Conferences

Message Received

Attendees trust Christ as Savior, commit their lives to Him at 2023 Walk Worthy Men’s Conference

When nearly 1,000 men arrived at Canton (Ohio) Baptist Temple for the Walk Worthy 2023 Men’s Conference on March 4, little did they know that this daylong event would make a lifelong impact on so many lives—in the church and at a nearby penitentiary.

Behind inspired preaching from Moody Radio hosts Ed Stetzer, Mike Fabarez, and Moody President Dr. Mark Jobe, the annual conference drew its highest in-person attendance since the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Jobe concluded a stirring event with an altar call, encouraging attendees to take a bold step in their journey with Jesus Christ. Numerous men came forward to profess faith in Christ as their Savior or to commit their lives to Him, including a church security officer and his two sons.

“It was a powerful, life-changing time at the altar—the best kind of time!” a volunteer, Marcey Page, said afterward.

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Thanks to the faithful giving of friends like you, Walk Worthy’s powerful message of hope also reached the hearts of 100 men livestreaming from the Lorain Correctional Institution in Grafton, Ohio. Organizers teamed up with a local church and the prison warden to make the event accessible online to inmates.

A Moody Radio listener even received the prison warden’s approval to pay for the delivery of Chick-fil-A meals for the inmates’ lunch as they attended via livestream.

Brian Dahlen was host of Walk Worthy that day. “The day of the conference, we made an intentional effort to ensure the speakers at Walk Worthy knew the men at LCI were listening and watching,” Brian said.

“Both Ed Stetzer and Dr. Jobe (speakers at Walk Worthy) specifically mentioned the men at LCI during their messages. The entire Moody team wanted to ensure that the men felt welcomed and loved.”

Walk Worthy’s efforts to include the inmates as part of the conference made an indelible impact on each of the men.

“We had 100 guys sitting in our chapel listening and watching. They just wept. They were so moved,”

said Scott Lessing, who serves as campus pastor of a church for the inmates inside of Lorain Correctional Institution. The prison church is an official regional campus of Grace CMA Church in nearby Middleburg Heights, Ohio.

One inmate who watched the livestream is Muslim. The Walk Worthy experience has opened his heart to the life-changing truth of the gospel.

“Shortly after the event I spoke with him for 90 minutes over lunch,” Scott said. “We talked about Jesus, and he's moved because of what happened that day.”

Moody President Dr. Mark Jobe

Moody President Dr. Mark Jobe speaks to more than 1,000 attendees at the Walk Worthy 2023 men’s conference last March in Canton, Ohio.

More than 1,000 men worshiped God and heard inspirational Bible teaching at Walk Worthy 2023.

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