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Your Church in Action 

 For God, nothing is ever off the radar 

April 15, 2019

Dennis Tranter is the chaplain at Tamworth prison, but it's been a winding path getting there.

Long and winding road: Tamworth's prison chaplain Dennis Tranter.

"I used to be a heavy drinker," Mr Tranter admits.

"Our local Bible Basher took me out for coffee. I responded by pouring a cup of coffee on his Bible.

But he never gave up on me. In the end I said, 'Leave me alone and I'll go to church with you.'

I intended to only go once. But these guys were different.They had a coffee shop.

I'd spend half of Sunday at the pub and then I'd go back and terrorise those guys in the coffee shop.

But nothing would offend them.

Their constant acceptance turned me towards God.

I thought, 'If I can't offend these blokes no matter how hard I try, then I reckon I can't offend God.'

That realisation did the trick.

And it's a truth that translates to the blokes in prison.

They're ordinary blokes, but they're busted and they've got no way of knowing how to fix it.

They need to hear that no matter what you've done, God still accepts you.

I'm also there for the staff.

They might be rocked by a death in custody or a hard time at home.

Any person, anywhere needs someone to talk to, and the chaplain's there.

The managers are supportive and encouraging.

They see there's a need for a chaplain.

One guy became a Christian and his cellmate saw the change that it made to him and then he started reading the Bible.

That's the thing about working for God.

There's never anything that's off the radar."

This article appeared in the Tamworth paper and The Northern Daily Leader