Discipleship Network Forum

What I learned from the worst prison in Mexico:

My dear Mexican pastor friend Emilio Beltran (who has lived in the most notorious prison in Mexico for the past 6 years) handed me two Mustard Seed Foundation grant applications while we were meeting together in Reclusorio Oriente prison last month. I work for this Foundation, seeking out projects that we can fund to help new evangelism, discipleship, and economic development projects in the world’s megacities.

One application is from the church planted outside the prison walls last December, and another is from the collective of 11 congregations (one in each of the massive cell blocks in the prison) Emilio has planted inside the prison since last February.

Since my visit into the prison with Emilio I have had a month of back and forth with the lead pastor of the new church on the outside, who has taken my questions back to Emilio inside the prison for answers, and sent the answers back to me by email.

The MSF Board will decide on these two grant applications: Adulam Reclusorio (prison) and Adulam Contreras (outside the prison) at the next Board Meeting in April. The grant application from inside Reclusorio Oriente is the first grant application MSF has ever received which were written from inside a prison by inmates.

You would love the listing of the Adulam Reclusorio’s elder board called “ Men of the Table”:

• Oscar has served 8 months of a 6 year sentence for aggravated domestic violence with injury 
• Juan has served 8 years of a 40 year sentence for kidnapping
• David has served 1.5 years of a 9 year sentence for attempted murder
• Moises has served 6 years of a 37 year sentence for murder 
• Juan Carlos Fortin Moreno has served 2 years of a 9 year sentence for sexual assault of children and trafficking
• Carlos has served 5 years of a 7.5 sentence for kidnapping and extortion
• Jorge has served 2 years of an 8 year sentence for grand theft
• Luis has served 5 years of a 20 year sentence for attempted murder

And my dear brother Emilio. He has served 5 years of a 137 year sentence (reduced to 23 years) on three charges: Corruption of minors (sexually assaulting children); Child slavery (using children as workers for personal profit); and Organized crime (conspiracy by all the Adulam Casa de Refugio orphanage staff). Emilio is in prison because of a conspiracy between corrupt pastors, Congressmen, Judges, and the Attorney General (now the Mayor of Mexico City).

The first grant application is asking for a one-time grant to help establish the new church in the Contreras District of Mexico City. This church was started last December. The congregation is made up of recovering addicts, homeless, orphans and ex-convicts that found Christ and were mentored by Emilio while incarcerated. It meets under a tarp in the outdoor ‘garden area' of a rented social/nightclub on Sunday mornings.

The second application is from the prison church and asks for a one-time award to help establish a creative workshop in the prison so that the men with a natural gift in art can begin making crafts for sale inside and outside the prison. This workshop will fully employ more than 25 men by the end of this calendar year, provide for the ‘taxes’ required by the church to hold services in the prison, and buy more materials to expand the workshop.

The Mustard Seed Foundation requires a match of money given by a local congregation in the neighborhood of ministry in order to receive our funding.

These two grant applications do not ask the MSF to match the giving of wealthy donors or megachurches from the USA.

Instead the Foundation will be asked to match the giving from the tithes and offerings of the congregation itself: the men trapped inside one of the worst prisons in Latin America for the craft project; and ex-convicts, mentally ill, addicts, and their families on the outside for the first new church outside the prison.

At first glance one might think this to be impossible or even stupid.

But the truth is the men inside this prison tithe and give offerings each day for the work of the Gospel in the prison. They have come to live with the understanding that nothing they own belongs to them.

Whatever they do have is freely shared with the rest of the brothers so that those that do not have anything to give can survive for that very day. As in other prison churches I have visited in Latin America, the members of this church tithe above 50% of all they have. If this sounds familiar in some remote way it is because it mirrors the way the first church tithed as recorded in the New Testament record in Acts Chapter 2, verses 42 - 47.

Some of the men in this church have family members close by who come to visit and give gifts for the men to sell inside the prison. These fortunate enough for such gifts been able to start a small business inside the prison selling socks, pencils, gum, or other trinkets, so they can afford food, clothing, and the 'street taxes' (bribes) required just to exist in this hell hole.

Now imagine a church that meets in this hell that has 12 worship services each day, while surrounded by drug dealing, prostitution, and violent assault happening just a few feet from the tarp under which the Adulam Reclusorio congregation gathers.

• Imagine an entire congregation in Bible study, discipleship, and worship every day.
• Imagine prayer vigils that last the night in bug and rat infested cells where 26 men are pushed into a space designed for 6.
  
