Prisoners For Christ (PFC) recognized the ministry opportunity early. They eventually connected with Pando, a closed-access app owned and operated by God Behind Bars out of Nevada. In January 2025, PFC began uploading Christian books, sermons, Bible teachings, and Gospel videos.

(Photo courtesy of Prisoners For Christ)

Mike North, Vice President of Communications at PFC, says, “We’ve been on there almost a year, and the response has been incredible. It’s been greater than we ever imagined!”

Tablets in prison aren’t like civilian devices. Inmates cannot freely access the Internet or search random websites. Instead, usage is heavily restricted to pre-approved apps such as Pando and other monitored content platforms. That control ensures safety while allowing ministries like PFC to provide meaningful, Gospel-centered material.

And prisoners are responding. One inmate named Carl wrote: “I’m so ready to give my life to Christ and follow Him to the ends of the earth… I will follow you forever. Amen.”

To date, PFC’s 46 uploaded videos have been viewed more than 564,000 times. The channel has also recorded 702 professions of faith in Jesus Christ after inmates watch a video that clearly explains the Gospel.

“It’s really humbling and it’s an unexpected blessing to think that we are actually in the cell with these prisoners,” North says. “We are actually meeting them — literally where they are — to present the light of the Gospel.”

(Photo courtesy of Prisoners For Christ)

When asked about PFC’s future vision with the Pando app, North responds, “That we would continue to upload content that’s relevant — and not just relevant, but interesting…. We want to evangelize and disciple these brothers and sisters in Christ.”

The momentum is building nationwide. Greg von Tobel, President and Founder of PFC, predicts, “By five years, I think every inmate in America will have a tablet. So that gives the Christian ministries out there an incredible opportunity to provide their resources to inmates without having boots on the ground.”

Pando is already active on 610,000 tablets, and plans underway could add another 700,000, bringing the total to 1.1 million devices.

That’s a Gospel opportunity unlike anything prison ministries have seen before. But growth takes funding.

Von Tobel says, “If your listeners were so moved to partner with us…there’s a lot more material that we could certainly avail ourselves of putting out there for inmate consumption. So that would be a prayer request.”

You can help bring the Gospel into prison cells across the United States. Click here to give through the PFC website.

Pray for favor and open hearts as the Gospel goes into more prisons through Pando. Pray also for strength and spiritual growth for new believers inside prison walls.

Header photo courtesy of Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash.

That’s because some mothers are serving prison sentences. According to a September 2025 Bureau of Justice Statistics report, 980,300 women were under correctional supervision in the United States at the end of 2023. That includes women under probation or parole as well as those in prison.

“There are many incarcerated moms. It’s a whole tragic thing to think about— even kids of various ages,” says Dee Peterson, the Director of Discipleship at Prisoners For Christ (PFC).

Here’s what is being done to reach these women. The literature distribution department at PFC sends biblical resources to hundreds of prison chaplains. These include books, tracts, digital resources, and, more recently, films.

Photo courtesy of Yohan Joy via Unsplash.

“If you look at the saturation of non-Christian movies in the American culture, we reasonably assume as a ministry that it’s similar in the prison system,” says Peterson.

With the support of a Southern California church, PFC secured permission this year to distribute “The Forge” to prison inmates. This 2024 faith-based film was produced by Affirm Films, a subsidiary of Sony Pictures.  The story follows a teenage boy struggling in life, and what happens as his mom prays and a Christian man begins to mentor him.

“One of the focal points is the power of prayer, as well as the redemption and forgiveness,” says Peterson. “[Incarcerated mothers’] hearts are hurting, and they are burdened for their kids. So to have [“The Forge” depict] a praying mom and praying friends that can lift her up as she’s praying for her son [is] really, really important.”

One incarcerated woman from West Virginia shared this response to the film through the local prison chaplain:

“I wish I was one tenth of the woman as [the single mom in “The Forge”]. I wish I had seen this movie 20 years ago. “The Forge” illustrates with extraordinary clarity the value and power of Christian mentorship. It also shines light on what I see as overlooked forms of poverty in our society, like the roles of fatherhood and community — social responsibility, if you like. They’re minimized and fading. A generation or two now has been raised electronically. Modern times dictate that everyone has the tech, the things, cell phones, video systems, wireless, everything. It is a culture of individual and isolation. Conversation is obsolete. Human interaction is brief and transaction-based. We are called by our heavenly Father to be part of His family — brothers and sisters — and yes, to be each other’s keepers, united, bonded in Christ’s love and God’s grace. To be aware, to care, support each other. To teach and correct, lead by example, to see past ourselves and to love each other. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”

(Stock photo courtesy of Tim Wildsmith via Unsplash)

Find your place in the story

Whether through films, books, or other media, Prisoners for Christ is on a mission to reach inmates with the hope of Jesus. They ship brand-new biblical resources to prison chaplains free of charge.

