A lot of churches have prison ministries but one megachurch in Dallas, Texas has announced that its newest campus site will actually be in the state’s largest maximum security prison.
Pastor Robert Morris of Gateway Church made the announcement before his congregation on Sunday. The senior pastor of the church recently explained the move to Fox News.
“At Gateway Church, we’re all about people because God is all about people,” Morris said. “Many of the men and women inside prison have been forgotten by society, but we want them to know we love them and God loves them, and they are our brothers and sisters in Christ.”
Before officially announcing that the Coffield Unit in Anderson County would house the newest campus, Gateway Church first hosted a service there last November. There were 650 inmates in attendance.
Since then, over 500 men have decided to give their lives to Jesus Christ. At the Coffield Campus, inmates are able to serve in the same capacity that they would on any other campus as greeters, ushers as well as a worship team and media operators that deal with video and audio.
The church is a seven-year dream come true, according to the Gateway Coffield campus pastor, Stephen Wilson. Wilson can relate to the inmates as an ex-offender who turned his life around, went to seminary school and has been preaching in prisons for some time.
“My first meeting to launch a Gateway Prison Campus happened seven years ago,” Wilson said. “We’ve been praying for this for seven years.”
Those who are maximum security offenders in the prison will not be in attendance, but can still participate by receiving magazines, devotionals, and books from the church. Medium security offenders will be allowed to attend services for special occasions like the very first service.
Pastor Jimmy Evans, a senior pastor at Gateway, preached at that first service.
“We want the people in the prisons to have a church while they’re in and when they get out, so they can be integrated back into society,” he said. “People in prison need a church, and we want to be a church family—literally.”
(image via screengrab)