Reaching Those
Behind the Walls.
Walking Beside Them Coming Home.
A ministry of the Apostolic Assembly of the Faith in Christ Jesus — bringing the Gospel to county jails, state prisons, and federal institutions across the United States.
Ministry Born Behind the Walls
In 1997, Chaplain Benjamin Carillo saw a need few were willing to meet: thousands of incarcerated men and women had no access to the Apostolic faith. He began visiting institutions one by one. In 2007, the Apostolic Assembly officially recognized APM as a National Ministry.
Today APM operates across three coasts — building volunteer teams, connecting formerly incarcerated individuals to faith-based transitional housing, and standing beside the families left behind.
Recognized National Ministry Apostolic Assembly of the Faith in Christ Jesus — recognized since 2007.
Request Ministry
Connect an incarcerated loved one with an Apostolic minister.
→Volunteer
Join a regional in-custody team and minister behind the walls.
→Give
Support the mission financially — every dollar reaches behind the walls.
→"I thought God had forgotten me when those cell doors locked. Then a minister from APM walked in. That visit changed everything — not just for me, but for my family waiting on the outside."Formerly Incarcerated Member, West Coast Region · Matthew 25:36
APM Newsletter
Monthly updates on souls reached, stories of transformation, and how your church can get more involved.
Ministry Born Behind the Walls
In 1997, Chaplain Benjamin Carillo saw a need few were willing to meet: thousands of incarcerated men and women had no access to the Apostolic faith. He began visiting institutions one by one. In 2007, the Apostolic Assembly officially recognized APM as a National Ministry.
Today APM operates across three coasts — building volunteer teams, supporting formerly incarcerated individuals through faith-based transitional housing, and standing beside the families often forgotten in the conversation about incarceration.
Recognized Ministry — Apostolic Assembly of the Faith in Christ Jesus Nationally recognized since 2007.
The Numbers Behind the Mission
Updated as APM grows — every number represents a soul, a family, a door opened.
Chaplain Benjamin Carrillo began visiting California state prisons one by one with no budget and a calling.
The Apostolic Assembly of the Faith in Christ Jesus officially recognized APM as a National Ministry.
From California to Texas to New York — APM teams are being planted in new regions every year.
West Coast
Active Apostolic ministry teams across Northern and Southern California — serving incarcerated men and women in state prisons, county jails, and youth facilities.
Active Institutions — West Coast
Access is subject to institutional approval and volunteer credentialing requirements.
Mid-West / Central
APM is actively planting ministry teams throughout the central United States, beginning with Texas — where a growing Apostolic community meets a significant need behind bars.
Active Institutions — Texas
Access is subject to institutional approval and volunteer credentialing requirements.
East Coast
APM is establishing its East Coast presence, beginning in New York under Chaplain Tony Nunez. Facility listings are coming soon as teams are credentialed and access is established.
Active Institutions — East Coast
Facility listings coming soon as teams are credentialed and institutional access is established.
Faith-Based Residential Programs
Transitional housing and reentry programs affiliated with local Apostolic Assembly churches. Open to all who are committed to a faith-based, structured environment.
New Life Outreach
CALifeline — Ventura
CALifeline — Pacoima
CALifeline — Whittier
CAFree Life Outreach
CARestoration Life Center
CAChristian Restoration Center
AZIs Your Church Running a Program?
Contact us to be listed in the national directory.
Reentry Support
Coming home from incarceration is one of life's hardest transitions. APM walks alongside individuals — spiritually, practically, and relationally.
How It Works
✉️ Sign Up for Reentry Support
🔒 Your information is confidential and shared only with APM leadership.
Request Ministry for a Loved One
If someone you care about is incarcerated and you'd like an Apostolic minister to visit — we want to help make that connection.
Four Steps
🙏 Request a Ministry Visit
🔒 Your information is kept confidential and used solely to coordinate ministry outreach.
Get Involved
Whether you're called to minister behind the walls, partner your church, or give — there is a place for you in this mission.
Volunteer Interest Form
Before You Apply — What to Expect
Facility credentialing: 4-8 weeks
First visit: within 3 months
Has God called you to minister behind the walls? Fill out the form below and our regional team leader will reach out about training, credentialing, and team placement.
