← Called (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Called (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Called to Build Bridges with Fr. Mike Schmitz and Darryl Woods (The Called Podcast)
01:12:49
Wrongly convicted at 18, Darryl Woods Sr. spent nearly 30 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. But instead of giving in to bitterness, he found freedom through faith—transforming prison walls into a mission field of hope and redemption. In this episode of the Called podcast with Fr. Mike Schmitz, Darryl shares his incredible journey from Detroit’s streets to the chair of the Detroit Police Commission. His story is a powerful reminder that God can bring purpose out of the darkest places. Listen to hear how forgiveness, perseverance, and faith turned tragedy into transformation. To receive updates on the podcast text CALLED to 33777. If you have a question or a story of someone living out their calling to serve others, email info@thecatholicinitiative.org.
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- [00:00]
A
I eventually joined a major drug organization in the city of Detroit as a kid. I got shot when I was 14. She got pregnant when I was 15. Had my son when I was 16. We at this home. Two guys come in the home. One guy place a package of drugs on the scale. An argument ensued, and one guy pulled out a gun. Arguing, some shouting, some shooting. All hell broke up loose. We have to get out of this situation. All of us escaped up out of the home. I got arrested in Florida. They convicted us as aiding and abettors of an unknown person. At the prison, I began to study the Bible intently. From Genesis to Revelations, from Genesis to Revelations, from Revelations to Genesis, and it became alive to me. I got my case overturned in 2003. A new prosecutor came in and was able to get my conviction reinstated on procedural grounds.
- [01:00]
B
Okay, so you got. You were cleared?
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A
Yes.
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B
And then they said the procedure was wrong?
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A
Yes.
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B
Was that worse than the first?
- [01:08]
A
No, I had joy. Oh, gosh. Okay. When we say God is good all the time, that's true. Did you just say that, or do you mean it?
- [01:19]
B
Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and welcome to called a podcast brought to you by the Catholic Initiative in partnership with Ascension. When I first joined the Catholic Initiative Board, I was struck by how deeply their mission resonated with mine. To renew the church and to serve those most in need. They're restoring parishes and schools, they're building up communities, and they're reminding us that faith isn't just something we hold in our hearts, it's something that we live. And that's what this podcast is about. It's about hearing stories, real stories of courage, mercy, and the hope that moves us from belief to action. As Jesus says in Matthew 25, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. Every episode, we'll explore how ordinary people are answering that call in extraordinary ways and how you and I can do the same. Today in this podcast, we're talking about how to build bridges. But before we get into that, I want to bring to mind a passage from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25, verses 36 and 40. Here's Jesus who said. He said, I was in prison and you came to visit me.
- [02:24]
A
Amen.
- [02:24]
B
I say to you, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me. We know that there are so many ways to build bridges, but this verse helps us remember. Remember why? Because whatever we do for our brothers and sisters, we do for Jesus. And our guest today has an incredible story of building bridges that he's going to share with us. Darrell Woods Sr. Spent nearly 29 years of his life in prison for a crime he didn't commit. And while in prison, he became a mentor, a peacemaker, and a servant leader. Since his release, Darrell has founded Fighting the Good Fight, helping returning citizens, Rebuilding their lives, and now serves as a chair of the Detroit Police Commission, bringing together returning citizens, law enforcement, faith leaders, and youth to create trust and reconciliation. Darrell, it's an incredible honor and I'm so glad to have you here.
- [03:14]
A
I'm glad to be here. Thank you for having me. Father Mike, you look great in person.
- [03:19]
B
Thanks. So do you. One thing, and I mentioned in the intro that you spent part of your story is spending 29 years. You said your vacation before we started rolling. Yes, your vacation, 29 years in prison. Could you just, for those who haven't heard your story, could you just tell us what brings you here and tell us that story?
- [03:38]
A
Yes. It's a story of a young man who grew up in the city of Detroit, who mother was pregnant with him and his biological father. My biological father died when I was in my mother's womb. And my mother had a breakdown after that. She had three other children. And now bringing me into the world was her fourth child. And she didn't know what to do without my father. And she was just devastated. So she went into drugs, a life of using drugs, and became a heroin addict and had to give me over to my grandmother. My grandmother had to raise me. She had 11 children of her own, really. And so the house was a very transient spot, to say the least. And you had to get in where you fit in for the cereal and for the eggs or whatever. I hope you get up early enough, you know. But it was a place that I knew that my grandmother loved me and she took me to church. We went to church back then, you go to church on Sunday, you go Monday, you go Wednesday, you go Saturday. And so she took me to church and took the family to church and encouraged us all to go to church. But I had a burning desire to be with my mom. You know, as I was growing up, I would get teased, although I knew my grandmother loved me. My grandfather, he worked hard working man. He worked as a janitor in the Detroit public school system. And on the weekends he would work at a cleaners just to make ends meet in the home and expose me to that type of work ethic, of what a man does in terms of being able to provide for his family. The best that he can. But I had three older brothers. Two of my older brothers end up going into the streets and started to sell drugs. Back then there was a lot of drug organizations that was exploiting young children at that time. And two of my older brothers got caught, sucked into that. And then my other brother, my brother that's above me, he was a Jesus freak, you know, and he really. He didn't just go to church, but he participated in everything and was very, very into what was going on. Now when I went to church and when I seen the pastor, I thought of the Godfather, you know, the pastor, the bishop. He was like the Godfather. I was mesmerized by him. He had the dob hat on, the cashmere coat on, and it was just a larger than life figure to me. But I always was encouraged and inspired by him because he always express love to the. To the children and to the congregation and to the community. He was a community driven pastor and leader when I was growing up as a child, you know, and so. But eventually, you know, I followed my brother's numb path and I ran away from home at the age of 12.
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B
Really?
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A
Yeah. I walked from the west side of Detroit, deep west side, all the way what you would consider downtown area, which is the cast quarters and the Cass quarters there were. It was like New Jack City.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Where all of the drug dealers was at. And you really needed a pass to be able to get.
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B
You can just walk it.
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A
You can't just walk it down in a cast quarter.
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B
There's something that I'm leaving. I'm leaving grandma and grandpa's house. I'm going to.
- [07:56]
A
Well, yes, I want to be with my mother.
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B
Yeah.
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A
And I always had that desire. She was down in the cast quarters in that den of iniquity, struggling with her addiction. But I didn't have the concept of what was really going on. I just really wanted to be around my mom was there, you know. And so I walked from the west side. I took the path that my grandmother and my grandfather took when they drove me down there to go find her so that I can be able to see her. And sometimes my mother would come visit me at the home and, you know, and she always shower me with kisses and love and affection that I desired in my soul to have for my mother, you know. And so I got down to the cast quarters and I eventually found my mother. She was living on the street called Cass and Myrtle, and they used to call it Cass and Murder, you know, because this spot was just really out of Control. It's on Martin Luther King. It's called Martin Luther King today.
