25,000 volunteers in Texas prisons who are allowed to go into the units of the prison system and bring a faith-based message

"150,000 people are doing time in the prison units of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.  Most of them will one day return to our communities.  It is our prayer and our hope that they will return as good neighbors who will live responsibly near us or near others like us.  The thing that can make that happen most powerfully and most certainly is the Gospel.  Those who bring the Gospel into our prisons have seen the transforming power of that Gospel at work, bringing forgiveness for the penitent and grace for new life. 

In Texas there are approximately 25,000 volunteers who are allowed to go into the units of the

prison system and bring a faith-based message.  Most of these volunteers are lay people, not pastors.  They represent many faith groups.  The number of people who serve as volunteers who are members of our LC-MS congregations is extremely small.  The opportunity for us to bring a desperately-needed message is extremely great.  Volunteers serve as Bible study leaders, as prayer warriors, as mentors, and in various other ways. 

For most of us, the prospect of going behind prison walls to serve as a volunteer is a frightening prospect.  But those of us who have done it, while we are aware that there are risks, have seen the fruit of our labors and are confident that the relatively small risk is worth it. 

A group of people with prison ministry experience has gotten together and planned a meeting that we hope many of you will attend.  We will tell you about prison ministry.  We will invite you to become involved.  However, we do not expect you to come with a prior commitment to be involved.  We’d like you to come just to learn more about what our Lord is doing behind prison walls, how lives are being transformed, how opportunities abound, and how great a joy it is to see what the promise of new life in Christ can mean to one whose life has been full of despair.

The meeting will be at Hope Lutheran Church, Friendswood, on April 20.  Please pray about this invitation to attend.  You may register to attend by filling out the attached form."

Contributed by: Chaplain Don Kaspar

Chaplain Don Kaspar has served as a teacher (Alabama Lutheran Academy and College, now Concordia, Selma), as a parish pastor, and as a chaplain and Director of the Chaplaincy Department of the TDCJ.  

He is currently retired and living in Huntsville.  Because an understanding of prison culture is essential to those who work as chaplaincy volunteers in prison, his topic in this conference is “What Life Is Like in Prison.” He is also the author of On Duty: Purpose and Practice in Christian Correctional Chaplaincy.