Dog the Bounty Hunter Joins Huge Prison Outreach as 800 Inmates Hear Gospel: 'Revival is Happening'
The unmatched love of Jesus Christ has reached "a place filled with men the world has given up on" and changed them forever, a non-profit prison ministry reports.
God Behind Bars is a ministry that works to restore the lives of inmates through faith-building outreach programs.
The ministry reports the gospel message was recently shared with nearly 800 inmates at Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola, in Angola, Louisiana.
According to the organization, more than 50 incarcerated men gave their lives to Jesus, and 12 incarcerated men were baptized on the spot.
"Most of these men are serving 25 years to life in prison but God is not done with them yet," the ministry shared on social media. "REVIVAL is happening inside of Louisiana Prisons!"
Jake Bodine, CEO of God Behind Bars, told CBN News there is a growing Christian population within the church as inmates train to become pastors and disciple other inmates.
"We went to, number one, fill their cup – and to reach those that would most likely never darken the door of a church – with the love of Christ and we saw an amazing response," he said.
The ministry partnered with Duane Chapman, famously known as "Dog the Bounty Hunter," and his wife, Francie Chapman, former NFL player Joe Jackson, and former NFL player Mike Barber to share the gospel and worship alongside many of the inmates.
Each speaker shared a word and a personal testimony with the inmates.
"What a powerful and amazing weekend. Ministering at Angola Prison with Dog The Bounty Hunter and Mike Barber, Feb 1," wrote Joe Jackson on Instagram. "Angola was once known as the bloodiest prison in America. It still is, but it's the blood of the Jesus cleansing the soul."
"The thing that stuck out to me most was the faith community (within the prison)...our pastors literally had tears running down their face for guys that they have prayed for, for so long (were now) accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior," Bodine said.
Chapman is known for the successful career he built chasing criminals, but shared on social media that "NOTHING compares to watching a man surrender to Jesus."
He previously told CBN News Digital that he was brought up in a Christian home by a praying mom.
"I knew more than most people did, right from wrong, miracles of God — I knew all that," he said, noting, though, that he got off track at one point. "I went to prison in the 70s."
Chapman and three others reportedly broke into a man's home in a search for drugs. One of his accomplices shot and killed the man during a struggle. Chapman was sentenced to five years and served 18 months.
"Behind bars, I found my calling. I'll never forget the moment a guard yelled—'Hook him up, Bounty Hunter!' Right then, I knew exactly what to do," he shared in a recent Instagram post.
"Since that day, I've taken down over 10,000 fugitives, built a name the world wouldn't forget, and led the #1 show on TV. But today, my mission is bigger—I'm hunting souls for Jesus."
"Because I know what it's like to be caged. I know what it's like to be lost. And I know what it's like when Jesus steps in and hell trembles."
Bodine said Chapman was the exact right vessel to "share the Love of Christ with others."
"He's got to live on both sides of it," he explained. "He began working as a bounty hunter in law enforcement and through that he felt like it was a platform to care as a bail bondsman to help these individuals who are incarcerated. He talks about that in his story that when sometimes people skip bail, you got to go hunt them down. But he never lost the opportunity to share his faith with them and to encourage them to do better."
"Today, [he and Francie] spend every waking moment thinking of how they can share the love of Christ," he said.
It is also a mandate for Bodine – one that has literally opened prison doors and put him before millions.
As CBN News reported, Bodine started the ministry in 2009 to "reach the least of these," and it has blossomed into a revival-type movement at correctional facilities across the country.
"We have over 74 church-plants [within prisons] across the U.S. and a digital application that mobilizes the word of Christ to prisons 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to over two million people. It was an opportunity [and] God [has] continued to open doors," he told CBN News. "Any opportunity we have to share the testimony of Christ, we take it."
Bodine recently shared that God Behind Bars has seen nearly 1,000,000 salvations and more than 10,000 baptisms.
Those numbers are a testament to the power of the pure gospel and sharing the hope found in Jesus Christ.
"When you watch the authentic Gospel run rampant in a community that doesn't know anything else, you get to see it in its purest form...to watch people accept it and hold on to it is probably the biggest gift given to me," Bodine said. "The hope of Jesus is literally the answer to everything. And it is living on display anytime we walk into a facility."
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