More than 700 inmates and prison staff gathered last week at the John H. Lilley Correctional Center in Boley, Oklahoma, for a large-scale outreach event led by Victory Christian Center.
Organized by Pastor Paul Daugherty and a team of 32 volunteers, the event featured worship, preaching, baptisms, and the distribution of hot meals, Bibles, and Christian books. According to the church, 41 individuals were baptized, and over 400 men made profession of faith during the event.
“Today was a blessing beyond words," the church shared on Instagram afterward. "We were welcomed into an Oklahoma men’s prison to share the hope of Jesus! God moved powerfully through salvations, baptisms, and life-changing moments of connection. His LOVE truly knows no walls or limits.”
The outreach served 1,000 hot meals, distributed 700 Bibles, handed out 620 copies of New Life, and 710 Words That Change the World booklets. Additionally, 100 gift bags were given to prison staff through a partnership with CityServe Oklahoma.
Daugherty told CBN News that the idea for this outreach started just three months ago when he felt God prompting him to reach those behind bars. “I was like, man, I really feel like there's a harvest of people in the prisons that we could reach with God's love that [only a few] churches in our city [are] really going after,” he said. “I really want[ed] to reach almost every prisoner we can in an outreach.”
A connection with Oklahoma Chief Operating Officer Brian Bobek, a Christian who had begun attending Victory Christian Center, opened the door to entering the prison system. On June 23, the team launched the outreach on a dry field inside the facility, where 751 inmates ultimately gathered to hear the Gospel.
“When I saw them getting out of their pods and walking towards the field ... I just started weeping,” Daugherty recalled. “This looks like a picture out of the Bible when Jesus saw that village of Samaritan people. He said the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”
“I saw all these [inmates] walking towards us like zombies ... literally coming out of [the prison with] depression and despair and discouragement and shame,” he added.
Despite some initial fear about standing “in the middle of 751 prisoners with no handcuffs,” Daugherty said he felt assured that he was where God wanted him. “I just started hugging them and shaking their hands and praying for them, and then I did an altar call. Over 400 hands went up,” he shared.
Daugherty believes this outreach is just the beginning. “We’ve already lined up the prisons for the fall and the winter,” he stated. “Prisons started calling that they want [us] to come.”
Reflecting on the experience, he said, “There’s a deep hunger for something real, both inside and outside of prison walls. I think people are really waking up to the reality that our world ... is so broken. There’s just so much shallowness. Jesus is that answer.”
Victory Christian Center aims to expand its prison outreach efforts in the coming months. According to DOJ statistics, approximately 1.8 million men and women are currently incarcerated in the U.S., and about 1.5 million children have an incarcerated parent.
