“I do not know of any more fertile ground for the gospel in all of the United States than our jails and prisons. Where else can you find so many broken, hurting, lonely people all collected together in one small space? Where else can you enter a community where so many of its members have been humbled? Where else can you enter an arena where every unbeliever understands that your function is to talk about God? And further, that they expect you to bring Him up? Where else can you strike up a conversation with strangers and have over 90 percent of the people you encounter willing to talk with you? Think about this! What I have described is a razor-wire beehive filled with humbled souls who know they have done wrong, who are often broken and repentant over their condition, and who are now giving you their full attention. I often ask them, ‘How many of you would have given me two minutes of your time when you were out on the streets?’ The answer, almost always, is none of them. Then I announce that God, in His great mercy and compassion, has slowed them down long enough to consider the claims of the gospel and has put them in a gracious state to receive it!”

Lennie Spitale, an ECS volunteer

Writer of the book “Prison Ministry”