Prison Ministry - Colorado

April 29 - May 2 was the East #7 Kairos Weekend at Sterling and I was the Leader. At the suggestion of a good friend, I will try to communicate that experience, in part, here.

This was my fifth Kairos weekend as a team member at Sterling. Kairos is a Christian ministry to being the love and forgiveness of Christ to incarcerated felons. It is given in 35 states in America and in ten or eleven foreign countries. It is modeled on the Cursillo Fourth Day weekend events available in several denominations under different names: Cursillo, Tres Dias, Walk to Emmaus, and so forth. The weekend revolves around a series of talks and chapel meditations given by lay and clergy and discussed around tables of nine composed of outside volunteers, clergy and inmates. The ministry started in Florida in the 70's when two Cursillo men were asked to pray for two death row inmates the night before their executions. The Cursillo volunteers asked the men to do them a favor. "Please ask Our Lord to bless our ministry to prisoners," was their request. Since then, Kairos has grown rapidly to become a very powerful ministry. In Colorado, Kairos is in eight state prisons.

I could tell you about the format, the talks, the cookies, the posters and the fun. But what I really want to tell you about is the tangible presence of the Holy Spirit in these weekends and the results. A few stories from this past weekend may help you understand.

Prison is a horrible place. These men are there under tragic circumstances, but they are guilty of crimes and they acknowledge it. God has them right where He wants them. In the Psalms, David says, "a humble spirit and a contrite heart are acceptable to the Lord". In fact, this is the obstacle to most people in having a relationship to God. Men (and women) want to stay in control, coming to God on their own terms, not His. So, they delay, they argue, they rail against Him, they deny Him a place in their lives. Who is hurt by it? They are, of course.

However, in prison, there is the potential for submission. These men are aware that the way they have been living their lives so far is not working. They hear a talk on life choices and recognize in the stories around the table that we are all where we are in life due to our choices. But, how to change? What to change? Can they change? Their friends, family, social groups, work situations, all put them back in the same trap. If they go back, they will come back...to prison. So, the possibility of examining their lives and trying a new approach is on the table. In addition, each of them is made aware of the "promise" they have been given in the Lord's Prayer, "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us". It's a trade! You forgive those in your life, and I will forgive you your sins, Jesus teaches. Over the 72 hours they are on the Kairos (God's special time) weekend, they consider the value of forgiveness in removing the anger, resentment and hate that they carry with them which blocks a relationship with God and keeps them in bondage to their sins.

Kairos is a ministry where men talk to men and to God, in spirit and in truth. The result is startling. Hearts soften, bad guys become little boys, sorry for their sins and deciding to turn their lives over to Jesus and behave as a citizen of heaven, not the prison they are in or the society which has caged them. New life in Christ is the result. What makes this happen? Seemingly, it has nothing to do with the talks given by the clergy and volunteers. The inmates are not preached at! Volunteers have a four word instruction: Listen, listen, love, love. We do that. The rest is the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit, coming first in little ways then in power and might as the weekend comes to a close. Clergy (at each table) and volunteers are astounded and blown away in every weekend I have attended. Miracles are commonplace. Lives are changed. Tears are shed. Racial barriers and gang identities are subordinated. Correctional officers are softened. God is glorified and praised.

There is singing on the weekend. The songs are well known in the Christian community in most denominations: Amazing Grace, What a Friend we have in Jesus, I'll Fly Away, That Old Rugged Cross, and How Great Thou Art. In the weekend just ended, one lay talk titled "Open the Door" was given by a 75 year old truck driver, who asked us to all sing How Great Thou Art before his talk. I am a musician. I sing. I studied music theory in college. These men are NOT musicians. The team can sing and the song books have the words, but here comes a miracle, which our music leader calls "Holy Singing". The musicians in the room will swear that they heard six parts sung, not two, not four, not five, but six. Who sang them? After the talk, fourteen men indicated to the speaker that they wanted to change their lives and give their lives to Christ! There was no altar call, there was just the question from the speaker, "Do you want to continue doing the same things you have always done, or do you want to change, giving your life to God for his purpose." No time was drawn out by the speaker, no one sang "Just as I am", no more evocative action was prompted. But, all of a sudden, there stood fourteen men in green, wanting to change their lives and follow Jesus. It shocked the volunteers, the clergy and all present. But there it was. The Holy Spirit had imprinted the weekend with only the first of dozens of helps, bringing men to Him.

Although we now live in a time of great apostasy in the church, a "new" gospel using old terms which have been given new meanings by amenable clergy in many churches, and though in public we are inundated by hostility against Christians and a new, aggressive atheism, in which evolutionary naturalists claim that science is opposed to knowledge of God, God is powerfully present to believers, and is doing miracles all over the world, extending the Body of Christ to millions in China, Africa and in the prisons. May we continue to serve Him and His church as we accelerate toward His promised second coming. Come, Lord Jesus. We are ready.