In April of 2025 I was given the opportunity to give my testimony to a group of Keryx volunteers preparing for a Keryx Weekend Spiritual Retreat at Mid-Michigan Correctional Facility. Prior to Covid they were able to conduct these retreats twice a year. After Covid it took several years to even begin having weekly groupings with outside volunteers. Currently they are only allowed to have one weekend retreat per year. Covid had a significant impact on the Keryx ministry as it did on so many other faith-based ministries. The need to recruit and train new volunteers means that about one third of the men for the upcoming weekend had never been involved previously. In preparation for the Keryx Weekend the volunteers gather for three weekend training events. One of the highlights of this training is that the Rector for the weekend will invite a former inmate who was part of Keryx to come and speak to the group about the impact that Keryx has on the participant’s lives both in prison and after release. This testimony allows the ministry volunteers to understand how vitally important and life changing these weekends can be for the inmates who attend.
“My name is Tim and I sat at the table of Timothy here in St. Louis level 1 at Keryx 9.”
“I am here to give my testimony and to speak specifically about the Impact that Keryx can have on those who attend a weekend and get involved in regular Keryx meetings while serving time and after they are paroled back into their communities.”
“I grew up in a Christian home and regularly attended church my whole life. I attended Spring Arbor College and earned a BA in Chemistry and Biology in 1986. I did a Master’s program in Environmental Studies at Michigan Technological University. Education is a major indicator of whether or not a person is likely to go to prison.“
“After graduation I took a job working for an engineering firm and got married to a college sweetheart. One of my job assignments was to perform asbestos air monitoring behind the walls of the old prison in Jackson in the intake unit. For a week, every day I was escorted thru the cell block and locked in the attic. We were chaperoned by a guard and took our breaks on the yard. I told myself after that experience that I would never see the inside of a prison again. In less than 2 years I was headhunted by an Environmental Laboratory in Ann Arbor. We moved there and started a family. Having a stable family life and work environments is another indicator of whether or not someone might go to prison.“
“We attended the local Free Methodist church near where we lived in Ypsilanti. I was involved in couples and men’s groups. For 20 years I was a sound man running AV for the church. I was elected to the church board, served as a trustee and on the Pastor’s cabinet. Having deep social and spiritual connections is yet another indicator of whether or not someone might go to prison.“
“In 2008 I defied the odds and was sentenced to serve 8-12 years in the MDOC. While waiting in the Washtenaw County jail for sentencing, I was served with divorce papers for our 20th anniversary and had my parental rights terminated for my 17-year-old daughter. I spent the first 5 ½ years of my sentence in Jackson at Cotton Correctional. I started in level 4 and worked my way down to level 1. While I was serving time I worked as a tutor in the GED program. I attended the Protestant church services on Sunday’s. There isn’t a Keryx program at Cotton. I worked on my spiritual growth by reading all of the books by Chrsitian authors I could get my hands on and memorizing scripture. But my spiritual life was dry, it felt like my prayer’s were going unanswered.”
“The only outside contacts I had were my parents. They faithfully supported me and encouraged me. They came every month almost without exception for 8 years. It was from them that I learned about the earthly manifestation of unconditional love.”
“I was jumped by a gang member in a hit, because another member had gotten caught breaking into my bunkie’s locker. They thought I was a snitch. While I was being attacked in the bathroom, the gang was ransacking my locker. God intervened and a CO passing by the bathroom stopped the attack. I was taken into protective custody and transferred to St. Louise level 1. The COs recovered most of my earthly possessions, which fit into a footlocker and a duffle bag. When I went to the property room, the CO told me that the power cord had been cut on my TV. Normally that would mean that they wouldn’t give you back the TV, but the CO surprised me by saying that they were going to repair it. I was able to pick it up the next day after they had put a new cord on it. No one on the inside that I spoke to said they had never heard of that happening before.”
“I had seen a posting in my housing unit for a Keryx weekend and sent a kite to the chaplain’s office. I had heard from some of my church brothers in the housing unit that this was a great opportunity. I was again attending Sunday service and Tuesday night Bible study, but it wasn’t meeting my needs by just having access to a worship service, Bible study and spiritual reading material. I was again jumped by two gang members on the yard at the direction of my gang leader bunkie, because he thought I had snitched on his spud juice storage location. In prison, everything is always someone else’s fault, that getting caught couldn’t possibly be because of anything you did, because you’re slick and the COs couldn’t possibly find out without someone telling. This was regardless of the fact that anyone walking by our cube could smell it from 20 feet away.”
