You Are Unique

"The greatness of art is not to find what is common but what is unique." - Isaac Bashevis

Back in the mid-1990s, when I was serving as executive director of The Saints Prison Ministry, I locked horns with our then board president. It was an honest difference of opinion, but I believed that my position was the correct one and so, I dug in my heels and refused to budge an inch.

You see, when God called me to launch that organization in 1987, we became the first prison ministry in the United States to use sports as an evangelistic tool. Whereas every other prison ministry in America was busy conducting chapel services and Bible studies, God led me to combine my love for Him and my love for sports to reach inmates who would never darken the door of the prison chapel.

Focusing on the 80% of the prison population who (surveys showed) would never attend a conventional religious program, we soon learned that those same inmates would gladly attend a sporting event at which the gospel was presented.

For the next decade, we sent softball, basketball, volleyball, and soccer teams into prisons throughout the Mid-Atlantic States and as far south as Florida. Tens of thousands of inmates attended our games and heard the gospel message… and thousands of them trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Realizing that it would be wrong to lead someone to saving faith in Christ and not try to disciple them, we sent every inmate a follow-up packet and started a Bible correspondence school – in two languages – for those who were interested. We even began a pen-pal program and sent all 24,000 inmates on our mailing list a hand-signed birthday card on their special day.

However, this wasn’t enough for our board president. He thought that we should curtail much of our prison athletic schedule in favor of conducting weekly or bi-weekly Bible studies.

“Why should we stop doing what only we are doing,” I asked him, “to start doing what everyone else is already doing?” It made no sense to me whatsoever.

Fortunately, the rest of the board members agreed with me and so, instead of cutting back on the number of games we played, we increased them. In fact, by the time I left that ministry to relocate to Florida to launch Risk Takers for Christ, we had established branches in Colorado Springs, Richmond, Charlotte, and Atlanta. Altogether, our multiple male and female teams in various sports witnessed to hundreds of thousands of inmates in more than 400 prisons in 24 states… and an estimated 23,000 of them made decisions for Jesus Christ.

My friend, you are unique, and God created you for a specific purpose. Follow His plan… and don’t copy anyone else’s.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5 (NKJV)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President