Men of Valor Annual Prayer Breakfast with Gov. Bill Lee Announced

NASHVILLE — Men of Valor announces their next annual prayer breakfast coming up on Tuesday April 7th from  7 am to 8:30 am.The breakfast will be held at Music City Center 201 5th Avenue South in Nashville. Governor Bill Lee and CeCe Winans will be guest speakers.

Last year more than 1,300 people attended a Men of Valor breakfast at Nashville’s Music City Center Tuesday to hear former prisoners tell a message of faith and redemption through Jesus Christ.

The goal of Men of Valor is to positively change  men’s lives by reaching them with the gospel of Christ. Their mission is to help these men reenter society as men of character and integrity

The 2019 TDOC,Tennessee Department of Corrections budget is more than $1 billion. Tennessee’s prisons currently have more than 25,000 incarcerated men and women, the brochure said.

Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee, a Men of Valor board member and mentor, told audience members it costs taxpayers $28,000 a year to go back to prison.

According to TennesseeStar last year Rudy Kalis, a full-time Men of Valor volunteer, spoke of his experiences mentoring prisoners at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.

“They want to know consistency. They want to know if you’re real. They have looked people in the eye all of their lives to get what they got. If you don’t have truth inside of you then they can read that. So it literally makes me stand up and try to be the man that I tell them to be,” Kalis said.

“You have to talk straight to these guys. If you have the guts to go in there and make a difference, if you have the faith inside you, then you go in there with an open heart for these men, I can’t talk faith to them and tell them about honesty and integrity and that there’s a god who loves them if I’m having an affair with a woman. I have to be the right man to go in there and tell them about the God above who can change their lives and redeem them.”

The prisoners, Kalis went on to say, need to hear from more people who believe in the God he spoke of.

“We can change their lives. We can change society. We can change the future,” Kalis said.

“We drop a rock of faith into the water, and that faith ripples on from time to time forever.”

Last year’s program, audience members heard from Grammy Award Winner Zach Williams and Men of Valor graduate Paul Hawkins.

Anthony Charles, meanwhile, won the Men of Valor Carl Carlson Award for his work with the group.

Men of Valor program receives money from grants, churches, and mostly individuals. Resources provided include addiction recovery support, employment, housing, healthcare, and learning how to transform themselves into better husbands, fathers, and members of society.

Last year Governor Lee announced plans for prison reform, including free education for inmates.

Reservations are required for the Men of Valor Breakfast,please email Michael@MOVNashville.com or visit MOVNashville.com. Space is limited and NO WALK INS will be permitted.