About
Bio
Hi, my name is Kathy Lang. I was born in Chicago and still live in the great state of Illinois. Although I had a troublesome teenage experience, soon after high school I became a Christian. I started nursing school and became a nurse in 1978 and worked in the operating room for almost 30 years.
I have been married to my husband Joe for 20 years. I have one daughter who is 17 yrs old. I also have a 35 year old son who was placed for adoption in 1973. Being only 16 at the time I wasn’t prepared and felt adoption was the best choice I could make for my son.
As a result of my own troubled teenage experience I care deeply for hurting teenagers and want them to know “The One” who loves them best, Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior.
I started working in a teenage correctional facility 3 years ago. It was a new experience in nursing that has been very challenging yet at the same time very rewarding. My greatest desire is to see as many teens as I possibly can come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior—too see none perish. This is His heart and now it is mine as well.
I believe God has given me something very special to share with these kids. I share my life, my heart and His Love through His Word the Holy Bible. He tells us to go to the least of these. Go is the operative word. Those in prison can’t come to us. We must go to them.
Caring for them as Jesus would is what I have been called to do. Won’t you help me give them the only thing that matters—the only thing capable of setting them free…won’t you help me give them His Word the Holy Bible. By having His Word they can experience freedom even though they reside behind fences of imprisonment. Help me give them the Word and be part of Freedom with Fences.
Thank you so much for visiting Bibles for Prisoners. I pray that you have been a blessed, encouraged and challenged during your visit here. Keep checking in and see first hand what God is doing behind bars.
God Bless
Kathy Lang
Kathy Lang & Her Heart For The Least Of "These"
I would like to introduce you to Kathy Lang, a person who is making a difference in the lives of the least of these. She is fulfilling the heart of Jesus and the scripture (Matthew 25:44-45).
Excerpt
"There are forces out there recruiting our troubled kids, and they will be destroyed unless someone cares for the least of these. God has a plan for them. I call them my prison babies, because in my heart I pray for them with a passion of a praying mom for her child. I don’t know if anyone in their life prays for them. So many of them don’t have a chance without God intervening in their lives…"
Meet Kathy Lang
The Call
Well, it is a cool story how the Lord called me. My whole story is quite amazing, but I will give you the short version. I am an operating room nurse, a LPN and a certified surgical technologist. I have been LPN since 1978, a CST since 1982 and worked in surgery for twenty-five years. I work as needed in the OR and they didn’t need me very much because they built a new operating room. I needed to look for more work, so I applied at a nursing agency and they wanted me to fill in at a prison and I promptly said, "NO!" For one I had no experience and two, I was scared.
The Surrender, "I Will Do It"
A few days later I went on vacation with my family and brought my teenage niece along. On the 6 hour drive I told her my testimony and shared everything of how the Lord got a hold of me. In the back ground the song from Keith Green was playing and he was singing the Matthew 25 verses where the sheep and the goats are being judged by the Lord and the part where I WAS IN PRISON AND YOU LET ME ROT THERE! Those words struck an arrow deep in my spirit. Ouch that hurt!
During the remaining 10 days of vacation I heard or read something about prison and the Lords heart for prisoners either in my Bible reading, by radio, or preacher, so I told the Lord, "I will do it."
Persistence Never Gives Up
When I arrived home from vacation I called the agency and told them I would take the job. They told me the position had been filled. I chose not to be daunted and began praying for the Lord’s direction.
I live close to a girl’s maximum security prison so I called the Medical Unit and talked with the head nurse. She said they were interested but the state no longer hires nurses, but a medical group does, so she gave me their phone number. I called, but they did not call me back. So every few weeks I would leave messages letting them know I was still interested.
After a couple months I was driving back from the grocery store at 9pm and I told my daughter as we were driving past the girl’s prison to stretch out her hand toward the prison. We prayed for the Lord to remove the barrier, pledging faithfulness to pray till He opened the door or gate in this case. Twelve hours to the minute the company who hires nurses called at 9am the next morning. I knew it was the Lord and I started there the next month.
The Eye Opener
When I started there they showed me movies and documentaries of drugs, gangs, violence and psychiatric problems. What an eye opener! As I walked past a line of girls one popped out of line and said, "We hate you!"
