Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Guest (Male): Hello, and thanks for joining us today on Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope. This is the Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren, and today we’re continuing in a series called The Miracle of Mercy. Rick will show us how God’s mercy can lift your guilt, heal your wounds, and transform the way you live. And now the final part of a message called God Can Use Anybody.

Rick Warren: Every letter in the name of Saddleback Church represents a value. We’ve taught on this many times, and many of you remember that the S stands for second chance place of grace. This is a place where we give people a second chance. This is a place for people who want to start over. This is a place for people who want a fresh start. That’s the miracle of mercy. That’s the grace place.

I want you to hear a dramatic example of starting over at a place of grace. Danny Duchene is going to come out in just a minute and share his story. He was a double lifer in prison for 32 years. He is going to lead our mercy ministry to prisons. Two and a half million Americans are incarcerated in a prison. We want to start a Saddleback Church in every prison.

I thought who could better know how to do this than a guy who spent 32 years in prison? Thirteen years ago, Danny actually gave his testimony here at Saddleback. He was in prison at the time. We couldn’t videotape him or even take a picture of him then. But they allowed us to call on the phone, and I played that phone call here. He is back to give his testimony a second time. Give a warm welcome to our newest pastor at Saddleback, Danny Duchene!

Danny Duchene: God bless you. Hello, Saddleback family. My name is Danny Duchene, and I would like to share with you how God has shown me great mercy and how God, because he is merciful, is able to use anyone, even in the most unlikely places. I would also like to share how being part of a small group is a powerful way to experience God’s mercy and to show his mercy to others. As Pastor Rick just said, I’ve been part of the Saddleback family since 2003.

I grew up in Redding, California with my mom and stepdad and five brothers. One thing I remember about my childhood is that I had a lot of freedom to do whatever I wanted to do. I was a latchkey kid, and by the fourth grade, I was spending entire summers by myself. My parents had nice homes and cars, and I grew up thinking that the goal of life was just having nice things. Possessions became a substitute for loving relationships.

This way of thinking led to insecurities and difficulties in standing against high school pressures. I started partying on the weekends and discovered how easy it was to make friends because I was the one who had the car and had the freedom to throw a party while my parents were out. Shortly after I turned 16, I came home from school one day and my parents were sitting with a friend with thousands of dollars in cash spread out on the kitchen table.

I was told that they were going on a business trip to Peru and that I would see them at Christmas. I was left to take care of my 18-month-old little brother with the help of some family friends. But my parents did not return from that trip. Instead, on Christmas Eve 1979, I learned that my parents had been arrested in Mexico for smuggling cocaine. This was a total shock since my parents were neither drug users nor drinkers.

The news that my parents were in jail in another country filled me with fear, but soon my fear turned to anger. To cope with all the painful emotions I felt on that Christmas day, I drove to a parking lot and got high in my car. Getting high gave me temporary relief, and I remember committing myself to a life of getting high every day. Little did I realize that the decision to stuff my fear and anger and soothe myself with drugs would become an addiction that would imprison me long before I went to prison.

At 16 years old, I didn’t know if I’d ever see my parents again. Feeling abandoned as a teenager, I stuffed all my pain using drugs and alcohol. I became more and more impulsive and began a downward spiral of one bad decision after another. I started committing crimes to support my drug habits. I was expelled from school and then lost my new home as well.

I take full responsibility for my self-destructive decisions. There were people around me who loved me and tried to help, but I quickly became addicted to my way of dealing with all my loneliness and pain. I was already in prison to my way of life. Two years later, my mother was released from prison and tried to reunite our family. But at 18, I was already a dual addict to alcohol and marijuana.

I began to dread going to sleep at night if I didn’t have something to drink and smoke in the morning. My life was out of control. I robbed and stole and hurt others because I chose to please myself. As my debts piled up, I struggled to keep myself supplied with an increasing need for alcohol and drugs. I was reckless and never worried about getting caught for my crimes, and I certainly didn’t consider the consequences to others. I was only thinking of myself.

All this came to a crisis when I was part of a crime in which two men were killed. Thankfully, I was quickly arrested in September of 1982, which I also call being rescued. Sitting in a county jail before my trial, it took about three weeks to withdraw from the drugs and alcohol. Once I became sober, the full weight of my crimes came crashing down on my conscience.

