Friends of Sinners alumnus Jordan Wilson published a book last year about his previous drug addiction and how his faith in Christ set him free. After a handful of inspirational events, Wilson is now on his way to donating a copy of his book to every jail, prison, and juvenile detention center in the country.
Wilson is the development director of Owensboro’s Friends of Sinners and the Youth Director of Henderson’s His Church. Managing two jobs and having two young children, Wilson wrote in the little free time that he had.
The book, titled Jesus > Drugs, was published 6 months ago. Three months later, Wilson decided to donate a copy of his book to Daviess County Detention Center. Wilson had a friend who was an inmate at the jail. Wilson had high hopes that his friend would read the book, and that it would give him and anyone else who read it hope.
That same day, Wilson’s pastor sent him a text message that said he had mail at the church. Although he was a part-time staff member, he never received mail there. The pastor opened the letter and sent a picture to Jordan.
It was a letter from a young man in drug rehab. The young man wrote Wilson a letter stating that he read the book and was surrendering his life to Jesus.
That’s when Wilson got the idea to donate a copy of his book to every jail, prison, and juvenile detention center in the country. Wilson and his wife Kayley started researching how many facilities there were in the U.S. then calculated how much money it would cost to send one book to each facility.
According to Wilson, there are approximately 5,000 facilities across the United States, and the cost to get the books printed and shipped to each one would cost roughly $8 each. Though he said it seemed like a huge task, Wilson and his wife were committed. He created a GoFundMe account and made a Facebook post about his goal. More than $5,000 has been donated so far, and several people from across the country have sponsored entire states.
Beyond the financing, the project itself is a lot of work for Wilson and his wife. They order the books, package them, stuff a letter in the bag, and are almost daily at the post office shipping books.
So far, 20 states have been completely funded. Six of those states are finished, meaning each facility has already received a free copy of Wilson’s book.
Wilson and his wife have set a goal of finishing the project within the year.
“I just want people to have hope,” he said. “There is a way out of addiction and the answer is Jesus. If just one person is changed by reading this book, then all of our hard work was worth it.”
Wilson’s story has been so captivating, a film producer in Los Angeles reached out to him about turning the book into a feature film. Wilson said the funds are currently being raised to create this film. Anyone who would like to partner with Wilson to send a copy of the book can visit the GoFundMe link here or reach out to him through Facebook.
