Gospel. 

We played one more game and won again.  After the game was over, we met with the team on the pitcher's mound of the softball diamond.  We handed out some award books to the umpires and we recognized the MVP of the game by giving him a devotional book.  We also took the time to pray with them one last time and remind them of why were there and urged them to follow the Lord.  

Overall we handed out 171 Gospels and had 6 men make a profession of faith at the camp.  

We wrapped up the evening by getting some small town Louisiana style food.  Needless to say, after a couple of days of travel, early mornings, and softball, I will sleep really, really hard!

Tomorrow we are going back to the prison to play Unit 1.  Please keep us in prayer as we play some more softball and share the Gospel!

Saints are Heading to Louisiana! Saints Federal Team Visits FCI Oakdale this Weekend!

This coming weekend our Saints Prison Ministry Federal Team is making our last visit of the year to FCI Oakdale in Oakdale, Louisiana. 

Lord willing, we will be playing six softball games and will have three times to share the Gospel.  

Here is how you can pray for our team this weekend:

Traveling Mercies– There are six different states represented among the 14 men going on this trip.   from all over the place!  Just in case you were wondering, we've got Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Florida, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Georgia, and a few of us traveling from Illinois!  We are going to spend a lot of time in airports and rental vans.  Oakdale is a few hours away from most of the parts of Louisiana that most of us have heard.  Please pray for traveling mercies as we will navigate airports, country roads, and hopefully no gators!

Team Unity– I love going on trips like this and catching up with my brothers from across the country.  This is going to be a fun group to be around this week!  Please pray that fellowship will be sweet and morale will be high as we serve together. 

Team Performance– The results of the games aren’t important but it is critical 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.  I really like the talent level of the team and I'm looking forward to us all being together on the field.  Please pray that we play well and that we avoid the injury bug!

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. 

Families– Several of the 14 Missionary Athletes are leaving a family at home so they can minister. Please pray for all of the wives and moms who have to brave work and kids by themselves. I’m very thankful for the support that I have from home on these trips!

Inmates– Most importantly, pray for the men that we will encounter as they are the purpose of this trip. Pray that they hear the Gospel and will see a need in their lives to follow Jesus!  Pray that God works in their hearts and that God draws them to Himself.  

I will be updating my Facebook page throughout the week.  

Lord willing, after this weekend our Illinois team heads to Pittsfield WC and Jacksonville CC on 9/27.  Then on 10/1, we are heading BACK to Louisiana to play in more Louisiana state and federal prisons!  

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’m looking forward to sharing the stories from this week!

Monday Night Football Blues- 9/6 Danville CC Follow Up

Let's cut to the chase, that was a rough Monday Night Football game earlier this week.  

The Bears had glimpses of greatness and were in control of the game but they grasped a defeat from the hands of victory once again...

I stayed up and watched the whole thing and then went to bed wondering yet again where do we place the blame for all of these years of mediocrity.  

I still blame the ownership for firing Lovie Smith.  That move set the team back decades.  

I still blame Jay Cutler for being the most underwhelming yet statistically best quarterback in Bears history.  

I don't blame Mitch Trubisky...but I blame Ryan Pace for drafting him over Patrick Mahomes!

I blame the guy who traded Greg Olsen to the Panthers.  I don't remember who the GM was who traded him so I must have blocked out his name!

I blame Cody Parkey for somehow hitting several goalposts in one year. 

I could go on and on about several other offensive linemen, kickers, offensive coordinators, quarterbacks, backup quarterbacks, receivers, and probably everyone else in the organization besides the announcer Jeff Joniak!

Yet as much as the Bears irritate me, I'm excited that it is finally football season.  I wrote about this in my last post, but I love coming home from church on a Sunday afternoon, eating some pizza and wings, and falling asleep while watching a football game.  

One of the things that also helped me fall asleep faster was recovering from a fun Saturday of playing softball and spending time with my Saints Prison Ministry brothers on the softball field at Danville CC!

This past Saturday, our team met up early in the morning to pack up our gear and pray together before making the trip to Danville.  Once we finished praying, we loaded up in the van and headed towards the prison!

We stopped at Chick fil A and had a good breakfast as a team.  We had a few visits where we skipped breakfast so it was nice to have fun talking about church stuff and of course, the upcoming Chicago Bears game.  

We got back on the road to Danville.  Saints veteran pitcher and good friend, Ray Koonce and I were in the front seat having a really good conversation about his grand-kids.  We were in the middle of a really good talk when we noticed a "Welcome to Indiana" sign!  We missed our exit and had to turn around and head back into Illinois.  We were doing really good on time so we had time to turn around and make it to the prison on time with minimal kidding and harassment from those sitting in the backseat!  

