We at Bible Baptist Church, have been given the great blessing of serving at one of our local maximum security state penitentiaries. We see it as our privilege for 3 reasons:
- It was clearly the Lord who opened this door for us and gave us the opportunity to serve there. We are truly amazed at how Divine providence led us to this particular prison and opened every door to get us in. Being thus convinced of the Divine hand that is leading, we are also persuaded of the work that He will accomplish there through the preaching and teaching of the Gospel. Therefore, we happily serve these men with great hope, knowing that we are serving our God in His great work of redemption.
- It is our local mission field. Behind the walls of this maximum security penitentiary there is a city of its own that has a population of around 2,300 men. These men come from various backgrounds as well as many different religions. Although some have no religion at all, many have a religion of some form, if only for protection. Others have adopted a certain type of religion because of the group they want to be a part of, and others follow after a particular religion because they genuinely believe in it. Regardless of their background or religious persuasion, all of these men are in need of salvation. This “city” is full of darkness and needs the light of Jesus Christ to shine upon it. This is our very aim as we labor in this local mission field. We take the words which our Lord spoke to Paul when sending him to the Gentiles as our purpose too: “to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in “Christ”. Therefore, we long to life up the name of Christ in this local prison hoping to see many come out of the darkness and enter into the marvelous light of our Lord, and Savior. All praise be to God, we are seeing our hopes fulfilled.
- It is a local mission. There are many genuine brothers in Christ who have a fervent desire to know the Lord and serve Him faithfully. We have the opportunity to worship with our brothers in Christ and be mutually edified in the faith delivered to us once and for all. These brothers are as much of an encouragement to us as we are unto them! Some of our brothers are well versed in the Scriptures, while others know very little. Therefore, we aim to meet every man’s need in the faith by way of teaching the grand doctrines entrusted to us in and through Christ. We desire, as they do, for all men to grow up into Christ by being fully established in His teachings.
We have the opportunity to be in the prison twice a week, on Tuesday and Thursday, for two hours each day. On Tuesdays, we meet with the saints for their weekly church service. By the grace of God, we have seen the men grow immensely in their knowledge of, and love for, the Lord. On Thursdays, we hold a Bible study for any and all who can come. This Bible study is made up mostly of believers, but we always have unbelievers present with us, which affords us a wonderful opportunity for reaching them.
While this work is our blessing, and we are sure that the Lord will accomplish His work, we are always in need of prayer. We are in need of prayer for ourselves, that we may preach/teach the Scriptures with great clarity, meeting the need of every man. Of course, these men are in great need of prayer, as many of them are still in darkness of unbelief, but they all dwell in a “city” full of darkness. Please pray with us with Christ may be High and Lifted up, and that these men may see our great salvation and believe! Please pray that our dear brothers may grow in the knowledge of our Great God and be conformed into the image of His Son!
