Profile: Jerry Nail
Jerry Nail's prison ministry offers a different kind of freedom for those behind bars.
"As a Christian I’ve always felt like we were in the restoring business, not in the retribution, not in the judging. We leave the judging up to God."
God wanted Jerry Nail in prison. It was a call he couldn’t ignore.
 Nail, a member of Christ United Methodist Church, Franklin, Tenn., has just been appointed minister of the prison ministries at his church. His journey into prison began after he attended Disciple Bible classes and his pastor told him about Bible classes being held in North Carolina jails.
“It was very clear to me,” he said. “A voice said ‘That’s where I want you; I want you in prison.’”
It was a startling development, “I look back on it and kind of smile now but at the time it was almost a ‘Who, me?’ reaction.” Nail had no experience with prisoners or jails but he started working on getting permission to start a Disciple Bible class at Tennessee’s maximum security institute, Riverbend.
Laughing, he said getting into prison proved to be harder than he thought. The inmates at Riverbend joke with him and say it’s easy to get into prison: “Just buy a gun, hold up a Mapco and you’re in prison!”
Nail’s first Bible class started seven years ago and his ministry has grown to include Communion Service on Sunday mornings.
The 30-minute service includes a 10-minute homily, the blessing of the elements and communion. “That service started out with about 10 men in it and now we’re up to 45 men.”
Nail said at first he thought some of the prisoners were probably “conning” him but he has seen changes in the men. He recalls a guard telling him he must be doing something right because some of the men were not only reading the Bible, they were staying on their knees in prayer for five to ten minutes.
Nail knows most of the 25,000 men and women incarcerated in Tennessee will some day leave prison. The recidivism rate, number who will return to prison, is higher than 65 percent.
 “They need not only an economic safety net, and not only a community safety net but a spiritual safety net so they can become part of a group that they’ve not been a part of before.”
Several men from Riverbend have become members of Christ United Methodist Church. Some of the men are out of prison but a few are still in prison. “There’s one man there that has over 250 something years (to serve), obviously he’s not gonna be out. But he is a member of our church and he does the same things that members of our church on the outside do.”
Nail said his church has been very open to prison ministry. “I think one of the reasons it has been such a step forward for me personally has been because it illustrated for me what my church family can do … which is support each other.”
His relationship with Christ started as a teenager but he said he “took a detour.” About 15 years ago he joined Christ United Methodist Church and found God was waiting for him. That’s the way he feels when he goes to Riverbend. “I’m not bringing God out there with me. He’s out there waiting for us.”
The following people contributed to this Profile:
Audio story by Mike Hickcox; print story by Kathy Gilbert; videography by Ronny Perry and Gene Cotton.
UMC.org Profiles are produced by Pam Price, 615-742-5405.
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