We just got this letter from Rob Brown with
Chaplains for Christ International - a few weeks after training him and 4 others in Oral Bible.
Dear John and Cheryl,
We have been having very good experiences at the Cook County Jail with the story telling protocol you taught us. We were in one cellblock in Div. XI which looks like this.
We started by walking into the unit with the usual card players, chess players, dominoes, etc. (busy wasting time) and said, "Who wants to hear a story?" They were like little kids. They all stopped what they were doing and asked, "Should we turn the TV off?" They never want to turn it off.
The jail system switches the inmates who are out in the dayroom. The first floor out and the second floor locked in and then they switch back and forth so that only half are out at one time. About 20 of 48 were out and listened very carefully.
The one person who repeated the story to everyone told it in inmate lingo. They all laughed and you would have needed an interpreter to understand. When we got to the part where they were asked what the main message of the story was, an inmate who was 100 ft away locked up on the second floor shouted out a very clear summation of it. One man said, "This story us all about us".
With this method, you never have to leave them wondering if they understood what you were talking about. They all love a story.
I want to have a prison training seminar soon here in Chicago and we WILL include your protocol.
Thanks again for the training,
Chaplain Rob Brown
Chaplains for Christ, International