We arrived at Danville and made our way into the prison lobby.  The officer in charge, told us that they had to alter some plans due to some staffing.  He let us know that they came really, really close to having to cancel the day but they were able to pull enough logistics together to allow us to at least have a half day of ministry.  There were four teams that wanted to play us so the plan we went with was to play 4 three inning games with a ministry time in between.  

We made our way out to the prison yard, very quickly warmed up and then hit the ground running.  We played the first two games and won in very convincing fashion.  

In between games, AJ Salmon shared his testimony.  AJ is in his second season with the team and he has made a huge impact on our team and in the prison yards.  

Kris Mettelmann shared the Gospel.  Kris has been with our team for the past four seasons and does a good job of clearly sharing the Gospel with the men that we see.  

During the ministry time, I had a few moments to talk to a couple of guys and walk them through the Gospel.  One guy professed to be a believer and the other guy was still searching.  Please pray for these two guys.  

We finished up the remainder of the day by playing the final two teams.  To make things work, we had to cut our games down from three innings down to two.  

After the game we huddled up on the pitchers mound, recognized the umpires, and handed out some MVP books.  We were able to pray with the men and drive the Gospel home one more time with them.  

Overall on the day, we handed out 147 Gospels of John and had 17 men make professions of faith.  

We huddled up behind the van in the parking lot and prayed for the men we saw and that the Lord would work after we were gone.  

We got out a little early and started our drive home.  We stopped again in Champaign for a Buffalo Wild Wings lunch and spent some time watching the Illinois-Duke football game and the Cubs-Nationals game.  

Thank you again for praying for our team this summer.  

We have our Federal visit to Louisiana on 9/19-21.  Our last Illinois visit is 9/27 as we visit Pittsfield WC and Jacksonville CC.  

But wait, that's not all!  

I also jumped in and joined the fall Crusade which was originally going to be Florida but is now going to be Louisiana!  I will be on that trip from 10/1-10/5.  

Please pray that the Lord works in a mighty way as we share the Gospel and play lots of softball the next few weekends!  

It is a blessing to serve the Lord in this capacity.  I'm looking forward to writing about about these upcoming trips!

Are You Ready For Some Football?! Saints IL Softball Team Visits Danville CC on Saturday!

I'm writing this as I'm watching the first NFL game of the year between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys.  Baseball is my first love but I love the start of the NFL season.  It means hooded sweatshirt weather is on its way, grilling out brats on Sunday afternoons after church, and taking solid naps through halftime and the most of the third quarter.  

With all of that being said, there is still some summer left and we get to play some more softball!

This Saturday our Saints Prison Ministry IL Softball team is heading to Danville CC.  This will be our 9th visit to Danville since 2012!  This is our team's (and mine personally!) most visited prison during that time span. 

We are hoping to get as many as four softball games in on the day in what the forecast says will be BEAUTIFUL WEATHER for a day of September slow pitch softball!

Here is our speaking lineup of the day:

During our morning session, Nick Munao will be sharing his testimony and Kris Mettelmann will be sharing the Gospel.

In the afternoon, AJ Salmon will be sharing his testimony and Brent Gerber will be sharing the Gospel.  

Please pray for our four speakers on Saturday.  

Thank you for praying for our team all year long!  

PRAISES

• Our IL Saints team has played in six different prisons in Illinois and none of them have cancelled or rescheduled!
• So far our IL team has handed out 656 Gospels and seen 53 men make professions of faith!
• Our Kentucky Crusade team visited 5 different prisons, handed out 469 Gospels of John, and saw 40 men make professions of faith!
• Our Federal Team has made two successful outings to Texas and New England.
• Our Federal Team has visited 5 different prisons, handed out 1900 Gospels, and seen 140 men make professions of faith!
• We have had several new missionary athletes across the ministry who have stepped up and who have been a blessing this year!

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Please pray for the 53 men who have made professions of faith during our IL visits this year
• Please pray for the 140 men who made professions of faith during our Federal team season
• Please pray for the 40 men who made professions of faith in Kentucky
• Please continue to pray that we are still able to get into the remaining facilities despite staffing issues at the prisons.
• Pray for the hearts of the inmates we will see this summer. Pray that God draws their hearts to Himself.
• Pray for the hearts of our own missionary athletes and that we are bold in our prayer lives and bold sharing the Gospel this summer.