By Will Hall, Message Edit0r
BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (LBM) – Burl Cain is thankful for how God is directing his path.
Cain, who recently retired after serving 21 years as warden of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, told the Baptist Message a plan is unfolding for his life that he did not anticipate when he left his career in state corrections – especially after returning from his visit to Brazil.
“Wayne Jenkins asked me whether I had the passion to duplicate in Brazil what we were able to do at Angola with the seminary program we established there through New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary,” Cain said.
“I went with a lot of uncertainty about what I might accomplish with only a few contacts and just a little bit of time to be in the country,” he said. “I was astonished how fast things developed after I arrived.”
Cain said he was overwhelmed how God arranged for him to meet with the key authorities needed to move forward with a proposal to establish a four-year degree program in a Brazilian federal prison.
He said he was able to make a presentation to the director general of prisons, the warden of the correctional facility, the director of education programs for prisons and leaders of the Brazilian Baptist Seminary which will be a partner.
“I showed a video of prisoners preaching and told them about how violence had been reduced so dramatically after we implemented the program, and they were ready to sign on,” he described.
He said he is going back in September with Jimmy Dukes, NOBTS senior professor of New Testament Greek and director of prison programs, to start putting together a plan.
“We have ten states in our country that are pursuing similar programs, efforts underway in Kenya and El Salvador, and now Brazil – all coming out of Angola because Louisiana Baptists invested in the lives of the men there,” Cain shared.
Cain said he also presented information about the “Malachi Dads” program they developed at Angola. “It teaches inmates how to be dads and to ‘rehabilitate’ their sons, so they don’t end up in prison,” he said.
“I’m honored God dropped all this in my lap,” Cain said in closing. “And I’m proud to be associated with Louisiana Baptists. They just don’t know all they are part of simply because they chose to support a prison ministry that God used to turn around one of the most violent corrections institutions in America.”