- [09:11]
B
Renamed it.
- [09:12]
A
Yeah, renamed it. And the area is a miracle. On how it transformed. And we'll get to that. But the. My mother tried to send me back home several times, and I told her, I'm gonna keep running away. And she went against her better judgment, allowed me to stay at an apartment building with one of her friends, and she would be at another apartment building, and she would see me every day. She enrolled me into school, and I was in the middle school at that time, and Spain Middle School. And I was able to, you know, go to school and come home from school. But when I was coming home from school, you saw everything, you know, you was exposed to everything. So some of the old school hustlers and all of that, I ran into, and it was a guy named Superfly Bobby, old school gangster here in the city of Detroit during that time. And they ran the numbers, ran all of the drugs, big heroin operations and things of that nature. So Superfly Bobby took a liking to me. And he was a major player in the game. Very old school older guy. But he would pay me to go to school every day, really. And when I come back from school, he'll give me some money, he'll break me off $25, $50, you know, every day, you know, so I thought, you know, I was cool, you know, I can buy me some good clothes and be able to function down there. And so I went to school happily. So eventually I would connect with some other older people and, you know, they knew that Superfly Bobby took a liking to me. He would take me shopping to one of the major's malls and, and also give me clothes and all of that stuff, because he just really wanted me to go to school and do the right thing. And so I end up finding this other old school guy down there. But he shot dice. So he tricked me into shooting dice with him and it was winning all my money. And one day, Superfly Bobby rolled up on us and said, young blood, let me talk to you. And I went to go talk to him, he said, I'm not giving you this money to gamble and do all those type of things. I'm giving you this money to go to school and be able to take care of yourself. You cut off, man. You know, essentially he cut me off and he said, I didn't want you to be a part of any of this stuff, man, but you're messing with the wrong crowd. And this guy's a major gangster, a major Player.
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B
He's trying to keep me away, but.
- [12:08]
A
He was trying to keep me away. And so I said, wow. And so I was convinced by other people in there that if I would be able to help them run some of their drugs, that I could make some money. So I tested the waters and was able to do that and start making money. I was making some pretty good money. And so I said, if I get into this, I can be able to help my mom. That's what my adolescent mind was thinking. I thought I was gonna be able to do that, I was gonna be able to save her and get her out of the conditions that she was in at that time. But, you know, I became addicted to the lifestyle and all of the things that came with it, you know, they was driving good cars and doing, you know, having jewelry and all that type of stuff. And so I got sucked into that, you know. So I eventually joined a major drug organization in the city of Detroit as a kid, where again, you had the Young Boys Incorporated and you had a gang or organization. They weren't gangs back then. They was like gm, Ford, Chrysler, you know, and it was a well oiled machine. And these organizations made millions of dollars hurting people with drugs, you know, and they exploited young people because if young people get caught up, they not gonna do the time that the older folks would do had they been minor, Right? They were minors, right. You know, we were. And so I end up getting caught up into an organization called the Pony Crew. Pony Down. And so we sold drugs and we sold it down there for a long time, you know, for a period of time, and end up going into other parts of the city and other parts of the state and all of that type of stuff and got caught, caught up. And so at the age of 14, I was standing on a corner on the street called Finkel and Sorrento on the west side of Detroit, where a gentleman came, walked behind me with a sawed off shotgun. He was about to shoot me in the back of my head. But the day before Father Mike, I was at my grandmother's home. I snuck over there. She was trying to catch me to put me into the system and all that type of stuff. And I would dodge her and all of that type of stuff, but I was over there and she was there and she saw me and she's like, come here, come here. You know, And I went to her, she went into her purse, grabbed her anointing oil and prayed over me. The day before I was like, get off of me. The next day, the very Next day, I'm standing on a corner and this gentleman was standing behind me. Come to find out that he got into it with one of the guys in the crew and. And he was going to take care of all of us when he seen all of us because of the beef that he had with the one guy, right? And the spirit. I used to say something, but the spirit told me to turn around. I felt the evil presence behind me. And as I was turning around the gentleman, I startled him and he let off a shot. And as I was positioning my body, I got the full force right here in my arm. At 14 years old, it was a sawed off shotgun. It hit me. I had a New York Yankee starter jacket on. It just blew a hole in that. And it was like I was about to fall to the ground. And the Lord, it was an angel that grabbed the back of that New York Yankee starter jacket and caused me to stay up on my feet. And I floated across the street into a restaurant called Ark Bars Restaurant. And as soon as I walked in the door, the people were startled. And there was a cab driver right there. And he immediately saw me in distress and grabbed me and got me into his cab and took me to Mount Carmel Hospital on the west side of the city of Detroit. I got to Mount Carmel Hospital, and while I was there, the doctors began to work on me. I had drugs in my pockets and all of that type of stuff because I was on the corner selling drugs at the time. And the doctors were saying that this was a severe gunshot wound and I was likely was going to lose my arm. You know, my grandmother got up there, you know, I was in distress. I told the doctors. I mean, I told her what the doctors told me. She went in her purse again and got the anointing oil, said, you're not going to lose. She prayed over me again, grieves me up again. I said, lord, I received that prayer not like yesterday, not like yesterday, not like yesterday. I take it this. Please, Jesus, have mercy on me, you know, And I was able to. I stayed in the hospital for almost 30 days.
- [17:50]
B
Really?
- [17:51]
A
Yes. And I remember the nurses, you know, they were very encouraging and all of that. But one thing I do remember that stands out, that I never, a counselor never came to me, a therapist never came to me. I was 14 years old, traumatized, shot, about to lose my arm, and no one came to me to really wrap their arms around me. My grandmother was plotting to put me into the system because, like, hey, I'm incorrigible at this time. And she think, this can save my life, you know, and, you know, I tell folks all the time, I went to church, but the church was not in me. But I had a form of godliness, but I denied the power thereof, you know, because even in the streets, I was so raised in the church, and I had so much admiration for my pastor at the time that I would go to church as a drug dealer. Yeah, you know, I'll pay my. I had to tie cards, you know, as a teenage drug dealer, I fill in the pound.
- [18:56]
B
That's money, right?
- [18:58]
A
And I, you know, I have. I met my son's mother at the time. She got pregnant when I got shot when I was 14. She got pregnant when I was 15, had my son when I was 16. I had purchased a home with the proceeds at. You know, I'm a homeowner at 15 years old. And I was able to, you know, I paint my son's room and all that stuff, prepared and all. I was in a hospital when he was born and all of that type of stuff.
- [19:27]
B
Named him.
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A
I named him.
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B
Yeah.
