BOISE, IDAHO – ‘GREAT ADVENTURE WEEKEND’

Smoke covered the valley and obscured the mountains.  A ‘clean air advisory’ told people to stay indoors, but we had ‘a mission’.  We had 105 volunteers from 10 different states, ministering to 3,910 inmates, in 6 prisons and 4 prisons yards.  At the last minute, the women’s prison cancelled our program so our women volunteers came with us to the juvenile units.  The response was outstanding.  The staff was more than supportive and was genuinely thankful for our being there.  We had 119 first time decisions for Christ and 105 recommitments for a total of

224 DECISIONS FOR CHRIST!

In the juvenile units God anointed my testimony and I told the kids, “I’ve been to the end of the road you’re on, and you don’t want to go there.  What do you suppose all those people on death row, in prison cells, would say to you if they were here?  I don’t want to see you when I go to minister in the state penitentiary.”

In the ‘Max’ unit of Idaho State Penitentiary the staff was glad to see us.  An officer told me “I’ve got someone I’d like you to meet”, and escorted me to the Segregation unit. There I met Thomas, a 31 year old man who has been locked in ‘solitary’ for the past 8 years.  Tattoos covered his face and the word ‘Manson’ was tattooed above his upper lip.  I asked if he knew who I was, and he said he did.  He showed me his drawings of Charlie Manson and photos he had collected of the Manson Family. He said that he had corresponded with Charlie until the warden thought it a bad influence and stopped it.

He told me, “At my sentencing the judge told me “I am a Christian and you are obviously an instrument of Satan.  I’m not Jesus and can’t caste you into a ‘bottomless pit’ for 1,000 years, but I will make sure that you never get out of prison.  With credit for time served, I sentence you to 990 years.”  “Shortly after my arrival in prison I cut the throat of a child molester and received an additional sentence of 15 years.”  “So Thomas”, I told him, “Many of Manson’s former followers are now ‘born again’ Christians, would you like to receive Christ?”  “I may do that”, he said.  “In the past 4 days I’ve received 2 Christian books and a Bible in the mail, and now you’re here!”  He declined to pray with me so I told him, “Tell you what, here’s my address, when you get ‘saved’ write to me and I will write to ‘Tex’, Susan, Bruce, Catherine, and the rest and tell them that we have a ‘new member’ in the ‘family’ – of God that is.”  Pray for him.  [the officer prayed with me to receive Christ]

RED ROCK PRISON – ELOY, AZ

Prisons are big business.  Many of the 2.2 million prisoners in the U.S. are small time drug offenders and many are serving longer sentences, giving rise to an ‘industry’ of ‘private’ prisons.  ‘Red Rock’ is the newest ‘private’ prison in Arizona and houses about 1,000 ‘medium’ and ‘maximum’ security inmates, all of whom are from Alaska.  We went through one ‘electric fence’ and six ‘video monitored’ electronic gates to get to the prison chapel.  I arrived 15 minutes early but had to wait for an hour and a half while ‘the shift’ changed and before the inmates were allowed to come to the chapel.  We were left with only 40 minutes for our entire service.  We had to skip the worship and the music, opened with a prayer and I went directly into my testimony.  We had 60 men in the service, 16 of whom responded to a challenge to commit (or recommit) their lives to Christ.    The men showed their appreciation for my coming and I received 50 hugs before I left. (smile)

‘NEW LIFE’ STUDY TESTAMENT/BIBLE

While I was in prison I received a small New Testament with a study guide at the back.  It was unique in that it had only 850 different words and was geared to 3^rd grade reading abilities.  I found it very clear and easy to understand and it became my favorite ‘portable’ witnessing tool and source of instant scripture.  While critics contend that only certain translations are valid, and they have their point, I got ‘saved’ reading a ‘Good News for Modern Man’ version of the N.T.!  Yes, I eventually got a ‘King James’ Bible and began in depth study and memorizing of scripture.  “Thus saith the Lord.. “ 

I am donating our current inventory of New Testaments to other prison ministries and have ordered copies of ‘New Life Testament Study Guide and Bible to send to inmates through our ministry.  Since the N.L.T. was such a blessing to me, I want to pass it on to others to supplement their Bible study.  They cost us $1.65 each and we get them from Christian Literature International @ http://www.newlifebible.org

In Christ,

Dennis Rice