Don Dickerman never set out to become a deliverance minister—nor did he expect to build lifelong friendships with notorious criminals like Ted Bundy and the Son of Sam. But as he shared with Jennifer Bagnashi on Deep Believer, his journey from seminary student to ministering healing and deliverance in over 850 prisons is nothing short of a divine assignment.
“When I was in seminary, nobody could have told me I’d be preaching in prisons or beyond that, doing deliverance,” Dickerman said. “I would have rebelled at that… I probably would have left school.”
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His first encounter with prison ministry came unexpectedly. A woman from his church called late one night and said, “My husband just shot a man.” That moment led him to visit both the victim and the shooter—who was later sentenced to 25 years to life. Accompanying the man’s wife to the Ferguson Unit in Midway, Texas, Dickerman had no idea he was about to be invited to preach there.
“I didn’t even know they had churches in prison,” he admitted. “But they do—beautiful chapels that seat hundreds.”
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Over time, inmates began writing to him, asking if he would preach in other prisons they’d been transferred to. Before long, what started as a single visit became a global prison ministry, despite having little outside support or funding. “There is no income in either prison ministry or deliverance. If somebody thinks you want to do that for money—do something else.”
Dickerman began noticing that the power of God was more evident in prison than in many churches. “I would see things happen, Jennifer, that I didn’t see happen in the church I attended. I would see people healed in these services, but I wasn’t seeing that in my local church.”
This spiritual hunger led him to organize community meetings focused on healing and deliverance. “We’re not starting a new church,” he told attendees. “We’re going to talk about Jesus. We’re going to talk about healing. We’re going to talk about deliverance. And then we’re going to do it.”
One turning point came while ministering in a federal prison in Three Rivers, Texas. A prison officer approached him afterward, eager to share a prophetic vision. “While you were preaching, I saw you standing in a big black pot and there was oil in this pot… it bubbled up and covered you, and as it touched the people, they were healed,” the officer said. “Get ready, brother. God’s fixing to pour it out on you.”
Dickerman wept as he drove away, overwhelmed by the weight of the call. “I said, ‘God, I don’t know how to do that. I know how to go to the hospital and do a courtesy prayer. But I don’t know how to minister healing.’ And basically, what I heard from the Lord was, ‘That’s not your job. You just keep preaching. I’ll make it happen.’”
And God did. Through preaching, Dickerman began witnessing mass deliverances—what he calls “corporate deliverance”—where as many as 70% of those in attendance testified to being set free.
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His new book, Deliverance Defined: How to Lock Up and Lock Out Demon Powers, offers insight into the ministry of deliverance and the spiritual realities affecting lives today. For Dickerman, the mission remains simple: “Jesus, I’m coming to see You. Because I was in prison, and You visited Me.”
Abby Trivett is content development editor for Charisma Media.