“Prison ministry fulfills so many God-honoring things. The Great Commission. We see lives changed,” says Peterson. “They [inmates] need knowledge. They need the Word of God. That is what someone contributes to when they contribute to our ministry.”

Learn more about supporting PFC’s Bible and literature distribution here!

Header image is a stock photo courtesy of RDNE Stock project via Pexels.

But in prisons, the dynamic changes. An incarcerated extremist becomes, quite literally, a captive audience for the Gospel.

Greg Von Tobel, President of Prisoners for Christ (PFC), says, “When we talk about third-world prisons, there are a lot of terrorist groups that have found themselves in prison.

“What better opportunity to share the love of Christ with some of the hardest of hearts that are bent on evil and having them come to know Lord, getting released, going back to their communities and sharing the love of Christ?”

Photo courtesy of Colin Carey via Unsplash

PFC helps believers behind bars start churches in prisons across the developing world. For terrorists, these church gatherings are often the first place they hear about Jesus.

Don Szolomayer, PFC’s Director of International Affairs, explains that many inmates enter prison churches simply out of curiosity. “And it says, ‘This is a safe place. This is a place you can come, you can ask questions, you can learn, you can grow.’”

Still, sharing the Gospel is only the beginning. Von Tobel stresses the importance of building up new believers in the faith during their incarceration.

“We have to have the discipleship piece – feeding and growing inmates that are babes in the Word of God, and watching them and growing them into great warriors for the cause of Christ.”

Pray for extremists in prison to turn to Christ, and become warriors for God’s mercy and truth!

Pray also for believers who lead these prison churches — that God would equip them with wisdom, courage, and perseverance as they disciple new Christians behind bars.

Header photo image generated by AI.

 “It’s a Bible college inside the prison for inmates,” explains Don Szolomayer, Director of International Affairs at PFC. “There are 143 total lessons in the whole course. So it takes about three to four years, depending. But the goal is once they go through all of that, those who graduate from it now become what we call an inmate chaplain.”

These inmate chaplains are trained to evangelize, teach, and disciple others through Scripture. The impact of this ministry is spreading.

Recently, Nigeria’s prison chaplains took their training to a new level. “About three or four weeks ago, they held a crusade with all of their inmate chaplains that have graduated,” says Szolomayer.

“They got permission from the officer in charge to go cell-by-cell evangelizing. Then on top of that, they had a full crusade out in the yard. This all went on for over a week and a half!

(Photo courtesy of Prisoners for Christ)

“So here is this group of men in this prison who’ve gone through this course, and now they’re putting feet to what they learned. They’re taking it actually step-by-step out into that prison — not just holding it to themselves — but actually going out and evangelizing and discipling.”

Szolomayer says prison staff are even noticing the change. “Something that we hear very often when we go into the prisons and the jails in other countries is, ‘How soon are you coming back?’ Because the officers see the difference that it’s making in their prison.”

Greg Von Tobel, President of PFC, emphasizes that this vision extends beyond Nigeria: “Our primary focus is to share the love of Christ and to save unrepentant sinners and move them to a situation where they’re now saved and can disciple other people.”

Yet, growth depends on resources. “If we had more volunteers that were qualified to go into prisons, we could cover more countries,” says Von Tobel. “Last year, we had 2.1 million inmates that attended our services. Out of that, as best as we can determine, 73,000 men, women, and children said yes to Jesus for the very first time.”

Learn more about PFC at their website and find ways to get involved.

Pray for more inmate chaplains to step up, and that prison officers would continue welcoming Gospel transformation inside. Ask God to multiply discipleship through Nigeria’s prison churches, that they may know Christ!

Header photo courtesy of Mirza Mustofa/Unsplash.

The good news? Don Szolomayer with Prisoners for Christ says almost every prison they’ve served over the years has some form of a church.

“[It] may not be in a building. It may just be a handful of inmates that gather periodically. On the other side of that, it may be a full-blown, active church with a building, with structure.” 

These churches need support. Prisoners for Christ offers an International Bible Institute program that disciples inmates in their faith in Christ. (More on that here.)

