Wonderful Merciful Savior- FPC Pollack Update and FCC Wrap Up

I just passed one year of being an elder at my church.  When I was first installed as an elder at my church, I had several people come up to congratulate me and some of them told me that this was an honor that I deserved.  While I got a chance to politely correct a few people who said that, I couldn't let them all know that this is something I really didn't deserve.  Being an elder, deacon, Sunday School teacher, small group leader, nursery worker, or volunteer with the Saints Prison Ministry is a mercy from the Lord.  

This was the topic of our devotion going into the last day of our Crusade.  

2 Corinthians 4:1 says:

2 Corinthians 4:1-  Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.

Being in ministry isn't a privilege we have earned.  We are not in ministry because we are somehow righteous enough or are more worthy than others.  It's a mercy.  

1 Timothy 1:12-16- I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

We discussed how God is merciful and allows us to serve Him and that whenever any minister (professional or volunteer) sees his calling any other way, he is on the road to disaster.  

The last day of the trip is always bittersweet- especially when it is the last day of the season.  There is the relief that there will be a break from the travel, early morning, and sore legs.  At the same time there will several cold months before we get to do the thing we love to do again.  

2025 was a special year and the sore muscles and travel fatigue did not bother me as much as it usually did.  I was really sad to see the 2025 season come to an end.  

We had to get up before the hotel could make breakfast so we went to a local Whataburger for breakfast.  I got a breakfast burger.  This may have been ill advised but I survived it!  After our early morning breakfast, we headed to the camp side of FCC Pollack.  Most of the time prison camps are lower security so we were able to walk out of our vans and right onto the field.  

We got some throws in to warm up before starting our final two games.  We won our first game of the day.  In between games, Damian Rodig shared his testimony of how he came to know the Lord.  After Damian shared his testimony, I shared the Gospel.  I preached from John 11 and 12 and contrasted Caiaphas and Mary.  Caiaphas hated Jesus and wanted to kill Jesus because He was in his way.  Mary loved Jesus and worshiped Him with everything she had.  I challenged the guys that they were going to identify with one of these two people and encouraged them to be someone who loves Jesus with everything they have.   

We played and won our last game of the trip.  This put us at 10-0 on the trip.  The on-the-field results are nice and I try to not put so much stock in it but going undefeated means we played well and kept the attention of the guys that we saw in the yard.  

After the game was over, we huddled up on the pitcher's mound and handed out some awards books to our umpires and a couple of MVP's.  We had one last chance to remind them that the biggest decision in their lives was what they are going to do with Jesus.  We prayed with them and shared some handshakes as we went our separate ways.  

Overall on the day we handed out 103 Gospels of John and saw 13 men make professions of faith.  

We had a quick moment to use the staff training facility (picture a Planet Fitness locker room) to change into whatever we were going to wear to fly home.  We stopped by a local Raising Canes for one last team meal together before heading to the airport.  The Cubs played the Brewers in the first game of the NLDS and promptly took a 1-0 lead!  We then prayed together as a team before heading to the airport.  By the time we got done praying, the Brewers came up to bat and were in the middle of a six run first inning. Two of the people in our traveling party were huge Brewers fans so they enjoyed the game a little more than I did!

Once again, this is usually the part where I describe all of the travel delays, cancellations, and re-bookings but we made our flight to Atlanta and then I made it to Bloomington with no issues!

Overall on the trip, we handed out 469 Gospels of John and saw 72 men make professions of faith.  

The 2025 season saw the Illinois team add several new guys, a trip to Texas, a full season with my son, Joe, a trip to Kentucky, and two trips to Louisiana in three weeks!

This last Louisiana trip was a blessing and was a really fun way to cap off a really good season!  I can't thank those who prayed for us enough!  The Lord provided in so many different ways this summer.  

The Lord is merciful and good and somehow allowed me to be part of this again!

I'm looking forward to whatever the 2026 season may bring!

