One of the greatest issues currently facing America’s communities is the reintegration of 650,000 former prisoners over the next year. The most hopeful response that I have seen to this dilemma has been the movement around the nation that engages communities to work together through coalitions that serve the needs of these returning men and women.

For all the advantages the Internet age provides, it doesn’t come close to replacing the core need of the Church to shine the light of the Gospel in the lives of prisoners. That means “life on life”: Getting up close and personal, dealing with the messiness of broken lives, and letting God’s grace and power go to work.