I was overwhelmed with depression and remorse as I realized how many people I had hurt. I believed I was lost and going to hell. I was truly afraid. It was at my lowest point that God’s mercy showed up in my life. God began bringing a lot of Christians to see me who shared the love and mercy of God with me. At first, this good news seemed over my head. It seemed too good to be true that God loved me and wanted to show me mercy after all I had done.

From growing up, I honestly didn't know how to trust. I had lived too long pretending to be something on the outside while being someone else on the inside. But the message of God’s mercy eventually got through to me. I learned that Jesus could give me a fresh start, changing me from the inside out, not from the external. I learned that God was concerned about me personally, even after making such a wreck of my life.

I decided to open up my life to Jesus and begin to serve him with whatever kind of life I had left. Knowing my crimes, I didn’t expect the rest of my life to be very long. On November 7, 1982, in a county jail waiting my trial, I asked Jesus to forgive all my sins, come inside, and to take charge as the Lord of my life. At this point, I’d like to say again thank you to Monty, to Aubrey, and to Carol who shared God’s message of mercy and grace with me.

The Bible says in Romans 4:20 that where sin increased, grace increased all the more. I rapidly grew spiritually while in the county jail. I was hungry to know more about this God who had shown me love and mercy, and I wanted him to use me even in prison. Graciously, God blessed me with mentors, spiritual fathers, and spiritual mothers who took the time and raised me in the Lord.

At my trial, I was convicted and given a double life sentence for two deaths. As a 19-year-old, I was sent to prison for life in August 1983, never expecting to see the outside world again. But I was thankful to be in Christ. Inside, I had been liberated. Let me make this clear, I never expected that I would ever be paroled, but I was free.

Now, I could describe many examples of ministry and hardships from life inside, but let me just say, I am Danny Duchene and not Andy Dufresne from The Shawshank Redemption movie. I have to say, that movie is really just a movie. But I do want to tell you how I became part of this Saddleback Church while in prison and how God used purpose-driven small groups to transform the lives of many inmates.

God brought a spiritual revival in our prison that resulted in the birth of a new church. God wants to use you by his mercy, and he will do amazing things with your life regardless of your past mistakes if you totally surrender your life to his love. In prison, I read The Purpose Driven Life by Pastor Rick. In 2003, I contacted Pastor Rick and told him that a small group of about 20 of us inmates wanted to participate in the national 40 Days of Purpose campaign.

We thought perhaps 50 men would participate in the small groups. But as we went door to door asking if men in the prison were interested, more than 200 guys signed up. Within a few weeks, our prison was buzzing with cell groups, which had a double meaning in our context. Through the power of these purpose-driven small groups studying God’s word together, we began to see radical transformation in the lives of guys we never imagined would respond to the gospel.

On August 31, 2003, Pastor Rick brought a team of pastors from Saddleback to encourage us and lead a service on the yard. It was amazing. For one day, the prison yard of this higher security prison became a Saddleback campus. Rick was given a microphone, and he preached to the entire prison on the yard. For those of you who might worry about your pastor’s safety, rest assured that Rick was protected by a single line of yellow caution tape.

We also had over 100 men whose lives had been changed through The Purpose Driven Life sitting right in front of him, and there was no way they’d let anybody hurt Rick. Pastor Rick spoke on the road to recovery. Then he gave a public invitation, inviting men from all across the yard to come and kneel with him in the dirt and pray a salvation prayer aloud in front of the entire prison population. It was a moment of amazing grace.

Rick said, "We’re going to baptize now," in front of the entire prison population. We rolled out a large laundry bin filled with water under the guard tower. That night, more than 100 men gathered on the prison yard to claim the Sierra Prison as God’s holy ground. As an act of humble reverence, this group of men stood in a circle in the prison yard, and we all removed our shoes.

As we began to pray for the men in each of the cell block buildings, together we officially established a purpose-driven church with a mission and ministry to impact the entire population. In faith, we believed that God in his mercy was going to use us all for his glory. A few months later, Pastor John Baker returned to the prison and trained our church leaders to be Celebrate Recovery small group leaders.

