Sentenced to 26 years to life, Michael James found something inside prison that he says set him free eight years before he ever came home — Christian Science. In this Embraced:Fully Interview, Michael talks with David Fowler about how a chance encounter with Science and Health rebuilt his thinking, his relationships, and his life — from a violent prison yard to Cal State LA, marriage, and a life of helping others.

About Our Guest: Michael James

Michael James was sentenced to 26 years to life in state prison. Today he is rebuilding a life shaped by faith, discipline, service, and purpose.

Christian Science played a defining role in that transformation. Michael is now pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting at California State University, Los Angeles, working with Caltrans as a Back-Up Driver, building his car hauling business Catch a Ride Service, teaching financial literacy through Trap House Trading Academy, and developing the Community Chess Blueprint to help keep resources circulating within the community.

The conversation explores what real transformation actually looks like — not as an idea, but in practice: faith, accountability, reentry, work, and building something that lasts.

In This Interview:

• Reading Science and Health in 18 hours — the moment in solitary confinement that changed everything.
• How his heart began to change — and how other inmates and staff responded to it.
• What freedom actually means — Michael’s definition, eight years before he came home.
• Building a chapel community inside — introducing other inmates to Christian Science.
• Coming home and building a life — school, work, marriage, business, and the Community Chess Blueprint.
• Advice for chaplains and audience Q&A — what really helps men inside, what doesn’t.

Chapters

• 00:00 Cold Open
• 00:27 Introduction
• 02:11 Growing up in church
• 04:33 First run-ins with the law
• 06:35 Going to prison at 26
• 08:20 The hole — solitary confinement
• 10:50 Reading Science and Health in 18 hours
• 15:36 How my heart began to change
• 17:09 Experiencing healings inside
• 17:42 Other inmates challenging my change
• 20:00 How prison staff responded
• 21:54 What freedom actually means
• 23:26 Introducing other inmates to Christian Science
• 27:12 Chaplains, mentors, and correction
• 30:37 Building a chapel community
• 31:37 Coming home — life today
• 35:09 Advice for chaplains
• 36:53 Audience Q&A
• 1:25:39 Closing

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Our Mission

In partnership with others, Embraced:Fully supports incarcerated and returning citizens in their moral and spiritual journey toward successful reentry. Through Angel Team members, we help connect individuals with community, faith, housing, employment, transportation, friendship, and mentorship — building bridges of hope and belonging.

Join us for our monthly Embraced:Fully Angel Team Workshop on Thursday, April 16, 2026 at 6:00 PM (Pacific) on Zoom. Guests are always welcome.

One part of this month’s meeting will be a brief conversation about AI tools in our work — a few early examples of where they may be useful, a few questions worth holding, and how they might support rather than replace the human relationships at the heart of reentry support.

Meeting Agenda

1. Introductions & Announcements
Share who you are, where you’re serving, and any current updates from Angel Teams or returning community members.

2. Regional Angel Team Updates
Progress, challenges, and encouraging developments from Angel Teams around the country.

3. Volunteer Chaplain Check-ins
Updates from visiting and corresponding chaplains supporting inmates and returning community members.

4. Discussion: AI Tools in Our Work
We’ll touch on a few early examples of where AI tools may be helpful and a few questions to keep in view as we experiment.

5. Shared Needs, Next Steps & Closing
Time for questions, emerging needs, and next steps for staying connected and moving the work forward.

This is a working meeting for Angel Teams nationwide and anyone interested in starting or joining a team, volunteering remotely, or simply learning more about reentry support. Together, we help returning community members build new lives and avoid re-incarceration through love, structure, and spiritual guidance.

Video Replays

Catch up on past meetings and inspiring stories at Embraced:Fully Videos.

Our Mission

In partnership with others, Embraced:Fully supports incarcerated and returning citizens in their moral and spiritual journey toward successful reentry. Through Angel Team members, we help connect individuals with community, faith, housing, employment, transportation, friendship, and mentorship, building bridges of hope and belonging.

Rhonda Bear shares how addiction, incarceration, faith, and community became the foundation for She Brews Coffee & Transition Program, a growing network of transitional homes, and reform work across Oklahoma.

About Our Guest: Rhonda Bear

A mother, wife, daughter, sister, and former inmate 377488, Rhonda Bear has dedicated her life to restoration and breaking generational cycles. As a social worker, founder of She Brews Coffee & Transition Program, and Program Director for Stand in the Gap Ministries, she helps formerly incarcerated women rebuild their lives with dignity, structure, and purpose.

Since 2008, Rhonda has opened transitional housing for people leaving incarceration, beginning with a single women's house and growing into a network that now includes housing for men, women, mothers with children, and families. In Oklahoma, she has also become a leading advocate for reform, serving on the Board of Directors for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections as the first formerly incarcerated person in the United States appointed to that role.

