Leland Maples

Keep Looking Up! Leland Maples

When I walked into the Big Spring Federal Prison Camp over thirty years ago, I had no idea that God was going to change everything about my life. I had no burden for inmates. I was only going to teach a Bible class in prison because I could not get out of it. For six years, I drove 120 miles round-trip every Friday night for that class. The last two years of the six, we drove back over on Saturday afternoon after visitation to work with the families. It was during this time that the prison system began to expand at a rapid pace. When we started into the prison in Big Spring, it was the only prison west of Fort Worth in the entire state (now we have about forty). Men with vision like Don Gibson and Emmett Solomon were busy putting people and programs in place to meet the spiritual need of the largest prison system in the free world. Linda and I were the greenest of all the volunteers. Thank God the good ones took us under their wings and taught us.