We were able to use the prison visiting room and another building which gave us the capacity of running 60 small groups a week. I cannot overstate the power of godly small groups in changing people’s lives. For many guys, being part of a small group was the first time in their lives that they had ever received support to do the right thing.

I will say this to every man, regardless of whether you are behind bars or outside, you cannot be all God wants you to be on your own. You need support. You need a small group, and I’m sure my life would have been very different if I’d had the support of a small group when I was a teenager. We followed up the 40 Days of Purpose campaign with another Saddleback small group study on the book of James.

Then we studied The Purpose Driven Church together and many other small group discipleship studies. We kept repeating the Celebrate Recovery step studies and even offered The Purpose Driven Life again and again to new groups of guys. In our purpose-driven church, we appointed directors for each of the purposes and bases of membership, maturity, ministry, and mission.

As our church continued to grow, the climate and atmosphere of the prison changed so much that it began to attract the attention of the media. We were having such a positive influence on the prison that local news stations, then the K-Love radio station, and eventually the New York Times reported on the impact of the ministry of a group of guys who had formed a purpose-driven church in a prison.

One of the big changes was a reduction in violence in the prison. Prior to doing the 40 Days of Purpose campaign, racial and gang violence often controlled the prison. During our 40 Days of Purpose, when we launched all those small groups, not a single fight or riot interrupted. Pastor Rick told me that the warden called him and said, "What have you done to my prison? Everyone is peaceful!"

As a result of what was happening in our prison, many other prisons began using the 40 Days of Purpose and Celebrate Recovery programs. They are now both used nationwide. Each year Saddleback honors churches around the world that are building on God’s five purposes by giving those churches the Healthy Church Award. It was so encouraging when in 2004, Saddleback awarded the church we had started in prison with a Healthy Church Award.

Yeah, that’s me. Here’s the pastor in prison with a black eye. All I can say is that you cannot expect to have a spiritual revival in a prison without at least some opposition. The media attention given to our church and questions about me and other Christians crossing racial boundaries were causes of several assaults on me and our other church leaders. At one point, the prison captain considered moving me from the prison for safety.

But God brought us through that time of opposition. In less than a year of growth, we were granted an entire 200-man building cell block to be used by those participating in Celebrate Recovery. To this day, Celebrate Recovery small groups continue to be the core curriculum for those in recovery. In order to live in that cell block, you must commit to be part of Celebrate Recovery and a small group.

You also commit to having an accountability partner or a sponsor and to complete Pastor Rick’s video series on how to live in fellowship and community with one another. God is using ordinary people in unlikely places because of his mercy. I want to personally express my gratitude to Pastor Rick, this Saddleback Church, and the pastors for their support. On Christmas Eve, December 2014, I was released after 32 years in prison.

Since my release, I’ve been riding waves of God’s mercy and grace. First of all, God gave me the gift of a wonderful wife, Susan. We were married a year after my release. You can clap for Susan. Susan and I will be leading a mercy campaign small group in our house that we are calling Welcome Home. After working as a drug and alcohol counselor at a San Francisco methadone clinic, I joined the Saddleback staff.

I’ve been asked to serve as Saddleback’s pastor of prison ministries through Celebrate Recovery. As I stand here today, I am aware that I am only here by God’s mercy. I am very grateful for the pastors, the friends, and family that God has shown his mercy through. The Bible says in James 2:13 that mercy triumphs over judgment. My life is an example of that truth.

I know now that God has brought me from the inside out to proclaim that God’s mercy is the key to inner freedom, whether your prison is physical, emotional, spiritual, or relational. By God’s mercy and grace, I will serve you for Jesus’ sake as best that I am able. This is the most amazing church. Thank you for welcoming me home, Saddleback. God bless you. Thank God for his mercy.

Rick Warren: Your new pastor. What a grace. This is Susan. Love you guys. Do you believe me now when I say God can use anybody? Do you believe that the mercy of God will change everything? It really doesn't matter where you’ve been; what matters is the direction of your feet right now. I don't care how much you’ve messed up, you’re welcome and wanted at Saddleback Church.

