An evangelistic service held inside a prison facility in Oklahoma gathered nearly 300 incarcerated men. During the gathering, 200 of the 300 inmates present decided to surrender their lives to Jesus and 47 were baptized inside the facility.
The initiative was organized by God Behind Bars, a ministry dedicated to holding Christian events within the American correctional system, which organized the evangelistic event in partnership with a local church in Oklahoma. Volunteers and pastors prayed with inmates and preached the biblical message of repentance and forgiveness.
How were the baptisms conducted inside the facility?
The baptisms took place in improvised tubs inside the facility. According to ministry team members, one of the inmates entered the water crying out of shame over his past and received spiritual support from leaders before publicly professing his faith in Christ.
Another inmate told volunteers he had struggled with spiritual oppression before deciding to be baptized. On site, Pastor Michael Todd of Transformation Church conducted the baptism in an improvised tub and prayed for the restoration of the man's life.
Scripture states in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away and all things have become new. The passage reflects the core message presented to the inmates during the service.
The event is part of an ongoing outreach across correctional facilities in the United States. Created in 2009, founded by Jake Bodine, the God Behind Bars ministry holds services in correctional facilities across the United States to connect inmates with local churches and provide spiritual support.
Alongside the ministry team and Pastor Michael Todd, Pastor William Heckenbach participated in ministering to the inmates during the Oklahoma service. The organization reported that the meetings feature times of prayer, worship, and personal decisions of faith by incarcerated men.
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