A Little More on God Behind Bars

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I am now the God Behind Bars campus leader for Goose Creek Correctional Center. Its something that came out of no where, but I am very excited about what God is going to do through our Friday night services.

As I mentioned in my last post, I am looking for volunteers. You can read all the details here...

We just had our fourth service on Friday night. We had 40 inmates in attendance for our first service. Our second service had about 140 inmates packed into the gym where we hold service. For our third and fourth service, we had between 70 to 80 inmates.

We are not exactly sure why we had the drop after the second week. We do know there's several services a week being offered, so perhaps the "churched" inmates are not looking for another service. Which is perfect, because our target audience is the "unchurched" inmates, meaning those who are not involved in any services right now. The men who are attending are loving the worship music and the preaching and we believe a core group of men are being built up.

So, your question at this point may be "What is the impact of this program?" Well, I'm glad you asked. God Behind Bars has been in the Hiland Mountain Correctional Center in Eagle River for about 13 months. Hiland Mountain is a women's facility, housing about 400 inmates. Approximately half of the ladies attend the God Behind Bars service.

Phil Reese, the Alaska director for God Behind Bars has just produced an excellent video highlighting the impact God Behind Bars is having:

God Behind Bars // Alaska from LR on Vimeo.