BCF was started May 2020 after all Texas State and County prisons cut off all outside ministry activity due to COVID-19. At that time toServe Ministry was going into Lindsey State Jail, Jacksboro Texas on a weekly basis. After a few weeks, realizing that this could last a long time, we remembered some Bible lessons that we had discovered about a year earlier. We then set out to develop them into a mailed Bible correspondence course.
We came up with an introductory lesson; “Intro to a New Life in Jesus”, that had a one paragraph explanation, with a return addressed envelope that they could use to mail back once completed. We asked the Chaplain if he would distribute them for us, this produced about 12-15 students. We then introduced the 4” X 6” BCF Sign-up post card with a pre-paid stamp on it around mid-March, and soon jumped to over 50 students.
The big growth came as the prison system moved inmates around to different units (facilities) throughout Texas. As inmates who were taking the course showed up at different units, they would share these cards with new friends in that unit. We are now in over 50 different prisons with over 460 active students taking the Bible course.