"I can be saved in jail?"

One day as Brian was putting away his gospel literature, an inmate was getting into the elevator with a deputy. “Hey, come visit me next time you’re here!” he called out. “Sure. What’s your name?” He told Brian his name and location just before the elevator doors closed. The following week, Brian went to see him. James was just getting off the phone when Brian arrived. “I was just thinking about you yesterday,” James said. “I told my friend [Phil, a Christian and fellow inmate] that I had met you and was hoping you’d remember me and come by to see me.”

James told Brian a bit about himself, his girlfriend whose father is a well-known pastor, and his desire to live a different life. He told Brian how he had been shot in the head and on a different occasion had a gun put to his head. After explaining the way of salvation through Jesus, Brian told him, “You can be saved today-—right now.” “You mean I don’t have to go to church to be saved? I can be saved right here in jail?” “Yes!” Brian told him excitedly. James repented of his sin and put his trust in Jesus as Lord. After praying, he said, “I have to tell people what God has done for me! I’m not going to be a secret Christian.”