Death Row Chaplain, with Earl Smith

“In October 1975, I was shot six times. And while I was on the hospital gurney, doctor told me I was going to die. I heard a very clear voice that spoke to me and said, you're not going to die. You're going to be a chaplain at San Quentin prison.” (Chaplain Earl Smith)

Chaplain Earl Smith believes that ministry to the incarcerated is about so much more than rehabilitation. It’s about regeneration. Using the power of his own story of transformation from gang member to pastor, Chaplain Smith has maintained a faithful presence and witness for many decades of pastoral service to the incarcerated at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, and now to professional athletes (including the Golden State Warriors, San Francisco 49ers, and the San Francisco Giants).

Today on the show Mark Labberton and Chaplain Earl Smith discuss the moral and spiritual factors of prison chaplaincy and ministry for those on death row; the meaning of freedom and education; how he ministered to the leader of the Aryan Brotherhood; the difference that positive mentoring and coaching makes in young people’s lives; and the transformative power of the gospel to go beyond rehabilitation to regeneration.

About Earl Smith

Born and reared in Stockton, California, the cycle of events in Earl’s life came to a head in 1975 when he was shot 6 times while living the life of a minor gangster. Although expected to die, Earl’s father’s faith, prayers, and love seemed to bring him through. The words of his father have motivated him, since that event, “you are a rebel, but you are God’s rebel, and God is going to use you to His glory.”

In 1983, at the age of 27, Earl became the youngest person ever hired as a Protestant Chaplain by the California Department of Corrections.

He is author of Death Row Chaplain: Unbelievable True Stories from America's Most Notorious Prison.

Chaplain Smith currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer for Franklin Home, a Transition Living/Reentry Home for men and is the Team Pastor for the San Francisco 49ers’ and the Golden State Warriors. From 1998 to 2006 Chaplain Smith was the Chapel Leader for the San Francisco Giants. Chaplain Smith has ministered to teams playing in NFL Super Bowls, MLB World Series and NBA Championships. In 2000, Chaplain Smith was recognized as the National Correctional Chaplain of the Year.

Chaplain Smith has appeared on numerous broadcasts, including HBO, CNN, The 700 Club, Trinity Broadcasting Network and The History Channel. Earl has been featured in Christianity Today, Ebony, Guidepost, Ministry Today, Newsweek, People’s Weekly, The African Americans and Time.

Show Notes

• Get your copy of Death Row Chaplain: Unbelievable True Stories from America's Most Notorious Prison
• How Mark and Chaplain Smith met
• The value of education
• “I had to stop my education because of the execution schedule at San Quentin.”
• How Earl Smith got into prison chaplaincy
• “In October 1975, I was shot six times. And while I was on the hospital gurney, doctor told me I was going to die. I heard a very clear voice that spoke to me and said, you're not going to die. You're going to be a chaplain at San Quentin prison.”
• What San Quentin prison is like
• “We used to call San Quentin the Bastille by the Bay. The thing that really stood out for me was the fact that for 13 of the first 16 months I was there, the prison was locked down. The day I interviewed, two people were killed, so they stopped my interview twice. So I understood where I was. I understood the context of confinement. What I also went in there understanding was. It was not about rehabilitation. It was about regeneration.”
• “I believe that that's part of chaplaincy is not to allow the confines of the wall to dictate who you are.”
• A sense of liberty
• Fear and reality
• Earl Smith’s ministry to the leader of the Aryan Brotherhood
• How faith shaped a capacity to be free from fear for the sake of love
• Mass incarceration and the new Jim Crow
• The drug epidemic and its impact on mass incarceration
• “How can you help us prepare these guys to come home?”
• “Whether you're on condemned role, if you have a life without the possibility of parole, or life sentence, or whatever it is, my job is still to share the same gospel message.”
• “Present your body as a living sacrifice.”
• Pastoral care in the prison system
• Calling prisoners by their first names instead of their numbers
• “When you've done it onto the least of these, you've done it to me, so there's a value in your presence.”
• Chaplaincy to professional athletes
• “The states that have the largest prison systems are also the states that send the most professional athletes in the pro sports.”
• Golden State Warriors and San Francisco 49ers
• The difference that positive mentoring and coaching makes in young people’s lives
• “Every man wants someone to acknowledge there's something positive in what you're doing.”
• “They May Know Your Number, But God Knows Your Name” (Clifton Jansky, country western singer)
• God’s way of paying attention to us; “how vested God is in our pursuit of being fully human” (reference to Marilynne Robinson)
• Performance and identity (reference to Ben Houltberg)
• Jerry Rice, #80 and “who wore the number before you?”
• Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Athletes in Action
• “God is a relational God. … Sports is relational.”
• When did chaplaincy in sports become a thing?
• Pat Ritchie’s chaplaincy
• Understanding the value and difference chaplaincy makes
• Documentary and Film Adaptation: Death Row Chaplain
• “A story not of rehabilitation but regeneration”
• “That's really what the story is about. Some of my yesterday, some of my today. And what I believe to be my tomorrow.”

Production Credits

Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment Magazine and Fuller Seminary.