From the Cell to the Cross

Overview

From the Cell to the Cross is a gripping true-life story. Sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole, Don Dennis was a man without hope. Nothing short of a miracle could turn his life around. Of Don Dennis, Charles "Chuck" Colson said: "I first met Don Dennis in Walla Walla prison. . . . He was a tough, hard con who gave his heart to the Lord and has been just as tough ever since--but now as a warrior for Christ. A wonderful example of God's grace: the One who can save a Don Dennis or a Chuck Colson can save anyone."

A portion of this book, in somewhat different form, was originally published by Broadman Press in 1993 under the title Breaking Crime�s Vicious Cycle.

Excerpt from the book From the Cell to the Cross:

In 1977 Don Dennis stood at attention before a judge in a Seattle, Washington, courtroom.

"Mr. Dennis," the judge began, "you have been in and out of prison for more than twenty years. After reviewing your history of felonies, escapes, forgeries, and other crimes against society, I am sentencing you to life in prison.

That was Don Dennis, the habitual criminal. Then, he looked at life this way: "It was me and my prison buddies at war against the police, guards, society. We were like blood brothers."

Don was more comfortable behind prison walls than in free society. Each time he went back into prison, it was like "going home." That's where his friends were; that's where people understood him, or so he thought.

More than twenty years later that Don Dennis was no more. He was a man with a different kind of mission. Rather than tearing down, he was building up by helping prisoners and ex-prisoners find a new way of looking at life.
In August 1989, I spent a week with Don and Carol Dennis and their three dogs and two cats. It was a time of painful probing into the mistakes of the past. I saw a man who accepted personal responsibility for his attitudes and actions.

But there was more. Along with probing into the past, it was a time of looking to the future with expectant hope. I saw a man determined to help others overcome the same mistakes he made. I saw a man who wanted to make a positive difference in this world by pointing prisoners to a better way of living-inside, as well as outside, prison. I saw a man determined to help ex-convicts make it in the free world.

This is the story of how Don Dennis got from there to here. It is nothing short of a miracle.