Jose and Gabriel share a passion for prison ministry
Manuel had his eyes opened this morning!
The prison ministry is off to a great start. It really began a while back with the tall man in the photo to the right. His name is Gabriel and he has a burning desire for the churches to be reaching out to the prisoners of his state. He has worked tirelessly to involve his people in this difficult kingdom ministry. It was Gabriel who petitioned Dennis Adams to bring a basketball team to the Acapulco prison in July 2009. It was Gabriel who arranged our meeting with top state officials in January. He was overjoyed when he and Jim Blackwell extened an invitation to pastors to learn about prison ministry and 35 attended on Monday!
The prison team, included Manuel (pictured to the left) who is a new member of the Renaciament0 Church. Manuel went along on Tuesday to do sound for the group. In the morning, Jose preached in the morning to 150 prisoners and 89 indicated that they wanted to give their lives to Christ. In the afternoon, the former chaplain of the University of Alabama basketball team preached to 120 men and 60 said that they wanted to follow Jesus. Are those high numbers? Well, of course they are! Keep in mind, though, that these men were not forced to be at the worship service. Most of them probably attended out of a spiritual thirst.
What really impressed Manuel, was that in the beginning of each session, there were mockers and jeerers. As time went on, however, those who wanted to hear, quited those who did not want to hear. In the end, it was some of the most vocal critics, who were broken by what they heard.
Lord willing, I will report from the prison later in the week.
Chip for the Team
God is not above mighty works. He gives hope to the hopeless! Praise God for the work He is accomplishing through the faithful.
“Pray for this ministry”, God says to give a reason to everyone to your hope for Christ!
This story made me cry! How wonderful that those prisoners quieted the jeerers and then so many came around to the Lord! WONDERFUL!!!!