God in Prison
While we were at Maranatha, Jim Cymbala showed a DVD of how God is working in what used to be one of the bloodiest prisons in the United States, the Louisiana State Penitentiary also known as Angola.
This particular plot of land in Louisiana used to be a slave plantation. It received its nickname “Angola” because of the large slave population from that African nation. In the early 1900s, Louisiana purchased the property and turned it into a penitentiary. Just over a decade later the state, out of a desire to save money, got rid of the professional guards and allowed select inmates to guard the other guards. This obviously led to a lot of abuse. Some older inmates tell stories of how guards were bribed with cigarettes and a few bucks to kill other inmates. This corrupt system lasted until 1972 when the U.S. courts ended the practice, but not until Angola had rightfully been named “the bloodiest prison in America.”
As a footnote, the movie The Green Mile is based in Angola in the 1920s.
Since that time there have been many prison reforms that have helped “clean up” Angola. However, many give credit to current warden Burl Cain and his introduction of “faith-based initiatives,” most notably, Christian bible studies. During Cain’s tenure, many of Angola’s inmates, most of them serving life sentences, have come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior. In the 1990s, under Cain’s direction, the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary began offering degrees in ministry. It is now estimated that there are approximately 1,500 born-again Christians in the population of 5,000. Burl Cain proudly states that the “gangs” in his prison are gangs of accountability and people who want to serve others! This dramatic turn-around is documented in Dennis Shere’s Cains Redemption.
The reason Jim Cymbala showed this DVD is because it features the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir and the work that they are doing in Angola. Cymbala has befriended many of the inmates, and Cain has allowed the choir to perform concerts for the whole population. The DVD, titled The Miracle of Hope, focuses in on the lives of five inmates and how the gospel of Jesus Christ has changed them and this prison. It is pretty amazing.
One quick story from Cymbala: There is a 70-something-year-old inmate nicknamed “Bishop” who served over 50 years in Angola. He was there through all of the toughest times (and he even served as one of the inmate guards!). Over time he was changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ and has had quite a ministry in prison. When Bishop was up for parole recently, the board wanted to know what Bishop would do upon release. Warden Burl Cain told them that Bishop would be housed by Jim Cymbala and the people of Brooklyn Tabernacle. He told them this without even asking Pastor Cymbala! However, Burl Cain knows the heart of Brooklyn Tabernacle and he was right: Pastor Cymbala heartedly agreed to take Bishop in. Surprisingly, Bishop received parole and was released into the care of Brooklyn Tabernacle. He is now experiencing his dream of living in New York City and is being cared for by the good people of Brooklyn Tabernacle.
Pastor Cymbala has a dream of creating a network of churches around the country who will accept paroled prisoners from Angola, both Christian and non-Christian, as a ministry to this disenfranchised group of men. Is that missional or what?
I was reminded of this story the other night when I was reading David Turner’s commentary on Matthew. Turner notes that it is significant that Matthew mentions Jesus’ residence in Capernaum (Matthew 4:12). Why is this significant? “Capernaum is not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, but for Matthew its obscurity signifies a dark place on which the light is about to shine.”
Angola is a dark place on which the light of Jesus Christ is shining. Praise God.
This comment is by a German guy who thinks you are Brian McClaren.
I expanded my name per your previous suggestion. That may help!
FYI
http://deaconandusher.wordpress.com/2008/08/27/mr-cymbala-of-brooklyn-tabernacle-should-be-included-in-the-grassleys-6/
The bishop that is now in the care of Pastor Cymbala also received over $1million dollars from a benefactor so that he would be taken care of for the rest of his life. Bishop was recently made to go apply for social security benefits by Pastor Cymbala, and has had to borrow money from other congregants because when he asked for money, he was told “there wasn’t any”. They treat Bishop like a puppet on a string, controlling his every move. They even put a code on his cellphone that only a few of the pastors who “monitor” him had so that he couldn’t receive phone messages without them being “screened”. Bishop has been yelled at by Pastor Cymbala for not “obeying him” and threatened that he would “make him get a job” if he didn’t listen, not that Bishop was doing anything wrong. Pastor Cymbala is a control freak, and someone needs to do an audit of where this Bishop’s trust is being spent. This Pastor is not at all what he purports himself to be; he is full of pride, accountable to no one, refuses to disclose financial records to tithing members of the church and lives in a five million dollar home. There is no “homeless” ministry; he begs for money for all kinds of projects for the poor, but not one of those promises have been kept. Oh, but they did spend one million dollars on marble in the Smith Street LOBBY. Open your eyes, people, Pastor Cymbala is going the way of Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, and those other frauds who have become so big, all they care about is their reputation, and more importantly, THEIR MONEY. Just google “Pastor Cymbala Abuse” and you’ll see all the sordid details about the truth of this ministry. It is reprehensible.
