We had a great time at the Bondage to Freedom seminar. Lloyd and Judy Gingerich came in from Illinois to lead out. We did these seminars annually in Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility until Covid prevented it in 2021 and 2022; it was wonderful to bring it in again. The weekend begins with a 2-hour session on Friday evening and continues with sessions on Saturday and Sunday. We had twenty-four men attend, and seventeen of them graduated and received a certificate of completion.
Bondage to Freedom helps prisoners find freedom and healing in Christ by identifying unforgiveness and brokenness in their past and bringing these things to Jesus. As the Holy Spirit moves, men begin to share their stories and allow volunteers and other prisoners to speak truth into their lives. For some men, this is the only time they are open and vulnerable about their experiences. They have the opportunity to repent of wrong done, and Jesus forgives and begins to speak healing into their hearts.
As the weekend goes along and men meet Jesus and find freedom, it is encouraging to see them come forward to speak words of life to others. The Church is being built inside the walls as these men connect and encourage each other. Prisoner Alex shared his story and desire to break free from the chains of lust. As he was prayed over and anointed for healing, other prisoners came with tears, expressing an identical desire to walk in purity and freedom.
Prisoner Jesse shared his story of never knowing his father and losing his way in young adulthood. He obtained a “successful” life of material wealth and pleasure but found no fulfillment and now looks back with regret at wasted years, and wonders if his choices would have been different if he could have turned to his father for advice in his formative years. He broke down as an older man spoke a father’s blessing to him and prayed over him for healing from father wounds.
“I didn’t meet my dad until the day he died.” Prisoner John said these words with a sense of certainty and coldness that I could tell his soul still longed to believe that this reality would not have been real. Lloyd Gingerich led John through his story in a profound way that brought to light John’s past of pain and abandonment. His early life was followed by success, though, and lots of it. He had become a hockey star at a young age and his abilities took him from one win to the next, through the leagues until he was at the top; playing with the pros. In many ways, he was living his dream but in other ways, his heart dreams had never come true. Fame brought him friends—for a while—but his pain brought all that to an end when eventually he couldn’t buy his way out of trouble. Then, suddenly, in the wake of drugs, alcohol, sex, and what seemed like a carefree life, he was brought behind bars. And there, the Lord found him and began to heal him.
It was an honor to witness John finding more healing that day at the Bondage to Freedom seminar. As he released and forgave his absent dad as well as his favored younger brother, he wept, “I feel so free,” he said.
—Chaplain Caleb Mast