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!
