Garner has always been a leader. As a young adult, he used his leadership skills and influence as a drug kingpin. Many of the drug deals he arranged turned violent. Between the ages of ten and twenty-nine, he was shot at twenty-five times. One of the gunshot wounds he...
“You couldn’t even get yourself killed right.” The weight of his guilt, shame, and hopelessness was unbearable. Sitting in a holding cell, CJ couldn’t believe how he got there. After stealing a car, he got in a high-speed chase with police and tried to commit suicide...
By Lisa Blystra President & CEO, Crossroads The new year has begun, which means it’s the perfect time for us to pause and reflect on the incredible growth in 2018. We celebrated nearly doubling the number of students in our mentorship program, and we have been...
Editor’s Note: This letter from Doug Cupery, director of church mobilization at Crossroads Prison Ministries, was sent to all Crossroads mentors earlier this month. Dear Mentor, Christmas brings back both warm memories and icy cold memories for me. It was during...
Dear Friends, Most of Esteban’s life has been an ongoing battle against drugs and alcohol. By the time he was a teenager, he was an alcoholic and a cocaine addict. At age twenty-five, he landed in a drug rehab program. By his fortieth birthday, he had returned...
Edward will never forget the day his mother called him the devil. Addicted to all kinds of substances and running with a notorious gang, Edward was in and out of prison. “I was very ruthless,” Edward said. “My own mother called me the devil when I shot one of my older...