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A
You know, and. But it was just a. A struggle within my soul. The Lord was telling me to get out of this situation, get away from this crowd the whole time. And, like, I was. Like I said, well, if I make a 50,000, I make 100,000. And, you know, I keep on taking the number up, then I'm going to get out of this thing. And I, you know, and my. But I knew I had to get out quick, you know, I will. I will ride up the street and I don't know, you remember that song, 1999, you know, and I'd be looking at the sky, and he said, the sky is all purple, people running everywhere. I'm like, the world going in. I'm going to go to hell if I don't get my life together, you know. And so it was good to have that exposure to hear the word, but not to be quipped with the word and having the courage and the strength to be able to resist the evil, you know. So I had another child at 17. I had my daughter. And then at the age of 18, I was 18. I was in a home, about to go pick my daughter up. And when I got to the home, I had my little cousin with me. It was five other people there. And it was actually what. It was, three other people at the time. Two other people ended up coming because they was transacting a drug transaction. I had my little cousin, he was going to get some marijuana before I went up the street to go pick up my daughter. And she was paging me all night, all day, rather like, you know, come on over. And I'm like, I'm making my way over. I'm making my. I'm almost there, you know, I got to the house. Even when I got to the house, I called, I'm right up the street. I'll be down there, you know. And the mom was. And so the. We died. We at this home. Two guys come in home. One guy place a package of drugs on a scale, and they begin to talk about the price. And argument ensued. And one guy pulled out a gun. A guy run to the back bedroom to go get a weapon, and a guy ran behind him. And there was some arguing, some shouting, and some shooting. And all hell broke loose in the home after then. It had bars on the windows, dead bolted locks on the doors. It was like, you know, we have to get out of this situation. And so my little cousin ended up finding a window that didn't have bars on it. And all of us escaped up out of the home at the time. And I didn't know someone was shot in the back bedroom. I know I heard the shot, but I didn't think about what was going on. We had to get out of here. And so I get a call from homicide that evening to come down for questioning. But I didn't want to cooperate. I didn't want to participate in any type of investigation or anything of that nature. And so people, the police was coming to my grandmother's home and saying that someone may do something to me. And she was scared. And I ended up going to the state of Florida to go to her uncle's house out there and chill out there for a moment. I was in conversation, had a lawyer in conversation with homicide. They said, I'm not wanted for the homicide, they just want to talk to me. And all of that. And two of the guys who. One of the guys, major guys who was a part of the drug transaction, much older guy, he ended up trying to implicate me and my cousin into the crime. As if that we set this drug deal up and that it was. It was being a robbery type thing and all that type of stuff, you know, wasn't true. We was able to. I got arrested in Florida because I was at a frat party. And I was on the telephone, phone I was on, it was traced back to me in Florida. And they came, picked me up, took me, extradited me back to the state of Michigan, back to Detroit. They wanted me to Talk. Then I didn't want to talk. And eventually they put me and my co defendant on trial and charged us as aiding and abettors in a homicide. They said we did the exact same thing. And so it was just a crazy thing. I end up going to trial, me and my co defendant together, and they convicted us as aiding and abettors of an unknown person. So the person who pulled the trigger.
- [24:58]
B
They'D never found that person.
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A
They never had never had found that person. The person who pulled the trigger, they say, we Aiden and abetted him in the crime. And so when they found me guilty, I said, I didn't do this. Blankety blanket, you know. And in the midst of all of that, my grandmother yelled some words out. And when she yelled them out, it steeled the courtroom and I relaxed. The judge was like very understanding and was able to get me out of there. They took me to a prison in Ionia, Michigan. I own ya.
- [25:40]
B
Is it really called that? I own you Ionia? It's not just like a nickname of this place actually is.
- [25:45]
A
No. I O N I a. Yeah. I own ya.
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B
Wow.
- [25:51]
A
Michigan. And they have five prisons in that city, Small little city. And their biggest economy is the prison industrial complex. The prison system. And so a while I'm in Ionia, I'm an eighth grade dropout. I have two children at the time, and my son was one, My daughter was six months. My back was against the wall when I was in a county jail. Of course I was reading the Bible. I was looking for a get out of jail free card. Lord Jesus, help me, come on, don't let me go out like this type thing. And then I was learning more about the Bible and scripture and things of that nature too. But I was like, man, you know, I didn't do this.
- [26:45]
B
And you're 19.
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A
I was 18.
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B
Okay.
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A
And so while at the prison, I ordered my trial transcripts. They were almost 700 pages. Got to the very end of the transcript. Father Mike and the Lord was in the transcripts. It said, spectator, Grandma, my grandmama. And she said, I didn't know what she had said at the time, but she said, don't give up, son. Prayer changes things. God is the only judge.
- [27:24]
B
Wow.
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A
And those words revolutionized my life at the moment.
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B
You didn't even know what she had said, but you said there was a spirit.
- [27:32]
A
Yes.
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B
I was just like, okay, yes. What did she say again?
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A
What was she said, don't give up, son. Prayer changes things. God is the only judge.
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B
And you read that?
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A
I read those words. While I was in prison, in the trial transcripts. I have them. I will keep those transcripts. But it was like an inscription in my soul. I was going to church when I was at the prison and all of that and trying to figure this thing out. I was praying, I was learning how to pray and all of those type of things, but when I read those words, it gave me hope.
- [28:12]
B
Yeah.
- [28:13]
A
And I held on to those words, that word of prophecy, if you would, for my grandmother. And so I began to study the Bible intently. From Genesis to Revelations, from Revelations to Genesis, and from Genesis to Revelations, from Revelations, Revelations to Genesis, from Genesis to Revelations, from Revelations to Genesis. I studied to show myself approved unto God, a workman that needed not be ashamed and rightly divided the word of truth.
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B
Yeah.
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A
You know, and it became alive to me.
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B
Now, you originally, when you were in jail, because I'm reading the Bible because, like you said, trying to find a get out of jail free card or, you know, just get out of jail card.
- [28:55]
A
Yes.
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B
Now you're in prison.
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A
Yes.
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B
And it, the, the, the. The card failed in the sense that you're now in prison, but you're still reading his word.
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A
Yes.
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B
And was it different? Was it. Was it like, I'm still looking for a loophole? Or is it like, no, okay, God, you're the only thing I have now. Only want to have it.
- [29:14]
A
There you go. You the only thing I have. You the only one I have. My mother couldn't be there with me. She can come visit me. And at that time, my mother had kicked the drug habit. She. Right before I went to prison, she had kicked the drug habit. She had been to prison, and the Lord was just using her to work with my children, with myself. And she would write me every week, and I would talk to her on the phone. She would come visit me. And we built a bond. She became my hero and my inspiration. And as the Lord transformed my life, I was able to witness to her. And she gave her life to the Lord Jesus Christ.
