What up family this is Brinson, ya boy from Florida repping Jesus and
giving ya'll something to chew on about Prison Ministry.  For the past
five years I've been engulfed with growing in the Word and feeding
others in the prison system. I know some folks only know me from
GodChaserz and the music ministry but I'll let you in on something;
Music ministry alone just didn't cut it for me. Producing, rapping for
Jesus, and promoting the Gospel through music is all great but being
able to touch brothers who are in a hostile environment is another
story.

Prison ministry is a place I encourage every -active- believer to get
involved in at some capacity in their lifetime. I got involved not
knowing what to expect. I wanted to tag along with some of the elders
and pastors at my church because I wanted to hear more  teaching from
the Word. I love to hear good teaching and some hooping once and a
while. Witnessing how receptive the brothers were to the Word was an
eye opener.  I continued to go and watch these guys embrace the
preaching of Jesus like no bodies business.

I must admit the first time I entered the prison I had a little bit of
fear. I had to go through at least eight electrically wired gates.
Then there was an intense search. Finally there were a few more gates
and then we'd wait for about 30 minutes while the guards rounded up
the brothers who wanted to come. The walk through the prison was an
experience to say the least.

Two noticable things happened during my involvement with the prison
ministry.  First, I witnessed the hand of God on so many men, Jesus
not only effected them in the prison but the change transferred to
their families. Their families saw real change in them and wasn't
through the prison system's rehabilitation but through God's system.
The men would write letters to the church and explain how much the
services meant to them. The second thing I saw was a change in me.  I
had such compassion for the brothers, it was overwhelming.  It was
life-changing to see over five hundred men worship God at the same
time. I noticed my prayer life changing drastically. It went from a
hour in the morning to two hours in the morning. I found myself
praying for the inmates, the guards, the chaplains, the inmates'
families, and the people who may have been effected by the inmates
crimes. The love of God was erupting in my soul like never before. I
found that real ministry is not about how many people I can "preach"
Jesus too, but how many people I can love with the love of Jesus. To
this day I still pray for those men.

It is funny how a ministry can effect you without you realizing it. I
recall when we went full throttle with GodChaserz Entertainment. You
would expect the label's first release to be from one of the artist.
It wasn't that way with us at all. My heart was so into the prison
ministry I wanted to use our resources to sow into it. Thus the
release of our first album "For The Yard". Guys like Knine, Zee, Big
R, Verses, aTone, ReadyWriter, and Redd Lettaz, got on board with the
vision and we sent the album to some prisons and work camps around the
country. Funny thing is the inmates didn't know that I was involved in
the project.  One Sunday morning it was my turn to bring the Word, ( I
was a ordained minister by this time) I held up the album and said I
hope this album reached you guys. Then about 600 guys stood up and
screamed in excitement!  I was shocked to say the least. We had a
great service then a lot of the guys came to me after the service
expressing how the project blessed them and some said they even knew
the raps from front to back. So God really did his thing with leading
us to sow that seed into those brothers.

A word to the wise:
Any ministry you get involved in will not be filled with rainbows
everyday. I'm telling you this because it goes for any ministry.
Prison, Ushering, Missionary, Christian Hip Hop, so on and so forth.
With that being said I'll let you know some of the trials can happen
in any ministry. As the Word says "the harvest is plentiful but the
workers are few". There were thousands of men being ministered to but
alot of people fell off in volunteering. In the begining there was a
strong group of thirteen workers but by the second year there were
only two.  Six months after that I was the only one left. But one
thing the Lord advised me about this ministry was to stay "Faithful".
The workcamp was an hour away and somtimes I had to borrow gas money
to make it there and back; But I'd remember what the Bible says, "a
faithful man abounds in blessings". So guess what, as I stood firm and
remained faithful I grew with those brothers on lock down. I was
blessed from the love of the men of God behind bars. They became
family and we were knitted together in the Love of Jesus. With any
commitment you will be tried but again, remain faithful. Our enemy
satan doesn't want you to be faithful over anything especially when
lives are being changed and God is using you.


So as you chew on all that, here are some keys to help you in ministry
(hopefully you choose prison ministry at your local church). Remain
faithful.  Love the people.  Wherever you serve in ministry get
involved with the people God has sent you to.  Listen to them.  The
funny thing is most people already have answers for their issues but
they are revealed as they share with someone.  Don't give up.  Every
ministry has its challenges but that is when you persist. And finally,
maintain your devotion.  Prayer and reading scriptures are a must.
You can pour out what you haven't put in.  I hope my experience has
helped someone.  Peace!

Article written by Brinson

Published in Tha Message Magazine 2009

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