I cried out to God as I picked up my daughter at her Christian school, "It’s not fair Lord!" I gave my daughter everything pertaining to You! These girls have not had what my daughter has been given. I asked Him not to even it up on my end, but to even it up on their end.
Jesus gave me this verse, "Those people lived in darkness, but they will see a great light. They lived in a place dark as death, but a great light will shine on them" (Isaiah 9:9).
Help In Time Of Need
While working there, I was able to get a group of ladies from the pregnancy information center to come and give the girls teaching on the abstinence message and equip the ladies with bibles and devotionals for the girls. I went to a publisher in Wheaton, IL that produces the Living translation and they donated what they could.
I also called Moody publishers in Chicago and they gave me a number of a company in Fort Worth Texas called World Bible Translation Center. They produce Bibles in nineteen different languages, sending them all over the globe. Of these 19 translations, one is a Bible called the Easy Read Version which is prison friendly. Just what I needed.
The other cool thing was the Bibles I could acquire for the prisons were funded by a grant and they would only charge me shipping and if they could not supply the grant they would reduce the price. People from my church helped me pay for these.
With God All Things Are Possible
So far I have placed approximately 4000 bibles in different prisons in my area. First I placed 330 in the girl’s prison, then several hundred in the boy’s prison. I now work in a county prison for both boys and girls ages 11-17. I let them know the Bibles are for them and I teach them how to start reading the Word.
I was also able to send 1000 Bibles to a ladies prison and I am now sending many Bibles to a men’s prison in Joliet. The Chaplains there told me unless Bibles are donated they don’t have any. The need for Spanish Bibles is great and the Easy to Read version comes in Spanish, so I am able to send those too.
Lives Are Changed
While working as a nurse I have the opportunity to speak with many of the kids. When given the chance to state their religious preference on my form, many say they don’t have one. One boy in particular told me he was a Satanist. I said to him," Cool! God made satan, if satan is real, God is real! You just have it backwards. Throw satan out and put God on the throne."
He looked at me funny, surprised at my response. As a matter of fact, so was I but none the less I told him about the Bibles and how they were for him. I explained to him how to start reading the Bible. He declined my offer politely. I let him know it was OK and if he changed his mind they were available to him.
A week later while doing sick call I had the opportunity to see this young boy again. He was so happy to see me and said, "Miss. I am glad it is you here. I got one of the Bibles and I read it as you said." He asked me, "Did you know that there is a Paul in the Bible?" His first name was Paul. He proceeded to tell me how he had prayed for the first time and what he prayed for.
I was so excited to see how God’s word touches these precious ones whom He loves dearly.
I have so many other stories of kids, for instance, one girl who told me she quit her gang, burned the tattoo off her arm and was reading the Bible. One boy drew a crown on the wall with his gang leaders name in it. I told him, "Nice crown, for King Jesus."
He laughed at my words saying it was the name of his gang leader. Taking advantage of the opportunity I always told him there is no king but King Jesus.
The Great Current Need
There is a great need to get Bibles in prisons and ministries. It is not easy to get in to the system, but if you are called Jesus will make a way. There are forces out there recruiting our troubled kids, and they will be destroyed unless someone cares for the least of these. God has a plan for them. I call them my prison babies, because in my heart I pray for them with a passion of a praying mom for her child. I don’t know if anyone in their life prays for them. So many of them don’t have a chance without God intervening in their lives.
They go back home and end up right back in the patterns that got them in trouble. My heart breaks for some of the ones that are so hard. Many of them cry in my medical office. And you know—it breaks Gods heart too.
Kathy’s Present and Future Needs
Kathy is in the process of working on her tax exempt status and wants to get the word and the WORD out. There are so many in our prisons who have limited reading skills because of many problems such as drugs, gangs, and violence. The Easy Read Version of the Bible is one which prisoners can understand and relate to. We encourage you to check out the World Bible Translation Center.
You Can Help!!!!!
If you would like to contribute in some way to the cause of Christ through Kathy please contact me brenda@journalsoftheheart.com
You can also contribute through our donation page. Please specify Kathy Lang’s Prison Babies and the monies be transferred to Kathy. At this time your donations will not be tax exempt. Whether you contribute financially or not we covet your prayers for Kathy and her ministry.