“Instead of being rode out, I was moved from the west side to the east side of the prison. I again meet church brothers who encouraged me to apply when the next Keryx weekend was posted. I got accepted and that weekend changed my life. I had reached the point after being jumped twice in less than a year where I was losing hope. I felt like my prayers were hitting the ceiling. My hope for release at my ERD seemed slim based on what the parole board was doing to the guys I knew that had seen the board and been denied. The future looked bleak and my faith was beginning to crumble. The idea of having family, meaningful employment, community and spiritual connections was a fading dream that I didn’t believe I would ever have after I eventually got paroled.”
“Keryx changed that. I found community and spiritual connection. I served on three Keryx weekends. I was a soundman for two and had the privilege of serving in the prayer room for my last. The outside volunteers that I met treated me like a person and not a number. Their faithfulness in showing up every week for grouping meant more than I can possibly express. That includes a number of you here in this room. It is because of Keryx that I regained the spiritual fire that had once burned in me. In Keryx I found likeminded brother’s in Christ, who encouraged me as I encouraged them. My prayer’s now reached heaven and answers began to rain down.”
“I was paroled at my ERD. I was a prodigal son who was welcomed home and given the family credit card. I served most of my parole as care giver to my mother. She’s had two knees, two hips, a shoulder and an ankle replaced, so far. I was able to attend my parent’s church and got to taste again the spiritual and community relationships that had come to mean so much to me in Keryx. My first job working outside of the house was working as a dishwasher at a restaurant where half the staff was wearing a GPS tether. After parole, I began the process of looking for real, meaningful employment. I had the experience of having an application ripped out of my hands before I could even complete it, because of an instant background check. The lady said she was sorry for my wasting their time.”
“I did find a job where the criminal background check was only focused on the last 7 years, and I got hired. I started at the bottom as a media blaster cleaning metal engine parts. That was 5 ½ years ago. Now I am one of two regional project managers for a quality inspection company overseeing projects all over southeast Michigan.”
“In the last two weeks of my parole I met an old friend who’s father had just passed away. She and her mother came to church to see friends and to say “thank you” for all the support the church had been providing to them as they mourned. Leanne and I have been married for four years now. A Keryx volunteer and pastor named David officiated our backyard wedding during Covid-19.”
“I had written to Wayne, care of the Keryx mailing address after I had been released. He couldn’t reply to me obviously, but he did pass my contact information to David, who reached out to me about this new ministry that was starting in the Detroit area. It was there that I met Scott. Freedom Dreamers has a small group component. When Covid-19 shut down society, Scott, myself and another brother DJ who had served time, grouped on line with visits from other Freedom Dreamer and Keryx brothers.”
“Scott and his wife became closes friends and my wife helped care for her from time to time during her illness, and was one of the last people to be with her before she lost consciousness and passed.”
“Jesus promised life and not just life, but abundant life. There was a time before Keryx where my faith wasn’t strong enough to believe that. A time when everything that I had worked so hard for was taken from me. A dark place where I didn’t think that I would ever see the light of day again. But Keryx was that light shining in the darkness. Keryx outside volunteers became the hands and feet of Jesus, bringing more than donuts and songs. Keryx lead me to service with Freedom Dreamers. Keryx helped me find my voice. I have published a blog with over 100,00 words called Christ, Crime and Punishment at www.ccpministries.org, where I reflect on my time in prison, the correction system, societies impressions of crime and punishment and the Christians place in the criminal justice system.”
“I believe that without Keryx I would not have been able to endure prison, like Job endured Satan’s testing. My life after prison has been richer and more fulfilling than I could have ever dreamed. I came out of the fiery furnace like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego praising God and not smelling even like smoke. I survived the Lion’s den like Daniel. I have experienced Peter’s forgiveness and Paul’s enlightenment.”
“That doesn’t mean that my life hasn’t been without difficulties or pain. My daughter has chosen not have a relationship with me. At the holiday’s I learned thru a prayer by my father when he thanked God for his children, grandchildren and great grand child, that I had become a grandfather. I don’t even know my grandson’s name and will probably never get to know him. But I trust in, cling to and rely on God to provide for me, and that everything rests in God’s hand and His perfect timing. Just like when God brought you and your ministry into my life.”
Sharing my testimony not only brought tears to my eyes, but to many men in the room. For now, it is as close as I can get to participating in Keryx as an outside volunteer. But my hope and prayer is that someday I will be blessed with the opportunity to go inside the walls and minister to my brothers through this powerful ministry that is impacting so many in such miraculous ways.
Christ, Crime and Punishment 