A Windy Last Day of the Trip! - FCI Seagoville Update

This is the last day of the trip which is called "Getaway Day" but of course we don't refer to it as that while we are in the prison!  

The last day of the trip is always bittersweet.

Bitter because it means we have to leave our teammates behind, the softball behind, and the prison ministry behind for a little bit.  

It is sweet because on the last day of the trip, everyone is hurt and nursing some sort of injury!

Although I've been trying to deal with a knee injury since January and my legs were shot going into the last day, it is still tough to get back on the plane and go home after a solid weekend of ministry like this.  

We woke up and enjoyed a pretty solid breakfast for a hotel breakfast.  We got in the van and made our way to our last destination of the trip.  

Our last prison of the trip was FCI Seagoville.  FCI Seagoville had never had an outside group like ours come in before.  They were very thorough as we made our way through security and made our way out onto the field.  

The other team was excited to have an outside group come in.  It was really windy out so the ball was doing some wild things as it left the pitcher's hand!

We started game one and won in very convincing fashion.  There was an inmate movement during our first game so we lost some of our crowd.  The staff reassured us that the crowd would return later in the morning so we continued to start our second game which we also won as well.  We had a little bit more time before the crowd came out so we played one more quick game before the crowd returned.  

After the second game, we were able to do our ministry time.  James Mast from our Illinois team shared his testimony.  James is a really good softball player but is also the quietest guy on our team.  He did a really good job of sharing his testimony of how he came to know the Lord.  After James spoke, I shared the Gospel.  I have been preaching about Caiaphas and Mary from John chapter 11 and 12 for the last couple of years during my sharing time.  I contrast how Mary worshiped Jesus and was all in on following Him and how Caiaphas saw Jesus as in his way and tried to have Jesus killed.  While we want to sin and sometimes view Jesus as in our way, we should be like Mary and see Jesus as the true King worth following.  

After the ministry time, we circled up again on the pitcher's mound and handed out some awards books.  Rodney Stewart closed out the circle time by encouraging the men to stop running from the Lord and put their faith in Jesus.  Rodney prayed for the men and we made our way back to the van.  

Overall on the day we handed out 70 Gospels of John and had 8 men make professions of faith.  

Usually I write about the long goodbyes or last meals that we share as a team but we were on a time crunch to get to the airport.  The FCI Seagoville folks let us use the staff training center to change back into civilian clothes so we can run across town to the Dallas airport.  

We changed quickly and said some really quick good byes to our teammates who had later flights.  We made our way across Dallas and got dropped off at our terminals.  

This is usually the place where I write about how I got stranded at an airport because of delays and cancellations.  My flight did have an hour delay, but, for the first time in nearly fifteen years of doing this, I was the first one home!  Some of my teammates didn't fare so well as they were cancelled and either caught later flights the next day or ended up making the drive back from Dallas to Atlanta!

Thank you for praying for this trip!  I am incredibly blessed to be able to continue to do this after so many years.  I'm looking forward to our Illinois season starting up in May!  Please continue to pray for the ministry across the country as we continue to prepare for lots of ministry and softball this summer!

Did Anyone Else Pick Duke??? - FMC Fort Worth Update

Just like my last post, things have been busy and it took me a little longer to write this than I wanted.  I am actually writing this right after UConn stunned Duke to advance to the Final Four.  I picked Duke to win the tournament so my NCAA bracket is completely destroyed now.  Believe it or not, I am conditioned for such heartbreak when it comes to sports!  After thousands of Cubs, Bears, Bulls, Blackhawks, Bradley, Peoria Chiefs, Peoria Rivermen, Dale Earnhardt (I had a brief NASCAR phase in the 90's!), and yet more Cubs losses, I can handle a broken bracket or two!

With all of that being said, I really enjoy some sports. While I'm somewhere on the tail end of playing, I really enjoy playing softball and I'm thrilled that I get to play softball and use it as a means to share the Gospel.  

We woke up and got ready for the day.  We were up and dressed before the hotel staff could make breakfast so most of our team got some granola bars, high protein snacks, athletic energy drinks, and other healthy options.  I stuck to my usual staple of Kellogg's Cherry Pop Tarts as my healthy breakfast choice.  I actually did compliment the Pop Tarts with chocolate protein shake!

