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It all started with one priest writing letters to just one man behind bars. Now, sixteen years later, 21 Orthodox clergy and laity serve 69 people in four different prison facilities across Michigan.

The growth was small at first, almost non-existent for nearly the first decade of his ministry and coming to a complete standstill in the COVID-19 shutdown. But OCPM Michigan remained faithful. “Out of the blue” Fr. Michael Bassett received a letter from a man asking for guidance in becoming an Orthodox Christian. He
wasn’t even from one of the facilities OCPM-Michigan was already serving. By the time Fr. Michael, Dn. Michael Schlaack, and Dn. Luke Gonser had completed the required volunteer registration and orientation, there were already eight other men waiting for them on their first day inside. Week-by-week, there could be as many as 15 men wanting to speak with an Orthodox priest.

But God was just getting started. Not long afterward, Fr. Michael received word of a group of 50-80 men in another facility in the Upper Peninsula who had all registered themselves as Orthodox Christians. On his first visit, he could see pretty quickly this was a facade: a group of Protestant Christians had labeled themselves with a yet unused Christian denomination, “Orthodox,” to separate themselves from other Protestants in the facility, but had never actually encountered the Orthodox Church. Though Fr. Michael’s first visit was understandably awkward, he nevertheless chose to meet these men with compassionand gentleness. “Whatever theological or spiritual questions they have, we are putting relationships above anything else,” says Fr. Michael. “You have to build a foundation of trust before anyone will listen seriously to
a word you say.” Now, Fr. Michael and Dn. Luke visit six of these inmates to offer an authentic Orthodox service.

Between the four facilities, Fr. Michael and Dn. Luke drive over 400 miles every week to meet face-to-face with men in prison. “I often ask myself, what in the world are we doing?” he laughs. “It’s easy to feel like we are on a street corner, standing and preaching to a crowd. And more keep coming! But this is not about us at all,” he says. “God is preparing for Himself a great harvest. We have a small role, which we don’t fully understand.”