Another strategy is to connect believers outside of the prison with those inside.

Representative picture of a small prison cell. (Photo by camilo jimenez on Unsplash)

“When we go to various countries…we go into their prisons and we model how to do services and things of that nature, but then we’re gone. Who’s there to carry over? So one of the things we do is we try to find local churches and that to take on that responsibility,” says Szolomayer.

He encourages pastors around the world to view prison churches as part of their own congregation. Looking ahead, Prisoners for Christ hopes to see many inmates serving as chaplains within the facilities where they are incarcerated.

“You have someone in that prison that’s there, 24/7, that can share, that can mentor, that can disciple, that can evangelize on the spot, as needed, as things occur — that’s really the church in action in a prison setting,” says Szolomayer. 

Please pray as Prisoners for Christ develops their ministry model to plant more churches and strengthen the ones that already exist. Rapport with prison officials is opening the way for church-planting.

“It’s almost like starting from scratch every time you go to plant a church in a prison, because the variables are just all over the place,” says Szolomayer. 

Header photo: Representative stock photo from Iran courtesy of Mashid Saberpour via Unsplash.

The team of seven, including Prisoners for Christ president Greg Von Tobel, said this was possible because of widespread evangelisation in central and southern Africa.

(Photo courtesy of Ehsan Habashi/Unsplash)

Von Tobel says, “When we get to some of these countries, and we have people already on the ground doing the heavy lifting before we get there, the doors are quite open.”

Born-again prison superintendents can open the doors – Von Tobel says other inmates are simply waiting to hear the Gospel. 

The team also tried something new by having pediatric ophthalmologist Dr. Thomas Lenart run an eye clinic in two prisons. Between both prisons, Lenart met over 200 patients.

Lenart says, “Our main goal is for the inmates we’re in front of to know the Lord Jesus Christ, and this was just another opportunity. Spiritually, we wanted them to know His love and how He cares for them, and He is the great healer. We wanted, in a small way, to just be able to be in front of the inmates and provide them some eye care.”

The team distributed 80 pairs of reading glasses in the two prisons, and Lenart was able to diagnose glaucoma and other eye issues. He later returned to the prisons to deliver eye medications, supplementing empty prison infirmary shelves.  

One patient who stuck out to Lenart was a staff member who approached the team as they left the building. The woman couldn’t read the small print of her Bible. Having distributed all of the glasses, Lenart asked another member of his team if the woman could borrow his glasses to test them. 

After testing them, Lenart asked the team member if he would part with the glasses. “Actually, I won’t,” the team member responded. “They’re all scratched up and she won’t be able to see well – but in the van, I have a brand new pair of +2s.”

Lenart says, “He walked out and gave them to her, and when she put them on, she was able to see the small print. Tears were rolling down her face because she was so happy to be able to read, and she was extremely grateful to be able to use those now to be able to read her Bible.”

Though the ministry was welcomed in Uganda, Prisoners for Christ hopes new ministries like this could be a step into closed countries that are hostile to the Gospel. 

It’s already making a difference on a personal level. At one small Ugandan prison, the team was in the middle of a church service when a Muslim inmate joined. Other inmates tried to shoo him away, but the host national invited him in. The host learned that the visitor was an imam who had been wrestling with evil dreams of his recently deceased mother. 

The team prayed with him. Lenart says, “It was a powerful, powerful prayer. All of us were supporting him, you know, in the name of Jesus, in the blood of Jesus. [After] that prayer, the imam came to Jesus right then and there.”

Von Tobel says, “Our ministry is all about Jesus. We want to point people to the foot of the cross.” 

Prisoners can be an unreached people group. There are few prison ministries outside of the United States; not many people want to go to prisons in developing countries.  

As Prisoners for Christ seeks to double its global footprint, it needs more willing hands. Please pray for staff and volunteers willing to go out into the world and for the financial resources to facilitate these prison ministries.  

Header photo courtesy of Donald Tong/Pexels.

Greg Von Tobel with Prisoners for Christ says amid prisoner communities, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Especially outside of US ministries, there is often a dirge of prison ministry workers. But Von Tobel says his team’s calling is irrevocable. 

“We stand firm. We continue to march.”

For laborers with Prisoners for Christ, that means serving prisoners in more than 160 countries. From hosting medical clinics to offering Bibles, Christian resources, and prayer support, Von Tobel says his team is taking Christ to some of the world’s darkest places. 

