Jordan Wilson, a convicted drug dealer who is now nearly 7 years drug free, published a book last year about his previous addiction and how his faith in Christ set him free. Wilson recently completed his goal of 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, a Christ-centered drug recovery program.
After six months of his book Jesus > Drugs: The Only War Won by Surrender being published, 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.
Wilson said he and his wife Kayley felt God call them to donate a copy of his book to every jail, prison and juvenile detention center in the entire country. They researched how many facilities there were in the U.S. then calculated how much money it would cost to send one book to each facility — a total that added up to approximately $50,000.
The couple created a GoFundMe, purchased a large map of the U.S., and made a simple Facebook post sharing the goal.
“The online support was unbelievable,” Wilson said. “People were donating the costs to cover every facility in entire states.”
When an entire state was fully financed, Jordan and Kayley outlined the state in a permanent marker. When the books were shipped in that state, the couple colored the state in red.
Wilson’s mom and a local Bible study volunteered their time, helping package and ship the books. A friend from South Carolina researched all of the facilities addresses and emailed them to Wilson.
The entire project from start to finish lasted 5 months and took a total of $41,000 to fund, with 5,051 books shipped across the country. Wilson said he often receives emails from jail chaplains and letters from inmates.
“My wife and I have not kept one dollar of the funds for ourselves. Every bit that was raised has gone back into the mission. All we want is for people to be given hope by pointing them to Jesus,” Wilson said. “When God made it clear that we were supposed to do this, it was like staring at a mountain. It was so beautiful watching God move the mountain before us.”
The couple has launched a website, jesusisgreaterthan.org. They are also currently working on a nonprofit status to send more books to other countries and travel abroad, spreading the Gospel through the power of testimony.
