Restoration Prison Ministry: September 2025 Newsletter
September-2025
Dear Partners,
Time seems to keep moving faster than we want to, yet much is happening regarding the prisons and the changes I see in the men. The weekly class I do in a prison about an hour from home, is becoming a true harvest field for souls.
Men come every time to the altar for prayer. Either they are surrendering to Christ for the first time, or they are re-affirming their faith. Many come to be set free from their past issues from life. Last Tuesday, 70 men were at the altar for prayer for many different reasons. It is always my honor to pray for their needs and agree with them according to God and His Word.
James 5:16-18 declares several truths. “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avail much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”
At the altar weekly in this prison, God is producing much rain. Though the men feel they are in a spiritual drought, the rain of God and His mercy and grace, floods their individual souls and the healing process begins. Repeatedly, I see this as the Lord moves upon the men's hearts weekly. It is His Word and His presence that causes the changes. I am humbled weekly that the Lord uses me to deliver the message and it is always a miracle to see the Lord Jesus change men. One soul at a time.
Fervent prayers are ones that are passionate, intense, and wholehearted, reflecting a deep earnestness and commitment to God.
Effectual prayers emphasize that the prayer is productive, capable of producing the desired result, and powerful in its outcome.
“A righteous man” implies that a person whose life is rightly ordered before God, leading to a connection with Him that makes their prayers powerful.
Please continue to pray for this weekly meeting as the Lord is doing a great work in the Torres Unit prison in Hondo, Texas.
This upcoming September 7th will be another great time of ministry at the Ferguson Unit prison in Midway, Texas. I will be traveling the four hours from home on the Saturday prior to the three church services inside this maximum-security prison.
The first service is at 8 a.m. Sunday morning in the main unit inside the Prodigal
Son Chapel. The very chapel that I was born again in 1977 awaits the message of hope that the Lord will give me for that service.
Following this service, I will go next door to the trustee camp for an 11 a.m. service to those men who live there. The are deemed “trustees” because they are short on the time to finish their sentences and the fact they had to earn the right to live there. This prison is a minimum-security prison without the guard towers and razor wire that exist just a few blocks away at the main unit.
After this, I will return to the main unit at 6 p.m., for my last service. There will be approximately 200 to 300 men in attendance in the main unit for both of those services, and around 70 men who will come to the trustee camp church service.
This is a great opportunity for the Lord to win many to Christ and for me to be able to pray for as many who want prayer. “What a great day it will be this weekend when men will go from darkness to His marvelous Light in a born-again moment.” Please pray for this outreach as I know you do, and I am always thankful to know there are many of our partners interceding for this soul winning effort.
Another reminder for you to pray about is the upcoming December 7th meeting at Ferguson. I will be prayerfully giving out soap and Christmas cards to all 2,300 men who live there. Your continued support to help me fulfill ordering these two items in bulk is always appreciated. I am going to order them by the end of September to allow plenty of time for the soap and Christmas cards to arrive.
Bless you for all you do.
Sincerely, Joe Wilkins
