Bibles Behind Bars

By José M. Rojas

Texas has the highest prison population in the country, with more than 250,000 individuals currently incarcerated. Recognizing the immediate need to bring the light of Jesus into the many correctional facilities within the great state of Texas, the Texas Conference launched its Prison Ministries program in 2023.

More than 20 churches are sharing the Seventh-day Adventist message within the walls of the prison system. Their scriptural inspiration is found in Isaiah 42:7 NLT, “You will open the eyes of the blind. You will free the captives from prison, releasing those who sit in dark dungeons.”

The vision of Texas Conference Prison Ministries is to train, empower and propel all disciples to release those who sit in dark dungeons. Its mission is to train and equip church members within the Texas Conference to minister to incarcerated individuals.

To empower church members to take the gospel message into Texas correctional institutes, Texas Conference Prison Ministries is partnering with Karen Swanson, director of the Correctional Ministries Institute in Wheaton College, to provide necessary training.

More than 90 church members have already received their Texas

JOSÉ M. ROJAS Volunteer Coordinator Local Church Pastor

Conference Prison Ministries volunteer certification. The training covers basic ministry skills, an introduction to correctional ministry, traumainformed care, crosscultural ministry, and generational poverty values.

“It is our goal to spark an interest within the members of our churches by training them and showing what correctional ministry is,” Swanson shared. “It simply means providing compassionate, holistic care through the transforming power of the gospel message with those vulnerable to a pathway of crime, or impacted by crime and its aftermath, all grounded in the love of Jesus and the pursuit of justice.”

The Texas Conference Prison Ministries team wants to train church members in each of the major areas in Texas to launch thriving prison ministries. Those volunteers can then train and empower transformed prisoners to study the Bible with other inmates. Together, it would ignite a movement for 1,000 inmates to make decisions for Jesus through baptism within the next four years.