God at Work on the Inside
By Wil Luce
Men and women who have lost their way in life have found hope and a fresh perspective through the prison ministry of Insight for Living.
God is up to something exceptional in the hearts and lives of people in prison.
Interest in spiritual things has been on the rise in our prisons, and Insight for Living has seen a corresponding increase in mail from prisoners who live behind the walls and razor wire fences of our penal facilities. At any given time, our Prison Ministry and Biblical Counseling teams are in correspondence with as many as 400 inmates from as far away from the U.S. as Africa, Australia, and England.
More than just "jailhouse conversions," the biblical questions being asked and the convictions being voiced in the letters we receive express inmates’ genuine devotion to Jesus Christ. Many tell us that their time in prison has introduced them to the broadcast and that they listen faithfully Monday through Friday. Others say they frequently gather around the radio and treat it as their church time, encouraging each other afterward by discussing the message and singing worship songs. Often when they do this, other inmates become interested in what’s on the radio.
Through the exchange of letters, we come alongside lonely, discouraged inmates to let them know that someone on the outside still cares. Then we help them see for themselves God’s solutions in Scripture to the self-destructive behaviors of their pasts, so that long-standing strongholds of sin are overturned and the way is cleared for a new beginning in life.
Prison is a microcosm of the culture outside. Its residents struggle with all the same issues that people wrestle with in the free world, only in a more intense environment.
For me, to be a part of Insight for Living’s prison ministry is an exciting venture and a personal privilege—an assignment that has become both a mission and a passion. Through Insight for Living’s broadcast and resources as well as our correspondence with them, men and women are finding their way through difficult circumstances, redeeming the time while doing time, en route to a new life in Jesus Christ.
Copyright © 2010 by Insight for Living.
About the author
Wil Luce
A graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, Wil Luce served as a biblical counselor at Insight for Living Ministries from 1987 to 2010. His primary focus was correspondence with people in prisons, which he continued from his home in California following Insight for Living Ministries' move to Texas in 2001.
