Part 2 of a 3-part series exploring a prison ministry at Bibb County Correctional Facility. Click here to read Part 1 about the creation and growth of the prison ministry programs.
For eight years, Birmingham Theological Seminary and Unbound216 had been building their ranks within Bibb County Correctional Facility. Through teaching, preaching, and ministering to inmates in need of spiritual care, men were coming to Christ. By early 2024 the majority of the 318 inmates in the prison’s F1 and F4 bays had become believers, and those dorms had become recognized safe havens within a volatile prison. Despite their criminal convictions, the residents of the F1 and F4 bays sought to walk as new creations in Christ, marked by peace, godliness and good conduct.
The changes in the F dorms were incredible, but they were only the beginning. As the bays began to fill up with program participants, BTS graduates and Unbound 216 leaders saw that they were reaching capacity, and with more than 1,700 inmates in the prison, Bibb’s needs remained great. Other dorms still suffered from violence, addiction, and unrest.
Knowing that the only way to truly transform the prison—to continue the process of converting Bloody Bibb into Blessed Bibb—was to expand, Unbound 216 leaders began to lay a groundwork for growth, sending outreach teams of four or five brothers to other dorms in search of new recruits.
The inmates who had become Christians were now becoming missionaries.
“We were walking through drug traps and sex dens in other dorms trying to find those who wanted to get out of where they were,” one inmate said.
As Unbound 216 participants prayed over and planned their next steps, they identified B dorm as a key destination and set April 2024 for their launch. Drawing from deep within their ranks, they chose about 70 men—the same number Jesus sent out to prepare the way before him in Luke 10—and secured permission from Bibb officials to enter the B4 bay.
“These men were the warriors of Issachar that David names in 1 Chronicles 12,” Thaddeus James, Jr., prison ministry director at BTS, said in a recent interview. “Among the tens of thousands of soldiers provided by all the other tribes, they were chosen men, a special breed of warrior who in the words of Scripture ‘understood the times and knew what Israel should do.’ I can think of no better description for these men.”
The Tip of the Spear
Beginning that April, those 70 men transferred to the B4 bay in several discrete waves and found a facility in severe disrepair. Though the dorm had been recently remodeled, a largely lawless population inhabiting it had ruined those improvements. Freshly painted cinderblock walls were blackened with smoke. Filth and debris piled up, and dust and spider webs infested corners. Even the two classrooms in the rear of the bay had been welded shut to prevent any further illicit activity.
Immediately the Unbound 216 brothers began renovating their new home: wiping down walls, setting racks and bunks in order, clearing away the trash, and eventually, with the help of the prison administration, bringing in oxyacetylene torches to cut open the classroom doors.
The deterioration in the premises mirrored the distrust from the B4 inmates, who resisted the new arrivals. Hostile prisoners would slam doors in their faces, yell at them while they worked, and harass them for being weak and soft. Facing verbal abuse and threats, the brothers overheard B4 residents plotting against them as they moved into their section of the bay, searching for ways to steal their belongings and intimidate them into falling in line.
In a long discussion on a recent December afternoon, a dozen brothers, some of the original evangelists of B4, shared with me their testimonies of how God has been at work over the last year.
“The first day was hectic,” one of the missionaries recalled, “but we had built a reputation in the camp. People knew we were coming over. Other inmates had heard about Unbound but didn’t think it was real.”
Prepared for such hostility, the brothers put their plan into action. Because robberies at the prison store often targeted vulnerable or isolated individuals, the brothers established a buddy system to protect guys going on grocery runs. When conflicts arose, brothers would band together in a public show of unity and strength, offering critical mass against incoming threats. And when needed, brothers would stand watch over one another at night to prevent any violence, just as they had years earlier when Unbound216 first began.
“We were like the Israelites rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem in Nehemiah,” Patrick recalled. “We were working with our swords in our hands, ready to defend ourselves if we had to.”
Despite the dangers that faced them, the brothers never lost sight of their goal. “We were confident that God had ordained this and had prepared the way for us,” Patrick continued. “We could sense his presence with us.”
