Miracle at Kwale Prison

We visited this prison on Tuesday afternoon.

Jim King gave greetings and shared the gospel as Peter Odanga translated his message.

On Tuesday Peter took us to Kwale Prison to minister there. On this particular day 100-150 men voluntarily came to the meeting while many others who could not come listened from a nearby building. We brought soap and toilet paper, two items the prisoners desperately need.

The men sat on the grass in the hot sun to hear our presentation.

Peter translated my message for the prisoners.

Peter copied my sermon right down to my gestures.

After Peter introduced our team, Jim King gave a spirited testimony. Then Peter translated as I preached on John the Baptist and his question, “Are you the one we are looking for?” I told the men that if they had doubts about Jesus, they didn’t need to take my word. Just “come and see” for themselves. The man laughed when Peter translated that expression. 

The men listened intently to the message of the gospel.

This man listened from behind the bars of his prison building.

A sea of hands went up when I asked who had prayed to receive Christ.

After I explained the gospel as carefully as I could, I led the man in a prayer of confession and trusting Christ as Savior. Then I asked them to raise their hands if they had prayed that prayer. After a moment’s pause, hands went up everywhere. So many hands went up that we could not count them all. You can see some of the response in the pictures.

We gave out all the copies of Anchor that we had with us.

This prisoner eagerly reads An Anchor for the Soul.

We handed out all the copies that we had with us.

Then we gave away all the copies we had of An Anchor for the Soul. When Peter asked one of the prisoners to speak with a “vote of thanks” to us for coming, the prisoners all pointed to one older prisoner who rose and addressed us. He sounded like a preacher himself. He said that despite the differences between us, we were all brothers in Christ. And then he said, “We have nothing to give you in return for your coming. But our Lord said, ’I was in prison and you visited me.’ In the day of Christ I will rise and give testimony that I was in prison and you visited me.” We all choked up when he said that. 

I signed copies for prisoners representing each Kenyan province.

We passed out soap and toilet paper to the inmates.

This prisoner serves as an unofficial pastor to the other prisoners.

Then the men lined to receive their little hotel-size bars of soap and rolls of toilet paper. You could tell it was a great gift to them.

The O.C. (like our warden) is a born again Christian. He exhorted the men to come to Christ.

Finally the O.C. (Officer in Charge, like our warden) spoke. He was a young man and had only been at the prison for four years. After thanking us for coming, he said that he appreciated that we cared for the men. He told the prisoners that he too was a follower of Christ and said he hoped they would be saved too. “You are my brothers and I love you all.” I’ve never heard a warden anywhere speak like that, with such emotion and fervency and so much faith.

As the men walked away, they waved and thanked us for coming. We walked back to our van aware that we had been part of a miracle at Kwale Prison.