What to Expect
- Ministry training and orientation
- Background check and volunteer credentialing
- Facility access requirements by institution
- Team assignment based on your location
- Ongoing support and accountability
🙋 Volunteer Interest
Three Ways to Partner
Choose the level that fits your congregation right now. Every partnership matters.
Commit to praying for APM monthly. Receive our newsletter with specific prayer needs from the field.
- Monthly prayer updates
- APM newsletter
- No financial commitment
Provide financial support and send volunteers to join an existing regional APM team.
- Everything in Tier 1
- Financial giving to APM
- Send 1-3 volunteers
- Listed as APM partner church
Launch your own in-custody ministry team or host a reentry program through your church.
- Everything in Tiers 1-2
- APM training and credentialing
- Launch a local facility team
- Host transitional housing
Church Partnership Inquiry
Tell us about your church and which tier fits best. Our regional coordinator will be in touch.
⛪ Church Partnership Inquiry
Books & Videos
Resources produced by and for the APM community — testimonies, ministry guides, and stories of transformation from behind and beyond the walls.
Prison Ministry Manual
A practical guide to Apostolic prison ministry developed from decades of real ministry experience inside California state prisons and county jails. An essential resource for anyone called to serve the incarcerated.
My Truth Behind Bars
Developed during six and a half years (2014–2020) of unjust incarceration in four California state prisons: San Quentin, Pelican Bay, Stockton, and Mule Creek. A memoir of bitter dawns, simple moments, and the extremes of the human condition.
— David Iván Gálvez, Sr.
Bro. Noel Valdivia — A Life Sentence Redeemed
Brother Noel Valdivia was baptized while at San Quentin State Prison in 1981. God not only transformed his heart but released him from a life sentence.
Your Gift Reaches Where Few Will Go
Every contribution enables APM to reach more prisons, more souls, and more families. God bless you in advance.
APM is a recognized national ministry of the Apostolic Assembly of the Faith in Christ Jesus.
APM Newsletter
Monthly updates on souls reached, stories of transformation, and how your church can get more involved.
Leave a Prayer Request
You don't need to explain everything. Just share a name, a situation, or simply ask for prayer — our team will lift them up.
We Believe Prayer Opens Doors
"I was in prison and you came to me." — Matthew 25:36
Every ministry visit, every open door, every transformed life begins with someone praying. Your request goes before our team and before God.
🙏 Prayer Request
🔒 Your request is kept confidential unless you grant permission above.
Find Your Loved One
Official inmate locator tools by state and system. Find which facility your loved one is in, then request ministry through APM.
For all other states, use the national inmate search tool below — it covers 50 state DOC systems plus county jails.
Search All States on VINELink ↗Once you know which facility they're in, APM can work to connect them with an Apostolic minister.
Ministry Information Packet
Download and share with your pastor, bishop, or church board. Everything they need to understand APM in one document.
APM Ministry Overview
This packet is designed for pastors and bishops who want to understand APM's mission, scope, and how to partner with the ministry.
A National Ministry of the AAOFCJ
Est. 1997
✓ National Team Overview
✓ Residential Programs
✓ Partnership Tiers
✓ How to Get Started
✓ Contact Information
Use Ctrl+P (or Cmd+P on Mac) → Save as PDF
Privacy Policy
Last updated: 2026
Apostolic Prison Ministry (APM) is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains how we collect, use, and protect information submitted through this website.
Information We Collect
We collect only the information you voluntarily provide through our contact forms — including your name, email address, phone number, and ministry-related details. We do not collect information automatically beyond what is standard for website operation.
How We Use Your Information
Information submitted through our forms is used solely to respond to your request and coordinate ministry outreach. We do not use your data for marketing, and we do not sell, rent, or share your personal information with third parties outside of APM ministry operations.
Cookies
This site uses a single cookie to remember your cookie consent preference. No tracking or advertising cookies are used.
Third-Party Services
Forms on this site are processed by Formspree. Map functionality uses OpenStreetMap. YouTube videos are embedded from YouTube. Each of these services has its own privacy policy.
Contact
Questions about this privacy policy can be directed to admin@apministry.com.
"I was in prison and you came to me."Matthew 25:36 — The verse that started it all
A Ministry Born from Obedience
Long before there were regional teams, official recognition, or a national map — there was a burden. A burden shared by a handful of Apostolic men who believed that the Gospel had no walls, not even prison walls. The Apostolic Prison Ministry was not launched with fanfare. It was built visit by visit, prayer by prayer, in facilities that most churches never considered entering.
