God Behind Bars: The Prison Ministry I Point Churches Toward

Most churches want to reach the incarcerated and have no idea how to start. The barriers are real — access, security, volunteer training, follow-up after release — so the desire stays a line in a vision document for years.

When that is the problem in front of a leader I am talking with, God Behind Bars is one of the names I give out. Here is what they do, who they are actually right for, and why they are on my short list.

Who is God Behind Bars?

God Behind Bars exists to introduce incarcerated men and women to Jesus and connect them to local churches. Publicly it operates satellite church campuses inside prisons and distributes Pando, a faith-based tablet app for inmates. Its site reports more than 4.2 million inmates reached, 87 satellite campus churches planted, and over 671,000 inmate tablets with Pando.

• Plants satellite church campuses inside correctional facilities.
• Distributes Pando, a faith-based tablet app, to incarcerated people.
• Site reports 4,229,123 inmates reached, 87 satellite campuses, and 671,071 tablets with Pando.

What problem does God Behind Bars solve?

Most churches want to reach the incarcerated and have no idea how to start. The barriers are real — access, security, volunteer training, follow-up after release — so the desire stays a line in a vision document for years.

That is the specific bottleneck to hire against. If it is not the thing keeping you up on Sunday night, this is not your next call — and knowing that is worth as much as the recommendation itself.

Why do I recommend God Behind Bars?

• The model connects people to a local church rather than ending at a decision card — which is the part most outreach skips.
• The tablet distribution is a genuinely smart use of technology inside a context where access is the hardest constraint.
• It gives a local church a real on-ramp to prison ministry without building the infrastructure from scratch.
• The reported scale is public and specific, which makes it easy for a missions team to evaluate honestly.

Who is God Behind Bars best for?

Churches looking for a credible prison ministry partner, missions teams choosing where to allocate giving, and individuals who want to serve the incarcerated.

Who it is not for

This is a partnership and giving opportunity, not a consulting service. If you are looking for help with your own organization's strategy, the other people on my list fit better.

How do you start working with God Behind Bars?

Explore their site, look at the campus and Pando work, and bring it to your missions team as a specific proposal rather than a general idea.

Where does my work fit alongside God Behind Bars?

God Behind Bars works on ministry partners. I work on the growth side — digital marketing, AI and technology, communication, and the systems that get a church's message in front of the people it is trying to reach. Those two rarely compete; a church that gets healthy and then stays invisible has only solved half the problem.

If you like working with people who tell you the truth and build for the long haul, we will get along. Book a partnership call and tell me what you are actually trying to solve — if someone else on this list is the better fit, I will say so and make the introduction.