By Teressa Berton
“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” 2 Peter 1:3–4
Prison chaplains have extremely challenging jobs. Each day when they come to work, they are meeting face to face with people from many different walks of life. The people they meet are suffering from the pain of their sin, each in different ways. They are working to show those same people the light of Christ and to help them seek healing for their pain. This is no different for Wilfredo Toro. Toro is the chaplain for the Hudson County Correctional Center in Kearny, NJ.
Toro works six days a week caring for the spiritual needs of the residents of HCCC just a short, 30-minute commute from New York City. Over the years, Toro has relied on CLI to provide Bibles, Christian books, and Bible studies for inmates.
“We here at the chaplain’s department want to send the biggest gratitude for the beautiful study Bibles and the study correspondence courses that Christian Library International has sent us for years,” Toro writes. “I want to express that each Bible you are sending us can make so much difference to so many of the inmates here.”
This fall Toro received a few boxes of Bibles from Christian Library International. After distributing the Bibles to inmates, he began to notice a change.
“The results I was now getting were unbelievable! I waited to see if it was just me that saw the difference. Then I got confirmation from the Christian volunteers. The inmates now had questions and wanted to get more explanation about what they had read. They wanted answers. That’s when I handed out the application for the Bible studies in both Spanish and English.”
Wilfred sent CLI 53 applications from inmates seeking to know more about God, the Bible, and what it means to be a disciple of Christ. Praise God! The CLI Bible study was written to help show inmates who God is, teach them to be Christian leaders and how to be good disciples of Christ. Each lesson is reviewed individually by a CLI Bible Minister who seeks only to encourage inmates in their studies.
During their time taking the Bible study, the inmates of Hudson County have been growing in their faith and receiving affirmation from CLI Bible Ministers and from their dedicated Chaplain Toro.
You can join CLI in supporting chaplains like Toro by applying to become a CLI Bible or Letter Minister. Visit us online at www.cli.world/become-a-cli-minister to get started and become part of the ongoing ministry of changing the lives of inmates all across the country!