Rhonda's work is rooted in the conviction that when a life is restored, entire families and future generations can be changed. Through highly structured programming, practical life training, faith, accountability, and community, she continues to help women move from survival to lasting transformation.

In This Interview:

• Turning herself in – Rhonda explains the road that led to prison and why surrender became the beginning of change.
• Hope inside prison – She describes the role of Kairos, prison ministry, and the small sparks that help women believe they can change.
• Building She Brews – She walks through how coffee shops and transitional housing grew into a practical reentry system.
• Structured reentry support – Rhonda explains why dignity, accountability, safe housing, and community all matter after release.
• Reforming Oklahoma – She reflects on advocacy, policy change, and what actually helps women stay out of prison.

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Catch up on past interviews and inspiring stories:

Our Mission

In partnership with others, Embraced:Fully supports incarcerated and returning citizens in their moral and spiritual journey toward successful reentry. Through Angel Team members, we help connect individuals with community, faith, housing, employment, transportation, friendship, and mentorship – building bridges of hope and belonging.

Join us for our monthly Embraced:Fully Angel Team Workshop on Thursday, March 19, 2026 at 6:00 PM (Pacific) on Zoom. Guests are always welcome!

This monthly gathering is a welcoming space to explore how we can support returning citizens—individuals coming home from incarceration—on their path toward stability, healing, and freedom.

Together we’ll discuss:

• 💫 What is an Angel Team?
• 👥 Who can join or start one?
• 🕊️ How can churches and volunteers make a meaningful impact?

💖 What Angel Teams Do

Embraced:Fully Angel Teams walk alongside returning community members to help them rebuild their lives — offering practical help like housing, transportation, and employment connections, and most importantly, a caring, faith-based community that welcomes them home.

Welcome AmiLynne Carroll — National Angel Team Coordinator!

We are thrilled to announce that AmiLynne Carroll is joining Embraced:Fully as our National Angel Team Coordinator. AmiLynne will be working alongside our Angel Teams across the country to strengthen coordination, support new teams as they form, and help ensure that every returning community member has a welcoming network waiting for them.

Join us Thursday to meet AmiLynne and hear about her vision for growing and connecting our Angel Team network nationwide.

📋 Meeting Agenda

1. Introductions & Announcements
Share who you are and whether you’re currently connected with any returning community members—or would like to be.

2. Welcome AmiLynne Carroll, National Angel Team Coordinator
Meet AmiLynne and hear about her role and vision for Angel Teams nationwide.

3. Regional Angel Team Updates
Progress, challenges, and success stories from Angel Teams across the country.

4. Volunteer Chaplain Check-ins
Updates from visiting and corresponding chaplains working with inmates and returning citizens.

5. Save the Date — Embraced:Fully Conference 2026 in Boulder, Colorado!
We’re thrilled to share that the 2026 Embraced:Fully Conference is officially coming together! Mark your calendars for September 18–19, 2026 in beautiful Boulder, Colorado. We’ve secured a group hotel rate at the Embassy Suites Boulder—and you can book your room now at the discounted rate (deadline: August 24, 2026). We’ll share early details about what to expect—including an Angel Team Network national gathering, course updates, and partner sessions—and we’d love to hear what topics and sessions you’d like to see at the conference.

6. Next Steps & Closing
Confirm upcoming meeting dates and next steps.

This is a working meeting for Angel Teams nationwide and anyone interested in starting or joining a team, volunteering remotely, or simply learning more about reentry support. Together, we help returning community members build new lives and avoid re-incarceration through love, structure, and spiritual guidance.

🎥 Video Replays

Catch up on past meetings and inspiring stories:

🌍 Our Mission

In partnership with others, Embraced:Fully supports incarcerated and returning citizens in their moral and spiritual journey toward successful reentry.
Through Angel Team members, we help connect individuals with community, faith, housing, employment, transportation, friendship, and mentorship—building bridges of hope and belonging.

Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support Embraced:Fully Angel Teams and Returning Citizens

Monthly Donation

One Time Donation

↗️ Note: Please be sure to select “Embraced Fully” in the “Fund” drop-down list on the donation page.

If you would like to support the work of Embraced:Fully with a check instead of an online donation, please make it out to:

The Principle Foundation
Memo: Restricted – Embraced:Fully Project
Mail to: 10670 Barkley St, Overland Park, KS 66212-1861

View additional donation options here

Please remember to specify Embraced:Fully as the program you’d like to support.

Embraced:Fully is a fiscally sponsored program of The Principle Foundation, registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, tax ID number 43-0816306.

