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A popular warm up question to a small group is often, what was the high and low of your week? Another warm up question might be, describe a significant event in the form of a photograph or snapshot. Given that as a backdrop, I wanted to share two recent snapshots from working with detained youth…

These are real text messages from my daughter that I read after leaving Baltimore City’s Youth Detention Center: Daddy, where are you? DADDYEEEE!!!!! Call me back HELLO!!!! I’m really worried you’re not responding Daddy please just write me back Are you dead? When I finally called her, she was legitimately upset with me so I…

“When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You. In God, whose Word I praise, In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me?” Psalm 56:3-4 Working with young boys, incarcerated and charged with egregious crimes can sometimes feel like a recipe for…

Week after week we talk to the boys at Hickey hoping that the message of Jesus will make a difference in their lives. We know that they are listening, discussing, and connecting to the message but we often don’t always know if it is making a difference, if there is fruit. One young man, Terrell,…

On July 14th 2017, I officially became a member of the unCUFFED Ministries staff. At that time we were in 3 correctional facilities. Eighteen months later, we are active in 8 different facilities, with no end in sight, as God has continued to open doors for those in need. Of course, this means that more…

On December 22nd unCUFFED partnered with the Youth Detention Center in Baltimore City to host a Christmas party for incarcerated youth. James McCray, Tim Schriver, Chris Duncan, and Timothy Lamp arrived at 2:45 pm to unload our large load of gifts along with much tasty fried chicken from Royal Farms! We were all a bit…

This post was originally written in 2015, and now we will be telling Josh’s story at our Celebration on 11/15! I’m locked down in a room for 45 minutes with Pastor George Hopkins because there has been a fight on one of the tiers and they cannot transport young Joshua to see us. It’s a…

“I pray that God can help me to positively, handle my anger and emotions, to be able to identify positive and negative people in my life, to help me stay focused on my music and getting in to Bowie State University and that God can make something positive out of my situation and that everything…

In 1 Corinthians, Paul boldly states, “I exhort you, be imitators of me.” This is what we are called to in our Christian walk, to set an example for others by imitating Christ and imitating mature believers who have lead us. Leading up to my incarceration, Joe Ehrmann was a man who gave me great…

I went to my first unCUFFED court appearance last week to speak as an advocate for one of the boys I mentor. I’ve attended many sentencing hearings with youth at my last place of employment, but this was quite different. I have come to know this kind, humble, standoffish kid. When I heard the specifics…