It's Time to Open Your Pie Hole!
Tuesday, November 3, 2026
“God desires multiplication, not safety.” – Os Hillman
I came to Christ in March 1977 and over the next 10 years, I led (drumroll, please) a grand total of ONE person to saving faith in Him. How shameful is that?
I mean, the very last commandment that Jesus gave His disciples before His ascension was “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). Those marching orders were accompanied by a promise, “and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
And yet, there I was, a Christian for a full decade, and I had led exactly one person – a co-worker at Liberty Travel, my first full-time workplace after college – to Jesus Christ. At that rate, it would take an infinite number of centuries for the entire world to hear the gospel, let alone trust Christ as Savior.
Well, I guess God knew that I needed a helping hand with my less-than-stellar evangelistic efforts and so, in 1987, He made things a whole lot easier for me. Allowing me to combine my love for Christ and my love for sports, God led me to start America’s first-ever athletic prison ministry. Beginning with a single softball team, we soon expanded to multiple teams in a variety of sports – basketball, soccer, softball, and volleyball. By the time I left The Saints Prison Ministry in 2011 after 24 years at the helm, we had shared the gospel in approximately 350 different correctional institutions throughout North America and seen 23,000 inmates make professions of faith in Jesus Christ.
Since relocating to Florida in 2011 to launch Risk Takers for Christ, that number of prisons has topped 400 and even includes 10 correctional facilities in Africa. Best of all, the number of inmates who have trusted Christ as Savior has now exceeded 30,000!
All it took was for me to step outside my personal comfort zone and to be bolder in my faith. And yes, to open my mouth and start sharing the Good News!
“How then can they call on the One in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” Romans 10:14-15 (BSB)
- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President
