Beyond the Sanctuary
Seaton, who has served on City First’s staff for 18 years, reports that the idea for expansion into prisons came after the church’s senior pastors, Jeremy and Jen DeWeerdt, connected with the God Behind Bars national leadership team 11 years ago.
The national ministry helps connect inmates and local congregations, working to help churches get facility clearance and other logistics in order.
“We were really intrigued by this ministry’s heart to be the bridge between the local church and the Department of Corrections,” says Seaton. “They helped us navigate the entire process and build necessary relationships within the prison.”
By 2017, under DeWeerdt’s leadership, City First had launched its first prison location in the Dixon Correctional Center of Dixon, Illinois, making it the state’s first and only church campus within a prison. Soon, a second location was launched at the Hardee Correctional Institution in Florida, near its Cape Coral campus, and plans for a third prison location in Wisconsin are underway.
“The neat thing about these services, for me, is that the guys are choosing to attend and forgo their free time. They’re excited to come to church,” says Seaton.
Services differ from other facility sponsored chapels that are offered, providing a sense of community for each person who chooses to come.
Each week, City First brings church to the inmates, streaming in worship and messages from its main location. A volunteer team travels into the facilities each week to provide prayer, encouragement, and to act as live service hosts. Since their launch, the two prison locations have seen over 1,000 decisions for Christ.
The congregation has fully embraced the attendees from both external locations and has rallied around them to help them feel like they belong.
“We see the men from our prison locations as part of our congregation, not as an outreach,” states Seaton. “When we welcome our locations during the service, we always give a special shoutout to our God Behind Bars campuses because they are part of our church family.”
City First’s reach also expands beyond its two prison campuses thanks to a digital platform developed with God Behind Bars. The Pando App is a sanctioned app that can be accessed on many prison-issued tablets across the country. The app allows churches to stream services that inmates can access at any time.
Since 2021, City First has seen 5,921 unique decisions for Christ via their service streams on the app. And as of this month, the app is being used by 500,000 inmates in facilities where there is approved access.
“We are seeing God move in incredible ways. In the last five years, our messages have streamed more than 3.5 million times through the Pando app,” Seaton says.
For inmates at the Florida location, Seaton reports many finding purpose and hope that had been lost, due to the majority of inmates at Hardee serving life sentences.
Among those whose lives have been transformed by the intentionality of City First is Jeffrey, an inmate from Hardee. Jeffrey wrote a letter to the church, recalling a sermon preached by Seaton’s wife, Lisa, on the topic of Loving Where You Live. He states that, although he lives at the Hardee Correctional Institution, he has been transformed by Christ and now loves where he lives.
He writes, “When I arrived here in Nov. 2021, this was a camp for closed management inmates, lifers, and the violence was everywhere. With the City First’s teaching and your volunteers and prayers, this camp has seen a revival. Where fights, death, and stabbings were rampant, compassion, love, and fellowship has prevailed…I am sending this letter to testify of the changing power of the Lord. You, my City First family, have taught me to forgive, understand, and love…What a difference the Lord has made in my life.”
At Hardee, the church has also been permitted to come in and baptize those who desire to do so. In their third baptism service, City First saw 18 men baptized.
One man who was baptized at the most recent baptismal service states, “Before Christ, I was lost, afraid of life, I had so many demons…When I came out of the water, so much weight was lifted off of me, now I want to share what God is doing for me.”
Another who was also baptized at the same time says, “I was emotionally and physically sick. A poisoned person. Lost in my own thoughts. Helpless and confused. I am now clear-headed and healed. I have a new mind. Washed by the blood of Jesus. Through his birth, death, and resurrection, I am a new person, created new.”
City First feels blessed to have the opportunity to bring the hope of Jesus to inmates through their prison locations and desires to continue serving their incarcerated brothers and sisters in Christ by intentionally making a place for them among the City First family.