- [29:55]
B
Through your witness.
- [29:56]
A
Through my witness, you know, and she had my grandmother and all that stuff, you know, but she. We built a bond, a spiritual bond that was unbreakable, you know, and it was very, very powerful.
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B
Wow.
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A
And she just gave it all to me. And so while I was in there, dedicated my life to the Lord, you know, so years, five years go by, you know, my children getting older, they ask questions, dad, when are you coming home? I don't know, but soon. And I became part of organizations in there to be able to help others I created a youth program in there called the Youth Deterrent Program, also known as Cared Straight and Not Scared Straight. Judges were sentencing young people to my program while I was in there. Really? And they was coming from the state of Ohio, coming throughout the whole state of Michigan, and we were able to be able to do some powerful work.
- [31:01]
B
Had you started this or was this something you joined while you were.
- [31:04]
A
I started it.
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B
Really?
- [31:05]
A
Yes.
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B
So Cared Straight.
- [31:07]
A
Yes. What originally it's called is the Youth Deterrent Program.
- [31:12]
B
Youth Deterrent Program. So students or young people who had been convicted would come to see you or those who had been guilty of, like, misdemeanor underage at risk, youth at.
- [31:21]
A
Risk from school, or sometimes not always at risk, you know, but people who need to have a powerful intervention. And so we would come in, circle them up in there. Even church groups would bring them in. Schools would bring them in. They come from the juvenile justice system. They was coming from everywhere. And we were be. We were able to. I had a team that we trained, was able to do some remarkable work in that space for a number of years. We had a summer job program. I was working with a good friend of mine, Sheldon Yellen. He is the CEO of Belfor. He had came in. He was on Undercover Boss. He had came in, and I was able to introduce him to Speak, and we develop a relationship, and he wanted to be able to do something to help some of our efforts. And so he was able to pay for a summer job program from behind prison bars for youth that were participating in our program.
- [32:22]
B
Wow. So I've seen Shared Straight stuff. How. How is Cared Straight different than, like, the scarab, the Scared Straight is? I've seen them come in and you just yell that and like that.
- [32:31]
A
That's abusive to me.
- [32:33]
B
Right. So what would you guys do that was different?
- [32:35]
A
We would sit down and just talk with them and engage with them and tell them our stories. We allowed them. We allowed them to see our wounds and our pain and identify with their struggles and was able to connect with them on that level because these young people are not scared of anything. They carrying AR15s, AK47s, and guns bigger than our bodies. And so what are they scared of?
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B
Right.
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A
You know, and so a lot of them have been abused and went through a lot of things. And so they need love. And so that's what we exposed them to, love. And we was able to listen to them. And. But one thing we need to always remember that children don't want to know how much we know. And do they know until they know how much we care.
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B
Yeah.
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A
You know, was you.
- [33:26]
B
You were 25 when you started that OR.
- [33:28]
A
I was about 25, 26 at that time. And I started off, I was in the NAACP in the Detroit branch and was able to organize programs under that umbrella. I began. I grew the ranks in the church there and became.
- [33:47]
B
So this is in prison still.
- [33:48]
A
It's still in prison. And I became the leader in the church service and which we were very, very organized. The Catholics are very organized.
- [33:57]
B
That's good.
- [33:59]
A
Behind prison bars, you know, very organized. And I was, you know, I was Protestant, but I had Catholic friends in there and we were very, very close knit. And I would visit their service, they would visit the Christians or the Protestant services. And we have good fellowship and we will walk in fellowship and love in there. We created a peaceful environment. In the prison I was In, I did 26 years at one prison.
- [34:25]
B
Really? You know, is that unusual?
- [34:27]
A
That's very unusual. You usually get. Move around. It's over almost. It was at that time was about 40 something prisons inside the Michigan Department of Corrections. And they. It's like sometimes the Bermuda Triangle, you know, on, on a, on a.
- [34:42]
B
No idea where you are.
- [34:43]
A
Right. You know, how did you.
- [34:45]
B
Why do you think you stayed there so long?
- [34:48]
A
Why do you think? It was the Lord. It was the Lord. And I'm right. In the city in which I was from, usually people will be miles and miles away from their families.
- [35:05]
B
But I was like, this is a.
- [35:07]
A
Prison in the city of Detroit in which I had the opportunity to be with my son and my daughter. And I mentored them and loved on them. My son graduated from Michigan State University. When he went to college, I got him a job there with a professor there who the governor had hired to come and assess our program on the inside. And he ended up hiring my son working there. My son went to college on the scholarships that I was able to help help him find. Not an academic scholarship, not a sports scholarship, but just scholarships that was out there. You know, the Comey Young Scholarship, the Rosa Parks scholarship, the Black Caucus foundation scholarship, and the list goes on. He graduated from Michigan State University without owing one dime.
- [36:00]
B
That's incredible.
- [36:01]
A
You know, and we was able to help him with the, the applications and we was able to help him critique the essays and all of that type of stuff and. But God does, you know, allow me to go in that space and you, you can ask everyone, you know, from the warden on down. I had so much favor, but I had a smile on my face because I wasn't looking for a get out of jail free card.
- [36:26]
B
Okay. So I just can imagine that at some level you're like, I know I'm here and I'm convicted of something I didn't do and the, the temptation to just have this resentment and bitterness. I was just like, no, I mean, I mean, I mean, imagine how many people. That makes them harder, right? That makes them, I mean, almost every story for some Jean Valjean, right? Les Miserables kind of idea of like, here's this guy like, no sold loaf of bread, but here he is in jail for 20 years and he becomes hardened to the world, hardened to the Lord, hardened to everyone around him. What was it that you're like, okay, I'm not going to choose bitterness, I'm not going to choose resentment. But in fact, you didn't even just choose yourself. Like there's, I can even just say, like, oh, no, okay, I'm not going to be bitter, but I'm going to just improve myself. Within years, you're already saying, how can I serve people in prison? So what spared you from resentment? And then what moved you to the place of like, I'm not just going to live for myself, I'm going to.
- [37:23]
A
Help people with the Lord Jesus Christ spared me from resentment once. I really dedicated my life to him and worship him for who he was and not for what he can do for me. That freed me, delivered me.
- [37:41]
B
Was it like that sense of, here's what he's done for me and so I can't. I mean, I am. If I would imagine this for myself, I'd be like, okay, I am guilty. Maybe not of what you've convicted me of for sure, but because of that, I can live in the freedom of what I'm guilty of. He set me free from.
- [37:55]
A
Yes.
- [37:57]
B
So that was, was that part of it?
