From Pain to Purpose

08/24/2026

"What does it look like to be a true family of God?"
Duane saw it up close during a 450-mile trip to a North Florida prison ministry intensive — and it wasn't what he expected.
One morning, twenty inmates gathered with him around a table. Among them was a man whose first parole hearing isn't until 2071. "That's his life right there," Duane said.
But then came the moment that stopped him. Days later, another man in that same small group was released after five years. Everyone celebrated — including the man who won't go home for decades.
"The one man sitting there knowing his release date was 2071 was still rejoicing that this man was going home," Duane said. Kyra was moved. "That's what a true family of God looks like."
Kyra saw the trip from a different angle. She'd always preferred prison services to church ones — “they're just all tuned in,” she says of the men, “they clap after every little thing.” But after this service, a chaplain and an ex-inmate gathered the family in the back of the room and prayed over them. "I was just like, okay, yeah, I do like churches," she said. "It was really special."
Twenty men around a table. Two hundred people in a gym turned sanctuary. Sixty men going deeper into their faith over three days. This is what going deeper, not broader looks like.
Would you pray with us as we figure out the next step?
Full story — link in the first comment.

08/12/2026

His mother called one day, just wanting to see him. He told her he'd catch a visit next month.
She died before that visit came.
This man carried a drug addiction for years before it cost him the one thing he couldn't get back. The last words he ever heard from his mother were, “Son, I love you and I forgive you for the things that you've done, but the world's not going to love you like I loved you … you need to grow up and realize.”
That call became the turning point of his life. “The power of God delivered me,” he told us. Three years later, he's still walking in it: “I've been three years drug-free through the power of God.”
His word to anyone carrying pain of their own: “Don't allow that to push people away. Let them into your life” — before, like his mother, the chance is gone.
Hear him tell the whole story:

Watch a powerful story of how a life can become new!

08/12/2026

For fifteen years, one man carried a locked room inside him.
He told us that when he first became a Christian, he sensed there was something dark inside him — so he pictured Jesus locking it away in a room in the basement of his heart. For fifteen years, that room stayed shut. “Anytime I got mad,” he said, “I could hear the door rattling in the basement, the lock on the door. I can hear the demon screaming. He wanted to get out.”
Then, during a Pain to Purpose intensive, something shifted. He went back to check on that room — and found it wasn't there anymore. “That room's gone. Praise God.” In its place, he asked God for something new. “I prayed to God and asked God to create me a clean heart,” he said. “Not only is it clean, but now it's soft.”
The man who used to isolate himself, who didn't trust people, now says love just comes out of him. Only Jesus can do that.
Watch him tell it in his own words:

Hear an inmate give his testimony.

07/30/2026

07/27/2026

Timothy spent 25 and a half years behind bars. When he finally walked out of Jefferson Correctional a free man, he said it felt like a bird finally learning to fly.
We first met Timothy back in 2012, behind the fences at ACI. Over the years, he watched the Mullett girls grow up in that same chapel — turning into young women, as the years passed by.
During his final stretch, Timothy spent a week in our From Pain to Purpose program, carrying pain, regret, and shame. As his group leaders prayed over him and ministered to him personally, he felt the weight lift. They told him God was going to use him — and two and a half years later, those words are coming true.
Since his release on April 1, 2024, Timothy earned his Associate of Arts in Paralegal Studies from Keiser University. He's now finishing his Bachelor's in Legal Studies at the same school.
“With determination and persistence, you can succeed at whatever you do,” he told us, “especially when you have God behind you.”
This is the goal of From Pain to Purpose — with God’s help, to show up again and again, long enough to watch someone's whole story unfold and rejoice with them at what God can do!
Full story in the comments.👇

07/14/2026

“One of the safest places I have felt is when I go to the prison.”
That’s what Monica told us about walking into The Florida Women's Reception Center prison to sit in small groups with women serving time.

Monica says something happens in that room that doesn’t happen many other places — women set down the mask and get honest about the pain they’ve carried. And when that happens, she watches the Holy Spirit move in ways she never expected.
“I don’t have the answers,” she told us. “But when we realize our relationship with God really is going to carry us through it, we don’t have to bring anything except having a relationship with God.”
That’s the heart of what we do at From Pain to Purpose — creating a safe place for men and women to bring their pain to the cross, and watching God do the rest.
If you’ve ever wondered what it looks like to walk through those gates for the first time, Monica has simple advice: “Ask questions, and ask Jesus, because He’ll show you.”
Want to hear more of Monica’s story and see more videos? Link in the first comment.

07/10/2026

Who blesses whom in prison ministry? Listen as Darren and Jeanie share their hearts in the recent FL Women's Reception Center intensive.
Love what they shared? Consider joining us at the next intensive!
Reach out to Duane to learn more.

Phone: 828-817-1109
Email: [email protected]

07/01/2026

Two very different rooms. One message that reached both.
Last week took us to two places — a community gathering where multiple local churches came together at a fire station and a state prison where we spent three days alongside people who've carried a lot of loss.
Different worlds. Different cultures. Different circumstances.
But here's what we kept seeing: God's Word is the same regardless of surroundings!
We took songs built around trusting God through the hard seasons — faith when you can't see forward. As those truths layered with real testimonies, something happened in both places. People went to places in their hearts where they could trust God at a deeper level.
The woman living a fairly ordinary American life — quietly processing something she'd been carrying. The inmate who's known tragedy and loss in ways most of us haven't — finding the same anchor.
Human nature is human nature. The soul absorbs the Word, regardless of the circumstances around it.
We're grateful for the privilege to be part of these moments. And we're grateful for every person who prays with us, gives alongside us, and makes this work possible.
Thank you.
— Duane
Follow the video link in the comments for more. 👇