Do you know who this is? Let me introduce you if you don’t!
He’s one of mine and Jim’s heros. I printed and framed this photo of him to hang up in our house. I just mailed this same info to 10 of the guys I'm writing in prison who have decided to follow Jesus and work with him at changing their heart for a successful second chance once they are released.
Jim and I have decided to line the wall of our basement with photos of our heros. We're asking everyone who comes to visit to bring one of THEIRS.
Chuck Colson is one of the saints right at the top of our hero list!
Here’s a little bio on Charles Wendell Colson (from Wikipedia):
(1931 – 2012), generally referred to as Chuck Colson, was an American attorney and political advisor who served as Special Counsel to President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1970. Once known as President Nixon's "hatchet man", Colson gained notoriety at the height of the Watergate scandal, for being named as one of the Watergate Seven, and pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice for attempting to defame Pentagon Papers defendant Daniel Ellsberg. In 1974 he served seven months in the federal Maxwell Prison in Alabama, as the first member of the Nixon administration to be incarcerated for Watergate-related charges.
Colson became an evangelical Christian in 1973. His mid-life religious conversion sparked a radical life change that led to the founding of his non-profit ministry Prison Fellowship to a focus on Christian worldview teaching and training around the world. Colson was also a public speaker and the author of more than 30 books. He was the founder and chairman of The Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview, which is "a research, study, and networking center for growing in a Christian worldview", and which produced Colson's daily radio commentary, BreakPoint, heard on more than 1,400 outlets across the United States (and continues to be broadcast with an alternating panel from the Colson Center).
Born Again, Colson's personal memoir reflecting on his religious conversion and prison term, was made into a 1978 dramatic film(a great book I read when I was a teenager).During his time in prison, Colson had become increasingly aware of what he saw as injustices done to prisoners and incarcerates and shortcomings in their rehabilitation; he also had the opportunity, during a three-day furlough to attend his father's funeral, to pore over his father's papers and discover the two shared an interest in prison reform. He became convinced that he was being called by God to develop a ministry to prisoners with an emphasis in promoting changes in the justice system.
Colson was a principal signer of the 1994 Evangelicals and Catholics Together ecumenical document signed by leading Evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholic leaders in the United States.
Colson received 15 honorary doctorates, and in 1993 was awarded the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, the world's largest annual award (over US$1 million) in the field of religion, given to a person who "has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension". He donated this prize to further the work of Prison Fellowship, as he did all his speaking fees and royalties. In 2008, he was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by President George W. Bush.
This year Prison Fellowship collaborated with Tyndale House Publishers to print a Celebrate Recovery Bible "Insider" Edition. It's sent free from Tyndale to any prisoner who writes for one. You can read more about that project here.
Who are some of your heros?
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