In 2010, a member of Sugar Creek Church in Sugar Land, Texas, barricaded himself in his home and threatened to kill his family; luckily, the local SWAT team broke in and arrested him. After going to jail, the man called the church and asked for a pastor to visit.
“Nobody cares about me. I don’t have anyone to turn to. Can you help me?” the man said to Gary Hill, a senior executive pastor at the church. Hill says that after several months, the man came to Christ.
That phone call also was the origin for Hill to begin leading the Sugar Creek Prison Ministry. He began working with a new Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) program with the Heart of Texas Foundation, launching a four-year fully accredited Bible college in the Darrington Unit (now Memorial Unit) near Houston.
Inmates were handpicked to participate and upon graduation became “field ministers” sent to other units to assist prison chaplains in leading Bible studies, preaching sermons and more. Hill and his team continue mentorship relationships with many of these men.
“They call me their pastor,” Hill says, “and I love them like they are my sons.”
Sugar Creek conducts Wednesday night worship services at the unit and offers a Malachi Dads program designed to help incarcerated fathers learn how to be effective parents. They also established a Days With Dad program where select inmates’ children were allowed to come into the unit for a day of interaction and bonding. Currently, the church provides 20 mentors who work with inmates at the Fort Bend County Jail, many of whom get sentenced and moved on to TDCJ units but continue to correspond with their mentors.
“We’ve been able to impact a lot [of people],” says Hill. “God has used us significantly over the years to reach those who never would have had the opportunity to come to Christ or know how to grow in their faith.”
