Prison Ministry Expands

Crossroad Bible Institute, a church-based prison ministry that is recommended for support by the Christian Reformed Church, has opened a new Distribution Center in Quito, Ecuador.

The ministry, which is based in Grand Rapids, Mich., focuses on biblically based reentry education for those behind bars worldwide,

This is the second Distribution Center in South America; the first is located in Columbia. There also are distribution centers in other countries outside of South America. Angel Aguirre Villamar will be the director of the center in Ecuador.

Aguirre has previously served time behind bars for drug trafficking and is aware of the overwhelming conditions that exist within Ecuadorian prisons.

For Aguirre, the time served in prison changed his life. While there, he became a Christian and, by the time he was released, Christ had prepared him to minister to those still behind bars.

During the 20 years since his release, Aguirre has been a missionary to many of the prisons in Ecuador. This extensive background in prison ministry will now be used to establish CBI Ecuador.

Currently, the focus of CBI Ecuador is Penal Garcia Moreno, a prison located in Quito. Aguirre has trained church members to correct the biblical lessons and write letters of encouragement to the 34 students already enrolled in the program. In addition to hand delivering the lessons, Aguirre and his team of volunteers are working to gather Spanish Bibles for these students.

After the program is fully established at this prison, Aguirre has plans to expand CBI’s program to the other prisons in Ecuador. For more information on the institute, visit: www.crossroadbibleinstitute.org.