Bryson McCalley was sentenced to 30 years in state prison at just 18 years old for gang violence. Inside, he found mentors, shed his old identity, and discovered his purpose: impacting lives through storytelling. Now free, he’s the founder of Last of a Dyng Seed, a platform that uses film analysis to decode the stories that shape our lives.

Subscribe to Bryson’s YouTube channel here.

About Our Guest: Bryson McCalley

After being sentenced to 30 years in prison as a young man, Bryson made a radical decision: he would not allow his circumstances to define his future. During incarceration, he committed himself to education, discipline, and study — ultimately developing a framework he calls MQ—Movie Intelligence, centered on rewriting one’s internal story through the lens of film to reclaim power and purpose.

Today, Bryson is the author of the Pearls of IZM series, and speaks at the intersection of resilience, responsibility, narrative identity, and cultural awareness. His message challenges audiences to confront the story they’re living — and to decide whether they are the author of it.

In This Interview:

• From 30-year sentence to freedom — Growing up in a gang-affiliated family and the path to prison at 18
• The aha moment — How a single book sparked a complete transformation behind bars
• MQ—Movie Intelligence — Using film to decode and rewrite the stories that define us
• Last of a Dyng Seed — Building a platform for narrative-driven healing and community
• Vulnerability as strength — Why shedding the tough exterior was the hardest and most important step

More Video Replays

Catch up on past interviews and inspiring stories:

Our Mission

In partnership with others, Embraced:Fully supports incarcerated and returning citizens in their moral and spiritual journey toward successful reentry. Through Angel Team members, we help connect individuals with community, faith, housing, employment, transportation, friendship, and mentorship—building bridges of hope and belonging.

Join us for our monthly Embraced:Fully Angel Team Workshop on Thursday, February 19, 2026 at 6:00 PM (Pacific) on Zoom. Guests are always welcome!

This monthly gathering is a welcoming space to explore how we can support returning citizens—individuals coming home from incarceration—on their path toward stability, healing, and freedom.

Together we’ll discuss:

• What is an Angel Team?
• Who can join or start one?
• How can churches and volunteers make a meaningful impact?

What Angel Teams Do

Embraced:Fully Angel Teams walk alongside returning community members to help them rebuild their lives — offering practical help like housing, transportation, and employment connections, and most importantly, a caring, faith-based community that welcomes them home.

Meeting Agenda

1. Introductions & Announcements
Share who you are and whether you’re currently connected with any returning community members—or would like to be.

2. Regional Angel Team Updates
Progress, challenges, and success stories from Angel Teams across the country.

3. Volunteer Chaplain Check-ins
Updates from visiting and corresponding chaplains working with inmates and returning citizens.

4. Discussion Topic: Continuing Interfaith Partnerships
Building on last month’s conversation, we’ll continue exploring how Angel Teams can partner across faith traditions to better serve returning citizens—sharing what’s working, new connections made, and next steps for expanding our interfaith network.

5. Need for a Volunteer National Christian Science Angel Team Coordinator
We’re looking for a dedicated volunteer to help coordinate and grow Christian Science Angel Teams across the country. We’ll discuss the role, responsibilities, and how you might get involved.

6. Next Steps & Closing
Confirm upcoming meeting dates and next steps.

This is a working meeting for Angel Teams nationwide and anyone interested in starting or joining a team, volunteering remotely, or simply learning more about reentry support. Together, we help returning community members build new lives and avoid re-incarceration through love, structure, and spiritual guidance.

Video Replays

Catch up on past meetings and inspiring stories:

Our Mission

In partnership with others, Embraced:Fully supports incarcerated and returning citizens in their moral and spiritual journey toward successful reentry.
Through Angel Team members, we help connect individuals with community, faith, housing, employment, transportation, friendship, and mentorship—building bridges of hope and belonging.

Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support Embraced:Fully Angel Teams and Returning Citizens

Monthly Donation

One Time Donation

Note: Please be sure to select “Embraced Fully” in the “Fund” drop-down list on the donation page.

If you would like to support the work of Embraced:Fully with a check instead of an online donation, please make it out to:

The Principle Foundation
Memo: Restricted – Embraced:Fully Project
Mail to: 10670 Barkley St, Overland Park, KS 66212-1861

View additional donation options here

Please remember to specify Embraced:Fully as the program you’d like to support.

Embraced:Fully is a fiscally sponsored program of The Principle Foundation, registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, tax ID number 43-0816306.

Ruben Davis shares his incredible transformation from a 16-year-old sentenced to life in prison to a man who found freedom through faith and now helps others reenter society. A powerful story of surrender, redemption, and second chances.

About Our Guest: Ruben Davis

Ruben Davis was sentenced to 27 years to life at the age of 16 and spent nearly three decades in California prisons, where he ultimately chose a radically different path—leaving behind addiction, gang culture, and violence to pursue recovery, education, and spiritual renewal.

