Grace Evangelical Society

P.O. Box 1308, Denton, TX 76202
  • About
    • Home
    • Beliefs
    • Staff
    • Board of Directors
  • Resources
    • Grace in Focus Blog
    • Grace in Focus International Blogs
    • Grace in Focus Radio
    • Grace in Focus Magazine
    • Free eBooks
    • Journal of the GES
    • Book Reviews
    • Partners in Grace Newsletter
    • Audio Messages
    • Videos
    • Email Subscription
    • Bookstore
    • Online Tracts
  • Store
    • Main Page
    • On Sale
    • Return Policy
    • Your Cart
    • Your Account
  • Events
  • Connect
    • Contact Us
    • Free Grace Church and Bible Study Tracker
    • Free Grace Jobs
    • Ministry Links
  • Donate
    • One Time Donation
    • Monthly Donation
    • Your Account
  • Search
Home
→
Grace in Focus Articles
→
Hot Peppers and Cupped Hands: Cross-Cultural Prison Evangelism

Hot Peppers and Cupped Hands: Cross-Cultural Prison Evangelism

July 1, 1992 by GES Webmaster in Grace in Focus Articles

by Jay Leatherman
with Alfy Austin

The scene was the Jefferson City Correctional Center in Jefferson City, Missouri. I came to the prison, not as a result of a felony, but as part of the Bill Glass Evangelistic Association Total Prison Weekend outreach.

It was late on Saturday afternoon, my second day of sharing the Gospel with the inmate population. I was not having much success; I was tired, sore, and nearly out of gas. I was tempted to sneak back to the air-conditioned haven of the officer’s roll-call room for a nap. I prayed for help.

No sooner had I prayed than I was approached by a tall, skinny, redhead with a bushy beard. We began to talk and I soon discovered he was a believer. I followed him to his cell where we talked for awhile. As I was about to leave he offered me some hot peppers he had grown behind one of the cell houses. I declined, but he insisted and I left with a pocket full of hot peppers.

I was so exhausted I did not feel I could strike up another conversation. I even told the Lord that if He wanted me to talk to another person He would have to move that person to initiate the conversation.

As I walked through the cellhouse two inmates, Efren Rodriguez and Roberto Lopez (not their real names), beckoned me from their cell. Both inmates were Cuban; their English was spotty and my Spanish was non-existent. Groping for some way to communicate with these men, I remembered my bulging pocket of hot peppers. When they enthusiastically accepted my offer, I passed the peppers to them through the bars of their cell.

Now it was the two inmates I had in my pocket.

I asked them, “Do you guys love Jesus?”

“Oh yeah, we love Jesus,” they replied.

“Does He forgive your sins and give you a home in heaven?” I asked.

They didn’t know about that, so I asked if I could teach them about it. They seemed eager, but Efren had to leave to go to work. We agreed that I would teach Roberto and that he would later teach Efren.

I could only understand about ten percent of what Roberto said, and I wasn’t quite sure how much of what I said was clear to him. But with the help of a Spanish tract, I launched into the Gospel. Finally, I managed to get the idea of substitution for sin across using the prison bars as an illustration and saying that Jesus came to be executed in Roberto’s place.

My attempts to explain the free gift of salvation were met with blank stares. I just could not get the concept across. Then I remembered the sight of Roberto and Efren reaching out with cupped hands to receive the hot peppers. That was the picture of grace and faith I needed. I put my hands together, palms up, and said, “Receiving Jesus’ gift of eternal life is like doing this when someone wants to give you hot peppers.” I could see the comprehension in Roberto’s eyes.

I pressed on, saying, “I wanted you to have the peppers, but they were not yours until . . .”

“Until I go like this,” he said, finishing my sentence as he extended his cupped hands.

“That’s how Jesus becomes your Cristo and how you can know His love,” I said.

I knew he got it but I couldn’t say more because we had to leave for supper.

That night, during an evangelistic program, Roberto responded instantly when the speaker gave the invitation to receive Jesus as Savior. I met Roberto and we prayed together. When he looked up he stuck out his cupped hands and said, “Now I go like this and Jesus is mine.”

Sunday morning I spoke with Roberto again. I asked him what happened in his cell the night before.

“I teach Efren,” he replied, “and he go like this.” As he said the word this, he reached out with his hands cupped upward.

I have received two letters from Roberto since my weekend visit to the prison. In both he testified of his new life in Christ.

God worked in a wonderful way to provide me with the picture I needed to break the language barrier and communicate the truth of faith and grace. My experience is a reminder of God’s work in evangelism. When we lack strength and don’t know what to do next, He will always come through. The picture God gave me is a reminder of the simplicity of the message we have to share. The Gospel can be communicated even when language fails us.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

Cart

Recently Added

February 8, 2023

How Do We Explain Passages that Seem to Indicate Repentance Is Needed for the Acquiring of Eternal Salvation?

Welcome to Grace in Focus radio. Today, Bob Wilkin and Ken Yates are answering a question about repentance and what is necessary for Eternal Salvation....
February 8, 2023

Can I Dance and Still Be Saved?

Recently, I taught a Sunday school class at a Baptist church in the town of Aldama, Mexico. It’s about a four-hour drive south of El...
February 7, 2023

If You Throw Away or Abandon Your Faith, How Can You Still Be Saved?

Welcome to Grace in Focus radio. Today, Bob Wilkin and Ken Yates answer a question about “falling away from the faith.” What is the meaning...

Grace in Focus Radio

All Episodes

Listen to Stitcher

Listen on Spotify

Grace In Focus Magazine

Grace In Focus is sent to subscribers in the United States free of charge.

Subscribe for Free

The primary source of Grace Evangelical Society's funding is through charitable contributions. GES uses all contributions and proceeds from the sales of our resources to further the gospel of grace in the United States and abroad.

Donate

Bookstore Specials

  • Here Walks My Enemy: The Story of Luis (Hardcover) $13.95 $5.00
  • Grudem Against Grace: A Defense of Free Grace Theology $15.00 $10.00
  • Inerrancy for Dummies $7.95 $5.00
  • Grace in Eclipse: A Study in Eternal Rewards (Second Edition) $15.00 $8.00
  • Confident in Christ, 2nd Edition $22.00 $5.00
Grace Evangelical Society

(940) 270-8827 / ges@faithalone.org

4851 S I-35E Suite 203, Corinth, TX 76210
P.O. Box 1308, Denton, TX 76202

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube