'For the Glory of God': Durham County Prisoners Find Hope
Prisoners at Durham County jail were baptized last Sunday, exchanging their identities as murderers, rapist and criminals for a new identity in Christ.
Under the eyes of half-dozen detention officers, the 30 men and nine women gave their lives to Jesus, a fruit of work that has been going on in the jail for many years.
Approximately 30 church ministries go in and out of the jail weekly ministering the Gospel message, including Chaplain Vinny Abbruscato's ministry, Trinity Outreach Inc.
Abbruscato and jail chaplain Major Julian Couch told CBN News their weekly meetings took an unexpected turn on Friday night.
Chaplain Vinny Abbruscato and Major Julian Couch tell CBN News how the Holy Spirit is moving in this correctional facility. Click play to watch.
"We went into the woman's pod and did a service," described Abbruscato, "and we've seen the power of the Holy Spirit fall in that place."
Abbruscato said that many of the women were crying uncontrollably and some wanted to get saved.
"They were touched in a mighty way. It was kind of like a Pentecostal experience," Abbruscato said. "I believe that that was setting the stage for what really happened on Sunday."
Couch and Abbruscato baptized 39 inmates, who wore red shirts, jail issued sandals and even shower caps as they went under the water in one of two small wading pools set up in a secure parking lot of the jail.
"Some of the inmates came out of the water weeping, glorifying the Lord. I've seen a lot of changes in them," said Abbruscato. "{Now} they conduct Bible Studies in the pods. They are just so gracious."
"It's my faith," inmate Reginald Minor told Durham's News and Observer. "I'm a Christian. Like all Christians, we believe Jesus is the way."
"This is something that was mentioned in Matthew 28 by Jesus, saying go and baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit," Abbruscato told the Durham publication.
"Baptism in water is basically they're going down and dying to the old self and rising up the new person they are in Christ," he said.
It is a change that Couch says is evident in the once failing correctional facility.
"It has ushered in a new atmosphere. Things are a little more tempered," said Couch. "We don't have as much going on as we use to. I can definitely see a change in the atmosphere and the facility," he added.
The two are praying and believing that more baptisms will take place and more lives will be changed.
"We started praying regularly years ago that God would just give us wisdom and give us direction onto how we can go about causing change in this facility," Couch said. "And now we see that coming into fruition."
