Marvin was just 18 years old when he went to prison. By the time he finally came home, he was 43. Spending twenty-five years behind bars is a long time to sit with your mistakes and wonder if life will ever give you another chance. For a long time, Marvin didn’t think it would, but God had other plans for him.
While incarcerated, Marvin met Jesus through the Chicagoland Prison Outreach Chaplaincy program. The staff and volunteers didn’t just preach the word to him; they lived it out. They showed Marvin what real manhood looked like—taking responsibility, owning his past, and doing right by the people around him.
“CPO didn’t just tell me I mattered; they treated me like I did,” Marvin shares. Because they left him better than they found him, Marvin made it his personal mission to pay that grace forward.
Today, Marvin works directly with people coming out of prison, helping them find housing, jobs, and hope—the exact same way someone once helped him. Though he acknowledges he has made mistakes in his past, he remains anchored in God’s forgiveness: “I’ve done a lot of bad things in my life but God still forgave me, and if he can forgive me, I owe it to him to do as much good as I can,https://youtu.be/A_ztHNwSqFY and that’s what I try to do every single day”.
Ultimately, Marvin’s story is a beautiful picture of redemption that multiplies. As Marvin puts it, “You didn’t just help change my life. You gave me tools to help change someone else’s too”.
If Marvin’s journey inspires you, please consider partnering with us. Your financial support helps us walk alongside more men and women, equipping them with the tools they need to rewrite their stories and lift up others in their communities.
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