“There are many – especially in some of these dark jungle prisons of Africa – many people who have never heard the name of Jesus Christ before,” he says. 

The story is similar in densely populated India and its neighbor Pakistan. 

“Every country has a prison system, and many people come to know Jesus while in prison,” Von Tobel points out. 

He sees prisons as one of God’s great gifts to mankind. 

“Because it can be the last bastion where a lost soul will come to know his creator face to face,” he says. 

Please pray that prison ministries like Prisoners for Christ would be adequately resourced to serve inmate populations around the world. Pray that God would raise up volunteers to contribute to this effort and that hearts would be pricked to tell prisoners about God’s great rescue mission: one which proclaims liberty to all captives.

(Above photo courtesy of Biblica via Facebook; Header image courtesy of Ron Lach via Pexels)

Peyton Burkhart with Prisoners for Christ says, “The first few issues, I was doing interviews with ex-cons who were sharing their testimonies, and I was writing an article for it. But after they [the newspapers] started getting into the prisons, we had inmates send their stories to us to use. We found that that was a really great way to connect with the prisoner.”

A Wide-Reaching Impact

Now after around 30 years of producing Yard Out, the publication is in 1160 prisons across the country with a print run of about 51,000 as well as online copies. There are three issues a year, one of which includes a special art contest for prisoners. Each issue clearly presents the Gospel with Scripture references and then shares testimonies, poetry and letters to the editor from prisoners. This powerful publication is spread through inmates and chaplains.

(Image courtesy of Prisoners for Christ)

Burkhart says time and time again they’ve heard stories of how Yard Out has impacted incarcerated men and women. “There’s so much drama and conflict in their lives. They’re broken and lost. It’s just amazing how God reaches into that circumstance and touches them. And we get letters from inmates who are gang members. They’re tough men covered with tattoos, and they go into a chapel service, or they find a Yard Out under their mattress in the solitary confinement, or some expression where God reaches out to them. And they’re just broken by the discovery of grace and forgiveness. They may be in front of their old gang members who they used to fight with and do drugs with, and they’re just shamelessly crying for Christ, touched by the presence of God in their life. So it’s very transforming for them.”

Encountering Miracles

Many stories stand out to Burkhart after years with the publication, but one of his favorites is from a prisoner who planned to kill himself with a shiv he’d made. He was hopeless and around two in the morning one night he was ready to end his life.

(Image courtesy of Ron Lach on Pexels)

Burkhart says, “Suddenly there was a guard, a prison guard at his door. He asked him, ‘Do you believe the Bible?’ And he replied, ‘Yes, I do.’ And the guard asked him, ‘Why don’t you do what it says?’ And he quoted a verse out of Leviticus. It says, ‘Do not cut yourself.’ So the inmate looked that up and he described it as a neon sign that was flashing off the page at him, ‘Do not cut yourself’.

“So he realized God reached out to him. He asked about that officer the next morning and wondered where the tall thin black officer that was on duty the night before. They said, ‘Well, we don’t have a tall, thin, black officer who works here.’ He realized that he had seen an angel who had intervened to keep him from taking his life, and he consequently committed himself to Christ.”

Get Involved

The ministry continues to share the Gospel and see men and women commit their lives to Christ. However, they are not working in a vacuum. They need prayer and support from the Church.

Greg Von Tobel also with Prisoners for Christ says, “We pray for everything in this ministry, everything from just the normal everyday needs of the ministry all the way up to major gifts to continue to financially support this ministry. So we’re always looking for new supporters. We’re always looking for new volunteers. We’re always looking for how we can creatively get in front of the inmate population with the Word of God.”

Consider joining Prisoners for Christ as they present the Gospel to incarcerated men and women. Learn more on their website at prisonersforchrist.com or request a copy of Yard Out here.

Image courtesy of RDNE Stock Project on Pexels.

“Because we’re very evangelistic, we also have to be very discipleship-oriented,” says PFC President Greg Von Tobel, “and so that’s what the IBI is all about.”

The International Bible Institute (IBI) was created in 2018 to fill the void for quality discipleship curriculum for prisoners in developing countries. The two-and-a-half-year program consists of three curriculum levels:

1. Basic: Covers principles, doctrines, and theology of the Christian faith, then moves into parables of Jesus, prayer, and the men of the Bible.
2. Intermediate: Teaches inmates how to have a prison ministry in their own prison and how to witness for the cause of Christ with other inmates.
3. Advanced: Trains inmates to plant churches and be spiritual overseers of inmates within the institutions where they live.

