OUR FIRST TIME IN THE MEN’S PRISON
GOD OPENS A DOOR
In the past eleven years we have visited the Shikusa Boys Detention Center about 20 times. Every time we visit, we drive past the gate to the Shikusa Men’s Agricultural Prison and every time we have driven by I have said; “I want to visit there!” When we dedicated the Children’s Home in November I met the commander of prisons for the entire region and I told him of my desire to visit the men’s prison. He simply said; “You are welcome!” So having this invitation, I asked our staff to set up a time for me to come and speak to the 450 inmates there. A short while later I heard back from my Kenya team that they had set up a meeting at the prison, but it was not with the men, but with the staff. They told me that the prison had said that it was just too difficult to get all the men together. I was very unhappy with this and told them that my passion was to share Christ with the men and not the staff. So we pushed a little harder and they agreed to let us come and speak to the men. Thank you Lord, You are the great arranger.
So today I walked in the men’s prison for the first time. Some of our team members, Lucas, Greg, Paul and Sylvia were supposed to be playing soccer and basketball with the boys next door, but they were not ready for them so, guess what? They were invited to join me in the prison. I’m sure it was a big of a surprise to them, but let me tell you, I am glad they were there.
Most of you know that I, myself, came to Christ while in prison in Alaska for drug related offenses during my Hippie days, so I have a real passion for men in prison. Whenever I hear that a man is in prison I say “hallelujah, they are now in a place where God can speak to them”.
I have preached to the Shikusa boys many times. It is impressive to see all of them there sitting on the floor in their blue uniforms, but they have the faces of sweet young boys. They don’t look like criminals. But here in the men’s prison you see 400 men sitting in prison stripes whose faces are the hardened faces of criminals. As a few of the inmates got up to sing some choruses, I was in prayer, asking God to anoint me to break down walls and penetrate the hardness with the message of the gospel. In my humble opinion that is just what God did.
Here’s a brief synopsis of what I shared. After giving my testimony I spoke to them about not letting their past dictate to their future. God wants to forgive us of our past mistakes so that our future will not look like the past. The people who were most attracted to Jesus were people with a past. They were attracted to him because he never held up the “shame finger” when they approached. That is why a sinful woman was not turned away when she came and washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. That is why the woman at the well was offered the living water of life. That is why a murderer, named Saul, could become the chief writer of the gospel, that is why a tax-collector could become an apostle and, in my case that is why a drug addict could become a preacher of the gospel and a servant of God.
I was able to share with these men that God does not turn away a sinful man, but he invites him to come boldly before the throne of grace to receive mercy and grace to help him in time of need. Heb 4:16
I encouraged these men to forgive and be forgiven; to have their past cleaned so that their future could be blessed and they responded! They prayed together with me at the close and verbalized their forgiveness for those who have hurt them and relieved the forgiveness of the Lord for their sins.
Following the sharing we gave every man a loaf of bread, a bottle of soda and a roll of toilet paper. These things might not mean much to you but, let me tell you, it meant a lot to these men. You won’t believe it, but the prison chaplain said he had been working in men’s prison for over 20 years and he had never seen anyone group give a bottle of soda to prisoners. Now, there is a reason for this, because a bottle can make a formidable weapon but for some reason the prison commander allowed us to do this. It was something special! My favorite time of all was shaking the hand and blessing every man as they exited the hall to eat some break and drink a soda. They were so grateful. The hardened faces of criminals were now the smiling faces of friends. What a great time. I told them all that we would be back.
I want to thank all of you who support this ministry for allowing me to lavish your money on things like this. It is such a blessing and an honor to carry your love to those who need it the most.
Tonight our team will be joining the Kakamega Church for a Married Couples Banquet sponsored by Worldcomp. A married couples banquet is a rare thing in Kenya, and we’ll be sharing principles of marriage with everyone.
