Last week I spent three and a half days on Death Row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola and it was awesome. It was Kairos number 64 at Angola. Kairos has been ministering at the prison for 25 years, but never on death row. That made this one a bit special and a bit different. We only had 10 inmates. We have had as many as 42 in the past. We were in a very small room. Normally we have one room for the general gatherings and a separate room for a chapel. We had to be out of the building by 5 p.m. each day, normally we don’t get back to the hotel until late. It was different, but it was most awesome in how it wasn’t really different.
In many ways, the ten men we met were not different from the many we have ministered to before. They were attentive, appreciative, well-read and eager to interact and learn. I had the honor of praying with one of the men as he accepted Jesus as Savior.
If your experience of Christianity is “church,” you are completely missing out. If you have never experienced the blessing of “doing to the least of these” please give it a try. We don’t have enough volunteers to hold as many retreats as the prison administration would like. If you think you might be called to this ministry, check with me or go to the website: https://listenlistenlovelove.com/
You might not be called to prison ministry, but there are many who need a touch, someone to listen, a friend. It’s great to go to church, but that’s a passive activity. Jesus commands us to “go” not sit around and soak it in.
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