by Kohl Jackson
Photo (above) by Harrison Flowers, below OKBU Marketing and Communications
LEXINGTON, Okla. — What began as a quiet prayer on a university campus has grown into a program offering incarcerated men a second chance through higher education and faith.
Bruce Perkins, director of Oklahoma Baptist University’s Prison Divinity Program, has been part of the OBU faculty for nearly 20 years. Before coming to OBU, he served as senior pastor at Memorial Baptist Church in Grapevine, Texas, and as president of Shiloh Christian School in Springdale, Arkansas. He joined OBU in 2006 as director of admissions and later became vice president of enrollment management.
It was during that time that OBU President Heath Thomas approached Perkins about launching a new initiative — the Prison Divinity Program, which would provide Oklahoma prisoners with a four-year Christian liberal arts education.
“I was vice president of enrollment management for years, and Dr. Thomas asked me in January 2020 to pray about something,” Perkins said. “He had the vision for offering a bachelor of arts degree in one of our prisons in Oklahoma, and that’s when I first got involved.”
By the time Perkins was approached, he was uniquely equipped for the role.
“When you get to that cabinet level and you’re in meetings all the time, you get meeting fatigue,” Perkins said. “I was really excited to change gears and do something different. I was a senior pastor for 25 years and president of a K-12 school for five years. I enjoy initiating new projects, building things and making something out of nothing. It was a pretty exciting opportunity.”
Perkins also had earlier experience in prison ministry during his young adulthood, a memory that resurfaced as he prayed about accepting the role.
“I walked across the lobby to my office and closed the door, and immediately I thought of something I hadn’t thought of in 40 years,” Perkins said. “When I was in my early 20s, I preached prison revivals in East Texas and loved it. I think God started preparing me for this way back then.”
In the program’s early stages, Perkins was responsible for turning an idea into reality by establishing logistics, building curriculum and raising funds.
“When I said yes, we didn’t have anything,” Perkins said. “We didn’t have a legal agreement with the Department of Corrections. We didn’t have curriculum. We didn’t have students or money. We started from ground zero.”
Just as the program began to take shape, the COVID-19 pandemic forced campus operations to shut down.
“Dr. Thomas and I were literally the last two people on campus when we closed it,” Perkins said. “We walked around the oval and prayed over the campus, then got in our vehicles and left. We put signs on the doors and everything.”
The Prison Divinity Program remained on hold until it was cleared to begin courses in April 2021.
“We had to run two sections of every class because of physical distancing,” Perkins said. “We couldn’t have all the students in the classroom at one time. That was a big challenge.”
Once the program launched, Perkins taught 18 different courses and continues to stay involved in academic administration. He remains hands-on with students at the Lexington prison, even getting his hair cut in the same building where classes are held.
Despite misconceptions, Perkins said inmates in the program are held to the same academic standards as OBU students on the Shawnee campus.
“They fill out an application just like any other student,” Perkins said. “We have academic requirements just like we do for any student at OBU.”
About half of the students earned their GEDs after incarceration.
“We have to have proof of equivalency,” Perkins said.
The program is fully funded by donations, and Perkins has raised more than $1 million since its launch. He said students understand their education is made possible through generosity and do not take it for granted.
“They’re very good, very hardworking students,” Perkins said. “They just don’t want to disappoint. They’ve disappointed so many people in their lives — their families, their friends, themselves.”
Perkins’ bond with his students is evident in their interactions.
“I’ve had students come up to me after an exam or turning in a paper and say, ‘Dr. Perkins, I’m sorry I didn’t do better,’” he said.
Perkins said he loves his students and expects the best from them as they work to rebuild their lives.
What began as a vision for redemption among incarcerated men in Oklahoma has become the defining work of Perkins’ life. The program is more than an academic effort; it reflects a calling shaped decades earlier during prison revivals in East Texas.
Today, behind prison walls, Perkins has helped transform a place once marked by despair into one of hope and second chances.
