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At World Impact, we believe that God can transform the lives of those in prison and call them to participate with Him in His Great Commission. Through our Prison Ministry, we are training and equipping radical men and women to pastor and plant churches within prison walls and the communities in which they used to live.
We help thousands of inmates receive effective training and gain vital urban ministry and church leadership knowledge.
We do this first by establishing church-based seminaries inside prison walls. Then, we equip churches and ministries to come alongside released prisoners, provide discipleship, and empower them to do effective ministry in some of the most forgotten places in our cities.
Prison Ministry Partners
STORY
Jason was locked up in the early 90s to serve a life sentence. Gang life there was so bloody, his unit was nicknamed the Terror Dome, and the only way to survive was to stick to your race. Initiation was kill or be killed, and Jason quickly climbed the hierarchy of the Aryan Brotherhood, a notorious white supremacist gang.
A New Path
As the warfare between gangs grew bloodier, Jason’s role as a leader landed him 10 years in segregation, a 23-hour-a-day lockdown with no human contact. At the time, he was barely literate. A Muslim and a Christian occupied the cells on either side of him, often arguing about their religious views. God used the situation to spark a desire inside Jason. He began requesting books on philosophy and theology and, in time, he surrendered his life to Jesus.
Jason renounced the Aryan Brotherhood, stopped using smuggled heroin, and signed up for an intensive grad program to study world religions as his literacy improved. He became a field minister (chaplain’s assistant), assigned to the hospice unit. As Jason sat holding the hands of two prisoners who were taking their final breaths, he didn’t know what to say to them, other than “I love you.” Words he’d never said to another man before Christianity.
Advancing the Gospel
Eventually, Jason enrolled in World Impact’s Church-Based Seminary classes. He wanted to understand Christianity that not only addressed life in prison, but death in prison.
Jason and a fellow field minister named Jackie, a Black man formerly known as “The Fighter,” now lead classes in the Terror Dome. Their group — composed of Black, Jewish, White, and Latino men — join in prayer, united in a brotherhood that transcends racially divided gangs. God is working through the incarcerated church to bring hope and renewal to our society!
To help more people like Carlos and Martin through prison ministry programs, click below to give now.