We got to FMC Fort Worth before the sun came up.  We had a bit of a wait in a rec room in the prison.  We had an opportunity to hang out as a team and have a few conversations with the men that we saw.  Several of the men that we saw remembered us from the previous year.  It is always amazing how much they can remember and how much these visits mean to them.  

We finally got on the field, stretched out, got some throwing in, and eventually started the first game of the day.  We came out swinging the bats really well and cruised to a game 1 win.  

FMC Fort Worth made a big deal about the day and allowed a prison band to perform in a courtyard near the field.  After our game, we got to share the Gospel in the courtyard area.  We were able to hand out quite a bit of literature to men who were milling about and had some decent conversations.  

During our first game, Wyatt Jicha from Wisconsin shared his testimony.  Wyatt has been a huge pickup for our ministry the last couple of years.  I appreciated his testimony and I appreciate that he is a good teammate to be around on trips like this.  After Wyatt shared his testimony, Jim Jefferson shared the Gospel.  I always love to hear JJ's energy and genuine love for the men that we see.  

We went back and started a second game but we only played about an inning before we broke for lunch.  

We had a long lunch in the prison.  The staff prepared some sub sandwiches and snacks for us.  Like the day before, we got lots of teammate time in to share stories of Saints trips of years gone by!

After lunch we lost game 3 but we had another opportunity to share the Gospel.  Tom Carberry shared his testimony and Patrick Jarvis shared the Gospel.  Tom and I have been on several trips together over the years.  Patrick is from Georgia and presented a clear Gospel to the men in the prison yard.  

We came back and played a 4th game and pulled a win!  

At the very end of the day we circled up with the men and handed out some awards books to the men we saw.  JJ challenged the men to make a decision to follow the Lord before praying for them.  

Overall on the day, we handed out 311 Gospels of John and had 11 men indicate that they made a profession of faith in the Lord.  

We left the prison and made a stop at a local BBQ place.  It is probably best when we have a chance to clean up before a meal but I really enjoy having at least one meal while we are in full uniform.  It is kinda like going out for pizza after a little league game!

We got back to the hotel, got cleaned up, and had our last team devotion of the trip.  Bruce Buri did a good job of giving us tools to study some tougher Old Testament passages.  

After devotions, we went out and got some ice cream as a team before crashing out for the night!

My Brief Tribute to Chuck Norris and a Follow Up on our First Trip of the Year!- FCI Texarkana Follow Up

It usually takes me a few days to start these update blog posts.  It takes a few days to get back to work, recover from achy muscles, and get a few naps in the recliner.  

So I’m not actually writing this right after the trip.  

I’m writing a couple of days after Chuck Norris passed away.  

To the best of my knowledge, Chuck didn’t get around to reading my blog.  

If only I had started writing this on the way home...

If he had hung on a couple of weeks longer, he may have enjoyed finding my blog and seeing that a team of volunteer prison minister softball players would fly into the hometown of his famous character, Sergeant Cordell Walker or simply Walker Texas Ranger.  

Instead of defeating terrorists with roundhouse kicks and Taurus PT92’s while wearing denim shirts and Chisos No. 1 cowboy boots, we were trying to defeat long TSA lines and the long drive from Dallas to Texarkana!

Our team arrived from Georgia, New Jersey, Florida, Wisconsin, and of course, Illinois.  We made our way through the big Dallas airport and met half the team in our rental van for the weekend.  We enjoyed a brief lunch at a local Carl’s Jr before making the rest of the trip to Texarkana.

We made it to our hotel and unloaded all of our gear before heading to dinner.  We went to a local diner and enjoyed some good diner food as a team.  We also celebrated the birthday of my good friend, Jim Jefferson, who got to spend his 44th birthday on a Saints trip!

After our meal, we went back to the hotel and had a team devotion time.  Bruce Buri led our devotion time and did a really good study on how to study harder Old Testament law passages.  After our devotions, we prayed together as a team before getting some rest.

The next morning, we got up and packed our stuff back up for the day ahead of us.  It was fun to put the softball uniform on for the first time in 2026!

