Alumni news: Court ordered to hear about Jesus

Published: April 29, 2021

Author: Sarah Thomack

Photo courtesy Man4Man Ministries website

Bob Blume ’62 has heard a lot of stories and has a lot of stories to tell. The ones he loves most focus on how God continues to change lives.

One such story took place 18 years ago, when his ministry serving ex-offenders was just getting started. Blume remembers asking one participant why he was late to a morning meeting. The man explained that two other men tried to kill him on his way there, adding that he planned to get revenge. Blume said, “We don’t kill on Wednesdays, find another day.” Eighteen years later, that man is now the ministry’s director of operations.

Kathy and Bob Blume

Blume founded Man4Man Ministries 20 years ago in Anderson, Indiana, and has since worked with ex-offenders, providing one-on-one guidance, friendships, jobs, and places to learn and grow. Blume says he has built relationships with local courts and judges and serves on the board that runs reentry and drug programs in partnership with the courts. Blume says while the courts may not endorse religion, they do endorse the work and real change that Man4Man achieves in men’s lives and in the community.

“No preaching here, it’s lifestyle evangelism,” Blume says.

Just this week, a man facing three years in prison shared with the judge about his time at Man4Man. The judge released him from probation, adding that she wouldn’t send the man to prison as long as he continued working with the ministry program.

Man4Man Ministries runs seven different businesses from construction to auto repair to painting that employ ex-offenders and help them learn real-world job skills and leadership skills. There are also opportunities every day for learning, mentoring, discipleship, and discussion.

“Somebody’s got to take care of these guys when they start coming out of prison,” Blume says, recounting his thoughts around the time he first started working with a prison program through Promise Keepers.

Blume’s journey started at a university in Indiana where Ish Smith ’57 was one of his teachers. He later transferred to Greenville University (then College) when Ish moved there. Life after GU included coaching, a sporting goods store, and working as event manager for Promise Keepers, where he first began working in prison ministry.

Bob Blume '62

“We started this ministry of just getting guys to talk to each other, understanding that every man has a battle to fight, a beauty to rescue and a life to live,” Blume says. “I just trust God every day, and we put a lot of men to work and we hug a lot and we listen a lot, we laugh a lot, we cry a lot and we bring guys to Jesus.”