"I'm not tired and I'm not weary, just praising the Lord for the tract and prison ministry He gave me over 26 years ago," writes Dann Slator, better known as Chaplain Dann. Dann has witnessed to thousands of men in the state prison near his home in Chino, California and hundreds of them have accepted Jesus as Savior.

Before the Lord conquered his heart, he grew up breaking broncs on a big ranch in north Texas and later excelled as a rowdy marine. This gave him a fearlessness when sharing the gospel.

To that, the Lord added a deep concern for lost men. Not content to just hold chapel services in the prison, he would persuade the guards to allow him into the cell blocks where he could counsel the men, one-on-one. Many times he would kneel outside a cell, holding the hand through the bars of a repentant inmate as he prayed the sinner's prayer.

But his mission field is not just the prisons. Working in his own landscaping business, he has the freedom to stop and witness when he sees an opportunity. "I love to walk up to a group of men and start giving them tracts. Most always, there is one person in the group who will agree with the message that I'm trying to point out. He will say, 'You'd better listen to this guy cause it's all true what he is sharing with us.'"

At first, when someone rejected him, he would get upset. "Now," he says, "I've learned that it's really not me that they aim their wrath at. It's Jesus, the one I represent and He can handle everything. Then the Lord revealed to me to look at the ones I witness to through the eyes of Christ. All things changed when I started doing this.

"I had to learn to pray for the Lord to prepare the ones that day that I'd come in contact with, to be open to the gospel message, either spoken or in the tract they received."

Most of the people Dann meets get at least a tract. From prison ministry, he branched out to yard sales and swap meets. He would pay for a concession booth at a swap meet to sell odds and ends. But his main purpose was to get the gospel to the crowds who came by.

"The greatest joy in my life is to try in all ways to seek out the lost on the highways and byways of this world. I give God all the praise and glory that He so richly deserves."

If you would like to contact Chaplain Dann for help in prison ministry or general witnessing, you may write to him in care of Chick Publications, PO Box 3500, Ontario CA 91761.