Big James 20 Years Later

January 14, 2006. The setting was Washington State Prison in Davisboro, Georgia. HeartBound Ministries had invited a man to speak who knew firsthand what it meant to be behind those walls - James “Hollywood” Henderson, a former Georgia inmate and five-time national and world bench-press powerlifting champion.

“Hollywood” is a force of nature, a gifted speaker with an extraordinary ability to command a room. He could walk into a crowd of rowdy men and, before long, have them sitting quietly, completely captivated and hanging on his every word.

But 20 years ago, no one in that room could have known what was about to happen next.

Fast forward to September 4, 2026. I received a Facebook notification from HeartBound chaplain Omar Howard, who had shared a remarkable story from a formerly incarcerated friend. As I read it, I realized the story had an unexpected connection to something that HeartBound had sponsored 20 years ago. He writes:

This morning, I’m emotional thinking about a moment that happened inside Washington State Prison over a decade ago.

A man named Hollywood Henderson came into the prison on a speaking circuit. Big bodybuilder. Strong man. I watched this brother literally rip up a phone book with his bare hands. At that time, I was Big Trap. Hard on the yard. I had built an exterior that said I didn’t need anything from anybody.

After he spoke, we were standing around fellowshipping and talking. Hollywood looked at me and said, “Man, you need a hug.” And I said, “Yeah. I would like a hug.”

That man wrapped his arms around me, and something happened inside of me that I couldn’t explain at the time. I understand it now.

That was masculine love. That was controlled strength. That was a man strong enough to tear up a phone book, but gentle enough to use that same strength to embrace another man who needed it.

Years later, the world watched me go viral hugging young boys who had never been hugged by their fathers. The world watched me and one of these young men cry together. But now I realize they were watching something that had been planted in me years earlier inside a Georgia prison.

Yesterday, while telling my brother Dr. Omar Howard about that encounter, he called Hollywood Henderson.  After all these years, I finally got the opportunity to tell this man, “Brother, that hug did something to me. It turned me into something. It made it part of how I love and mentor these boys.”

Sometimes the strongest thing you can do with your arms is not destroy something. It is to wrap them around another man and help destroy the pain, rejection, neglect, loneliness and hurt he has been carrying.

Hollywood Henderson showed me two kinds of strength that day. He used his strength to rip up a phone book, then used the same strength to help build up a man.

Over a decade later, that hug is still traveling. Every young man gets a little piece of the hug somebody once gave me. - T.E.B.

Stories like this remind us that we may never know the full impact of a simple act of love and encouragement. What happens in a prison ministry today can reach far beyond the prison walls - and sometimes far beyond our own lifetime.

Thank you for making these moments possible. Your generosity allows HeartBound to continue showing incarcerated men, women, and young people that they are not forgotten, that their lives have value, and that God’s love can reach them wherever they are.

We are deeply grateful for your partnership in this ministry. Your generosity may begin with a gift, but its impact can travel farther than any of us could imagine - sometimes for 20 years or more!

Praise be to God “who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly more than we could every ask or imagine.” (Eph. 3:20)

Hugs,

Andrea Shelton, Executive Director