- [37:58]
A
And then more, maybe that and much, much more. And so I said, if I was going to die in there, I was going to die fulfilling my purpose. I was not going to get a devil and the enemy the power to oppress me about being in there.
- [38:16]
B
Well, there's. That just blows my mind because how many people not in prison, how many people who are just, no, this is the life I live. But I can't do what God wants me to do because I'm stuck here. I'm stuck whether, you know, young people listening, I'm stuck in high school, I'm stuck in college, I'm stuck in this dead end job. So I can't do God's purpose in my life. And you're saying like, no, actually.
- [38:36]
A
You.
- [38:37]
B
Did more of God's purpose in prison than most people do outside of prison. Absolutely. How'd you start?
- [38:44]
A
Well, we created classes. We had a leadership development class. You know, we in there doing so much work that you get lost in the work. I got my case overturned in 2003. The same judge that sentenced me to life without the possibility of parole said I was wrongfully convicted and convicted on false and perjured testimony. And after a two and a half year hearing, we was going back and forth to court and he was like, let's get the prosecutor much rope they need. And so we. I. He overturned my case. The prosecutor at the time was the current mayor of the city of Detroit, Mike Duggan. And he was not going to appeal that decision. He ended up leaving the prosecutor office and went to the Detroit Medical center and a new prosecutor came in. Prosecutor Kim Worthy came in and her team executed appeal on. On the decision that was made by the judge. Yeah, they lost at first. Got it. They got it dismissed. And then they appealed some more and was able to get my conviction reinstated on procedural grounds.
- [40:02]
B
Okay.
- [40:03]
A
And so my family was devastated.
- [40:05]
B
Yeah. Yeah. So you got. You were cleared?
- [40:09]
A
Yes.
- [40:09]
B
And then they said the procedure was wrong.
- [40:11]
A
Yes, because it's saying that I didn't exhaust a remedy to be able to get there was all technical. And so, you know, my family's devastated and they was going through. But I went back to the prison.
- [40:24]
B
Wow. So would that. Sorry, I don't mean to interrupt you.
- [40:26]
A
No.
- [40:27]
B
Was that worse than the first?
- [40:29]
A
No, I had joy. Okay. Okay. When we say God is good all the time, it's true. You just say that? Yeah, I guess. Do you mean it?
- [40:38]
B
Right?
- [40:39]
A
Yeah. God is good all the time. And all the time, God is good. So I praise my way through that situation. I continue to give God the glory. I continue to study, to show myself approved. I continue to rely on the strength of the Lord, and I continue to fulfill my purpose in there. To be a blessing to the men and even the women in there. Because they had correctional guards, I was able to pray with and to minister to and help.
- [41:06]
B
So that sense of, like, I just came back, coming back to this, this notion of your faith in the Lord and your willingness to praise him was not conditional. It wasn't like God, if you get. If you gimme this or when you gimme this, I'm gonna give you the praise that you deserve. It's just win or lose, God, I praise you.
- [41:22]
A
Yeah.
- [41:23]
B
That is. No. In prison, did you have a mentor who helped you take that step or did you like the. The mentor was my word. Was the word or what was.
- [41:32]
A
I love that question. So I had a number of mentors. A guy named Joe Dixon. When I first got there, we would walk the yard and he would be feeding me the Word.
- [41:44]
B
Yeah.
- [41:45]
A
He opened up the Bible quotes, read scripture to me and show me how to get into the Word. I was able to order a Strong's concordance. Matthew Henry. Commentators study deeply. I ain't golf myself. I became a doctor. The Word, you know. And so I had a guy named Stan Nelson who was the help organize the naacp. He groomed me and I became a foot soldier, eventually became the leader for almost two decades in the naacp. I was preaching the gospel in there and all of those type of things. And my mother died within four years of my incarceration. Wow. Wow. And one day I'm on the bunk and it felt like I was about to die. Yeah. I was early 20s, four years in my incarceration. Didn't know my mother was dying. The deputy warden called me to her office and did something that she ain't supposed to do. She got the telephone and called the hospital and hand me the phone. And my mother is mumbling to me, telling me that she loved me.
- [43:00]
B
Wow.
- [43:00]
A
That's the last time I heard a voice, you know, and so. But that's another lot of favor, a lot of grace that God has given me in that space. And so she ended up dying the next day. And I tried to tough it out as the Christian poster dude, super saint.
- [43:18]
B
It doesn't bother me because I know that there's eternity. Like, no, but your heart's breaking.
- [43:22]
A
My heart is breaking. It's my mother, you know, So I, I had a breakthrough and God broke me in the cell and allowed me to release and give it all to him. And once I was able to break down and cry and go through that, and my mother ended up contracting HIV and she died of an AIDS related illness. And I didn't know that she was suffering and fighting for her life while she was fighting for her son. Yeah.
- [43:56]
B
While she was writing to you and visiting.
- [43:58]
A
Yeah.
- [43:59]
B
She was still.
- [43:59]
A
She was fighting for her life and she didn't allow her wounds to get in the way. To be able to get to her son and to be able to love on him and all of that. And she became my hero.
- [44:12]
B
Yeah.
- [44:13]
A
And that's why she, you know, she, you know, I. When I first found out that she died of AIDS related illness, I hit it for a minute, people like, how did your mother die? And, you know, I said, you know, she had pneumonia, which that wasn't all the way truthful. You know, it was because of the age that she caught pneumonia and her body broke down and all of that type of stuff. But when the Lord delivered me from the shame and said, I didn't go through that, my mother went through that, and she was a courageous individual. And so I became. I invited a group in called Gospel against against aids. And I was able to get them to share how you can track AIDS and HIV to the prison population. And I became a board member of Gospel Against AIDS while I was incarcerated and was able to get into other prisons and spread and raise moneys for their organization. I probably raised over a quarter of a million dollars for charitable causes while I was incarcerated.
- [45:21]
B
While you were incarcerated?
- [45:22]
A
Yeah, while I was incarcerated. And God graced me so much to do that. And so then she died. My grandmothers died years later, both of my grandmothers. And, you know, and so I said, you know, I had a purpose, you know, to continue to live out their legacy and to do something good with my life. And so I didn't allow my wounds to get in my way, just like my mother didn't allow her wounds to get in her way.
- [45:50]
B
Well, it seems even that sense of even your mom being such a great example of, okay, here is a. If someone were to, you know, press pause on a moment in her life, or even a couple years on her life, you'd say, oh, my gosh, how can you come back from this? Yes. And yet here is the Lord who delivered her from her addiction and brought her to this place of grace again, where. Where you can actually. I mean, you wanted to be with your mom at 12.
- [46:12]
A
Yes.
- [46:13]
B
And then be able to say, okay, now here I am. My mom is. She's clean and she's free. She's been restored, and she's there for you.
- [46:20]
A
Yes.
