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| Inmates Find Freedom Through Seminary Extension |
| Release Date: 03/01/2004 |
 LOUISVILLE — An inmate at the Eastern Kentucky Reformatory in Morgan County stretches his 6-foot, 3-inch frame across the thin mattress of his steel bed-frame. He stares at the tiny window cut in the iron door of his small cell, and he thinks about how good it is to be so free.
In fact, Darryll Davis, 42, says he’s freer now than before he began serving his 35-year sentence 14 years ago in 1990. He says his freedom has come through salvation, scripture, and knowing his identity as a Christian.
Davis is one of hundreds of inmates who have discovered true freedom in Christ through Seminary Extension courses sponsored in part by the Kentucky Baptist Convention and Highview Baptist Church of Louisville.
The courses were established in 1951 to equip lay ministers, but have since blossomed in prisons. The courses prepare inmates for ministry to others while still incarcerated or after their release.
Rev. Nachel Wilkins has coordinated the courses in Kentucky prisons since 1997. Wilkins’ ministry is supported by Highview where he serves on staff as minister to prisoners.
“The courses make all the difference in these men’s lives,” said Wilkins. “They listen to me like I’m their daddy; we slap hands just like we are at church.”
Prisoners realize they need God, said Wilkins, who oversees up to 150 men at a time enrolled in the average eight-week course.
Inmates may choose from more than 40 courses at an average cost of $150 per student which is funded through the KBC, churches and individuals.
Davis said Wilkins was instrumental in his life by supporting him spiritually and financially.
“He has so much love for the prisoners,” Davis said. Davis credits this love and support as adding to his personal freedom and in turn wants to help other inmates find true freedom for their own lives.
“The work of the Holy Spirit is incredible and paradoxical. To be free sometimes we have to be confined,” said Davis.
Davis said he believes God has set him apart not just from society but from himself as well.
“He has liberated me to no longer elude my past but rather to confront the things that were broken and the things that needed change by his Spirit,” said Davis.
A mentally ill father and a poverty-stricken mother raised Davis. He often called the streets or an automobile “home”. Eventually, Davis embraced the crime and drugs rampant in his neighborhood.
As his life spiraled out of control, he killed an acquaintance during a 1988 knife-fight and was soon contemplating suicide for himself.
Then one dark, rainy night, Davis says he called out to God, and God answered.
“The presence of God came to me and it was incredible. There was such a presence that I fell to my knees crying for 30 minutes and once I got up I knew my life was changed forever,” said Davis, who didn’t know a sinner’s prayer or scripture at the time.
Davis entered prison as a new Christian, eager to nurture his new relationship with Christ. Davis found Seminary Extension classes, and has now completed more than 30 courses.
He is instrumental in getting other inmates enrolled in the courses as well. He founded Operation Daniel, a program to help inmates minister to other inmates while still incarcerated, by using accountability and prayer groups.
 “Darryll was always on the sidelines cheering me on,” said Herman Reynolds, a former inmate with Davis at Luther Luckett Reformatory in LaGrange.
Reynolds, who was illiterate when he entered prison but is now working on earning an associate’s degree in theology, said he would have never furthered his education if not for the Seminary Extension courses and Davis’ encouragement.
“I knew about God the same way people know about John Wayne,” said Reynolds. “I knew his name but didn’t know his characteristics, but I do now through studying the word.”
Tony Hough, director of the Extension-Ministries Dept. for the KBC, said he has seen a remarkable openness on the part of inmates to the good news of Jesus.
“What has happened, in view of the fact that some of these people have come to Christ, is there is a need to grow,” said Hough. “With time on their hands they have a way to devote themselves to something that has meaning.”
Hough believes in the program because it directly correlates with the KBC mission to connect all people with Christ and because it empowers others who will in turn minister to others.
With more than two million prisoners in America, Seminary Extension can benefit society as well, not just inmates.
For more information on Seminary Extension, contact the Extension-Ministries Department at (502) 489-3528 or call toll-free in Kentucky at (866) 489-3528.
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Release prepared by Kelly Upchurch |
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