The Radical Grace of God

LIFE LESSONS

Isaiah 58:8-9, Hebrews 13:5

Moments from our past serve as benchmarks and present us with redemptive opportunities for healing and change—for our own good and for the good of others. That look to the past requires us to reflect so we don’t repeat the same mistake again, but rather radiate a testimony of hope to those who might come after us.

I want to share with you my story and how God continues to surprise me. After all, I am his child, because I trusted Jesus as my Savior and Lord. He arrested me with his truth, and God the Father invaded me with his irresistible grace. To make a long story short, I was on the run from the FBI, hiding in Venezuela and facing 55 years in prison. That’s when my mother, a former witch turned follower of Jesus, confronted me with the gospel and God’s promise, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

(Hebrews 13:5) That verse gave me courage to come back to America to confront my crime, knowing that I would end up in prison.

While I was in prison, God surprised me as he used me to revive the English-speaking church in prison, where it grew from 12 attendees to more than 160, out of a prison population of 400. I also planted a Hispanic church, with over 75 guys attending every Tuesday night and three daily prayer meetings.

On April 6, 1988, God the Father surprised me again: a seemingly impossible early release from prison. What mercy! A couple of months earlier, by God’s grace, I went to Washington, D.C., for Prison Fellowship’s discipleship seminar. Billy Graham was the speaker, and at a dinner, God put me next to Dr. Kenneth T. Wessner, who served on the executive board of Prison Fellowship and was the CEO and board chair for ServiceMaster Corporation. He also was a trustee at Wheaton College, where I had just applied for the Charles W. Colson Scholarship. Despite some humbling moments for me, we began a lifetime relationship, and Dr. Wessner became my spiritual daddy.

When I was released from prison, the first thing I did was to look back at the prison I just left and said to myself, “I will always be an ex-convict, but, by the grace of God, I will never ever be an inmate again.” I had lost everything--ended up in prison, my first wife divorced me, and I did not see my two children for almost five-and-a-half years. But I had gained Christ. Aleluya! Now I could rely totally on God’s grace to empower me to do what was right in God’s eyes.

Shortly after my release, Dr. Wessner told me, “Manny, I am going to help you get into Wheaton College, but you have no room to fail.” Quitting was not an option. I was the first exconvict to graduate from Wheaton College with not only a bachelor’s degree, but also a master’s degree. God graciously used me to prepare the way for many who came after me and give hope to a multitude of inmates in jail and prison. God also broke through strongholds and made it possible for me to go to Israel, Greece, Holland and Egypt with Wheaton College while on parole, and even provided the finances to make it happen. Aleluya!

More surprises from my Father. On the last day of my parole in 1989, he brought Barbara, now my wife, into my life. I call her “my human Holy Spirit.” God gave us two sons and reconciliation with my other children.

More than 30 years ago, God surprised me again with his call to Barbara and me to oversee a unique ministry. It was Koinonia House, that began with a post-prison home in Wheaton and eventually developed into Koinonia House ® Ministries. Our ministry has taken us to hundreds of prisons across America and around the world. God has allowed me to write two books that have impacted thousands: Radical Redemption, my life story, and Radical Prayer. Both are also in Spanish, my first language.

It comes down to this—all of us desperately need someone from the outside to rescue us. We have all been hijacked by the deadly virus of sin, which entered the world through Adam and Eve when they chose to sin. That’s why Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, came to rescue us. He became human to die for us on the cross, landing us safely into the mighty hands of God, the loving Father, who is our provider and protector. He will free you from the guilt and slavery of sin, self, hell and the world, so you find your true identity, your destiny and your purpose. He will empower you to live.

Chuck Colson served as special counsel to President Richard Nixon. Colson was 34 years old when God’s irresistible grace saved him. He passionately served Christ, who had transformed his heart and life, for the last 40 years of his life. He was a dear friend and mentor to me, who made an eternal impact for Christ. His strong advice to me was, “keep your post and do your duty.” Here’s what he meant: don’t change course; love God and your neighbors, regardless of what they have done or where they came from, regardless of their culture, color, class, crisis or crime. Discover what you were created to do, then do it with every ounce of energy you have with gusto, purpose, passion and focus. Keep your eyes on your Creator, so you will become 100% fulfilled with overflowing joy and peace. I want to challenge you to become grateful, teachable, vigilant, joyful and humble. Determine to become a radical partaker of the grace of God. Be a man or woman of radical prayer for God’s glory.

Be surprised by our loving Father. Aleluya!

About the Authors | Barbara and Manny Mill

Barbara and Manny Mill are members of College Church and local partners serving with Koinonia House ® Ministries. Manny is the CEO and Barbara is the operations director of this ministry. KHM proclaims the gospel to those in prison and discipleship out of prison.