I wasn’t sure the day would ever arrive. I had been preparing juveniles for baptism for over three months. When the conversation started, an inflatable pool of water would have been refreshing, a cool dip on an Indian summer day. When the day finally arrived, the ambient temperature was 50. The breeze was stiff. The occasional mop bucket of 160-degree water from the prison’s indoor plumbing would hardly put a dent in the frigid water coming from the outside tap. Circumstances

I did not like Carmen when I first met him.   Something about him just rubbed me the wrong way. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but he just did.   Whenever he tried to join one of our existing programs at the Atlanta Transitional Center, I would politely tell him that he’d have to wait until we finished the current class and started another. My strategy worked – until it didn’t.   This fall, we launched a new program, Alpha, at the Center, open to every resident. Alpha is

God uses the smallest of things to help us reach incarcerated youth. Here’s a story from Chaplain John about how a promise of cake and lemonade helped bring young men to baptism at Rockdale RYDC.   12 were baptized in Rockdale RYDC recently - what a blessing to be a part of that! That made 20 baptisms in the last 60 days (and in a facility that holds 52 max). 40%. Can you say revival? God is saying something.  Those baptized ranged in age from 14 to 16. Some had been baptized