Hardcore Inmates with Tender Hearts
Wednesday, November 11, 2026
“There's no one so lost that God cannot bring them to live for Him.” – Os Hillman
How did you spend last Friday and Saturday?
Did you go to work on Friday and then spend Saturday at the beach, on the golf course, or just relaxing around the house? Maybe watching TV or curled up on the sofa with a good book? Or did you do a little housework, yardwork, or some early Christmas shopping?
Whatever you did, I hope it was enjoyable and time well spent. As for me, I spent most of Friday and all day Saturday in prison.
From 9:00 AM on Friday morning when I left Fort Pierce to 7:30 PM on Saturday when I returned home, my focus was on my teammates on the Risk Takers for Christ basketball team and the inmates we were ministering to at three different correctional institutions in southwest Florida.
Our team played and ministered at Charlotte CI on Friday afternoon, DeSoto CI on Saturday morning, and Avon Park CI on Saturday afternoon. Three grueling games played under the hot Florida sun against some very talented basketball players who just happened to be incarcerated.
Despite only having five players who could make the trip, we managed to win the first and third games while narrowly losing the second one. But far more importantly, we shared God’s Word and His love with scores of inmates, prison administrators, and correctional officers… and seven of them trusted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior!
I am sure that some of the men we played against were career criminals and a few of them may even have been convicted murderers. But that didn’t matter to God and so, it didn’t matter to us. All that mattered was that they were sinners who needed to be saved and so, we did our best to introduce them to our Savior.
After all, if God could save the Apostle Paul – who called himself the “chief of sinners” – and yours truly, He can (and will) save anyone who comes to Him in true repentance and faith. And that, my friend, is why my teammates and I traveled across the state to play three short-handed basketball games against some hardcore inmates with very tender hearts.
“This is a trustworthy saying, worthy of full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.” I Timothy 1:15 (BSB)
- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President
