I really don't even know where to begin to tell you about the weekend so I think I will start at the beginning. I have been around Bill Glass prison ministries for as long as I can remember. My dad, Randy Rocca, has been involved with this ministry for over 15 years and is currently the chairman of the local committee which is the backbone for the ministry in the valley. Bill Glass Champions for Life has been a nationwide organization since the late 60's and has been in prisons for 37 years. I have been going into prisons for only two years but I’ve seen firsthand how God has been shaping and molding this ministry for a long time.
Thursday, April 30 was our D-Day as a ministry because that’s when the battle for souls began. I, along with 50 other men, drove out to Corcoran State Prison-SATF (Substance Abuse Treatment Facility) and was able to see a place very few people would choose to see. The men that participate in Bill Glass’s “Champions for Life” ministry are called "Teammates", and we walked straight onto the prison yard where some prisoners were doing push-ups and others were running. As soon as the gates opened and we walked onto the yard, all 700 prisoners’ eyes were looking straight through me. Spiritual warfare is an incredible aspect of a believer’s life that some may never experience; but let me tell you it is anything but imaginary. Ephesians 6:10-17 talks about taking up the full armor of God and that is what we as believers had to do on this weekend more than any time before.
On May 1, the next day, I was scheduled at the Fresno Jail in downtown Fresno. There I was talking to guys that were 19, 20, and 21years old which is my age. It is easy for the men we are speaking to just shut us out completely and be against everything we are trying to tell them. It took a real man for them to come out of their cell and listen to what we had to say. We brought performers and ex-cons in to get their attention so they would listen, and then we would share the gospel with them.
Saturday was the last day and we were scheduled at the Juvenile Detention-Commitment facility in Fresno at 99/American Avenue. Out of all the three facilities we attended, Juvenile Hall was the most humbling of them all. I work with the Junior High department at church because my heart is with that age of 12, 13, and 14 year old kids. I love to hang around them and be a good influence to show them how a Godly person should act when they get older, which keeps me accountable to these kids. At Juvenile Hall, while the speaker* I was driving around was speaking, I saw a boy that was incarcerated there and it tore me apart. As soon as the program was done, I walked straight over to him – he had his head in his lap. He was sobbing so I asked him what was up and he said "nothing." Then I told him that he could trust me and that I would pray for him every day. "Why would you pray for me, I’m locked up", he said in an angry voice. I told him that people may perceive him as being in jail, but I didn’t. I told him I saw him in a place where his past choices brought him. I told him that we are all in some type of jail, whether it is a prison of deception, drugs, alcohol, or lust. The list goes on and on. He then said that he understood but why had God let him be in jail? I told him God loves him and is compassionate but is also just. I proceeded to talk about some other life choices that he needed to make and then somehow my family came up. I told him that I have a mom and dad and a little sister and as soon as I said that he started to cry. He shared with me that his dad died when he was little, his mom is on drugs and the only person he could talk to was his baby sister. He said "the only person I love is my baby sister." I then asked if he had a heart, a brain, lungs, he of course said "ya duh”. I asked him if he could see those body parts and he of course said no. I told him that Jesus is the same way, you can’t see him but he is there and I can see him work everyday and that if he prays a prayer that he can see the same thing. That day a little boy accepted Christ and is in the Kingdom of GOD!
If anyone ever asks why I go into prisons, that little boy is the reason why. If I hadn’t talk to anyone else the entire weekend I would have done it just for that boy. In three days of ministry there were 3,252 decisions for Christ. That is why I say Jesus in MY KING!
* (the speaker was Paul Wrenn, winner of the World's Strongest Man competition when he was younger and is the reining World's Strongest Man over the age of 40. He has won it every year since he turned 40 and he will be 62 this year!)
Submitted May 5th, 2009
Tell Us Your Story! |
