Jim Liske (l) with Chuck Colson
When I was still a pastor in Michigan, Prison Fellowship founder Chuck Colson came up for a visit. He attended a lunch celebrating those involved in a church-based reentry program for the formerly incarcerated. Men and women came up to thank Chuck for his work with prisoners, and as they did so, tears sprang to his eyes.
When Charles W. “Chuck” Colson entered the Maxwell Correctional Facility in July 1974, he did so as a humbled man. The former special prosecutor for President Richard Nixon had pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice during the ongoing Watergate scandal investigation, and was preparing to serve a one-to-three-year sentence in the Montgomery, Alabama, facility.
Rosita wasn’t your typical kindergartner. She had no dolls to cherish. No friends to play with. Her childhood dreams were more like nightmares. At 5 years old, she had never experienced even a single moment of freedom.
"I have changed those letters to mean something else. I will love, worship, obey and praise God. Every Christian should serve a sentence of L.W.O.P."
It is breathtaking to see the lengths followers of Christ will go to serve Him. We got a fresh reminder of this recently in Spokane.
My love for the Lord ignited a desire to give my time behind bars to writing in-depth exegetical papers and doing ministry unto the Lord. This is all hard work, but it is a labor of love. It is the least I can do for all He has done for me.
A version of this article originally appeared on JuicyEcumenism.com, the weblog of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, and appears here with permission.
Chelsen Vicari (Image courtesy IRD)
It is tempting to neglect incarcerated Christians in America. Labeled as lost causes, we justify our lack of attention to the needs of these brothers and sisters in Christ because of the public punishment they serve for their past wrongdoings.
How can a man who spent years behind bars call himself “lucky”? It’s because God used Angel Tree to soften his heart.
With an emotionally gripping end, Do You Believe? will have you rejoicing at the boundless power of the Cross.
Devoting the rest of his life to prison ministry wasn’t what Chuck expected to do when he got out of prison, but God had other plans.
Children receive a message from their mom or dad on their Angel Tree gifts.
This past December, Angel Tree took gifts and the Gospel to children with a mom or dad in prison all around the county. At Prison Fellowship, we’ve been hearing amazing reports from our Angel Tree volunteers about the lives and families that were touched through the program this Christmas.
Thank you to all of Angel Tree's partners, volunteers, and supporters who are sharing God's love with kids throughout the country this Christmas season!
God can use any church of any size to serve children with incarcerated parents.
Thanks to our generous partners, My’lon and Montrese know that they’re loved, and that they have a friend in Jesus, who will never leave them.
A version of the following article appeared in the July issue of Pentecostal Evangel, an Assemblies of God publication.