I belong to a private prison ministry, that up until last month had been closely affiliated with BT. We recruited members from BT with their blessing, we had our annual children’s party there, and we referred inmates nearing release there. A now-former member, who was dissatisfied with how things were being run (really, he complained about everything), went to “Rev. Jim” and whined about the ministry.
After the associate pastors led the Spanish Inquisition with every single member of the ministry, we were all called to a meeting where we were told that our ministry had been severed from BT and that BT would form its own ministry. We were given a choice: Join them, remain with the private ministry, or be members of both (although Pastor Burgos and Deacon Portalatin cautioned that there may be a future “conflict of interest”– their words, not mine.) We were also told that we could take the BT training no matter what our decisions were. At that time, I chose to be a member of both.
On September 5th, I received an e-mail from the deacon asking to meet with me in a week’s time. I responded, advising that I would not be available that day due to a commitment with the private ministry at one of the jails. At that time, the deacon told me (still via e-mail) that I would have to choose between the two, and that the training was for BT prison ministry members ONLY.
At this point, the hypocrisy became blatantly and painfully obvious. I chose the private ministry. Just to make sure I’d heard correctly, at the next private ministry meeting, I asked other members to clarify what Pastor Burgos and Deacon Portalatin had said. I *had* heard correctly. Yesterday, I attended services at BT for the last time. After seeing the deacon work the sanctuary like a politician and hearing “Rev. Jim” extol the excitement of working in a prison ministry with no facilities to go to, I got up and left, in an absolute rage. Never again will I enter their facility. I’ve been lied to repeatedly throughout my life, but to be lied to by supposed men of God is an outrage. I’m not giving up on God – after all, He cannot lie – and I’m looking for a new church home, but I will never again attend any function at or sponsored by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Liars. Nor will I recommend this “church” to ANYONE. A Coup by Jim Cymbala Alex Burgos and Abraham Portalatin to take over thePrison Ministry. Lied to eveyone. Send Abraham in as a PJC SPY sanctioned by Cymbala and Chump Alex Burgos who is Cymbala’s Henchman . Cymbala wanted an inroad into the Prisons and say Pals for Christ as that inroad. He pretended to be interested in helping our leader and told him he would introduce the ministry to BT, send us singers, and help us. But in reality he only wanted to take it over and get a foot in the door to the NYC and NYS prisons. Cymbala send Abraham Portalatin as a spy pretending he was interested in joining the Prison Ministry but in reality was sent as a spy to take it over. Send it by henchman Alex Burgos who is a joke of a pastor who basically does PJC’s dirty work. Abraham who is a spy brought back bad reports of Pals for Christ. They pretended to make Abraham the Administrator but in reality they were conducting a slow take over. A coup d’etat. They recently had a training and we were told that we could attend. Then we were told we had to make a choice. Choose Pals for Christ or BT. pals were not allowed to attend the training given by Abraham Portaltin who is clueless about prison ministry.
Cymbala saw an opportunity to have a valid BT prison ministry IT HAD TO BE A BT Ministry because then Cymbal can put up another page on the website and tell the world how GOd called him and Carol to have a prison ministry. Then they can go to Angola and do a video about BT Prison Ministry. It is, has, and will always be about BT and the Cymbalas. THey will use you, take from you and then deamonize you! Like they are doing to the leader of Pals for Christ.