Mission & Ministry
Many of the inmates incarcerated in the USA are forgotten or abandoned by Family and Friends. It is our belief that God still has a plan and an unmeasured love for these broken individuals. The Mission of Christmas Behind Bars is to reach the souls of the incarcerated for Christ. We want to show them that lasting positive changes are not only available but certainly attainable.“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17.
HOW WE ACCOMPLISH OUR MISSION
Christmas Behind Bars Outreach Ministry is a non-profit organization focused on providing spiritual support, encouragement, and hope to incarcerated individuals. Our primary activities include:
Distribution of Care Packages: The ministry, along with countless volunteers, assembles and distributes care packages to prisoners. These packages often contain items such as hygiene products, snacks, foods, coffee, books, and other essentials that can help improve the daily lives of inmates.
Spiritual Support: The ministry offers spiritual support by distributing Bibles, religious literature, and other materials aimed at encouraging faith and personal transformation. They also conduct worship services and offer personal testimonies of changed lives during their service.
Volunteering and Community Involvement: The ministry engages volunteers from various communi- ties to assist in assembling care packages and participating in outreach activities, fostering a sense of community service and involvement. (See how you can become involved here.
ABOUT OUR FOUNDER
The founder of Christmas Behind Bars, Lemuel Vega, comes from a place of understanding about prison life. Having been incarcerated and in the dark himself, he understands the hopelessness and loneliness that the prisoners experience, and the rejection they often feel from their families and society in general. But God saved him, and changed his life, to which he is eternally grateful. His heart and compassion is born out of an understanding of their lives behind bars, and a God-inspired passion to take them the gospel and bring them opportunities for a new life and hope.
HERE IS HIS STORY...
Raised in Chicago, I had a troubled childhood...
...I began buying, selling and taking drugs, and it became the total focus of my life. I was robbed and at times robbed others. At one point, I knew I had to either kill someone or be killed, and actually planned the event, but instead chose to move to my grandmother’s farm in Wells County, Indiana, I was involved in a theft ring, burglarizing homes, trailers, barns and businesses. I was arrested in Wells County in September, 1979. Representatives from Gideon’s International came and spoke at the jail, and I knew I wanted something different. I posted bond, but eventually I ended up back in jail for selling drugs. I was sentenced to eight years in prison, and transported to Pendleton Correctional Facility. While there, I received a simple gift of peanuts that helped me see the impact that such a gift can have in an inmate’s life behind bars.
Released from prison, I eventually began using drugs again and was even smuggling them back into Pendleton. I had gone to a treatment facility for help, but I couldn’t find peace and hope. Then, on a Friday evening, I got down on my knees in the hospital room, and my only prayer was “Dear Jesus, please help me, I want to quit but can’t.”
I was released that evening, and began hauling Amish workers to a pallet factory and working with them. Soon, my wife and I began delivering groceries to local Amish families. Out of this delivery business arose the idea of taking gift packages and Bibles to local county jails. The Pendleton facility was the first state prison the ministry visited, after going only to local county jails for the first six years or so.
Today, I am thankful I was sent to the maximum security block of the Pendleton Correctional Facility. It opened my eyes to see the depth of the consequences of wrong choices. It was a nightmare in there, but I am thankful I can go back there each year and share hope.
And now, Christmas Behind Bars is asked to bring gift packages to prisons in many states across the country. God has used this ministry to change countless lives for Jesus Christ.
