Keep Being a Wise Guy
Tuesday, January 3, 2023
“To be a soul-winner is the happiest thing in the world.” – C. H. Spurgeon
About 30 years ago, I received a personal and very encouraging note from one of my mentors, Nick Barbetta. Nick, who had been a big-time drug dealer in Miami and a convicted felon before trusting Jesus as his Savior, was serving as the supervisory chaplain for the Philadelphia Prison System at the time. For many years, I had taken our softball and basketball teams into the prisons under his jurisdiction such as Holmesburg, the Philadelphia House of Corrections, the Philadelphia Detention Center, P.I.C.C. (the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Complex), and C.F.C.F. (the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility).
In his handwritten note, Nick thanked me for ministering to the men under his care and congratulated me on the creative way that we used sports to share the gospel. He then signed the letter and added the words, “Keep being a wise guy” along with a Bible reference.
Initially, I was taken back by Nick’s closing words, fearing that I had acted arrogantly or inappropriately in my dealings with him. However, after I looked up the Bible verse that he cited, I was greatly encouraged… and motivated, too.
Proverbs 11:30 reads as follows: “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.” Aha! So, that’s what Nick meant… and what he was encouraging me to do. Nick simply wanted me to “keep being a wise guy” by winning souls to Jesus.
Before I got involved in prison ministry in 1987, I had led – to my shame – just two people to saving faith in Christ. At that pathetically slow rate, the world would never be evangelized. However, during my 35 years of prison ministry, I have had the privilege of sharing the gospel with an estimated 500,000 inmates across North America and Africa and approximately 30,000 of them have made professions of faith in Jesus Christ.
Nick is in Glory now and I look forward to being reunited with him someday. I am sure we will spend countless hours recounting our ministry times together and how God used ordinary guys like us to build His kingdom.
“But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:25 (NKJV)
- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President
