Recently I had the privilege of attending a TUMI graduation in prison, and it was full of images of complete transformation and redemption – images that made me blink twice and say to myself, “Am I really seeing this?”
From a very young age I was in trouble. I was arrested for the first time when I was in the 7th grade. I began to look up to the gang members in my area and wanted to be just like them.
An awesome move of the Holy Spirit is taking place where most people would expect nothing good to happen – inside the walls of many of our prisons and jails.
While in prison, Derek had a great idea for ministry. He decided to teach other inmates to read using Scripture, from the book of First John.
One of my favorite old African-American Gospel tunes is entitled “How I Got Over,” whose punch line goes “My soul looks back and I wonder, how I got over.”
I love my job as a World Impact Associate! I am Chaplain Kris Briggs and I am a ministry coordinator for World Impact in Denver, Colorado.
Angel believed in the Lord while in prison and quickly had a desire to share his faith with his fellow prisoners.
James is a TUMI student who was delivered by the Lord out of a radical lifestyle of drug abuse, homosexuality, and homelessness. He is now a deacon at his church and will graduate from The Urban Ministry Institute this month.
I had already been walking with the Lord most of my life, but during my travels with these artists I was introduced to the importance of the gospel, sound theology, and its prominence in relation to who God is, who we are as His image bearers, and what He’s called us to do.
My calling to be an urban church planter is connected to my love for God’s people in urban communities. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I feel like we (mainly minorities) are the most biblically illiterate people in our country.
Several months ago my daughter Leane and I participated in a Sunday evening service with a group of refugees in the Ukraine – people who have left the war-torn area of Crimea. The purpose of our trip was to visit current TUMI sites in Romania and help to establish other sites in the countries of Moldova and Ukraine.
Adriana was a new student in my TUMI class. As I do with most new students, I asked her to share her testimony. When she started, her story seemed very familiar to me, and before long, I knew World Impact was part of it.
