God Behind Bars

Name

God Behind Bars

Legal name

God Behind Bars

Website

https://godbehindbars.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Prison Ministry Services

NAICS

Religious Organizations (8131)

akta.pro primary industry

Seminaries (Graduate Theology & Ministry) (EDAHAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Correctional Health, Mental Health & Substance Abuse Services (In-Custody) (BPAKANAG)

Keywords

• Prison ministry services
• Inmate faith programs
• Religious content streaming
• Prison church planting
• Family reunification services

Headquarters

HQ city

Grapevine

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Contributions: As a Christian nonprofit ministry, God Behind Bars operates entirely on donations from individuals, churches, and organizations. They accept one-time and monthly recurring donations to fund prison campuses, PandoApp, revival events, and family reunification programs.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

God Behind Bars is a Christian prison ministry that plants physical campus churches inside U.S. correctional facilities and operates the PandoApp streaming platform on inmate tablets to deliver 24/7 Christian content. The organization also runs revival events, family reunification programs, and the TUMI seminary-level theology education program for incarcerated individuals.

Product overview

God Behind Bars operates a multi-platform ministry ecosystem centered on PandoApp, a mobile streaming application providing 24/7 Christian content to incarcerated individuals on prison tablets. The organization supplements its digital platform with physical Prison Campus Churches planted inside correctional facilities, creating a dual approach to ministry. Additional offerings include Family Reunification Events (father-daughter dances, mother-child gatherings), the TUMI theology education program, God Behind Bars Music albums, Volunteer Resource Portal with career reentry tools, and large-scale Revival Events featuring guest speakers and worship. The portfolio serves inmates, their families, correctional facilities, and church ministry partners across the United States.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• PandoApp: A mobile application that provides inmates with streaming access to messages, devotionals, worship music, podcasts and more on their prison tablets 24/7.

Products and services

• PandoApp Mobile streaming application providing incarcerated individuals with 24/7 access to Christian content including sermons, devotionals, worship music, podcasts, and video series such as The Chosen on their prison tablets. Available on iOS and Android, and pre-installed on 671,071+ inmate tablets across U.S. correctional facilities.
• Prison Campus Churches

Quantifiable outcome

• 37% of released inmates return to prison within three years; God Behind Bars addresses this through spiritual transformation
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature1 record

