Close

How to Know God

Do you ever wonder what Christians believe? Who Jesus is, what he did and why it matters? Get answers to these questions and more.

Spiritual Growth

Take the next step in your faith journey with resources on prayer, devotionals and other tools for personal and spiritual growth.

Life & Relationships

Explore resources to help you live out your life and relationships in a way that honors God.

Bible Studies

Find resources for personal or group Bible study.

Share the Gospel

Learn to develop your skills, desire and ability to join others on their spiritual journeys and take them closer to Jesus.

Help Others Grow

Help others in their faith journey through discipleship and mentoring.

Leadership Training

Develop your leadership skills and learn how to launch a ministry wherever you are.

Video

Browse videos designed to help you grow spiritually, share your faith, and lead others well.

Language Resources

View our top Cru resources in more than 20 languages.

Quizzes & Assessments

Have some fun taking various quizzes and assessments to learn about yourself and others.

Campus

Helping students know Jesus, grow in their faith and go to the world to tell others.

City

Reflecting Jesus together for the good of the city.

Inner City

Partnering with urban churches to meet physical and spiritual needs.

Athletes

Striving to see Christ-followers on every team, in every sport and in every nation.

Families

Equipping families with practical approaches to parenting and marriage.

High School

Reaching students and faculty in middle and high school.

Military

Bringing hope and resources to military families worldwide.

Locate Cru Near You

Explore Cru's global presence and discover how you can get involved in communities worldwide.

Mission Trips

Volunteer abroad this year on a short term global missions trip offered by one of the best, most-reliable Christian missions organizations in the world.

1-Year Full-Time Internships

Internship opportunities with Cru's ministries.

Careers

If you're looking for the best Christian jobs and careers, check out Cru's ministry job openings for full- and part-time missionaries and professionals.

Go International

Live in another country building relationships and ministries with eternal impact.

Volunteer Opportunities

Would you like to give your time to work with Cru? We need you.

Events

Find a Cru event near you.

Explore Your Interests

Use your hobbies and interests to find the best place for you to serve.

What We Do

How we seek to journey together with everyone towards a relationship with Jesus.

Donor Relations

Answers to questions on donations, financial policies, Cru’s annual report and more.

Our Leadership

Learn about Cru's global leadership team.

Cru Partnerships

When the global church comes together then powerful things can happen.

Storylines

Showing God in action in and through His people.

Press

Access Cru's latest news releases, media contacts, and background information on our global ministries and leadership.

0

Why Going To Prison Is The Highlight Of My Week

Two days a week I enter a nearby state prison.

I pass through a metal detector, three sets of electric gates, and the interior chain-link and razor-wire fence. I watch as the inmates emerge from their dorms after the morning head count, staying single-file between painted lines.

Medically able inmates head to jobs in the laundry, kitchen, or doing prison maintenance. Some are assigned vocational or educational classes, substance abuse, or behavioral programs about parenting or anger management.

And then there are the chapel programs.

Prisoners file into the chapel where Promise Keepers praise music plays in the background. They are here to watch this week’s session of Stepping Up, a 10-week video series on courageous biblical manhood. The video is produced by FamilyLife, a ministry of Cru.

As the video ends, the men break up into discussion groups. Sometimes there are 50 men present, sometimes 20, but those who come are riveted to the men on screen, talking about what it means to be a good father and husband, and a godly leader.

Prison isn’t a safe place for men to be vulnerable. Inmates keep their guard up. Trust comes slowly, especially for those inside for the first time. And yet our discussions are characterized by men sharing stories of painful lives and challenging backgrounds. Many of the concepts communicated in Stepping Up are new to them, but they resonate immediately.

“I thought I’d been a good father because I provided financially,” one inmate says. “These videos have shown me just how wrong I was. Now I know how to change that with my 17-year-old daughter, if it’s not too late.”

Session Four features a Christian inmate who found a similar video in his prison’s library. He hosted showings of it. Over a 10-year period, God used him to touch the lives of hundreds of inmates, changing the atmosphere of a whole prison.

After watching that story, a small, wiry tattooed inmate said, “I’ve always heard about a relationship with Christ, but I’ve never known how to start that.” Two spiritually mature inmates tell him how, before helping him decide to start that relationship there and then.

A young inmate, days away from completing his term, asks, “Where can I order this course? I want to start showing this to other men in the church I’ll be involved in.”

“I can actually thank God for prison,” says another inmate. “If I weren’t in here, I never would have gotten involved in programs like this, and they’ve changed my life.”

In Matthew 25, Jesus says, “I was in prison, and you came to visit Me’ . . . whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me.”

Author and speaker Dennis Rainey, who hosts the Stepping Up videos, was told by a former prisoner, “Inmates are the lepers of our day. They feel devalued, they feel forgotten, they feel shunned.”

One of the inmates I know recently told me, “For those of us without family and friends nearby, you coming in here regularly is a tangible expression of God’s love to us.”

That’s why time inside my local prison has become the highlight of my week.

Since 1951, Cru has helped individuals who grapple with integrating faith into daily life by offering practical steps and community support. As a result, countless people in over 190 countries have been empowered to move from passive belief to active faith.