By Zack Wright
The Norman Transcript, Okla.
NORMAN, Okla. — While scrolling TikTok one night in May, Cleveland County Sheriff Chris Amason came across a video of inmates in a jail worshipping and felt called to act. Eight months later, 182 inmates in the Cleveland County Detention Center have been baptized.
While ministers have always done one-on-one ministry at the jail, Amason wanted to introduce group ministry, including worship service and Bible study at the county detention center. He contacted the leadership team at Norman Bible Church to see if there was interest.
Scott Hennigan, a church elder who has also spent over a decade coaching linebackers for Norman High School’s football team, was the first to hold a Bible study at the jail, which featured around 40 inmates. He compared his experiences with those inmates to coaching players in a locker room.
“This is nothing more than a bunch of football guys in a locker room,” Hennigan said. “That’s how I see them, needing direction, needing hope, needing freedom in their spirit. We got done, and it unlocked a part of my heart that I didn’t know needed unlocking. Just this absolute love for these guys.”
Amy Little, an associate pastor at Norman Bible Church, said she was out of town when the program was presented, but almost raced back to Norman, given her past experiences preaching to inmates at other jails.
Little called the program “the greatest ministry you can do,” and said that the people in jail aren’t any different from the people struggling in society.
“The stories are the same — some of them are just dressed differently,” Little said.
Alison Goodnight, a worship pastor at Norman Bible Church who leads sessions with female inmates, said her group has developed a sisterhood where inmates step up to encourage and keep one another accountable through scripture.
“There’s this mutual love and this sisterhood between our groups, and it’s just beautiful,” Goodnight said. “We’re going to start a second group of Bible study this week, and I’m anxious to see them, because it’s our most recent group of baptized ladies, to watch that group shape and grow and mold together.”
Amason said the program is great for the community because inmates “come out with a different direction,” calling it “a win-win for everyone” that reduces recidivism and “creates a better society.”
Furthermore, church leadership has seen its ministry come full circle on occasion as some inmates have attended services at Norman Bible Church upon their release.
“It’s always a big celebration on Sundays when one of our friends from jail gets released, and they show up at church for Sunday service,” Little said. “And we’ve had their parents come, too … So, it’s just really sweet.”
Little said those inmates are still people with stories who’ve stumbled somewhere along the way and are just trying to get back on track.
“Every single person in here has a story, ” Little said. “Those stories have been years in the making, and only Jesus can get to the roots of those (stories), both in their lives and out in the community.”
Amason said that the group ministry program falls under the Sheriff’s Office’s PATHWAYS initiative, which, according to a post on Facebook, stands for “Providing Access, Treatment, Hope, Work and Your Stability,” and aims to provide services to those looking to acclimate to a new way of life upon release.
“(The initiative provides) life skills so that hopefully we’re not just sending them out of here without a way for them to get better.”
The sheriff also said that while the program’s success has made growth a challenge due to the lack of available space, he is working alongside Norman Bible Church to replicate and market this model to other detention centers across the state.
So, while the ministry program may have unexpectedly found him, Amason said he’s grateful that the Norman Bible Church team has helped him jump-start the program.
“They have fully committed, jumped in to transforming lives, leading me into the calling of why I even became sheriff, that is to make a change,” Amason said. “And not just to house people. God says (Paul’s letter to the Romans) that transformation comes by the renewing of your mind.”
“That’s what I’m (doing) — trying to change people’s hearts, change their minds. It’s not me, and it’s not these people. It’s God, and it’s God moving through them.”
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