- [46:21]
B
In a way that's just him. Because that, I think so many times we can think of that. I think that our lives, if you just press pause like this is failure. It's the end. It's hopeless, but it's not over yet.
- [46:32]
A
I continue to worship, I continue to serve, I continue to love, and I continue to get poured in. I'm going to tell you this, prison ministry is real. It's powerful. One thing that the Catholic Church do very powerfully, they have not forgot about our brothers and sisters behind bars, you know, and as well as other ministries have been very, very Effective. And, you know, and as they were a part of the inspiration. You had Prison Fellowship, then you had Angel Tree, in which I have taken that on in the city of Detroit in a big way. And so. But all these people come in and pour it in, love. When your children for Angel Tree, they're getting presents for your children during Christmas time. But just every week, they coming in to pray with you and offering you communion and just hearing confessions and working with us. So God was behind prison bars through his ministers as well. But the people who were behind prison bars, you see the power of God radiating through them as they give their life to the Lord. So it was in 2018, 15 years.
- [47:54]
B
After, where you had the first.
- [47:56]
A
Absolutely. My back is against the wall. Went to the United States Supreme Court, went to the governor, and nothing happened. Now, this Republican governor, and he has some issues with the Flint water crisis and all of that type of stuff, he's not gonna be thinking about Darrell from Detroit. He has his own problems at that time. But I had called my pastor, or I reached out to my pastor at the time he comes in, and when he got there, he brought about 40 people in there. We baptized 18 people that day. Gang bangers on the ground, crying like babies. And he called me in the middle of the gym, and he said, I know you love him. I know you care about him. I know he's been a servant to you guys and he has helped you, but I got news for all of y'. All. His time is up. And he laid hands on me and prayed over me. The Lord told me in my spirit that this is the time. And so we left out of there. I was weak.
- [49:03]
B
He spoke that word of prophecy.
- [49:05]
A
Yes.
- [49:05]
B
Yeah.
- [49:06]
A
And so we. The next week, a young lady came to me, and she was a powerful singer. And after service, she came, walked up to me and said, the Lord told me to tell you to try again. And so I said, okay. You know, so it was a chalkboard in there. I wrote, try a game on the board. And the Lord just had me to do it, you know? And so we filed commentation. Before Governor Snyder, thousands of people did. Was able to get a hearing on July 11, and thousands of people was getting denied. Folks all around me had filed. They were getting denied. But I became the matrix. When they was telling me that they got denied, I'd be like, okay, get.
- [50:06]
B
Out of the way.
- [50:07]
A
This was the time he got that. I was like, okay. You know, I wasn't receiving it in my spirit. I would pray with them, I would hug them I would even weep with them. But that's not my story. Yeah. I was walking by faith and not by sight. I had that blessed assurance that everything was going to be all right. I just knew it in my spirit that this was the time and the season. And so God starts sending pastors to Governor Snyder and meeting with him on an annual basis. And they started saying my name to him to the extent that he was like, no, and we're not looking at it right now. You know, then I know Darryl.
- [50:51]
B
I know Darryl. I know that story.
- [50:53]
A
People bringing him up, but they kept doing it. Yeah. To the point where he started saying, I know Daryl woods, you know, but that's what the Lord, that's favor. That's God's favor. And he's using God's people to minister to the king. And so when it came became that time, like I said, they granted me a hearing. You know, I'm like, lord, I don't know how I'm gonna do this. I know I didn't kill anyone.
- [51:21]
B
Right.
- [51:22]
A
They granted me a public hearing. I told a few people that I was having one, and we made history in the Michigan Department of Corrections. They took me in shackles and chains to Jackson Prison and the room that they had us in, I walked in a room, it was full to capacity. And to the extent that the fire marshal had to shut down the room and two busloads of people couldn't get in.
- [51:50]
B
Wow.
- [51:52]
A
You had judges, you had lawyers, you had community people, you had the super saints in there. But on the front row, you had three mothers of the church on the front row. And the Lord let me see them. And when I saw that my spirit was settled.
- [52:12]
B
Yeah.
- [52:12]
A
And so. So the prosecutor, she sent a two page letter opposing my release and saying that you should not let him out. The attorney general on record said that I shouldn't be released. My son spoke in that hearing and he said, my father was not physically present, but his presence in my life made all the difference. And he just ripped it. The attorney general had a tear in the eye, and the Lord was moving in that space. I left there on the last day of the legislative year when the lights was out. The warden had asked me, have you heard anything? Thousands of people have been denied, thousands over all close to 6,000 petitions filed. I was serving at one of my jobs inside the prison. I was a GED tutor. The GED instructor asked me to go make a copy, put the paper in the machine. It was announced on WWJR radio that Governor Snyder just commuted a sentence of 26 people. I looked at the librarian and said, that's me. I left up out of there. I went down to the officer station and instructed the officer to go on the computer and pull up the commutations of Governor Snyder. I didn't know. I just did what was in my spirit.
- [53:44]
B
That makes sense.
- [53:45]
A
And the officer got on the computer, he scrolled all the way to the bottom of the list. And my name was the last name on the list. My last name Woods. But that's for the world. But I told everybody that the first would be last and the last would be first. And so I walked into the classroom, you know, like Lord Jesus, a stroke of a pen. Life without the possibility of parole was signed away. Yeah. And I went into the GED room and I called the instructor to the back room and I told her what happened. We both cried. I laid in her bosom like she was my mama. Yeah. And cried like a baby and then shook myself up, went back to the housing unit, got on the phone and informed my children that your daddy is coming home. Wow. And on 2 12, 2019, Lincoln's birthday, the first three digits of the prison number that they gave me was 212. I was able to walk out of the prison. I walked out. The son who was 1 years old became 30 years old and came out and retrieved his dad out of prison. Because you can only get one person to come in. I chose him. He came in and retrieved me out of prison and cried on my shoulder as if he was still that one year old.
- [55:23]
B
Yeah.
- [55:25]
A
And then we left up out of prison and the rest is history.
- [55:28]
B
That's incredible. That's amazing. Since you've been out, you have this organization fighting the good fight and you help returning citizens rebuild their lives with dignity. What have you found to be the most essential ingredient in helping those re entering society and those communities receiving them?
- [55:47]
A
Well, it's consistency, okay. It's all about love. You show me your faith. I show you my faith by my works. Well, with my works. The fact of the matter is, is that if you consistently engage with people and let them know that you love them, that you care about them and you are connecting them to resources and opportunity and you're praying with them and their families. I took my dis initiative as tied to juvenile detention facility. I started a program through the credible messaging program. Messaging program in which we have hired a number of credible messengers to deal with the youngsters there. So we did some family mediations. It was some young people in there and they're for $50 bonds because they had beasts with their moms and dad.
