By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer ANGOLA, La. (LBM) – Robert Hyde, the immediate past pastor of Grace Baptist Church in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, is now a free man after he recently was granted parole. Hyde, who from 2019-2021 pastored what is believed to be the first fully recognized Southern Baptist church inside the walls of a prison, learned of his verdict by the parole board on March 29, and he was freed the following day. The first person he met when he stepped outside the front gate of Angola was Paul Will, a long-time mentor and pastor of Grace Baptist (2006-2019) who was granted parole in 2020. “I never really knew what friendship was until I came into Christian fellowship with Paul and the others at Grace Baptist,” Hyde told the Baptist Message. “I never knew what Christian brotherhood was like until Paul and I became brothers. We hit it off and have had a really good relationship since. “Seeing his smiling face at the gate goes beyond words I can describe,” he continued. “My story of life change began with Jesus and then Paul was willing to be a part of that story as he spent a lot of time with me and helped disciple me. We leaned on each other for a lot while at Angola and I look … [Read more...]