Happy Father's Day @ Baker Kairos #23 Closing

Today, I celebrated Father's Day with close to 100 men at Baker Correctional Institution. Half of the men wore blue, the other half civilian clothes. However, by the redemptive work of Jesus Christ we all had access to the same Heavenly Father through faith. It was an awesome time of celebration as each man entered this morning and wished me a Happy Father's Day. I believe they were just as excited for me as I was to celebrate my First Father's day as a proud papa. It was made even more poignant to me by the stark reality that many of these men were brought up in fatherless homes and now their children are being raised without their fathers presence.
It is a sad statistic that approximately 80% of the men in prison were raised without a father and 70% of their sons will follow them into prison. I have spoken to many of these men who have left children on the street. I encourage them that they are still responsible before God as the father of the children He has given them and that they can stand before God through Christ and can pray for their children and lead lives that their children can follow. Our Heavenly Father is not only in the reconciliation business but in the restoration business. He can restore the years that the locust have eaten.
Let us stand up and stand in the gap for our sons lest they fall prey to the devourer.

Please take a moment and view this trailer for The Reunion and leave a comment. Thank you.

Faith is the Foundation For Freedom!

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Day 2 Baker Kairos #24 Choose to Open the Door

Today will begin with the Choices talk and will progress towards Opening the Door. Men will have come to this Kairos weekend in Baker Correctional for many reasons. However, we will learn that we are where we are today because the choices we have made or even those choice which were made for us. God in His grace offers us the opportunity to open the door to a friendship with God through the forgiveness offered through His Son's life, death and resurrection.
In prison, love and forgiveness are unheard of but through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Prison is a hard dark place that produces the hardest of hearts. Yet God's light penetrates the darkness and the hardest of hearts. Prison may be a very violent place but how much more violent was the death of the very Son of God, Creator of mankind who was brutally butchered and spat upon, for what? For whom? Yes my friend, for you and for me. We had a debt we could not pay, He paid a debt He did not owe, and why? Love.
That is why we are going into this prison this weekend.Love. Not our love. His Love. No man has greater love than this, "That He lay down His life for His friends." Yes God desires a friendship with these men just like He desires a friendship with you. No more, no less. The reason He forgave us is simple.

Love.

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Baker Kairos Weekend #24

It is a great day for Kairos Weekend #24 at Baker Correctional Facility. This weekend will be led by none other than John Phillips of St. Andrews Episcopal who has served the men behind the fence faithfully in several major institutions. Our observing rector will be Gary Evans who has been serving at Baker C.I. as our Inside Prayer and share leader on Wednesday evenings. Please lift up our team as well as the men on the inside. We are expecting our Savior to work mightily in the hearts of men. As a wise man once said, "First the Word of God must preach to you before you can preach The Word of God."
If you would like to know more about Kairos Prison Ministry click here
Faith is the Foundation For Freedom!

In His Service,

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"I once was lost but now am found."

11 years 1 day and Counting...Still a Prisoner of Christ

Praise the Lord! 11 years ago and 1 day, I was released from the Florida Department of corrections and was escorted by the Chaplain of Dinsmore Work Release Center to The Victory House at Prisoners of Christ. My new life in Christ began while I was still incarcerated for 5 and a half years and has continued these blessed years beyond the walls and razor wire. Today, God has blessed me with a wonderful wife, Frances and a beautiful boy Elijah David.

God has restored my relationship with my family including my father who, at one time we did not have a good relationship, but today we had a great lunch with author and founder of Prisoners of Christ, Ken Cooper. My father had read a copy of Held Hostage while at my office at Prisoners of Christ and had read half the book by days end. He had read the book in it's entirety by the next day and had several interesting questions and comments. As my mother and father are returning to New York before Father's Day, gave my father an early Father's Day present and treated him to lunch with Ken Cooper and they had a great discussion as Ken shared some personal insight regarding his transformation from being "held hostage" to being "Set Free" in Jesus. It was a great time to see God at work. Only God can bring true transformation and reconciliation. Stay tuned for more testimonies of men being "Set Free..."