Their perseverance paid off: the Sunday after they arrived, the brothers held their first worship service in the new dorm, in the same classroom they had opened with welding torches just days before.
Making All Things New
But after establishing a foothold in B4, the BTS graduates and the Unbound216 members knew the greater challenge would be to keep it.
As they settled into their new bay last summer, the brothers faced continued misunderstanding about their mission, suffering slander and pushback. A few inmates from B4 even joined the program only to fall away, backsliding into addiction and violence. The missionary inmates also contended with the false teaching of the prosperity gospel, which remained rampant within the walls of Bibb, poisoning inmates’ ears with lies and empty promises.
But the principles they had learned back in F dorm—the biblical vision of manhood and the transformative power of God’s love—served as their foundation.
In retrospect, the brothers observe that the key to their approach was the commitment to nonviolence and the rejection of retaliation—taking Jesus’ instruction about turning the other cheek (Matthew 5:38-40) and living it out daily.
“If someone offends or injures me, I have a choice,” Parker told me. “I don’t have to respond. I can get myself out of the way. We are citizens of the kingdom of heaven—there is a larger reality in Christ than there is in here. I can forgive and love that person and move on. Someone beating me or stealing money, I can let that go.”
This new approach to relationships—one marked by forgiveness and grace—proved effective in the brothers’ efforts to wage peace, winning over skeptical inmates to their side.
“So many guys on the outside come in and they’ve never been surrounded by Christian men,” one of the Unbound 216 participants said. “We capture them at the door to B4 and talk to them, show them what life is like in Christian community. Our goal is to use our resources to serve others—with the gifts God has given us to help and to bless others.”
That effort has had surprising results. Breaking into a smile as he recalled the arrival of Unbound brothers on his bay, one inmate told me firsthand about how he saw the culture inside B4 change.
“I’ve had my locker broken into and food stolen from it,” he laughed, “but until these guys arrived I’ve never had my locker broken into and had food thrown in there before.”
B4 is by no means a majority-believer bay, but the BTS and Unbound 216 members are undeterred. Just as in F dorm, part of the impact stems from the visible differences between the community of faith and the unruly, volatile bays elsewhere.
“Because we live in a glass house, they see guys up at 4 a.m. reading the Bible and praying,” one inmate told me. “And they want that. They want that change.”
“Christ is winning the war at this camp,” echoed another missionary. “Over on the other side [in other dorms], they want to know why we’re doing so good. Our brothers are governing through leadership—they want our peace and our freedom.”
“We watched God change F dorm,” an inmate said, “and now we’ve seen Him change this one. When a group of men live in Christ 24/7, it changes where they live—not just for themselves but for others. Even guys who aren’t in the program, their standards come up because we’re here.”
“Even in just 30 days,” he concluded, “you can see someone change, you can see Christ working in them—their burdens are lifted.”
Keeping the Spears Sharp
These missionaries have brought with them the ordinary means of grace that sustained them in F dorm, holding weekly worship services with multiple preachers on a rotation. Discipleship, service, and pastoral care are offered by a group of brothers who exercise what Martin Luther called “the priesthood of all believers” every hour of every day. These men shepherd and serve Christ’s flock behind bars. Confession, prayer, thanksgiving, and praise spring up from forgotten spaces once thought lost but now experiencing visible redemption.
And when a minister can be present, they celebrate the sacraments — all these things define the normal life of the church. Incredibly, both its life-giving daily rhythms and its ultimate hope now permeate B4 dorm in a way that would have been unthinkable a year ago.
And yet, as always, the brothers in Unbound 216 refuse to take credit for this transformation, instead giving God the glory. Aware of the threats to their witness, they are swift to practice humility and vigilance.
“The danger isn’t from outside,” Marquis says. “The real danger is from within—from being complacent.”
With that in mind, the brothers seek to keep their spears sharp, even as they dream about their next move. Other dorms await their witness too, but for now, they keep their eyes firmly fixed on those living alongside them—even as they keep their hearts focused on the One who watches over them.
“Our treasure,” Patrick says, “is not of this world.”