The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
by John Earle
Sports World Pro/Associate Pastor, Union Church of LaHarpe
Last week on the road with Sports World was a different week of ministry.
The whole week was spent in prison and, no, I did not do anything wrong. But my outreach took me along with three other Sports World Pros into the prisons of Arkansas. We spoke in ten prisons.
The day started around noon driving to the prison. Once at the prison we just tried to make contact with the inmates. We did this by visiting with them, walking around the yard, playing ball, lifting weights, playing chess, and passing out our football cards. Whatever connection we had we used it. We then invited them to one of two programs we had that day.
Just spending time with some of the guys your heart goes out to them and the hard road in front of them. No doubt in my mind that they did the crime and now are doing the time but everyone of them was a real person. There were no fake hellos or wet fish hand shakes. If you showed you cared their hearts opened.
One young man really opened his heart. No mom or dad his whole life and got caught hanging with the wrong crowd. He made bad choices and now was doing hard time. He felt trapped on the inside. The bible tells us that we will always be a prisoner or slave to sin unless we surrender to Christ.
I shared the love of Jesus with that young man. That is all that one must do is share Jesus and let God do the rest. At chapel later that evening that young man was there and even came back for the second program. God must have been working heavy on his heart. After chapel I simply asked if anyone wanted to know Jesus on a personal level. That young man made a decision to ask Jesus for forgiveness.
Last week we saw 250 decisions for Christ and maybe now some of those men can experience true freedom that only can come from Jesus. Let Jesus unlock your prison.
God Bless,
Sports World Pro
(jearle@winco.net)