- [56:37]
B
But they're still, you know, in correctional facility.
- [56:40]
A
They're still in the correctional facility or inside the juvenile detention facility. And so we was able to facilitate the mediation. I just did one the other day. The everybody in the room was weeping.
- [56:52]
B
Yeah.
- [56:52]
A
And I'm a neutral person in the room. But the Lord showed up and showed out and we was able to pay the bond, give the family member the money for the bond but also connect them to community based resources and let them know that we're there to pray with them and walk it out with them. Yeah. Again it's all about consistency. You know I'd rather give you a fishing rod and then just a fish.
- [57:22]
B
Right. Wow, that's incredible. I like the, that sense of not just a handout here, here, but we're going to walk with you. I love even that word consistency. It answers so many of the questions of the community needs consistency.
- [57:34]
A
Yes.
- [57:35]
B
And those reentering society need consistency.
- [57:37]
A
Yes.
- [57:37]
B
I mean I just even think of your story and, and the number of people it's all of our stories but the number of people who kept showing up, up and giving another chance, showing up and like let's, let's walk with you now.
- [57:48]
A
Yes.
- [57:49]
B
You know especially I always go back to this place that mercy is. It's the, it's a special kind of love. Mercy is the love that we deserve the least but need the most.
- [58:00]
A
Absolutely.
- [58:01]
B
Like I've disqualified myself and. But no, okay, here's the mercy you get because you don't deserve it. Yeah, you're right. You disqualified yourself but you need it. And that's what it sounds like. Fighting the good fight is doing and credible witnesses, that's credible messengers, messengers.
- [58:15]
A
And so it's people who have been justice impacted, able to train them, to hire them to help others. Something that they do for free anyway and they make a living out of it. And so I work with Mitch Albom as well. We started an initiative called Better Together. And when we talking about building bridges where the police and the community bringing them together and playing, having officers come in playing clothes and going into the schools and be able to have dinners with them. They don't know who each other are.
- [58:54]
B
Yeah.
- [58:56]
A
And we did it with gang bangers, people who believe in defunding the police and all of those type of things. We launched this in the midst of the George Floyd crisis. Cause Mitch said man, we gotta do something. He went to the mayor, the mayor connected him with me and we put this init and we have done it over a hundred some times. And you have police officers who've built relationships with gang members, and they still intact to this day.
- [59:26]
B
Building those bridges.
- [59:27]
A
Building those bridges, you know, because it's about communication, hearing each other. At the end of the day, we want to make sure that everybody have a quality life, you know, and bringing love into that, into those situations and just bringing that human touch there. I see Father Mike. I can't see your collar right now.
- [59:51]
B
Right. It's behind the mic.
- [59:53]
A
It's behind the mic. I can't see it. Yeah, right.
- [59:55]
B
You see the person.
- [59:56]
A
I can see the person. I see Father Mike or I see Mike.
- [59:59]
B
Right.
- [59:59]
A
You know, my man Mike. You know, we have a conversation about how good that coffee is.
- [60:04]
B
Yeah.
- [60:05]
A
How good this jerk chicken is. And the football game and the basketball game, just like we was talking out there. And we start understanding each other a little bit more. Yeah. You know, and so we have to engage on that level, you know, not on what that.
- [60:20]
B
Not the things that on the surface divide us.
- [60:22]
A
That's right.
- [60:23]
B
But what connects us, which is the humanity.
- [60:25]
A
Yes.
- [60:25]
B
In that sense of that we actually believe that we're united in the belief that I want to make the world better for someone else.
- [60:33]
A
We turn to each other, not on each other.
- [60:35]
B
That's awesome. Another question is. So I'm partnering here with the Catholic initiative.
- [60:40]
A
Yes.
- [60:41]
B
And one of the parts. One of the core parts of their model is to create communities. I'll say it like this. I'll read it. Actually, one of the core parts of the model is to create community hubs to support parishioners and the surrounding communities that are most vulnerable. So you have, like, parishes around Detroit. You have parishes in any small or large community. From your perspective, what role should the church have in bringing communities together in ways that support returning citizens so they can break the cycle? So what role should the church have specifically when it comes to helping returning citizens break that cycle of like, you know, revolving door kind of situation? I got out, but I'm going right back in.
- [61:30]
A
Well, there's a lot of returning citizens coming back home without a home.
- [61:35]
B
Yeah, yeah. Imagine, you know, and so where do you go?
- [61:38]
A
Right. And so there's a barrier there. If we figure out ways to be able to make sure that giving people an opportunity to live somewhere.
- [61:48]
B
Yeah.
- [61:48]
A
You know, the fact of the matter is, is that you had a lot of laws on the book that discriminates against returning citizen. And Detroit passed a Fair Chance Housing act, where, you know, you Cannot discriminate against returning citizens who want to rent somewhere to stay. And then some of them don't even can't afford these places or whatever. But I think this, you're spot on on a larger point because I just, I shared with you that I called a number of pastors and these are some strong pastors to the spirit of Detroit. A couple weeks ago I went to a funeral of a 15 year old that was shot and killed. I went to a funeral of a 13 year old that was shot and killed. I went to a funeral of a six year old that was shot and killed. I went to a funeral of a four year old that was shot and killed. And I went to the hospital bed of a two year old that was shot in the chest and bullet inches away from the heart.
- [62:49]
B
Wow.
- [62:49]
A
Okay. And sometimes it's children who pulled the trigger. And so the church has a more responsibility to wrap their arms around the victims as well as the shooters so that we can prevent this.
- [63:07]
B
Yeah.
- [63:07]
A
And so we. When I called those pastors, I was. This was within less than a month. Within a month time.
- [63:15]
B
All of these few.
- [63:17]
A
Yes. You know, and recently, just recently. And so when I called them, the Lord just told me this young lady called me and she was crying and said, we got to do something about this. I said, okay, okay, okay, all right, we gonna do something. And the Lord had told me to call people in for prayer first and foremost. But he said again, faith without works is dead being alone. And so he gave me a call to action and is right in line with this initiative. And I told the people during this time, I sent you the tape that we have to adopt every school in the city of Detroit.
- [63:59]
B
The church community.
- [64:00]
A
The church community adopt every school. The church community has to adopt every school in the city of Detroit. If a child do not have a bed to sleep in, we have to make sure that they have a bed to sleep in. If there's food insecurity in that school with some of the family members, we have to meet that need. And it's not the church. You bring the church, the business, the philanthropic community together. If a child is truant from school, then we need to go knock on the door and be able to minister to that family to get the child back into school. If the parents or the guardian is not working and have that struggle, then we bring in workforce development, get them to job training and get them placed into jobs. And again, this is a fishing rod mentality. We're not looking for give handouts. We giving hand ups, you know, we gonna give a hand up. Sometimes you have to give a hand up to get through the day. To get through the day. You know, but just about empowering the people and being able to bring the resources in there and also making sure that every school have a peace curriculum inside the school to be able to teach them peace. Because they learn violence every single day.
