Proudly Serving Inmates in Missouri & Illinois

Grant Gruber

Director

Learn more about Grant

Louis Dooley

Prison Coordinator for Illinois

Learn more about Louis

Louis is a board member and Regional Director for Set Free Ministries in Illinois. Louis is one of the Lord’s success stories. Louis had a tumultuous childhood which resulted in receiving two life sentences plus +100 years for his involvement.  Unbelievably this is where the wonder of his story really begins. While incarcerated without any hope of ever leaving prison, he found a relationship with God. He made God a promise and hasn’t looked back since. He met a group of men in prison who worked for the Set Free Ministries. Louis began taking the Bible studies the ministry offered. After a few years of taking around 70-80 courses he decided to volunteer to work for Set Free. Louis began to minister to other men and his relationship grew stronger with Christ and his life transformed. Accepting the fact that he may never get out of prison he learned how to survive on the inside.

But the Lord had other plans. Louis never imagined he would be paroled but that is exactly what occurred, even more, soon after being paroled he was completely freed and his paroled requirements were removed. Freed, he now lives for Christ and works to save youth from a road that leads to destruction and serving those being released to find ways to know Christ and better serve a society they once despised.  To learn more about Louis you can see follow him at www.louisdooley.com

Randy Gruber

Assistant Director

Learn more about Randy

Randy is a board member and works at Set Free Ministries. Randy studied at receiving a degree in Comparative Religion from Westminster College as well, he has a Master’s degree in Education with an emphasis on counseling from Washington University.

Walking with Christ has been proved to be adventuresome and eventful. Randy spent the first years of his life as a believer in careful study of God’s Word while working as a counselor/teacher in both public and private schools. In 1974, Randy and number of other young men established the Emmaus Correspondence School in St. Louis with the deep to see men and women taught about our Lord Jesus Christ. When a friend’s brother was arrested and sent to jail and then to prison, Randy was asked to visit him, a request that led the deep desire to reach the jailed through a prison ministry in 1984. Knowing a definite call on his life to a discipling ministry using the Emmaus Correspondence courses. He soon found myself totally involved in the distribution and grading of the courses as well as in writing the students in answer to their many questions.

The Lord led Randy the next five years to the opened door of an inmate run office inside Potosi Correctional Center (1992). What began with one office, two inmates and one computer has grown to two offices (the second one in Southeast Correctional Center), 18 computers, and over 30 inmates working in the ministry.

The offender staff grade and distribute courses to men who are incarcerated in Missouri, Illinois, North and South Dakota, and Hawaii. Randy witnessed the growth with an average of about 2,300 students with a distribution of up to 34,000 courses a year.