VALDOSTA — Inmates at Valdosta State Prison gave testimony Sunday about how their lives were affected by the Kairos Prison Ministry. Kairos volunteers from the Valdosta community spent Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday in “intensive interaction” with the inmates that consisted of “a structured presentation of Christ’s love for them,” said Kairos volunteer Jimmy Whatley.

“The attitude in prison is to put a shell around yourself,” Whatley said.

Whatley’s nickname at the prison is the “Turkey Man,” because he gives a presentation using a turkey call or “mouth yupper.” Whatley uses the metaphor of the turkey, an animal with extremely keen senses, to show what happens when people deviate from what God intended, he said.

Sunday’s fourth day closing ceremony in the prison gym was the culmination of the weekend-long spiritual retreat. Forty-two inmates were selected to participate based on questionnaires filled out earlier. During the retreat, Kairos volunteers and inmates are divided into “families” named after Biblical figures, such as Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, etc. The presentation includes 14 talks, Whatley said. Kairos members also bring in three meals a day during that time.

“On about Saturday morning,” Whatley said, “they’ll ask, ‘What’s in this for you?’ And we say we love you.”

That’s the moment when many of the inmates present will have an “Ahhh moment,” he said, when they feel God’s unconditional love.

Inmates were given three questions to answer during the retreat, i.e. what was their spiritual condition when they entered the prison, what did they experience during the retreat, and what would they take away from the weekend.

Some of the inmates who shared their answers to the three questions said they were angry, lost, confused, lonely, depressed, and spiritually broken when they first came to Valdosta State Prison.

Regarding what they had experienced, one inmate said “”I realized I got to love because God loves me and so I got to love others.”

Another inmate said the interaction with Kairos volunteers had taught him to recognize and honor the humanity in others. His statement drew applause from the other inmates.

“It really is a blessing to see God work on the hearts of those men,” Whatley said.

One goal of the prison ministry is that those inmates who participate will take the spiritual message to others in the institution, thereby improving the overall culture at the prison, Whatley said.

Kairos has significantly improved the recidivism rate in U.S. prisons. Approximately four out of five prison inmates generally return to prison, said Jim Miller, state chairman of Kairos of Georgia. Of the inmates who participate in Kairos, only one or two return, he said. Miller and others at Sunday’s gathering encouraged participants to maintain the spiritual gains made during the retreat.

One of those in Whatley’s group, called the family or table of Saint Luke, handed him a letter on Sunday morning that read, “I have been to all kind of religious programs and churches and Bible studies, but none of them convinced me to let my guard down,” until Kairos.

There are more than 30,000 Kairos volunteers working in 321 prisons in the U.S., Miller said.