W. SCOTT LAMB: What would Jesus do at Angola penitentiary?

The recent issue of The Atlantic featured a major piece titled “A Matter of Black Lives,” profiling the prison and the prisoners of the infamous institution of incarceration located outside Angola, Louisiana. Here is the description:

There are more than 6,000 men currently imprisoned at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola—three-quarters of them are there for life, and nearly 80 percent are African American.

As Jeffrey Goldberg reports in “A Matter of Black Lives,” in The Atlantic’s September issue, Angola is the end of the line for many convicted criminals in Louisiana, which has the highest incarceration rate of any state in the U.S.

In a forthcoming documentary from The Atlantic, we go inside Angola to speak with inmates serving life sentences and with warden Burl Cain, who has managed the prison for two decades.

As I read the story, I couldn’t help but think about the wonderful ministry and presence within the prison that has taken place through the Gospel work of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS), led by President Chuck Kelley.

I reasoned that some of you might enjoy hearing Mr. Kelley tell the story of how this ministry got started. After all, going into a maximum security prison in order to help convicted criminals earn a college degree—that takes a good amount of courage and conviction and compassion. And, it makes for a great story.

So I contacted Mr. Kelley’s office and arranged to record a Skype session with him. What I didn’t know until we sat down for the interview is that the very next day he would be in Angola to celebrate the 20th anniversary of NOBTS involvement in the penitentiary.

The vast majority of these men will never walk out of Angola, but NOBTS has gone to them and brought hope and the Gospel inside the bars.

Take a minute to hear Mr. Kelley tell the story of lives redeemed by the love of Christ.

Mr. Kelley says it all started “when a Baptist layman (Burl Cain) took his faith to work.”