History of the Organization

In October of 1988, Leonard and Wilma Dare were following a daily prayer guide from Emmaus Bible Correspondence School. A prayer request for a particular day in the month was for Phil Wagner who was then Coordinator for Set Free Prison Ministries of California. The request mentioned the large number of prison-based students that he had, and it said that there was a need for more Coordinators to help with the work. This opportunity seemed almost too good to be true. As part of their own evangelism, they had tried for years to get people to study the correspondence courses that they promoted -the Emmaus Bible correspondence course, but with little to no success.

He called Emmaus Correspondence School to find out more about Set Free Prison Ministries, and was given Phil Wagner’s phone number. He called him and talked for about an hour concerning the needs of their organization and the opportunities that these needs presented. He then asked the elders at Southwest Bible Chapel in Denver about the possibility of starting a Set Free Ministry in the Denver area. Phil said he would come and deliver talks on the Ministry program if they would pay his airfare from Califronia to Denver. They decided to have him come at once.

Phil made seven presentations to assemblies in the Denver area in a week. As a result of these presentations, it was decided to initiate a ministry to prisoners using southwest Bible Chapel as the base, and Leonard was asked to direct the work, which began immediately. With the able assistance of Jim Reynolds and Ed Jeanjaquet, they formed a nonprofit organization, requested and received tax exempt status from the State of Colorado, rented a large box at the Post Office, got bar code business reply envelopes, leased a computer to grade correspondence courses, trained computer operators and the Director, opened a bank account, and much more.

There is much more to the history, which is available if anyone is interested. The base for the ministry remained at Southwest Bible Chapel on the corner of W Florida and South Sheridan until 2018. As of January 2022, the ministry is renting space in the basement of Spirit of Hope UM Church in Englewood. The next big anticipated change is to have the lessons go out to inmates digitally, as many prisons are changing to that format. Preparations are being made for that transition.