NEW ALBANY, Ind. (WDRB) --Â Phillip Waldrop, an inmate at the Floyd County Jail, said this is it.
Waldrop said he's spent maybe one-third of his life behind bars because of a drug addiction but he's confident his current stint will be the last.
"There's no doubt about it," he said. "I definitely need to change my life."
What makes this time different?
"I was not expecting to meet Jesus Christ," Waldrop said Wednesday. "He is the last person I was expecting to meet, for sure."
Waldrop was recently part of the Floyd County Jail's three-day Residents Encounter Christ (REC) revival.
"REC was by far the most powerful thing I've ever experienced in my life," he said.
According to its website, REC — headquartered in Columbus, Indiana, — is a three-day retreat in which "Residents and community members experience God and spiritual formation through talks covering basics of a Christian life, table discussions, worship, and special times of reflection."
Floyd County Sheriff Steve Bush believes the program is changing lives.
"The feedback was that they love this program," Bush said Wednesday. "From what I have been told ... it does cut down on recidivism."
And that's why Bush was happy to help serve the inmates dinner and even help cleanup.
"It was very powerful to witness," he said "On the men's side, we had 40 inmates that volunteered to come through. Out of those 40, 39 wanted to get baptized."
There were also a handful of women baptized, and, in some cases, it was not their first time meeting the sheriff.
"... Out of the 40, I would say three-quarters I've arrested at some point or time," Bush said.
Yvonne Haub, a volunteer for REC, said she's able to connect with inmates on a personal level."
"I've been from homeless to a prostitute," Haub said. "They can relate to me, because I know their language. I've been through their pain. I've been through that trauma. And that's the key thing."
The next revival will be held in March of next year. For more information on the program, including how to volunteer, click here.
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