I started prison Ministry in 1998 under Robby Speer’s leadership. Since that time I’ve been trying to take a team into Angola Louisiana State Prison.
      After seeing a National geographic Channel show about how Angola was the bloodiest prison in America I just had to see if I could get a team in.
      After 9 years of frustration and rejection by the staff, they finally gave me a date and said they were going to give me a shot. The first thing I did was call Robby. You see I had a 25-man team limit. I had probably 50 guys wanting to go. However, I knew that I would be asking the guys that had been fighting the fight the longest.
     Angola is a prison that if you do what we do, you want to go their strong. It’s the Super Bowl of Prisons. Twenty-one square miles in size, the largest and baddest prison in the USA. Or so we thought. Angola has changed. Warden Burl Cain brought Jesus to Angola. He preaches moral responsibility.
     Tim Dawson of the Messsengers/Sports Reach group said, “I thought I was going to minister and I walked into the middle of a revival!”
     Angola was bigger than any of us thought a prison could be. When we went through the gate we drove several miles before we went through the sally port letting us enter into the main prison compound. We immediately knew something was different. There was not an over sensing power of oppression as is the normal when we go to prisons.
    The inmates were excited about our being there. You see Sports Reach was the first sports team to ever go into Angola. There was a lot of skepticism about how we would minister. After our visit the Coach admitted that he was very impressed. Angola has a lot of ministries come and do services. The inmates get a lot of preaching.
    We played and shared with the inmates and just spent time talking and giving our testimonies. Our laid back approach seemed to bring about more participation form the inmates during the day. We had a lot of guys just coming out to watch and hang out with the free world guys.
    Jesus has given the men that I minister with a special ability to love the unlovable men behind the bars in America's prisons. It's not fake or the inmates would be able to see right through it.  We spent the day loving these men, laughing, crying and praying for them and their families which most of them will never see in the free world again.
    Eighty-five percent of the men in Angola will never go home expect to our Eternal home. I've never been to a place where I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit as alive as I did that day.
   I can't wait to go back. I'm grateful for the Lord for finally opening the door for us!!!!

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