(203) 405-6249 — jeffgrant@familyreentry.org

Why A Prison Minister / Prison Consultant? Pt. 1, By Rev. Jeff Grant

By

Progressive Prison Project 
Innocent Spouse & Children Project

Why A Prison Minister 
/ Prison Consultant? Pt. 1

By Rev. Jeff Grant 

A few months ago I was in supervision with my Supervising Minister, explaining to him the difficulties of being a prison minister and consultant.  He replied, “we’ve chosen a lonely road.”  I understood completely. 
Certainly, this road is not without some rewards.  I’ve met and worked with some of the finest and most wonderful people I’ve ever met – all at times of their lives where they were most fragile and vulnerable.  All in the midst of incredible, beautiful transformations from lives centered around material things to lives dedicated to more spiritual matters – even if they didn’t quite know it yet. 
An example (specifics redacted):  One client and family we worked with was despondent over the prospect of a lengthy prison sentence the father/husband would receive because of a financial crime.  It was clear that, like many of the men we work with, this was an aberration from his lifelong behavior and ethics. Yet, he was driven to his crime because he just didn’t have it in him to simply go into the bedroom and admit to his wife that things were not okay, that he was not who he was pretending to be. If he had just been willing to share with her the truth before things got out of hand, everything would or might have turned out very differently.  So he slipped quietly onto the other side and spent years in agony, looking over his shoulder afraid every day of his life.  Getting caught was in some way actually a relief from this life he had himself set up.  This is a very common paradigm for our clients – this was my life too. 

As I’ve written many times before on this blog, in our ministry we have learned to apply spiritual solutions to material problems (we are products of recovery and it’s never failed us yet).  A spiritual solution basically means to expect miracles and to allow them to happen. Not an easy task when facing the crisis of of a lifetime.  The key is an attitude shift – to start viewing things as the journey of a lifetime. 

Why not? This is where you are and the path you’ve been given. 

The family contacted us pre-sentencing and needed help – both spiritual guidance and practical advice. The father/husband was facing over a decade in a Federal Low Security Prison. 
Stat tuned for Part 2 to find out what miracles happened after this family applied spiritual solutions to their material problems?  
 Jeff

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Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div, Minister/Director
jgrant@prisonist.org

(o) 203-769-1096

(m) 203-339-5887



Lynn Springer, Founding Advocate, Innocent Spouse & Children Project
lspringer@prisonist.org 

(203) 536-5508


George Bresnan, Advocate, Ex-Pats
gbresnan@prisonist.org
(203) 609-5088

Jim Gabal, Development
jgabal@prisonist.org
(203) 858-2865

Babz Rawls Ivy, Media Contact
mediababz@gmail.com
(203) 645-9278   




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Donations

We are grateful for donations from individuals, religious groups, charities, foundations and the like. Donations can be made by credit card/PayPal or by sending your check payable to: “Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.” P.O. Box 1232, Weston, Connecticut 06883. Progressive Prison Project/Innocent Spouse & Children Project are missions of Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. We are a CT Religious Corp. with 501c3 status – all donations are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. Thank you for your support and generosity.


If transformation and redemption matter to you, a friend or a family member with a white-collar or nonviolent incarceration issue, please contact us and we will promptly send you an information package by mail, email or via Dropbox. The darkest days of a person’s life can be a time of renewal and hope.