I became a Christian in my teen years, and I attended Bible College in Southern California from 1971-1973. Since 1993-94 I have been ministering many times a week to the incarcerated of Washington State.
However dating back to 1987, I first visited and served on an informational panel going into Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.
The first prison I had the privilege serving prisoners was in California. I visited California Men’s Colony near San Luis Obispo, with other men from “Teen Challenge.”
What really got me started in jail ministry was visiting a close relative in King County Jail in 1994. Soon after that I began teaching small group Bible studies at the Snohomish County Jail (SCJ) in Everett. I was teaching these Bible studies 3-5 nights per week for 3 1/2 years.
In the beginning, I had no formal training, “teaching me the ropes,” but the Lord would surround me with His presence when I would walk into these cell blocks where the inmates lived, walked, joked, cursed… The Lord taught me daily to minister.
There is nothing better than knowing you are right in the “center of God’s will” when you are in ministry. Whether you are in jail or on a foreign mission field.
“The peace of God will sustain you, as Isaiah 26:3 says: “He will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You(God).” NKJV
The peace of God is so necessary when working inside prisons or jails, and God has been so faithful to me to provide exactly what I have needed to “keep pressing on.”
Visit Michael’s website here Unchained for Christ