Testimony of Chris Mays, Director of Doing His Time Prison Ministry

It was my duty to escape from prison. I was there against my will, and nobody had the right to keep me there.

Four times I escaped. Four times they eventually caught me and brought me back. And every escape attempt added more years and decades to my sentence. I entered prison with a four year sentence and turned that into 59 years. It didn’t matter. I was still determined to escape. If they shot me while going over the fence, so what? I didn’t exactly have a lot to live for.

How did I reach such a hopelessness?

It wasn’t my parents fault. They were good people. I just didn’t want any authority in my life after their divorce. All I wanted was to be free. At that time freedom meant lots of parties, LSD, pot and concerts. It was a lifestyle and culture in the 70’s.

The fact is, I was running. Running from love. Running from God! I dint know God. But evidently He knew me. And I felt He didn’t have any reason to be kind to me.

The last escape was really bad. I got over the fence, but my escape partner did not. I thought he got shot because while the tower guards were shooting at us, he fell between the fences and did not move. I thought he was dead because he was not answering my calls. I was over both razor wire fences and into the darkness beyond the perimeter. All became silent as I ran and in my mind my friend was dead. That did not settle well with me.

After 6 hours of running the chase team caught up with me. They dragged me through the cactus back to the chase vehicle because I was not about to cooperate after running to exhaustion and thinking me friend was dead. The chase team took me to max, stripped me and threw me in the hole. It was there in the hole that God confronted my rebellion and lawlessness. First I found out that my escape partner was not dead. He fell between the fences, discarded his knife and could not answer my calls because he knocked the breath out of himself from the fall off the fence.

While in the hole I knew I buried myself in time. I knew that my life was a mess because of me. I had no one to blame, no one to turn to, just silence and darkness, my thoughts and a cold cell. I knew I needed a new life. I just didn’t know how to get there except by another escape. But the Major of Security made it clear that I would not be leaving that cell until I either paroled or died.

I was convinced that if there was a God, He had no reason to like me. I was convinced that God was angry with me if He existed. I recall crying out at night from that dark cold cell, “God, help me!” I was desperate for a new life. I was reaping what I had sown and it was a bitter pill indeed.

An answer to my late night cries came from an unexpected place-the cell next to my own. Through the concrete walls, my neighbor’s voice suggested that I cry out to Jesus to come into my life. Now my neighbor was a Mexican cartel convict, drug dealer. He also proclaimed to be a Jehovah Witness. This man gave me a King James Version of the Bible, not a New World Translation. It was while reading the Bible that I heard God’s voice through His written Word.  I held unto every word that Jesus spoke and one night cried out to God to save me and give me a new life. I was desperate for a new life.

Shortly after becoming a new creature in Christ I learned of a Bible Study Course called Set Free Prison Ministries. I submitted to enroll into Correspondence Course Program, was accepted and for the next 15 months I studied the Word of God through this course. It literally set the ground work and created the study discipline within me that led to Bible College and later graduate school concluding in a Master’s Degree is Systematic Theology.

The Lord released me from prison after serving 31 years. He presented an offer to serve at an establish prison ministry focused on assisting men and women as they reenter society, and over a period raised me up through the ranks so that I am now director of that Ministry which enters prisons to conduct reentry fairs.

God had a plan for my life before the foundation of the world. Set Free Prison Ministry was an essential part of learning God’s Word and establishing solid study habits. I recommend these courses to every man and women incarcerated if they are serious about having a Christ & Word centered transformed life.

Chris Mays

Director DHT/72 Hour Fund