Train & Multiply - Gary Tells Us How This is Just the Beginning

As I have explained to some of you, in addition to the work we are helping with in Latin American prisons, God has laid it on our hearts to take the same Train & Multiply material to the local prison in Leavittsburg, OH at Trumbull Correctional Institution.

I had explained last year that a class of 10-15 disciples were regularly meeting where they were provided instruction, materials and encouragement to go out in the prison compound among their fellow inmates and begin talking about Jesus and inviting them to begin participating in small Bible studies.

That Train & Multiply class finished up and we held a graduation ceremony in December of 2015.  These inmates had become brothers in Christ over the period of 4 months when we were studying together.  These gentlemen have been meeting together now for about eight months and asked to keep the group together discussing Biblical issues, life problems and how to walk a Godly life in the prison. 

We recently started another class.  This time around, the members of that first class are teaching the material to a second generation of “church planters” for the prison.  Eleven men are now being taught the same principles by the men they responded to when asked if they would like to learn about Jesus. 

Each graduate was asked to submit 1-2 names of individuals that they thought were good candidates for the leadership training and those gentlemen were issued invitations.  Thirty one men were invited and at the first meeting 15 responded.  The attendance has leveled off at 12-13 and the enthusiasm and interest of these men is even greater than that of the first class.  I believe they are responding so positively because they are being  taught by a fellow inmate - someone who has walked in their shoes and has the same life experience as they have.

It is a slow start, but we were talking on Tuesday evening about saturation ministry  - where you contact every single person and offer them the opportunity to come to know Jesus Christ.  With a population in that facility of approximately 1500 inmates, one of them quickly calculated that between the present class and those from the previous class that if each one talked to one new person every day and they talked to a new person every day and so on, they wouldn’t have anyone new or unreached to talk to by the second week.  He has grasped the concept of multiplication and how that is the only way to reach the world for Jesus Christ.

It makes me ask, what if each of us did that ev

ery day, what would the world look like.

Sharing the Gospel in All the World AND in OUR BACKYARD

Happy New Year! Gary provided the following as installment one explaining some interesting developments the ministry in the last few months. 

One morning late last summer, I found myself asking why I thought it was important to take the Train & Multiply program to the prisons of Honduras, but not important enough to take it into the state prison where I went weekly in Trumbull County, Ohio.  It seemed a good question and I can only think it was provoked by God. 

There really was no good answer, so I immediately began preparing a proposal to present to Trumbull Correctional Institution.  Based upon my experience at the institution over the previous several years, I expected a lot of red tape and truly expected it would probably be 3-4 months before the proposal was either accepted or rejected.

After calling for an appointment with the chaplain to initiate the process regarding the approval, I got an appointment for the next day.  Chaplain Kostenko listened and asked a few questions and asked me when I could start.  When I seemed confused by the question he asked if I could start the next week.  I was almost speechless and I explained that I was going to be in Honduras doing prison ministry work there. He asked when I would return and when I told him he said then we can start that next Tuesday after I returned. 

We determined to have two separate classes, one on Tuesday evenings, the other on Wednesday mornings.  I thanked him and left his office stunned by how easy it had been to get to this approved.

By the time of the first classes, I had 6 students for the Wednesday class and  8 for the evening class.  At the end of two weeks, the class size and attendance showed that we could condense the class to just the Tuesday evening and there would be 10 students.

From that point on, the attendance was almost perfect exce

pt for a few bureaucratic mix ups leaving students without passes to attend. The classes were well received and my decision to be a director and moderator instead of a lecturer resulted in some very good discussion at each class.

The depth of the familiarity and level of study of the scripture by these inmates was impressive.  They knew their Bibles and well and could quote chapter and verse with far more skill than me.  When I remarked on this to them, they explained, "All we have is time and what better way to spend it than reading, learning and memorizing God's word."

Keep a look out for the next segment of this amazing story of what God has been doing!