Chris Lange, FISM News
A Christian prison ministry recently shared that 27 inmates gave their lives to Christ at a worship service led by Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson and his wife, pop singer and entrepreneur Ciara.
The couple, in partnership with God Behind Bars, ministered to 300 inmates at an undisclosed U.S. maximum security prison last week, according to a ChurchLeaders report.
“Lord there’s nothing better than YOU!!!” Wilson posted on his Instagram account along with a video of the prison chapel service. “Over 300 Maximum Prison Inmates worshiping Jesus! His Grace and Spirit is overwhelming in the midst of mistakes He still loves and forgives,” he wrote.
The Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award-winner also quoted John 3:17, writing: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
Wilson shared a message of hope and transformation with the inmates. Quoting from Isaiah 43:19, he said: “Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.”
“After this moment, the prison chapel began to erupt in worship and praise,” God Behind Bars wrote in one of several captions that overlaid a similar video shared on the ministry’s Facebook account.
The ministry described a scene in which “incarcerated men put their arms around each other and prayed for those struggling with anxiety and depression.”
Ciara led the inmates in song, belting out a powerful rendition of “Way Maker” as several men approached the front of the chapel, weeping and “giving their lives to Jesus,” according to the post.
“You know what’s so beautiful about God’s love?” she asked the crowd. “He don’t let off. He don’t let off.” The singer encouraged the prisoners with God’s promise that “there’s no condemnation (for those who are) in Christ Jesus,” adding: “So [if] you ask for forgiveness, He will forgive you.”
Founded in 2009, God Behind Bars partners with local churches and volunteers to bring the transformative message of the Gospel of Christ into prisons through streaming worship services, though Wilson and Ciara led last week’s service in person.
According to the ministry’s website, many wardens who work in prisons where the program is offered have said that it “is changing the culture of their prisons.”
“Many of these men are serving life sentences in prison, but now they will be spending LIFE with Jesus,” God Behind Bars said of last week’s service. “God is bringing revival to prisons! Jesus is doing a NEW THING.”
CIARA’S DRESS CONTROVERSY
Notably, Ciara received a lot of criticism from conservatives and praise from others earlier this week for a very revealing dress she wore to an Oscars afterparty. The see-thru dress with nearly nothing underneath left little to the imagination and left many Christians asking why a couple who claim to be people of God would present themselves with such little modesty at a public event.
Husbands, would you let your wife dress like Ciara out in public?
— CCG BRYSON (@RealBrysonGray) March 16, 2023
Ciara responded to the backlash on TikTok with a video of her mocking a red carpet walk with her entire body draped in a white sheet.