Partnerships

16 partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• PandoApp (Technology Platform)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2021PandoApp is God Behind Bars' proprietary streaming platform launched in 2021, providing inmates 24/7 access to Christian content on their prison tablets. The app delivers messages, devotionals, worship music, podcasts, and video series including The Chosen.
• TUMI (The Urban Ministry Institute)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTUMI provides seminary-level theology education to incarcerated individuals through God Behind Bars. 17 men graduated from the program after 13 months and 300+ hours of study. The program has 230 inmates enrolled in Biblical Studies certificate courses across 10+ prisons.
• Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola)flagshipOthersLouisiana State Penitentiary (Angola) is a key partner where God Behind Bars conducts regular revival events, father-daughter dances, and worship services. Multiple major events have taken place at this location including the largest prison worship event with 2,000 inmates.
• Mike Barber MinistriescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMike Barber Ministries partners with God Behind Bars for worship events in prisons. They collaborated on a 2-day speaker and worship event at a women's prison where 250+ women accepted Jesus.
• Elevation WorshipcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerElevation Worship led worship at Angola Prison for an event with 600+ men from prisons across Louisiana. The worship team performed songs including 'I Trust in God' with inmate participation.
• Johnny ChangminorOthersFormer gang member and ex-inmate who shares his testimony at East Mississippi Correctional Facility. Dozens of men gave their lives to Jesus at the event he spoke at.
• Abundant Life ChurchcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorAbundant Life Church partnered with God Behind Bars to launch the 75th campus at Tipton Correctional Center in Kansas City. 83 men attended the launch service.
• 7 Hills ChurchcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor7 Hills Church partnered with God Behind Bars to launch their 65th campus at Blackburn Correctional Institution in Kentucky - the first campus in that state.
• Mike Barber MinistriescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMike Barber Ministries partners with God Behind Bars for worship events in prisons. They collaborated on a 2-day speaker and worship event at a women's prison where 250+ women accepted Jesus.
• Central ChurchminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCentral Church partnered with God Behind Bars for the 'All Is Bright' Christmas family reunification event, reuniting 12 incarcerated parents with their children.
• Wondherful (Heather Palacios)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHeather Palacios of Wondherful spoke to 300 women in a south Florida prison about mental health, suicide prevention, and spiritual warfare against depression and anxiety.
• Bayside ChurchminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorBayside Church partnered with God Behind Bars for an event at Folsom Prison in California where 135 people attended and 20 men accepted Jesus.
• The Belonging CominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Belonging Co. conducted worship events in Missouri prison where 200 men attended and about 40 gave their lives to Jesus for the first time.
• Shelby BrownminorOthersShelby Brown, who publicly forgave her father's killer, spoke at a south Florida prison to 300 men. 27 individuals raised their hands to accept Jesus during her presentation.
• Dixon Correctional InstituteflagshipOthersSite of major revival event where over 1,200 men sat in 95-degree heat for 6+ hours. More than 70 were baptized and hundreds rushed the altar.
• San Quentin State PrisonflagshipOthersSite of the largest GBB event in history with 3,200 incarcerated men attending. Hosted revival with hundreds accepting Jesus and 80+ baptisms.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• InnerChange Freedom Initiative: InnerChange is Prison Fellowship's faith-based residential program operating inside select prisons (notably in Texas and Minnesota), offering pre-release programming. Directly comparable in-prison faith-based rehabilitation model, though smaller footprint and no digital distribution platform.
• Alpha USA (Alpha in Prison): Alpha runs its Christianity-explored course inside prisons via trained volunteer teams, paralleling GBB's TUMI-led educational track. Both target incarcerated adults seeking structured Christian content; Alpha operates through church networks rather than dedicated prison campuses.
• Crossroads Prison Ministries: Crossroads runs a pen-pal-based Bible study correspondence program for incarcerated individuals, making it one of the largest faith-based content-by-mail prison ministries in the U.S. Overlaps with GBB on faith content distribution to inmates but uses a print/mentor model rather than tablet streaming or in-person campuses.
• Kairos Prison Ministry: Kairos runs weekend retreat-based Christian programs inside prisons using volunteer teams, with a globally recognized brand in prison ministry. Highly comparable delivery model (volunteer-led, in-prison) but retreats are episodic rather than the 24/7 digital access GBB offers via PandoApp.
• Prison Fellowship: Founded by Chuck Colson, Prison Fellowship is the largest U.S. Christian prison ministry and the most direct comparable—same faith-based mission serving incarcerated individuals through in-prison programs, post-release support, and policy advocacy. Operates at significantly larger scale (hundreds of prisons) but lacks GBB's proprietary tablet streaming technology.
• Bill Glass Champions for Christ: Bill Glass Behind the Walls runs large-scale evangelistic events inside prisons featuring athletes and worship leaders—closely matching GBB's revival event model (e.g., 1,200+ attendees at Dixon). Comparable faith-based, event-driven approach but without a tablet content platform equivalent to PandoApp.
• TUMI (The Urban Ministry Institute): TUMI provides seminary-level theological education to incarcerated individuals and is both a peer and an active partner of God Behind Bars. Overlaps directly with GBB's TUMI-led Biblical Studies certificate program and shares the same target audience of incarcerated learners seeking credentialed ministry training.

Emerging players

• Edovo: Edovo provides educational and rehabilitative content (including religious content from third parties) on inmate tablets—the same distribution channel PandoApp uses. It is a broader prison-ed-tech player rather than a faith-specific ministry, making it a partial-overlap peer on the technology and distribution side rather than mission.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/GodBehindBars
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCjX-DqyxfDSZmOLbscjY7gw
• Facebookfacebook.com/GodBehindBars
• Instagraminstagram.com/godbehindbars
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/godbehindbars

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about God Behind Bars