• Imagine convicted murders and rapists sharing their food with each other as they eat together as a new family. 
• Try to imagine a baptism service, where the men being baptized hop into a repurposed oil drum and are dunked straight down into really cold brackish water.
• Imagine the men accepting their prison sentence as an opportunity to focus on the important things of life, how to honor God.
• Imagine men who from the margins of society entering into a 5, 10, 15 year discipleship training course under the leadership of one of this world’s greatest pastors who just happens to be an inmate suffering right along with the other church members.
• Imagine the leaders being formed in this prison that have the attitude of “If I can be reborn and thrive in a hell hole like this, watch what happens when I am released from prison!”
• Imagine each released inmate being sent to Adulam Contreras Church as a church planting intern. He will submit to the leaders of Contreras (90% of whom are former inmates themselves) as he serves the homeless, mentally ill and addicted people in the congregation.
• Imagine when these ex-cons are deemed ready to set out and plant another new church, not being sent out alone as often happens in the US, but with a team of likewise broken and crushed men who have been rebuilt into fearless and bold new leaders.
• Imagine an imprisoned pastor being held illegally by corrupt government officials tell you with a straight face, “This is how we will plant 50 new churches by the end of 2017. And by the end of 2020 we will have planted 200 new churches all over Mexico City. And our churches will welcome the mentally ill, homeless, orphan, widow, addicted, and ex-felons….And our churches will be filled with people that know how to tithe!” The plan is that all of these new churches will have the DNA of the Contreras Church.
• Imagine visiting these men in prison and receiving bone crushing hugs and tearful kisses that are so intense that the non-church member inmates watching this shameless display of affection start shouting “Hey get a room!”
• Imagine each Adulam church filled with poor broken people who tithe, not out of their excess like we do (if we even bother to tithe) here in the US, but out of deep poverty, like the early Churches did as recorded in 2 Corinthians 8:1-4

Tragically I cannot imagine a Bible believing church in the US that comes anywhere near the tithing like these convicts who freely tithe more than half of all they own with great joy.

I cannot imagine a church planting movement that is not asking for millions of USD as church planting movements in the US are asking for. These two grant applications are asking for one-time donations totaling less than $15,000 

I cannot imagine more than a handful of churches in the US that have an open heart for those on the margins of society.

If God can do wonders through a group of broken men like this, imagine what God could do through a broken mess like you and me.

Happy Easter 

Brian Bakke 

The longer I live, the more convinced I am that most people are paralyzed or imprisoned in some way. No wonder the Bible tells so many stories about those who got healed of paralysis or set free from bondage and imprisonment.

When we read such Bible stories today, it’s easy to miss how these events apply to our lives. If we’ve never been physically paralyzed or lame, we can struggle to relate to the paralyzed man in Mark 2:1-12 or the lame man in Acts 3:1-12. And if we’ve never done jail time, we can assume there’s not much we can learn from Joseph’s release from an Egyptian dungeon (Genesis 39-40) or the supernatural prison breaks of Peter (Acts 12:1-19) and Paul and Silas (Acts 16:16-40).

But, you see, the imprisonment most people face today is emotional and spiritual rather than physical. They’ve been traumatized by their journey through life, whether through the consequences of their own bad decisions or through the unkind actions of others.

In John 20:19-29 Jesus’ disciples were locked in a self-imposed prison after experiencing the trauma of their Master’s unjust arrest, brutal beating, and horrific crucifixion. Today we sometimes call those events “Good Friday,” but there seemed nothing “good” about the cross of Calvary at the time. The disciples were understandably devastated, gathered together behind locked doors because of fear of the Jewish leaders.

Suddenly Jesus appeared to these shell-shocked men. Although preachers sometimes say, based on Revelation 3:20, that Jesus always knocks before entering our situation, that’s simply not true. This time He just came right on in, bypassing every defense mechanism in order to release these traumatized followers from their emotional bondage.

This is one of the most pivotal scenes in the entire Bible. It’s not an overstatement to say that the whole fate of the church and the expansion of God’s kingdom rested on what would happen in the lives of these shattered men.

The disciples had left everything to follow Jesus, believing that their lives would ultimately change the world. Now their dreams seemed to have reached a cruel dead end. Dazed and confused, they were very unlikely candidates for any kind of heroic, world-changing mission.