What kept Danny going for 32 years in a prison? He followed the fifth and final secret of being used by God: stay focused on eternity. You’ve got to maintain an eternal perspective. That way, you don't get overwhelmed by your current problems. The bigger your picture of God, the smaller your problems are. The more you understand what’s going to happen in eternity, the less you’re bothered by the bad things that happen here on earth.

If you lose your eternal perspective, you forget that it’s not about now. It’s not only not about you; it’s not about now. Then your problems are going to overwhelm you. In 2 Corinthians 4:17, Paul says, "These little troubles are getting us ready for an eternal glory that will make all of our troubles seem like nothing." Shipwreck? Prison sentences? Being beaten five times? He calls those small problems. That’s eternal perspective.

When you understand how short life is and how long eternity is, this is small potatoes. You can put up with all kinds of stuff on this planet if you know what’s going to happen in eternity and you know the rewards and the blessing of being used by God. These little troubles are getting us ready for an eternal glory that will make all of our troubles seem like nothing.

Verse 18 says, "So we don't look at the troubles we can see right now." That’s a choice. Rather, we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the troubles that we see right now in your life, they’ll soon be over. But the joys to come in eternity will last forever. There are only three motivations in life. You’re going to live your life on one of these three.

The first is internal motivation. Many people live their lives based on this. I want to be happy, popular, rich, loved, or famous. Or you can be motivated by external motivation. You’re afraid of being fired, or you want to get the promotion. It’s carrot and stick. It’s the reward or the penalty of other people around you. You’re motivated by what other people think.

But the highest motivation in life is eternal motivation. It’s being motivated by the fact that this life is a test. It’s the get-ready stage for the real show which is going to go on trillions of years in heaven. What is the key to staying focused now in spite of your problems? When you get tired, you lose your focus and forget about eternity. Danny Duchene mentioned the key: small groups.

Small groups are the key to staying focused. You need perspective from the support of other people. You need a support system in your life. Paul never went anywhere without a small group. He never did anything in his life by himself. Everything the most used-by-God person in history did, he did with a small group. He took a small group with him everywhere he went.

I wouldn’t be the pastor of this church if it weren't for my small group. There were times in my life where there were difficulties and my small group showered me with prayer, mercy, love, and wise counsel. Ecclesiastes 4:12 says, "A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated. But two can stand back to back and can conquer. And three people are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken."

Jesus said in Matthew 18:20, "For wherever two or three come together in my name, I will be there with them." You want Jesus with you? Get in a small group. Let me close with just two questions. First, what’s the prison that’s been holding you back? What in your past has prevented you from being used by God in the present? Are you locked up by fear, anger, regret, or resentment?

What is holding you back from going all in? Second, do you really want to live the rest of your life just for yourself? You’re not a big enough reason to live. That’s not a big enough reason to get out of bed in the morning. Do you want to live for the purpose you were created for? Tell God, "I’m all in. I’m not going to be a casual Christian anymore."

Dear God, I thank you for your mercy and I want to fully understand it. I want to stop living for myself and I want to start being used by you for the purpose that you created me for. I admit I’ve been afraid to go all in with you in the past, but I’m not going to listen to my fears anymore. I’m not going to let the past hold me back. I’m all in. In Jesus' name, amen.

Guest (Male): Did you know that the number one attribute of God in Scripture is his mercy? It is, and he wants to be merciful to you. Jesus said, "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy" in Matthew 5:7. Now you can dive deeper into our current study with Pastor Rick’s Miracle of Mercy study kit. Through his six-session video and workbook study, he’ll show you the five marks of mercy.

You’ll discover how mercy forgives the fallen, helps the hurting, is patient with difficult people, is kind to its enemies, and cares for the lost. As you grow in mercy, you’ll experience the blessing God promises to the merciful. The Miracle of Mercy study kit is perfect for both personal and small group study time. So please, be sure to request your copy today when you give a gift to help Daily Hope share the hope of Jesus.

That’s our way of saying thanks. Just go to PastorRick.com to get your copy of this great resource. That’s PastorRick.com, or you can just text the word Hope to 70309. Again, that’s the word Hope to 70309. Be sure to join us next time as we look into God’s word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope and your generous financial support.