- [65:19]
B
Right.
- [65:19]
A
Every single day. They learn violence through the tv, through the video games, sometimes at home, sometimes street.
- [65:27]
B
So that sense of you adopt a school is not just the idea of adopting the school. Like we're gonna, I mean prayer is real. We know prayer helps. And so that, yeah, we're pray for this particular school, but also means like to your point before, we're gonna make ourselves available.
- [65:43]
A
Yes.
- [65:44]
B
At some, some way shape or form. We're gonna be available to those who have get food insecurity, don't have a place to sleep, who have troubled, you know, experience violence after. Outside the school hours.
- [65:56]
A
Yes.
- [65:57]
B
Yeah, that's. Or even just like, you know, your own, your own story, part of your story. Which is. Okay, so my mom's absent right now.
- [66:04]
A
Yeah.
- [66:05]
B
And, and even just that tragedy of almost in some ways you say she was on track and then your dad died.
- [66:12]
A
Yes.
- [66:13]
B
And that sense of like, you know, any one of us could go into a spiral like this. Unless there's someone like actual churches who say, hey, we see this is happening right now. Yeah, if we just did something, we're.
- [66:26]
A
Going to be the super fire Bobby in that line. Exactly right. You know, I'm telling you, I know that this is very, very powerful and I know that the Lord is going to move in a powerful way in this situation. I was talking to a principal before I came here earlier. I gave. The Lord blessed us to be able to give them 300 backpacks for these students coming in with supplies. But we're going to be there and I said we're gonna map this thing out where we went through the entire school year and we gonna figure out not just today, not just today because, you know, we don't wanna put lipstick on a pig.
- [67:05]
B
Right.
- [67:05]
A
You know, we don't wanna just give you a backpack and you don't know how to read or you don't know how to write or you going home to chaos. We need to minister to the children and their families and even to the educators. We undergird them in these hubs and say, hey, the. It's these 10 schools in this particular hub. We're going to minister to all these schools and we're going to have a team available to be able to respond to the needs of the people in these schools. Wow.
- [67:40]
B
And we're just going to start.
- [67:42]
A
Just do it.
- [67:42]
B
Start doing it. Awesome. Praise God. That's incredible. Thank you.
- [67:48]
A
Yes, sir.
- [67:50]
B
Darrell, is it okay if I just ask you? You've been doing so much again in the world, and people would hear your story and say, I want to be part of this. If they want to find out more about what you're doing, where would you tell them to look, whether online or where should they go? If they want to be part of what you're doing in this world, you can go to.
- [68:08]
A
You can email me. First and foremost, Darrel Woods. D A, R R Y L W O O D S S R. That's Darrell Wood srmail.com. you can also go on, say Detroit Better Together on the website there and see the work that we do with Better Together. And if you just Google me, is a ton of content is going to come up. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
- [68:35]
B
Thank you so much. I have one last question. It's a question that we ask all of our guests, and it is. It's this. It's. Someone came to you and said, darrell, I want to live out God's presence in the world, but I have no idea where to start. What would you tell him?
- [68:51]
A
Start with the gospel, Matthew 25. You know, we quoted all the time.
- [68:58]
B
All the time.
- [68:59]
A
But if we. If we live that. Yeah, I was hungry, you fed me. I was naked. You clothed me. I was sick. And you visited me. I was in prison. You visited me. If we live that humanity, the world would be a much better place. I would say start with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and allow the gospel to lead and guide you and hold on to Matthew, chapter 25. I went from being a prisoner and now being able to walk around with this, you know, as. Yeah. As a police commissioner where we have full oversight of the Detroit Police Department. I don't. I'm not that good. It's all the Lord. If you let go and let God and get out your own way, God will make a way and he'll show you the way.
- [69:52]
B
Well, sound seems like you're saying just like, just start.
- [69:55]
A
Just start.
- [69:56]
B
Do what Jesus said to do. Just start.
- [69:58]
A
Yes.
- [69:58]
B
If there's someone hungry, feed them.
- [70:00]
A
Yes.
- [70:00]
B
If someone's sick, visit them, take care of them. Someone in the prison, go visit.
- [70:04]
A
Yes.
- [70:05]
B
Just like, get out of your own way.
- [70:06]
A
Yes.
- [70:07]
B
God makes a way.
- [70:08]
A
Yes.
- [70:08]
B
I. Darrell, I thank you so much.
- [70:10]
A
I'm.
- [70:10]
B
I Just not only for this time, but thank you for just this witness. Incredible witness. As even as you're sharing a little bit of your story. Before we started recording, I talked to people. They're like, yeah, I started crying. I just, like, I couldn't even imagine. Not just because of the, the. The depths of like, like distress and suffering you went through, but the God's grace was there and the fact that he has transformed not just you, but transformed people through you. Thank you so much. Thanks for your witness.
- [70:38]
A
Thank you.
- [70:39]
B
This is incredible. Just wanted to all of the people who have been listening joining us, we're just going to say a prayer quick and then we're just going to close. So let's just pray. In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit of men, Father in heaven, you, through your word, Jesus Christ have told us what to do. You've told us that when you are in prison, that we visited you or we didn't. That when you were hungry, we fed you or we didn't. That when you were naked, we clothed you or we didn't. That when you were sick, we cared for you or we didn't. And Lord God, we ask you to please give us the spirit, the spirit that has filled Darrell in his life, incarcerated and out of prison, that same holy spirit that just allows us to see the people around us and make ourselves available to them.
- [71:20]
A
Them.
- [71:21]
B
Lord God, please give us that spirit, the spirit that lives in Daryl, the spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, the spirit that you poured out on the face of the earth to renew this planet and to renew our culture, to also renew our own hearts. Give us that spirit now and always. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
- [71:40]
A
Amen.
- [71:40]
B
Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Amen. You guys, thank you for listening to the called podcast. If you want to share this with someone that you think needs the encouragement to like to hear Darrell's story, please feel free to share this with them, with anyone you think would be. Would be blessed by hearing his story. It would be so incredible if you did that. Also, if you know the story of someone who has lived out their faith, like Daryl, and in the ways that like allows Jesus hands and feet to be present, his heart to be present in this world. You can contact us at in the the web address is this. It's infohecatholicinitiative.org so just email infohecatholicinitiatives.org and share their story with us so we can share their story with the entire rest of the world. Because the truth is this. She's like Daryl, just like me. You've been called. It's time to answer that call. God bless.
- [72:37]
A
Sam.