As of December 2024, IBI has six schools operating in Ethiopia, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Pakistan —a nd authorities in some of those countries are taking notice of the impact.

“We planted an IBI in one particular southern state of Nigeria, and ran that for a year and a half, and then we planted another IBI in the south-central region, and we’ve had probably three different graduations at each one of these institutions,” says Von Tobel. “And of course, the good news always gets back to the Department of Corrections headquarters, and they are absolutely excited and thrilled about the changes that they’re seeing occur in the lives of inmates at those institutions.”

Now, PFC is hoping to open more IBI programs in regions that are currently suffering from ongoing violence. According to Von Tobel, it costs about $23,000 to run an IBI program for six years in an institution: “That is not a lot of money we’re expending to have people come to know the Lord and get them discipled. So that’s pretty exciting. We just need more resources in order to expand to other institutions.”

The impact of the IBI schools is powerful, bringing what Von Tobel calls a “calming spirit,” which can help the superintendents and overseers better manage their correctional institutions.

“Those officers take notice, and they want more of what we have to offer,” says Von Tobel, later adding, “Some of these Christian brothers that are graduating from our schools are now very confident and, with holy boldness underneath their wings, going and ministering the Word of God to the Muslim population. And we’re seeing Muslims come to know Jesus in a very powerful way, and we’re seeing terrorists who might be arrested coming to know Jesus. And so that’s the beauty of the IBI—that souls are being won, and we’re using the current population to win souls.”

Header photo courtesy of Colin Carey via Unsplash.

“At the time, I didn’t want any part of that,” Von Tobel recalls. “I was very pleasant to the man and said, ‘Thank you very much, but I’m not sure that’s something for me.’”

Fast forward another six months. A second church member approached Von Tobel with a different Bible Study invite. This one convened at a similar location: the county jail. 

“I was not so nice to this man as I was to the first man,” Von Tobel laughs. “I just said, ‘I have no idea why you’d be interested in taking the Gospel to the inmates that have done so much wrong.’”

Then God employed what Von Tobel calls a spiritual two-by-four. During a pulpit interview, his pastor discussed a singular topic: prison ministry. That third prompting from the Lord, along with a nudge from his wife, finally did it.  

Von Tobel was off to jail. 

“I was arguing with the Lord as I was driving down to the King County jail about why I was doing this,” he says. “What do I have in common with individuals that have much wrong and are incarcerated?”

That night, Von Tobel says he saw the Holy Spirit fall afresh. About twenty prisoners attended the study, and several came forward during the altar call. 

Von Tobel never stopped returning to prisons. Thirty-five years ago, he left the brokerage industry and stepped with his wife into full time ministry, founding Prisoners for Christ. 

To Christians who face a wall of judgment, fear, or lack of commonality with inmates, Von Tobel has an invitation: 

“Come and see. Come and taste what jail and prison ministry is all about. Some of our longest standing volunteers all took that step of faith at one time or another to say, ‘Ok, Lord. I have no idea why I’m doing this except that you’re nudging me to do this.’”

Before COVID-19, PFC was active in Washington State at about 40 institutions, with others in Arizona and Idaho. The pandemic closed almost every prison, and Von Tobel says it took about three years for them to reopen. 

“In some states, those doors are still not open, but we continue to travail in prayer and intercession to get our volunteers back,” he says. 

PFC has 3300 volunteers in 35 countries around the world. Because restrictions tend to be highest in the US, Von Tobel says opportunities in other countries’ prison systems are more abundant. 

“We never want to give up on our homeland or the prison ministry here in the United States, but the opportunities in third world prisons dwarf what the opportunities are here.” 

He and his team take international trips each year to preach the Gospel to prisoners and host training sessions about prison ministry for nationals. 

“We’re training those on the ground because we believe that those on the ground have the best opportunity to minister to those they’re in front of,” Von Tobel says. 

Here in the states, that looks like everything from intercessory teams to pen pals and volunteers helping distribute resources to prison chaplains. 

Please pray for the ministry of Prisoners for Christ: that inmates would experience sincere heart transformation by the Word of God, and that many lives would be changed as a result. 

If you feel led to join the effort, click here to learn about volunteer involvement, or consider donating to PFC. 

“If God can use me,” Von Tobel says, “he can certainly use other believers that have no experience in this arena.” 

Courtesy of Alan Bowman via Unsplash.

Header image courtesy of Pixabay.