Love Covers All

HOUSTON – The Love Covers All Prison Ministry at Houston Central Seventh-day Adventist Church has ministered to the spiritual needs of the inmates at the Jester 1 Prison in Richmond, Tex., since its inception in 2008.

Through its ongoing Bible studies and full church services at the prison, Love Covers All has given away more than 6,000 Bibles and referred more than 1,000 inmates to the Amazing Facts Bible School. The Bibles and Amazing Facts study guides continue to provide strong evangelistic tools in ministering to the inmates. They have been instrumental in providing inmates with the Seventh-day Adventist Church foundational truths.

We hold Bible studies with inmates in a minimum security, revolving-door men’s prison every first, third, and fifth Friday night at 7 p.m. Every second Sabbath, we have a full-blown church service at 3 p.m. We call the Jester 1 facility a revolving-door prison because it is a nine-month program where the inmate may serve a part of his sentence and will then move to another prison. Or, it could be the last part of his sentence and he is about to be released.

We believe God has placed us here because we are able to touch many more lives than we would in a long-term facility.

We started in 2008 with four inmates attending. This past year, the average attendance ranged from 80 to 100 for every meeting.

In 2013, we were able to donate a portable baptistry which has allowed us to baptize 212 men so far. This year by God’s grace, 60 men have been baptized.

Currently, we have a projected need for more than 700 Bibles and Amazing Facts study guides for future distribution. We have also been cleared to bring soap in the prison for inmates, which has increased attendance.

On each bar of soap, we place our ministry, church name, the meeting times and Ephesians 5:26, “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.”

God has truly blessed our prison ministry. Currently, the team will be expanding to incorporate another facility for Christ.

By Angel Rodriguez