So how did Jesus turn the worst of times into the best of times for these emotionally damaged followers? He addressed four different snares that were holding these men in spiritual captivity:

1. FEAR – Not just once, but twice, Jesus told them, “Peace be with you.” And when they “saw the Lord,” their fear and anguish were replaced with great joy. If you are feeling “stuck” in some area of your life today, it’s likely that fear is one of the things holding you back. Just as He did for the disciples, Jesus wants to penetrate your closed doors and replace your fear with faith, and your anxiety with His peace and joy.
2. PURPOSELESSNESS – These men who had taken such bold steps to leave their careers and families in order to change the world with Jesus were now left without a purpose or a vision. They had abandoned and denied their Savior in His hour of need, and now their traumatized condition seemed to disqualify them from any significant usefulness in His plan. Nevertheless, Jesus re-commissioned and affirmed them with fresh vision and purpose: “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” What an encouraging story for us today. Even when we feel like failures, unusable by God, He can reaffirm our calling and give us a new commission to impact the world.
3. WEAKNESS – In addition to a lack of purpose, Jesus’ disciples were suffering from a lack of power. A new commission would have fallen on deaf ears unless they also received new empowerment. Recognizing their need, Jesus breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” In their own strength, they never would have been able to fulfill His majestic plan for their lives—nor can you or I. But, empowered by the Spirit, we can transform the world (Acts 1:8, Philippians 4:13).
4. FORGIVENESS ISSUES – Jesus showed them His wounds, proof that they had been forgiven by His shed blood. But then He talked to them about their calling to extend His forgiveness to OTHERS. If you are in some kind of spiritual prison today, there’s a good chance that forgiveness is one of the keys needed to set you free. Perhaps you need to RECEIVE God’s full forgiveness of your past, releasing you from any guilt, shame, or condemnation. Or maybe you are still locked in emotional bondage because you’ve not yet forgiven someone who has hurt you. Either way, forgiveness is an indispensable key to your spiritual and emotional freedom.

I encourage you to read this list again, asking God to show you which of these four keys are needed to help you get unstuck and ready to fulfill your destiny as a follower of Christ.

Perhaps you’ve been hiding out behind closed doors for a long time now, traumatized by some experience that has been hard to shake. But if Jesus could take these distraught men from the shadow of the cross to the glory of resurrection life, surely He can transform your life and give you a new beginning.

Like Jesus’ disciples, you may seem like an unlikely world-changer today. But once He has freed you from fear, given you fresh vision, empowered you by His Spirit, and dealt with your forgiveness issues, your life can be amazing. You don’t have to wait any longer!

Have you ever hit a brick wall? You were making progress, feeling pretty good about yourself—then suddenly you encountered a seemingly impassable obstacle in your path.

This is more common than you think.

I love the story in Acts 12 about Peter’s release from prison. On the eve of his execution, he was roused from a deep sleep by an angel of the Lord. As his pitch-dark prison cell was flooded with light, Peter’s chains instantly fell to the ground. Apparently invisible to the four squads of prison guards assigned to him, he and his angelic escort left the prison completely undetected.

After Peter and the angel “passed the first and second guard posts,” it might have seemed like the coast was clear. Ah…but not so fast.

After things had gone so smoothly in Peter’s initial release, they came to “the iron gate leading to the city” (v. 10)—which seemed a formidable obstacle indeed.  

However, as Peter and the angel approached the iron gate, something amazing happened: “this opened for them all by itself. So they passed through.”  

Notice that Peter didn’t have to kick the gate open or even knock. It opened “by itself” and “of its own accord.” The Greek word here is automatos, from which we get our English word “automatic.” Even before modern department stores got the idea, there was an automatic door in the Bible! God made a way where there seemed to be no way. Not my human might, nor by power, but by God’s Spirit He opened a gateway of freedom and blessing for Peter.

But it does no good for God to open a door for us if we’re too timid to pass through it. When Peter and the angel saw the door open before them, “They passed through.” They didn’t wait. They didn’t debate. They went to the other side.

Are you facing an “iron gate” experience today? Then instead of getting discouraged, get ready for the Lord to open a door before you. He has prepared “good works” for us beforehand, and all we have to do is walk in them (Ephesians 2:10).

And remember: The most important door is already open—“a door standing open in heaven” (Revelation 4:1). The heavenly voice is beckoning you, “Come up here!”

When Jesus died on the cross, the veil in the temple was torn in two so you can enter the open door into God’s presence anytime you want. It’s a door that’s “automatically” open to all who come in faith.