Chicago Sports and Discouragement- FCI Pollack Follow Up

I've written about this plenty of times before, but I am Chicago sports fan.  We have 1985, 2016, and the Jordan years.  Other than that, there are several years of bad bullpens, bad quarterbacks, bad draft picks, double doinks, and fans interfering with catchable foul balls.  To be fair, we also had some good hockey years but you get the point.  There is usually at least one discouraging Chicago sport going on at all times.  

Of course, discouragement doesn't just live in Chicago sports.  It also lives in ministry too.  Our team devotion for the 2nd night of the trip was about being faithful in ministry despite discouragement.  

The apostle Paul spoke of several hardships that would have been discouraging.  

2 Corinthians 11:23-28-  23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

Despite all of those challenges and frustrations, we see over and over again that Paul was faithful to the ministry.  There have been several times of frustration and discouragement while serving with the Saints, however, we know we need to be faithful.  

2 Timothy 4:1-5- I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound[a] teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 But as for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

I really appreciate everyone who has prayed for the ministry and for me personally.  There is always going to be discouragement in ministry but we all must press forward!

We arrived at FCI Pollack and they were excited to have us there.  The FCI team was on the field warming up and they looked like they would be pretty good.  We came right out of the gate slugging and got out to a really big lead.  The other team tried their best to compete but they couldn't overcome the initial lead.  After the game we went into ministry mode and handed out Gospels of John in the yard.  Geoff Saturley from the Northeast team shared his testimony with the men in the yard.  After Geoff was done sharing his testimony, my good friend Burce Buri shared the Gospel.  Bruce is passionate about prison ministry.  In addition to going on as many Saints Crusades as he can, he also leads the softball team for a prison ministry in Wisconsin called Brother Bob's Outreach.  

After our ministry time, we played another game and won again.  After the win, we met with the guys in the yard and prayed with them and encouraged them to believe in the Lord and to follow Him.  

We had another opportunity to enjoy some lunch at the staff dining hall.  This was a fun lunch because we had the opportunity enjoy some time together which was mostly spent telling stories and teasing each other!

After lunch we took the field again against the first team we played.  They played a little tougher but we still pulled out a victory!

After the game, Tom Carberry shared his testimony of how he came to know the Lord.  After Tom was done sharing his testimony, Jimmy Cochran shared the Gospel.  I've had the opportunity to share a field with Tom and Jimmy several times over the years!

While Tom and Jimmy were speaking, I had the opportunity to have a few good conversations about the Lord.  Bruce Buri and I had an opportunity to talk to a group of guys who were hanging out in the yard.  We handed out literature to them and Bruce boldly shared a mini sermon with them in the yard.  

We got to play one more game and won the fourth game of the day!  We huddled up with the men one more time and reminded them that while softball is fun, the real reason that we were there was to tell them about the Lord.  

Overall on the day we handed out 406 Gospels and saw 34 men make professions of faith in the Lord!

We got back to the hotel, got cleaned up, and enjoyed some team fellowship at a local BBQ place.  

When we got back to the hotel, we did our team devotions and got some rest.  

Tomorrow is the last day of our trip!  Please pray for us as we visit the camp at FCC Pollack!

Faithfulness and Flashbang Gernades- USP Pollack Follow Up

There are several people in my life who were faithful about sharing the Gospel with me.  They modeled what it looked like to be a Christian man and encouraged me to persevere when times were tough.  God was faithful in using those people in my life to help me grow and cultivate a desire to serve Him.  

Faithfulness was our topic for our devotions this weekend in Louisiana.  I had the responsibility on the trip to share the team devotions each evening.  I used the book, "Remaining Faithful in Ministry" by the late John MacArthur for my devotions.  In his book, MacArthur brings up those who had been faithful in his life and who modeled faithfulness for him.  We looked at several passages about how God is faithful and how Jesus Christ is faithful.  We looked at passages where we see other New Testament ministers such as the Apostle Paul and how he was faithful.  

1 Corinthians 4:1-2 says:

1 Corinthians 4:1-2-  This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.  Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.  

