My name is D.A. I have been incarcerated for almost 17 years. Chaplain Balzer has been an integral part of my spiritual growth and development for the better part of a decade.  When I met him, I was still on the fence about committing my life to serving God.  I was still in bondage of addiction, lust, anger and the like.  At the time, I had been attending church regularly out of habit and mainly because I was tired of lying to my mother on the phone. She would always ask if I was going to church.  When I was introduced to Chaplain Balzer's enthusiastic and dynamic way of delivering his sermons, immediately I could feel a genuine quality from him.  This was a person who really cared about his congregation, who really wanted to share with us how much God changed his life and who wanted us to experience God like he had.  That genuine quality is what kept me coming to church.  I got to know Chaplain Balzer not just as a Sunday preacher, but also as a counselor and confidant.  There were multiple times where he called me into his office on a day other than Sunday just to see how I was doing.  He would share with me how he saw God working in my life.  He would share personal stories from his past of how God had delivered him from personal struggles.  These conversations further led me to believe in his genuine desire for the men in his flock to come to Christ and experience him in a new way.  I continued to gravitate to him.  I never got a sense from him that was judgmental nor that he saw himself as being better than us inmates.  I remember a specific conversation I had with him a few weeks after my parole was denied for the second time.  He was trying to encourage me in the Lord.  I felt low at that time.  I felt that I had achieved over and beyond what the parole board expected from me and was naturally dismayed to be denied again.  Chaplain Balzer must have sensed that I was doubting whether God cared about me.  He made it clear to me that God's love for me was not something I earned or could ever earn.  He said I needed to stop doing things with the intention of earning God's love/favor akin to checking items off a list.  That was a pivotal moment in my life being able to somewhat understand that I was loved by God, not because of anything I did or did not do, was the catalyst that increased my quest to know more about God.  I started reading my Bible more and praying more.  My intentions for regular church attendance switched from a begrudging duty to a desire to be in the House of God.  It seems odd to say but I have had a more fulfilling and robust life (with God) while incarcerated than I ever did when I wasn't incarcerated.  God has blessed me greatly through various employment opportunities , favor among the inmates and staff, a closer bond with my family, good health, the best sleep I have ever had in my life, the assurance that He is working in my life and countless other thing that I am not even aware of.  I believe that God used Chaplain Balzer to bring me into a closer fellowship with him.  I am grateful to God for increasing my faith and I am grateful to Chaplain Balzer for allowing himself to be used by God to be a blessing to all those he encounters on a daily basis. 

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Inmate A.D.