Crossroad Bible Institute Celebrates 30 Years

Thirty years ago, Tom de Vries started Crossroad Bible Institute , a prison ministry based in Grand Rapids, Mich., along with his family members and his circle of friends at church.

He was a real estate agent turned car salesman who had an ardent passion for prison ministry.

As de Vries ministered to the men behind prison bars, he recognized that solid evangelism was happening. But he also believed that prisoners needed something beyond a decision for Christ.

He wanted to see prisoners become disciples of Christ, learning “everything I have commanded them,” as Jesus said in the Great Commission.

To that end, de Vries began to meet with the same prisoners week after week in the Kent County Jail so he could build a long-term mentoring relationship with them. But he soon grew discouraged.

As those who have worked in prison ministry know, prisoners are transferred frequently. De Vries would return to the jail to meet with his students only to discover that they were gone.

De Vries’ brother, Jim, still remembers the Friday when Tom marched back to the office with a determined look on his face. “I have to find a way to keep in touch with my guys!” Tom declared.

So the de Vries brothers set out to find a solution. Eventually, they decided to create Bible studies with personal letters of discipleship in hopes that a long-term program could develop and follow prisoners no matter how many times they were transferred.

Out of these Bible studies and personal letters, Crossroad Bible Institute, which is recommended for support by the Christian Reformed Church, was born.

The ministry grew slowly but surely—mostly by word of mouth—for the first 15 years until the late nineties, when, thanks to the help of the Christian Reformed Church and its members and especially with the support of Rev. David Feddes at what was then the The Back to God Hour, Crossroad began spreading across North America.

It was then that Tom de Vries and Crossroad’s board began a yearlong discussion with me about coming on to serve as CBI’s first full-time president.

Fifteen years ago, I accepted that call and nowhere else have I seen God move quite like he has with this ministry as CBI rapidly expanded in America and around the world, all while maintaining its core mission of providing personal, long-term discipleship to prisoners.

And year after year, the testimonies of our students compel us to continue building on the foundation Tom de Vries established 30 years ago.

J.D., a CBI student in Massachusetts, wrote to us recently about how his CBI studies are changing his life:

“CBI has been an immense blessing to me. I have been challenged by the lessons and forced to think. Now Bible studying is the first thing I make time for every day.

“I came to prison a shell of a man with a destroyed life. Now I am daring to dream again and daring to plan for the future. The Lord truly can work miracles and the change in my life is one miracle of which CBI has been a big part.”

It is truly humbling to see how God grew CBI from its fledgling start 30 years ago so that it can bless students like J.D. today.

Read more about the growth and ministries of CBI.