Through sustained self-examination, faith, and action, Ruben rebuilt his life from the inside out. After earning his release, he dedicated himself to helping others successfully reenter society. Today, Ruben serves as a Senior Retention Specialist, supporting probationers and parolees with employment, recovery, and long-term reintegration.

Drawing from lived experience, he is a powerful voice on identity, redemption, and what real transformation requires—both inside prison walls and beyond them.

In This Interview:

• The turning point — What sparked the decision to change?
• Faith and recovery — How spiritual renewal shaped his journey
• Education behind bars — Pursuing growth in the hardest conditions
• Supporting reentry today — His work helping others avoid re-incarceration
• What real transformation requires — Insights for individuals and communities

More Video Replays

Catch up on past interviews and inspiring stories:

Our Mission

In partnership with others, Embraced:Fully supports incarcerated and returning citizens in their moral and spiritual journey toward successful reentry. Through Angel Team members, we help connect individuals with community, faith, housing, employment, transportation, friendship, and mentorship—building bridges of hope and belonging.

Join us for our monthly Embraced:Fully Angel Team Workshop on Thursday, January 15, 2025 at 6:00 PM (Pacific) on Zoom. Guests are always welcome!

This monthly gathering is a welcoming space to explore how we can support returning citizens—individuals coming home from incarceration—on their path toward stability, healing, and freedom.

Together we’ll discuss:

• What is an Angel Team?
• Who can join or start one?
• How can churches and volunteers make a meaningful impact?

What Angel Teams Do

Embraced:Fully Angel Teams walk alongside returning community members to help them rebuild their lives — offering practical help like housing, transportation, and employment connections, and most importantly, a caring, faith-based community that welcomes them home.

Meeting Agenda

1. Introductions & Announcements
Share who you are and whether you’re currently connected with any returning community members—or would like to be.

2. Regional Angel Team Updates
Progress, challenges, and success stories from Angel Teams across the country.

3. Volunteer Chaplain Check-ins
Updates from visiting and corresponding chaplains working with inmates and returning citizens.

4. Discussion Topic: Exploring interfaith partnerships
This year we are continuing to expand our interfaith partnerships in our National Angel Team Network.

5. Next Steps & Closing
Confirm upcoming meeting dates and next steps.

This is a working meeting for Angel Teams nationwide and anyone interested in starting or joining a team, volunteering remotely, or simply learning more about reentry support. Together, we help returning community members build new lives and avoid re-incarceration through love, structure, and spiritual guidance.

Video Replays

Catch up on past meetings and inspiring stories:

Our Mission

In partnership with others, Embraced:Fully supports incarcerated and returning citizens in their moral and spiritual journey toward successful reentry.
Through Angel Team members, we help connect individuals with community, faith, housing, employment, transportation, friendship, and mentorship—building bridges of hope and belonging.

About our guest

Charles Jones was arrested at 14 and incarcerated at 16 for a murder he didn’t commit. The real killer? The detective who arrested him.

After 27 years maintaining his innocence, Charles is finally free. During those decades behind bars, he earned his GED, Associate’s degree, and studied law—using that knowledge to advocate for himself and fellow inmates. Now 43, he’s preparing to have his record vacated as Kansas faces a lawsuit over his wrongful imprisonment.

Join us to hear Charles’s remarkable story of resilience, self-education, and unwavering hope.

Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support Embraced:Fully Angel Teams and Returning Citizens

Monthly Donation

One Time Donation

Note: Please be sure to select “Embraced Fully” in the “Fund” drop-down list on the donation page.

If you would like to support the work of Embraced:Fully with a check instead of an online donation, please make it out to:

The Principle Foundation
Memo: Restricted – Embraced:Fully Project
Mail to: 10670 Barkley St, Overland Park, KS 66212-1861

View additional donation options here

Please remember to specify Embraced:Fully as the program you’d like to support.

Embraced:Fully is a fiscally sponsored program of The Principle Foundation, registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, tax ID number 43-0816306.

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KZLq9LMwzQ

“How Prayer Can Bring Freedom!”

Bobby Lewis, CS is a member of the Christian Science Board of Lectureship and is also a prison chaplain in Buena Vista, Colorado—making this talk especially meaningful for the Embraced:Fully community.

Whether you’re seeking spiritual growth, supporting someone on their journey back into society, or simply curious about the healing power of prayer, this talk promises to be uplifting and practical.

About the Speaker

Bobby Lewis, CS is a Christian Science practitioner based in Buena Vista, Colorado. In addition to his work as a practitioner, he serves as a prison chaplain—bringing spiritual support and healing insights to those who need it most. He is also a member of the Christian Science Board of Lectureship.

Questions?

Contact: csinsanjuancapistrano.com or christiansciencesjc@gmail.com