We WANT to Hear What You Have to Say! (June 15, 2026)

Three years ago, Cathy and I met with two colleagues to strategize ways to produce more indigenous leaders in the America’s prisons. We were saddened to hear them tell us, “we don’t want to hear what you have to say.” As we reeled from the impact of this response, we sought the Lord for a confirmation of His calling and wisdom for our next steps. From this experience, The Empowerment Network was born.

The Empowerment Network is not an organization, but a nationwide group of like-minded people who seek to empower disciplemakers in prison and after re-entry. Just days ago we launched theempowerment.network website, describing the three communities that comprise this informal network: Facilitators Cohort, Church Alliance, and Alumni Association.

The Facilitators Cohort is made up of people who empower the indigenous church inside prison, either by teaching TUMI Capstone or utilizing other coaching practices for incarcerated leaders. Cathy is leading this community, which currently has 21 people from 10 different states. Over the past two years, we have had periodic Zoom meetings to share ideas and encourage each other, and we just had our second in-person gathering in Wheaton, IL. We had a tremendous time of fellowship, had many fun meals together, and served as a workshop panel at the Correctional Ministries and Chaplains Association conference.

The Church Alliance will be comprised of churches who have received basic training to welcome effective disciplemakers coming from prison so they can find their place of service in a church. Each church will be listed in a public-facing national directory, and will be able to share ideas with other churches nationally. We have completed the video orientation materials and we are now ready to onboard churches to this directory. If you know of anyone who might be interested, send me their contact information info@theempowerment.network.

The Alumni Association will be made up of graduates of formal in-prison disciplemaking programs of three years or more, such as TUMI’s Capstone Curriculum and Prison Seminaries Foundation. This will enable them to interact with each other on the outside for mutual support, networking, and spiritual growth.

What started off with “we don’t want to hear what you have to say” led us to start something with the opposite idea. “We want to hear what you have to say!” could be the slogan of The Empowerment Network. What started off as a dead end has now produced much fruit with even greater potential!