We talked about what a great responsibility we would all have this weekend as we shared the Gospel with the men in the prison yards.  We talked about faithfulness in not making it about softball, but rather being bold with our faith as we talked to men in the yards.  We also acknowledged that we spend way more time with our church families and our actual families than we do in the prison yard.  We stressed to each other how it was important to be faithful as husbands and fathers and to be faithful servants in our local churches.  

The trip started on Wednesday.  This is usually the part where we talk about how my flight got cancelled and how I had to hitchhike my way to Louisiana, but my flight left Bloomington on time!  I arrived in Atlanta with no problems.  I met up with the rest of the team and we all made our flight to Alexandria, Louisiana with no major issues!  (With the lack of transportation issues, this update is going to be shorter!)

We arrived on time, once again with no travel issues, and made our way to the hotel.  We were able to watch some playoff baseball and enjoy a nice Louisiana style dinner as a team.  We had our devotion time and got to bed at a really good time.  

The next morning we got up, got breakfast, and made our way to USP Pollack.  It is somewhat rare to go to a USP.  I've only been to four in my Saints career.  A USP is a higher level security Federal prison.  One cool thing was that the warden at USP Pollack was the warden at another Federal prison that the Saints had visited a few years ago.  He was familiar with what we did and made sure the day went well!

We walked through the compound and we had just made it into the yard where the softball field was.  I was walking nearby the first base line of the softball field when we all heard a big explosion sound.  We were ordered to take a knee while the officers got control of the situation.  It turned out that there was a fight in an adjacent yard and that one of the officers in a tower threw a flashbang gernade to get control of the situation.  I was praying that the Lord would let us continue our time in the prison as typically stuff like this can result in a lockdown and us having to leave early.  The warden quickly assured us that we were good to continue and that everything was going to be fine.  

Once we got settled in, we were able to start our game.  We hit really well and held on to win game 1!  In between games, Warren Miller shared his testimony and Jim Jefferson shared the Gospel.  I would like to tell you how well they did with that but I didn't hear them.  Damien Rodig from New Jersey and I made our way over to an adjacent yard to hand out Gospels of John.  I was able to share a couple of mini sermons with a couple of different groups in the yard.  

Damien and I handed out several Gospels and had several good conversations before working our way back to the softball field.  We played a second team and they were a little tougher but we held on for the win.  We circled up with the men in the yard and prayed with them before going to lunch.  The prison team also took a moment to sing happy birthday to our pitcher/outfielder Bruce Buri!

We enjoyed some grilled chicken in the officer's cafeteria.  This was a good break in the middle of the day to hang out as a team.  After lunch, we went back out to the yard to start game 3.  

We faced the All-Star team in game 3 but we came out swinging the bats well again and won again!  

After the game, Rodney Stewart shared his testimony of how he came to know the Lord and Mark DiBenedetto shared the Gospel.  Once again, Damien and I returned to the other yard to hand out more literature.  We got into some good conversations and had opportunities to share the Gospel again.  We did get into a long drawn out conversation with a guy who thought his faith could control the cloud patterns.  I kept trying to steer the conversation back to the Gospel but we eventually had to leave and return to the fourth game.  Please pray that this guy we talked to comes to know the Lord as Savior.  

We got back to the softball field to play game 4.  Once again, we kept on hitting and won game 4!

Afterwards we circled back up on the field and reminded them of the Gospel they heard preached and to pray for them.  

Overall on the day at the USP we handed out 362 Gospels of John and saw 25 men make professions of faith.  

We went back to the hotel to get cleaned up before heading out to get some Mexican food as a team.  We managed to eat lots of chips and queso! I was able to watch the Cubs play their playoff game on Bruce Buri's phone while I ate my food.  Before the meal was over, the restaurant staff sang Happy Birthday to Bruce!

We made it back to the hotel just in time to see the Cubs beat the Padres 3-1 which allowed them to advance to play the Brewers in the next round.  

We huddled up and did devotions again and had a good time praying together as a team.  

We had a good day as a team, the Cubs won, and there were no travel mishaps!  God was good to us!  Tomorrow we are heading back to Pollack but we will play their FCI team.  Please keep our team in prayer!