“Make the road straight and smooth, a highway fit for our God. Fill in the valleys, level off the hills, smooth out the ruts, clear out the rocks. Then God’s bright glory will shine and everyone will see it” (Isaiah 40:4 MSG).
Pavel* is one of more than 1,200 inmates who hear the Gospel inside prison walls in Poland. Johann has led this ministry faithfully for more than 18 years. The prison authorities allow Johann to continue because they are seeing transformation in the lives of many inmates. Pavel is one of those who met Jesus in prison.
Pavel had an uneventful childhood. He went to school, played football with his friends, even attended church with his family. “As I got older, I moved away from God,” he says. “After I graduated from high school, I went to work. Then I met a girl, and we began a relationship.”
After a few months together, Pavel discovered that this woman was seeing another man. He was so upset that he took a handful of psychotropic drugs with vodka. “I was supposed to leave this world,” he says. “But God had a different plan for me. That was not how my life was supposed to end.”
Pavel lay in a stupor for four days until an old friend came to his home and found him. His friend immediately took him to a hospital for treatment, and his life was saved.
“While I was in the hospital, I met a man named Johann,” Pavel says. “He advised me to read the Word of God during the bad days. He lent me his Bible. Until the end of my stay in the hospital, I read it. I gained faith then and realized that if I had received life from God, who am I to take it away?”
After leaving the hospital, Pavel continued to read the Bible. He found that what he was reading gave him courage and calm. He began working again, and he met a woman with whom he began a relationship. She already had two children, and together they had a daughter. “In the rush of everyday matters and problems, I forgot about God and didn’t read the Bible,” he says. “After three years of our life together, something went wrong. She took the children and left me.”
Pavel turned to alcohol for comfort. He was drinking every day, and his life went completely off course. Finally, he ended up in prison.
“One day, while I was walking with one of the other inmates, he told me about their weekly Bible meetings and persuaded me to come,” Pavel says. “I went with him to the meeting, which was led by Johann. That was no coincidence.”
Pavel began studying the Bible with Johann and a group of inmates. As he read and learned more, he decided to surrender his entire life to Jesus. Then in October 2024, Johann organized a baptism ceremony inside the prison. Pavel and another inmate were baptized.
“Refreshment came to me that day,” Pavel says. “Peace, joy and hope returned to me. Now, with the Lord Jesus in my heart, God will guide me and arrange my life. I will study, pray and never leave God. I will follow the Lord until the end of my days.”
*Please note that the names in this testimony have been changed due to security concerns.
