Jerry's Story

Jerry (not his real name) was a big black man. He was well over 6’ tall and took up most of the window in the little visiting booth on Texas Death Row.

The first time Pastor Glenn went to see Jerry, he was very belligerent. He asked Pastor Glenn who he was and what he wanted. Pastor Glenn told him he was there to talk to him about Jesus. Jerry looked at Pastor Glenn and told him he wasn’t interested. He was black Muslim and he planned to stay that way.

Pastor Glenn had a way with these kind of men. He didn’t back down. He just told him he could go to hell when he died if he wanted to and to go on back to his cell. He would talk to someone else. So, sheepishly, Jerry said “OK. We’ll talk.”

When Jerry talked about the Koran and the Muslim faith, he wouldn’t look Pastor Glenn in the eye. But when they talked about the Bible and what Jesus did for us all, he listened and responded with questions.

When it was time to go, Jerry put his big hand up against the bullet proof glass that separates inmates from visitors. This was a big step! The only time an inmate will do that is if he wants you to return and see him again.

Pastor Glenn put his hand up against the glass on the visitor side, showing he would be back again. Pastor Glenn has big hands, but his hands were small in comparison to Jerry’s.

A month or so later, Pastor Glenn called Jerry out again. While he was finishing his ministry call to another inmate, Jerry was brought in. The guard told Pastor Glenn his time was up and that Jerry was in the next booth waiting. So, Pastor Glenn peeked around the corner to see Jerry with a big smile on his face.

When he visited with Jerry, he asked him what the big grin was all about. Jerry told him, “You were right. The Muslim’s don’t teach the truth. I have thrown the Koran away and got my Bible down off the shelf. It is me and Jesus from now on.”

Pastor Glenn doesn’t know to this day what changed Jerry’s mind. We know it was the Holy Spirit of God who touched his heart through something Pastor Glenn had said to him.

He then asked Jerry what landed him on death row and the story is a heart-breaking one. Jerry was a good student in high school and had received 2 football scholarships to play football for college teams. While he was in high school, he was involved with drug dealers. He broke away from them, but one night one of his buddies asked him to go with him.

They ended up on a crime spree which resulted in the killing of another human being. Although Jerry claimed he didn’t kill anyone, he was with the one who did and is considered just as guilty in the eyes of the courts. So, Jerry ended up on death row before the end of his Senior year in high school.

His dreams of a scholarship to college and a football player ended.

Through ministry and much love, Jerry and Pastor Glenn became best friends. That is unheard of in the prison system because blacks and whites do not associate with each other.

Jerry is no longer on death row. In one of his appeals, they were able to find some loopholes, and the witnesses were all dead or missing. So, he had his sentence commuted to life in prison.

Pastor Sandra still corresponds with Jerry from time to time. He is doing good and is trusting Jesus to free him from prison one day. It is harder for him now that he is not in a cell by himself. Now he has to stand encounters with other men and because he is so big, they are always challenging him.

Pray for Jerry. God knows his real name. Pray for his protection and that he won’t lose his trust in Jesus.