Prison Ministry Helps Rehabilitate Inmates

Since 1985, David Burgher has been involved in prison ministry.  Burgher is the president of Bridge the Gap Ministries, a Snellville-based, non-profit organization he founded in 2003 to reach out to those in the court and prison system in Gwinnett.

“Over a period of time, I found out I was designed to be outside the church, not inside it,” Burgher said.

A long-time Snellville resident, Burgher left church ministry to work in the court system. In November of 2003, he heard his calling from God outside the Gwinnett County Courthouse.

“I heard it clear as day: ‘David, this is your church,’" he said. "This is probably one of the biggest churches in the county. You can’t get any better than that.”

Burgher, whose ministry is funded by church donations and the occasional grant, goes into detention centers to meet with inmates and share the message of Jesus. To understand his work Burgher says to look no further than the name of the ministry.

"We are bridging the gap between prison and the church," he said. "The church represents the mercy of God, and the prison represents the justice of God. The goal is to bring the two together.”

Vital to the efforts of local prison ministries is lowering the recidivism rate for former convicts, which means keeping inmates from repeating the same mistakes after they are released. According to a United States Department of Justice study, the recidivism rate for prisoners is often as high as 67 percent.

Terry Buice, the chaplain for Gwinnett County Jail, echoes this sentiment.

“The problem with people who are locked up is that they are programming their minds to do the same things that put them here before,” Buice said. “The fight is getting them focused on what they need to do to be successful.”

Buice is also the founder of Barnabas Ministries, a nonprofit ministry that rehabilitates and mentors former inmates through a program of Bible studies, self-help groups, and employment training classes. Substance abuse and education levels are the common denominators for most crimes committed by inmates.

 “Most of the people locked up have drug or alcohol-related problems, and 65 percent of people that are locked up have an eighth grade education or less," Buice said.

Both Bridge the Gap and Barnabas Ministries are focused on helping prisoners become functioning and productive citizens after incarceration.  Burgher tells inmates to make their choice to change while in jail.

“The detention center is boot camp training for life, and life is boot camp training for eternity,” Burgher said. “If you screw up the first boot camp, then you’ll end up coming back.”

Burgher said he is seeing a lot of success. 

“Last year, it was over 500 decisions [to become a Christian], and it’s about that way every year," he said. "I have story after story after story.”

Rodney Pierce is one of those stories.

Pierce, 41, had been living in the world of drugs, alcohol, and violence since 1991 and was in and out of jail constantly.  Six months ago, he met Burgher.

“He was just a nice, genuine, down-to-earth person,” Pierce said. “He didn’t judge me.  There are a lot of racial issues in [the prison system] that people don’t like to talk about, but he wasn’t like that.  He was open to me.”

Through Burgher’s ministry, Pierce has been able to change the direction of his life.

“It’s a struggle, but I’m hanging in there,” Pierce said. “I am staying prayerful; God will provide.  I’m not gonna quit.”