After so many years of traveling for Saints trips, I have become rather burnt out on hotel food, but this hotel had really good biscuits and gravy. It was fun to eat breakfast and hang out with my teammates before loading up and starting the day.  

We arrived at Texarkana and started the trip through security and eventually onto the field.  We had a few moments on the field to throw and stretch before the other team arrived.  It was actually a little cooler out when we took the field.  

You can blame it on the temperature or it being our first game of the year but we came out of the gate a little sluggish and took a tough loss in game 1.  

In between games, Warren Miller shared his testimony and Jim Jefferson shared the Gospel.  Warren and JJ were on my very first trip to Ohio back in 2011.  That 2011 Ohio trip was special, but we have had the opportunity to serve together in other parts of the country. It has been good to reconnect with them over the years.  

After Warren and JJ spoke we played another game but were still pretty flat on the softball field and took another loss.  We broke for lunch and the staff bought us some Pizza Hut.  We enjoyed some Pizza Hut and some hang out time as a team.  After all of the travel hustle, this was our first time to sit down and really get some team time in.   

After lunch we came back out and saw a lot of the same crowd.  We came out and played a little bit better but we still came up short on the field.  

In between the 3rd and 4th game, Rodney Stewart from the Georgia team shared his testimony and Hugh Dwyer from the Northeast team shared the Gospel.  Both Rodney and Hugh have served in the ministry for several years.  At the end of Hugh’s message, we had a few impromptu moments where we could pray for the men who had wayward kids.  Both Rodney and Hugh have done such a good job of communicating and relating to the men they see over the years.  .  

We huddled back up for a 4th game and, low and behold, we pulled out a game 4 win!  

We circled up on the pitcher’s mound to say goodbye to the men we saw and to pray with them one more time.  Rodney Stewart talked to the men one more time about how Jesus came and died and rose again for them.  

Overall on the day we handed out 241 Gospels of John and saw 18 men make professions of faith in the Lord.  

Afterwards, we got back to the van and discussed the day and prayed together as a team.  After a quick gas station stop, we made our way from Texarkana back to the Dallas Fort Worth area. 

We got back to our hotel and got cleaned up for a team dinner.  We went to a local Cajun food place and enjoyed another solid team meal together.  

While the softball was sort of sluggish, it was good to get our first prison day of the year under our belts and spend time as brothers in the Lord on the field, breaking bread, and in the cars.  While the ministry is about sharing the Gospel with men in prison, this is a much needed ministry for me in terms of being encouraged and challenged by my Saints brothers.  

Saints Prison Ministry Texas Campaign is Next Week!

We are inching ever so closer to Springtime here in Central Illinois. It's time to put the snow shovels away, break out the grill, tune up the lawnmower...and probably get the snow shovels out at least one more time...

However our Saints season is rapidly approaching with a big trip to Texas next week!

Our Illinois season kicks off on May 16th with visits to Lincoln CC and Logan CC. We are going to five new prisons this summer and our schedule is packed!  Besides our trips to Illinois prisons, I am planning on going to Texas, Kentucky, and either New Hampshire, Louisiana, or both!

I'm currently at 27% of my $4000 goal for the IL season and Crusade/Campaign trips.  Thank you to everyone who has faithfully supported over the years!  Please keep us in prayer this year as we play softball and share the Gospel.  

Texas Campaign!!

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

Traveling Mercies– There are five different states (IL, GA, NJ, WI, FL) represented among the 12 men going on this trip.  Most of these trips include things like connecting flights, rental cars, and multiple airports.  They can also include things like flight delays, broken van issues, and big city traffic!  

Please pray for traveling mercies as we will navigate several airports and lots of Texas driving!

Team Unity– This is a really special 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’m excited that my friend from Wisconsin, Bruce Buri, will be leading our team devotions each evening so we will have time to study God’s Word together as a team.  

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.  The Texas teams we played last year were good so 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. We are planning on having five different Gospel sharing times to the crowds in the prisons. I will be sharing the Gospel at FCI Seagoville next Sunday morning.  Pray that we communicate clearly and that the Lord works in the prison yard.  

Families– Our 12 Missionary Athletes are leaving families 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.  

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 our first big trip of 2026!