I’ve been doing prison ministry for several years now. It’s one of the most rewarding parts of my ministry. When we are on the inside we do a lot of different activities, but one of the things we always do, every class we teach, is worship. We don’t always have access to the fancy instruments and sound equipment that you might be used to on a Sunday morning, but we’ve got our voices and every once in a while someone brings a cheap prison guitar.

A long standing favorite song for the men in prisons across the country is Chain Breaker by Zach Williams. You can probably figure out why. This past weekend I had the opportunity to see Zach Williams play. I took a video of the chorus of Chain Breaker.

I sent the clip to a few of the fellas from our groups who have been out for a few years now with the message “I guess he does it better than me.” I was completely humbled when one man, Joshua, sent a response that said “I don’t agree…every worship song you introduced me to, when I hear others do it I think ‘Do that with a $150 guitar and no mic.’”

Wow. This is a man who has worked as a professional sound engineer and used to own a music studio. It really gave me a shot in the arm for my ministry and let me know that we are doing good things. Even though I was way up in the nosebleed seats, I found a way to…

—Rise Up!!