My First Prison Weekend

Champions for Life is an all volunteer ministry working with inmates across America. Bill Glass an all-pro defensive tackle with the Cleveland Browns, founded CFL and is still it's spiritual leader.

April 13, 2002 I went to my first Weekend of Champions (Champions for Life). A very good friend Joe Oktavec invited me. I didn’t really know what to expect. I really didn’t want to go. I had never been inside a prison. I’d seen all the stereotypes from movies. None of these made my apprehension less. It wasn’t so much that I would be afraid. No one had ever been hurt during a Bill Glass weekend. It was more that I had never shared my faith and didn’t have a clue how to go about it. I was not comfortable being around “Bible thumpers”, never have been, never will be. I wasn’t a “criminal”, so I didn’t expect that I could relate to the inmates. But this is what we do for friends.

We checked into the hotel that would be the operations center for the weekend. There was a biker checking in to the hotel in front of me. He had a shaved head with a tattoo of Christ on the Cross that went from ear-to-ear and forehead-to-neck in red, black, yellow and red ink. All I could think was “Boy that had to hurt”. That bikers name is Donnie and he is a weekend friend to this day.

The Bill Glass Prison Ministry, which runs the Weekend of Champions, requires all freshmen, that is, first time teammates, to attend Freshman Orientation. This training provides all the newbies an understanding of what to do while inside the prison and how to use their evangelism tracks. This is excellent instruction on how to interact with anyone concerning his or her spiritual beliefs. It is centered on grace and trust. It is all about establishing an environment where people will want to ask you why you have a personal relationship with GOD and what does it mean. WOC does not allow showy T-shirts or large bibles, anything that would set you apart from any person on the street. What does set you apart is your heart for the inmates.

Once Freshman Training was competed we were separated into the individual prisons. There were almost 500 teammates who were going into over a dozen institutions. Each Institution has one or more Prison Coordinators who are responsible for running the weekend for that institution. They have met with the Warden and inspected the facility. They conduct training and instruction concerning their facility; how do we enter, what can we bring in, where do we go, what times are the counts, when and where do we eat, everything. The entire weekend is laid out in advance so that everything will run as smooth as possible. The teammates only need to concentrate on the inmates. The Coordinators will take care of everything else. I was assigned to Broad River Correctional Institution, a maximum security-violent offender institution. It was also the last stop for inmates sentenced to death in the state of South Carolina.

We are instructed that while we are in the institution we will have almost free rein of the facility. We will be spending time in the cellblock, yard, cafeteria and lock-down. We will be assigned to a cellblock and will spend all of our time with these inmates. When they go to the yard, we go, when they go to eat, we go, when they are confined to their block, we will stay in the block. Twice each day WOC will provide entertainment. This entertainment, called a platform, usually consists of a celebrity or group of celebrities like; singers, athletes, high-wire acts, NASCAR’s, ventriloquist, etc. and a second “act”. This second person brings the message of hope. These people are ex-convicts, ex-prisoner-of-war, ex-drug addicts, ex-alcoholics, and other people who have overcome exceptionally long odds to turn their life around. The entire weekend is orchestrated to help the inmates understand there is another path they can take..

As I approached the Prison my prayer was to be invisible

If I could make through the day without being noticed I would have considered the day a success. As it would be, that idea didn’t last long. It took an hour to get through security. As I walked into the yard, Clarence Major, an inmate came up to me, hugged me and said, “We have been waiting for you.” This weekend is a big deal in their lives of monotony. After that very moment I was too busy to notice my inadequacies. It was one of the best weekends of my life. I have gone back over two dozen times. I’ve been to death row twice. It has been life changing.