Manny Mill
Manny Mill, Executive Director of Koinonia House® National Ministries (KHNM) delivers a passionate, urgent and biblically prophetic message, in English and Spanish, around the United States as he preaches the gospel – Christ, and Him crucified – in churches, colleges and universities, seminars and conferences, and behind prison walls! Koinonia House® National Ministries, Inc. is a post-prison ministry equipping the body of Christ (today’s Christian Church) to “love” their Christian neighbors coming out of prison. Manny says the reason KHNM does this ministry is not driven by need alone but because it is the biblically right thing to do. Therefore, Manny does not come to preach about KHNM, rather Manny comes to preach the gospel of redemption in Jesus Christ, which reaches across social, gender, racial, cultural and denominational barriers. Manny’s desire is to present a “colorful Bride” to Jesus, the Groom. It is this very pattern of diversity modeled by Jesus Christ that compels Manny to reach across in the same way.
A self-proclaimed Biblicist, this Cuban-born evangelist possesses the unique skill of being able to adapt to any situation and audience – even Spanish! Because of Manny’s love for God’s holy written and living word - the Bible, he is able to present the gospel with clarity and an infectious enthusiasm. Manny says, “Jesus is the real deal” and therefore it is his mission to make sure that people are introduced to the gospel of Jesus Christ in every one of his sermons. Manny has come from a very colorful past life apart from Jesus. In 1986, while he was running from the FBI to Caracas, Venezuela, Manny met and trusted Jesus Christ. After surrendering his life to Jesus, he returned to the United States and served nearly two years in federal prison. In 1988, he received one of the first Charles W. Colson Scholarships awarded to ex-prisoners to attend Wheaton College. There he earned a BA in Biblical Studies (1989) and an MA in Theological Studies (1991). Manny was ordained to the work of the Gospel ministry in May 1991. The first Koinonia House®, organized in late 1990, was the result of Manny's sharing with a few others his vision
and personal experience of how the local church provided spiritual and physical help to him upon his release from prison. Today’s family-home-based model of post-prison ministry was developed at the first house in Wheaton, IL, and Koinonia House® National Ministries, Inc. was formed in 1997. In addition to establishing local Koinonia House ministries, the Meet Me at the Gate™ initiative was developed to provide an opportunity for churches to meet the needs of Christian neighbors coming out of prison where the establishment of a complete house was not yet possible. Manny and his wife, Barbara are trained instructors for Prison Fellowship's In-Prison Seminars. Manny also works as an advocate for the church in prison. He challenges the church outside the prison walls to support and embrace Christian inmates while they are in prison and upon their release. He was instrumental in developing a resolution entitled The Church's Responsibility to Prisoners which was adopted by the National Black Evangelical Association, the National Association of Evangelicals, the Salvation Army and Prison Fellowship Ministries in 1997.
In September 1994, he received the "Good Neighbor Award" presented annually by the DuPage AME Church in recognition of service to the community. Manny served as president of the West Suburban Evangelical Fellowship (WSEF), a local association of the National Association of Evangelicals, from 1995-1996. In August
nearing home
A letter from one aged servant of the Lord to another. The writer passed into the Lord's presence two days after his friend. Beloved brother, A "companion in tribulation" from my bed of sickness I pen a few lines of loving sympathy to you in your weakness, and, I regret to hear, much pain and suffering. The Lord has spared me this so far, and I pray for you that your anguish may be abated. "God is love" and He will never change. (Tell your dear wife this.) I am still bedridden save for getting out on a spinal couch on wheels when fine into the garden and to a gospel meeting occasionally on Sunday evening, when held on the ground floor. But I shall go "upstairs" presently, and not come down again till He comes back to get His rights in this scene of His rejection. "Come Lord Jesus!" we may well say, with all our hearts. Won't it be grand to see Him face to face? Meantime we must think of Him, and make mention of Him, as Joseph desired, and not be like the chief butler, who "did not remember Joseph but forgat him." What a picture of our hearts. Well, I suppose the end of the journey is near for both of us, though I may outlast you a little, and then you can look out for me at the Terminus. By grace—great grace "I'll be there" and so will you, dear brother. We have enjoyed sweet fellowship on the road, but it will be sweeter far at "home." May the good Lord greatly help and cheer you in your feebleness, sustaining you to the end and making it very bright. People often ask—"Did he die bright?" I reply, "That is a small matter—Did he live bright is far more important." And that, I thank God, you have done, and helped many by your example. As you go you may say to your dear wife like Jacob— "Behold I die, but God shall be with you." Fine words for a death-bed. Some one asked an old Scotch saint, "Would you rather live or die?" He replied, "It does not much matter, for if I live He will be with me, but if I die I shall be with Him." Not so bad, eh? Ever affectionately yours in Christ, W. T. P. WOLSTON. S.T. 1917