Let's GoSample

Amazing Grace

By S. George Thomas

Our country has a prison problem. One out of every 100 Americans is in jail or prison today—a total population of 2.3 million, which is roughly the size of Houston, Texas. And one out of every 15 Americans will go to jail or prison in his or her lifetime. 

For many, the problem of prison is “out of sight, out of mind.” So why would a 27-year-old woman making six figures a year on Wall Street abandon everything to go work with prisoners in Texas? It’s simple … she saw prisoners through the eyes of Jesus. 

When Catherine Rohr was in junior high, a good friend of hers was robbed, brutally beaten, pushed under a train and killed by two 16-year-old boys. The boys were convicted, and each received a ten-year prison sentence. At the time, Catherine wanted far more than “an eye for an eye,” she wanted them fried alive … she didn’t want those boys to see freedom ever again. She hated criminals; she thought they were a waste of tax dollars and a waste of human life. 

It wasn’t until after she started following Jesus that her perspective was challenged. As she sang songs like “Amazing Grace” in church, Catherine started wondering if her version of “amazing grace” was amazing enough to cover the sins of those who had murdered her friend. 

She graduated from high school and went to the University of California Berkeley to study business. After graduating, Catherine entered the workforce with ambitious plans for success. She quickly made her mark in the investment arena where she worked with 4,000 CEOs and generated $32 million in equity investments. As a three-time marathon runner and California State Wrestling Champion, Catherine fits right into the cutthroat business environment of Wall Street. 

But during a weekend trip to Texas, Catherine was introduced to an even more cutthroat environment—prison. Expecting prison to be a place filled with wild, caged animals, she wasn’t prepared for what she saw. These prisoners were regular men who were passionate and hungry for change. They had a massive reservoir of untapped potential. She realized that business executives and inmates actually have more in common than most would think. They both have passion, and they both know how to manage others to get things done. In fact, even the most unsophisticated drug dealers understand basic business concepts such as competition, profitability, and risk management. 

God spoke to Catherine that weekend and opened her eyes to view inmates the way He did. She saw a tremendous opportunity in these men to leverage their strength, to build them up to be leaders in their community. She wondered what would happen if inmates who had a deep desire to change were equipped with the skills needed to start and run legitimate businesses. 

After commuting back and forth from New York to Texas every weekend for six weeks, Catherine and her husband decided to empty their 401(k) and pour everything they had into this new outreach. It wasn’t long before they were packing up their stuff in Manhattan, loading up a U-Haul truck, and heading to Houston. 

The road ahead wasn’t easy. Her friends in New York thought she was crazy, and the prison officials in Texas agreed. They told her, “These guys need help writing a letter to their mothers. How are you going to teach them to write a business plan?” Then, their very first night in Houston, thieves broke into their U-Haul and made off with everything they owned except for the clothes on their backs. 

But Catherine didn’t give up. God had clearly spoken to her, and she was on a mission. 

In 2004, Catherine launched the Prison Entrepreneurship Program which identifies influential convicted felons who have a deep desire to change and connects them with the nation’s top executives, MBA students, and politicians who teach the men in prison valuable business skills. It has since produced staggering results. Those who go through the program have an employment rate of 98% and a return-to-prison rate of less than 10%. But for Catherine, it’s not about the statistics. It’s about extending grace and helping people experience true, lasting life-change. 

Catherine surrendered her life and talents to God, and because of that, He is doing amazing things through her. Men who were once murderers, gang leaders, and drug dealers now hold MBAs and are business executives, professionals, and pastors. Their lives have been transformed. 

The Bible promises, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” That “anyone” includes prisoners. During His 33 years here on earth, Jesus spent most of His time with society’s outcasts—crooked tax collectors, prostitutes, and other sinners. He offered them the healing of His forgiveness and friendship and said, “It’s not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” If Jesus were on earth today, we would probably find Him in prisons—spending time with even the most loathed criminals and outcasts. Why? Because He came “to seek and to save the lost.” As Jesus’ representatives on earth here and now, we are also called to share the message of His amazing grace, trusting that no one—no matter how far he or she has fallen—is beyond Christ’s love and power to transform. 

Are you willing to go where Jesus would go? It may be through prayer, reaching out to the families of those in prison, visiting inmates to share the message of the good news with them or financially supporting an organization that ministers to prisoners and their families. Ask God to show you how you can play a part today. 

Memory Verse

"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden." Matthew 5:13–14