This blog post is part of a special series commemorating forty years of ministry. We invite you to join us in reflecting on our history and looking forward to the future of bringing the hope of the Gospel to men and women behind bars. Click here to view the full series.
Read part 1: Crossroads: Christ-Centered and Student-Focused from Day One
Read part 2: Shifting from Startup Energy to Stability
Read part 3: An Era of Removing Barriers
Read part 4: Resilience and Innovation in the Face of Uncertainty
In February 2022, following Lisa Blystra’s retirement, the Crossroads board of directors named Joe Pryor as Crossroads’ next president and CEO. With a career deeply rooted in prison ministry, Joe was the clear choice to bring the necessary passion and experience to lead the organization forward.
Joe Pryor, CEO/President of Crossroads, and JR DeGroot, VP of Major Initiatives, attend a Correctional Leaders Association conference.
Under Joe’s leadership, Crossroads has continued to focus on increasing accessibility for prospective students. Many correctional facilities have changed their mail procedures to curb the introduction of drugs, affecting the delivery of materials. These new methods involve scanning paper mail into a digital format and delivering it electronically to incarcerated individuals, who access their mail through kiosks or tablets. Some vendors also deliver printed versions of scanned mail and discard the originals.
The impact of mail restrictions caused Crossroads to temporarily turn away students at over 180 facilities that restricted physical correspondence. These restrictions presented challenges to enrolling new students and maintaining correspondence with current students. The Crossroads team has invested significant time into building relationships with wardens, state and federal corrections leaders, and third-party mail-scan companies to ensure every student who wants to participate in our program can do so. As of July 1, 2024, we are pleased to report that we have resumed sending lessons to more than one hundred facilities, including prisons in North Carolina, Florida, and Texas, where mail restrictions have had the greatest impact on student access.
As more states look at digital delivery methods, Joe’s leadership is crucial for guiding the ministry through this new era. Problem-solving to develop changes in lesson formatting, rerouting lesson packets, and understanding various mail procedures are all challenges the Crossroads team has worked to overcome so we can continue serving our students. Respecting the challenges correctional facilities face, we have worked closely with their leaders to find ways to reach our students. We are pleased to share the progress we have made in reengaging over 5,000 students affected by mail restrictions and our steps toward acquiring new students through innovative approaches. Scaling up our capacity to serve more students remains a top priority.
Providing Digital Content for Students and Mentors
While there is no replacement for physical mail, ongoing efforts to reengage our students and reach prospective students have encouraged Crossroads to explore digital alternatives to lesson delivery for facilities that do not accept physical mail.
Last year, Crossroads began providing video content to jails and prisons via electronic tablets. In the first seven months, our content received over one million views, and over 15,000 people subscribed to our channel. Through the video versions of Who Are You? and a seven-part video podcast series called Doing Time, students can connect with Crossroads and seek advice on navigating prison life productively, safely, and restoratively.
Preview the content on God Behind Bars’ Pando App.
In addition to providing digital content for our students, we also launched a digital training platform for mentors in 2023.
At the heart of Crossroads is the desire to overcome barriers to the Gospel and develop Christ-centered relationships with men and women behind bars. Thanks to our founder, Tom de Vries, his passion and heart for those who are often forgotten, and the thousands of volunteers who have answered the call to care for those behind bars over the last forty years, tens of thousands of incarcerated men and women all over the world have benefited from this compassionate ministry.