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Why Am I Discouraged?
The heavy steel door closes with a sound most people hope never to hear. For many, prison is a place to avoid—a world of regret, anger, and forgotten lives.
But for Frank Loo, those doors have never been barriers. For more than 36 years, he has walked through prison gates across Guyana, Antigua, and Canada with one conviction that has guided his life and ministry.
Today, Frank serves as the Provincial Chaplaincy Coordinator for Ontario, overseeing chaplaincy support in 25 correctional institutions, while also pastoring Hope Christian Centre in Hamilton. Through decades of service, he has carried the message of Christ into some of the darkest places in society, often using resources such as Our Daily Bread devotionals and Discovery Series booklets to help inmates encounter hope.
But Frank’s passion for prison ministry did not begin in a classroom or seminary.
It began on the streets
Born in South America, Frank grew up in an abusive home. By the age of 14, he had run away and was living on the streets.
Survival soon led him into gangs, and violence became a normal part of life. One evening after a fight with a rival gang, Frank ended up in the hospital with a stab wound. When he was discharged, he sat alone on a street corner—tired, wounded, and unsure if he would survive another year.
For the first time in nearly four years, he prayed.
He looked up and said, “God, if You are real, get me off this street. Because I know I won’t live another year out here.”
Not long after that prayer, a pastor who had just been transferred to the village rode up on his bicycle and stopped beside him.
“You should come with me,” the pastor said.
Frank was exhausted after years of sleeping on the streets. The chance to sleep in a bed was enough. He went with the pastor and stayed in his home.
The next morning, Frank asked why the pastor had helped him.
The answer stunned him.
The pastor explained that God had shown him Frank’s face in a dream and told him to find him and get him off the streets. God had also warned that if Frank stayed there another year, he would die.
Frank lived with the pastor for about six weeks before eventually returning home when his father came looking for him. Not long afterward, he gave his life to Jesus Christ.
He wanted to serve God—but he never expected where that decision would lead.
One day the pastor loaned Frank a comic-book version of Born Again, the story of Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship. Soon after, the pastor invited him to a prison ministry service.
Frank remembers walking into the prison and feeling something unexpected.
“It was like coming home.”
Inside were men he had fought with—and men he had fought against. They knew him, and he knew them. The conversations were honest and real.
That very day, several inmates gave their lives to Christ.
Frank knew this was where God wanted him
At just 18 years old, he started his own prison ministry, becoming the youngest person in his village to do so.
Over time, that calling would carry him into correctional systems in multiple countries and into a lifetime of ministry behind prison walls.
Frank believes that many inmates struggle with more than the crimes that brought them to prison.
“The root problem is often unforgiveness,” he explains.
Many grew up in homes marked by abuse, rejection, and neglect. Some have never heard the words “I love you” or “You are better than your situation.”
“They were set up for failure,” Frank says.
That is why he believes love is the most powerful tool any minister can carry into a prison.
Frank and other chaplains regularly share Our Daily Bread devotionals with inmates and distribute Discovery Series booklets—often removing the staples to meet correctional facility requirements. Titles such as Navigating the Storms of Life and When Anger Burns resonate deeply with those wrestling with anger, guilt, and broken relationships.
Through these resources, inmates are introduced to the message of Christ and begin to see that their lives are not beyond redemption.
Yet one of Frank’s greatest concerns begins when inmates leave prison.
Many struggle to find churches willing to welcome them.
Frank hopes more congregations will open their doors to people returning to society after incarceration.
“Sometimes they just need someone to sit beside them and help them find their place,” he says.
He often shares a powerful reminder with churches: “It is up to the church whether a person comes out of jail a beast or a priest.”
At Hope Christian Centre in Hamilton, Frank leads a congregation that may be small but is strong in outreach.
The church rents space from another congregation, and both churches regularly use Discovery Series booklets from the Discovery Series Display (a sturdy cardboard display, pre-stocked with twelve popular titles that can be ordered by churches or outreach ministries). The counselling-focused topics are so popular that they often need to restock the display.
Frank and his church also distribute the booklets during summer outreach to people experiencing homelessness, offering water, a cookie, and a resource that points to hope in Christ. They have also shared these booklets during ministry visits to a local long-term care home.
“The impact of these booklets is amazing,” Frank says.
Because at the heart of everything he does is one simple belief: “Souls matter. I help take care of the souls of people.”
Prisons can be dark places, filled with regret and broken stories.
But after more than three decades of ministry, Frank has seen again and again that prison walls cannot confine the gospel.
Through conversations, prayer, and the steady presence of hope, lives continue to change behind those locked doors.
And after 36 years of walking through prison gates, Frank still believes what he has believed from the beginning:
No one is beyond the reach of God.
