Inmate 31749

The Story of Kris Casey

For as long as I can remember, I’ve asked questions. Lots of them. I’m sure this frustrated my teachers and others. My mom, however, always took the time to explain each question with as much patience as she could muster, until my boyish-heart was satisfied with the answer. How I wished on this particular night I could go back to that child-like innocence. I was legally an adult now. Gone were the days that mom and dad could fix any problem of mine with a piece of candy and a hug. This night I had lots of questions, but no one was there to listen. What happened? How did I get here? What will happen now? It was my first night in prison, and no amount of questioning would get me out of this place.

Let me start from the beginning…

I was born in August 1981. My mom was a hard-working woman, often clocking 60 plus hours a week. Dad was a Vietnam veteran and an alcoholic. Not long after my birth, my parents divorced, leaving my mother alone to rear my older brother and me. Oddly enough, my parents remained best friends.

Dad gave up drinking and eventually became Commander of the Disabled American Veterans Club in the town where I grew up. He also became a small-time bookie and started to supplement his income, such as it was, with illegal gambling. From drunkard to wealthy businessman, it seemed my dad was living the life! He used his money to help veterans who had returned from war and were suffering with PTSD. He would do almost anything for almost anyone. He wasn’t just a war hero, he was my hero.

As I grew older, my parents’ busy careers left me with a lot of alone time. In my early teens, I began to rebel. Baseball and football took up most of my free time, but still I found trouble, and trouble found me. By seventeen, I was an alcoholic and a frequent user of ecstasy (a popular club drug). On weekends, after sports, I would party with girls and my friends from the Catholic prep school I attended. When they went home at eleven for curfew, there was a different group of older friends I would hang out with. This is where I really found trouble. Guns, alcohol, fast cars, girls, and felonies were among our pastimes. I was young and thought I was invincible. Several times I was arrested, but I always got away with it. “Play hard, party harder” was my motto, and soon my lifestyle would catch up with me in a big way. “The way of the transgressors is hard” (Proverbs 13:15).

After high school graduation, I registered with the US Coast Guard. I was just twenty-eight days from shipping out when everything began to fall apart. Little did I know, everything was falling into place. A jealous ex-girlfriend of mine reported my felony crimes to the police, and I was arrested on my nineteenth birthday. I wondered what would happen next. There, in that jail cell, waiting for bail, I began my search for God.

My dad acquired an attorney, and I was let out on bail until my trial date. I knew I would go to prison for my crimes; the question remained, for how long? My attorney said I was facing 55 1/2 years. The Coast Guard option was over, and I felt like my whole life was over. I didn’t know what to do or who to turn to for help. That Easter Sunday, like every year growing up, my mother took me to church. It was there in that old protestant church that I heard the Gospel message for the first time. It felt as if he preached that hot, fiery sermon directly at me. He spoke of an eternal hell and an eternal heaven. He said my sins, every single one of them, could be forgiven. I was given a booklet to take home about “How to Become a Christian.” That night I went home and read it cover to cover. With the smell of whisky on my breath, and tears staining my cheeks, I fell on my face and begged God to show me the way to Him. I would give Him my life if He would help me.

Instantly I was saved! The burden of sin was lifted! My destiny had changed from Hell to Heaven! “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Several months lager, I stood before a judge to hear my sentence. I was ready to accept my punishment like a man. I knew I was responsible for everything I had done and needed to pay for my crimes. As he slammed his gavel firmly on the wooden bench, he sentenced me to 2-5 years in prison. I was immediately hand-cuffed and taken away from my family. No longer Kris Casey, I was now property of the New Hampshire State prison system. This would be a tough road. But God had not abandoned me!

After processing in the local prison, I was moved up north to a brand-new prison in Berlin, New Hampshire. Several years earlier, God had led a man named Dana Hoyt to plant a Bible-preaching, Baptist church in Berlin. Pastor Hoyt was also a chaplain in the New Hampshire State Prison. God allowed this dear man of God to mentor me the entire time I was incarcerated. I went to every chapel service he preached and read every book he gave me, most importantly the precious Word of God. The Bible transformed my life! He encouraged me to pray about my future and to also pray for a godly wife. So I did. Every day, for nearly two years, I prayed about my future and a godly wife.

One day I received a letter from a missionary to Australia. He had heard of my story from Pastor Hoyt and wanted to encourage me to keep living for the Lord. God used this man to show me God had called me to preach. I surrendered completely to Jesus Christ for His service…NO turning back. He could use me any way He chose. From that day on, I never returned to a life of crime. I couldn’t wait for my release to begin serving God. I knew I needed to obey Him right away. So, right there in prison, surrounded by other criminals, wearing my state-issued green jumpsuit with inmate ID number 31749 stamped across the front, I preached my first sermon.

After serving for two years and two days, I was released on July 14, 2003. A faithful Christian man picked me up every Sunday and brought me to a Baptist church. A month later, I arrived at a summer Bible camp for the College and Career class. I stepped off that dusty church bus and saw a beautiful blond girl walking across the field. My heart skipped a beat. I thought angels were singing, and it seemed as if time stood still.

I had to find out who she was, because she was the one for whom I had prayed.I discovered that she was a preacher’s daughter, and her dad ran the camp. I approached him first, and told him all about who I was and where I had been. It wasn’t long before I introduced myself to his daughter, Rachael. One conversation led to another, and a year and a half later, on New Year’s Eve of 2004, I took her to the same spot where we first met, and asked her to be my wife. She said yes, and our love story began. To think that God would bring a convicted felon and a preacher’s daughter together to serve Him is unbelievable. But that’s just what He did!

Together my family and I serve the Lord in the city of Worcester (Woohstah), Massachusetts. God has allowed me to pastor the Adams Square Baptist Church in the heart of this great city. Crime is rampant. Drug use is epidemic. Broken homes are everywhere. The only hope for forgiveness is found in the Lord Jesus Christ!

Friend, are you where I once was? Are you unsure of a home in Heaven? Are you weighed down by the burden and chains of sin? Are you headed to Hell? Jesus came to set you free, cleanse your heart, give you a home in Heaven and rescue you from destruction. He shed His blood and died to pay your sin debt, and He rose again to conquer death and give you eternal life. Will you receive Him today?

“…As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12). If you would like to make the choice right now to believe in Jesus Christ and His payment alone for your sin debt, bow your heart before the Lord and call out to Him. You can pray this simple prayer, “Lord Jesus, I know I am a guilty sinner, and I’m not worthy of your love. Though I deserve death, I know you died in my place. Right now, I believe you died and rose again for me, and I’m confessing you as my Lord and Savior. Please wash away my sin and give me eternal life, Jesus. Thank you.” If you just called upon the name of the Lord instantly, miraculously, and permanently, He saved you! Please contact us to let us know about your decision.

Kris Casey

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