What follows is the documented history of how God took that burden and built something that now reaches across coasts, cultures, and institutional systems — and is still growing.
2008
Where It Begins — A Table, a Vision, and a Word from God
Every great movement begins somewhere modest. For APM, it began with Victor Prado and a series of initial meetings that asked a simple but audacious question: what would it look like for the Apostolic Assembly to formally reach the incarcerated?
Those conversations bore fruit. The ministry was officially founded within the Apostolic Assembly — not as a program, but as a calling with institutional backing.
"This ministry will not remain local. It will grow to become a national mission — and then reach the world."
— Bishop Frank Romo, 2008
At the time, these words may have seemed impossible. A handful of men visiting a handful of facilities. But Bishop Romo spoke with prophetic certainty — and the years that followed began to confirm every word.
2010
Building the Infrastructure of a National Ministry
A prophetic word requires practical obedience. 2009 and 2010 were years of building — not just spiritually, but structurally. The kind of behind-the-scenes work that never makes the highlight reel but makes everything else possible.
Bishop Martin Delcampo, Head of Christian Education, commissioned Chaplain Ben Carrillo to author the official Prison Ministry curriculum for the AAOFCJ Bible College. For the first time, prison ministry had a theological and educational framework within the denomination.
A foundational trip was made to Phoenix to meet with Chaplains Manny Gomez, Jorge Molina, and Hector Jaimes. Out of that meeting came something every ministry needs to survive: its financial foundation. Accounts were established, structure was put in place, and the ministry took a step from vision to institution.
Three States. Thirteen Baptisms. One Mission Expanding.
2012 was a year of multiplication. The ministry stopped being a California story and became a national one. Three separate expansions — in Arizona, Texas, and Georgia — each tell the same story in a different accent: God opening doors that no institution can keep shut.
A need for baptisms in Arizona was identified. After outreach to local churches, Pastor Medrano of Central Phoenix Apostolic Church answered the call — committing to enter the prisons. One pastor's willingness opened an entire state.
Expansion into the Texas District began through collaboration with Pastor Marroquin and Brother Rizzo in the Dallas area. Texas — with one of the largest prison populations in the nation — was now on the APM map.
Perhaps the defining moment of 2012. Chaplains Nunez, Rizzo, and Ben traveled to Georgia — and inside the walls, thirteen men were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Each one a testimony that Bishop Romo's prophecy was not wishful thinking. It was a divine itinerary.
The Ministry Reaches the Atlantic
APM partnered with Chaplain Nunez to promote and establish the ministry throughout the East Coast District. From the Pacific to the Atlantic — three coasts, one mission, one name above all names.
The East Coast expansion fulfilled a geographic milestone. APM was no longer a regional ministry with national ambitions — it was a national ministry with regional depth.
From Prison Ministry to Apostolic Chaplaincy
Seventeen years after those first conversations with Victor Prado, the ministry entered its most significant evolution. High-level meetings with Pastor Roberto Bruno and Chaplains Hector Jaimes and Eli Perez marked an institutional pivot — from the title of "Apostolic Prison Ministry" toward the broader vision of Apostolic Chaplaincy.
This wasn't a rebranding. It was a recognition. The work had always extended beyond prison walls — into hospitals, law enforcement, the military, and community. The new name was catching up to the calling that had always been there.
Five branches. One mission. Hospital/Medical · Law Enforcement · Corrections · Military · Community/Civic. The Apostolic Assembly finally moving toward the kind of credentialed, endorsed chaplaincy presence that can reach every institution in America.
–
2026
National Platforms, Lasting Foundations
The ministry entered this season with momentum and visibility. A special acknowledgment belongs to Bishop Quezada for providing the platform to represent APM at the Evangelism Congress in Las Vegas, Nevada — an opportunity that placed the ministry before the full denominational leadership and confirmed that the work of decades had not gone unnoticed.
"Bishop Romo prophesied that this ministry would go national and worldwide. We are not at the finish line — we are at the beginning of what that prophecy fully means."
Apostolic Prison Ministry — 2026
In Honor
This ministry exists because of men and women who said yes when the doors of the church didn't reach the doors of the prison. Their names deserve to be remembered.
The story isn't finished. Every chaplain who joins, every church that partners, every volunteer who enters a facility — becomes part of this history.