Disciple Oregon Inmates

God has given me a front-row seat to watch Him change lives in some of the most overlooked places in Oregon — inside jail cells, gas stations, and ordinary living rooms. This is a glimpse of that story and an invitation to walk with us.

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Who I Am & How God Redirected Me

My name is Joe Kimmell from Albany, Oregon. I’m a husband to Taira, dad to three boys, and for about twenty years I served as a traditional pastor.

Through my own seasons of addiction, brokenness, and recovery, God gave me a deep heart for people who feel stuck or too far gone. COVID then exposed how few believers felt confident making disciples. Around that time, Jesus’ words about visiting those in prison began to grip me, and doors opened for me to begin discipling someone in our local jail. That one relationship has grown into a small network of disciples and leaders across multiple Oregon institutions.

God eventually led me to step away from a salaried pastor role of a prevailing-model church and focus on simple disciple-making churches in homes, jails, and prisons where everyone was equipped to make disciples and be the Church.

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Where I Serve & Why Prisons

My ministry now centers on:

• Family – Practicing simple church and discipleship in our home.
• House Church in West Albany – A weekly 3/3 format simple church gathering that multiplies disciples in everyday spaces.
• Oregon jails and prisons– Discipling men and women in the Linn County Jail and other facilities, and training them to start inmate-run disciple-making churches.

Oregon is highly secular, and its 12 prisons and 34 jails are concentrated with addiction, trauma, and generational brokenness, but also with people surprisingly open to Jesus. I believe these facilities can become greenhouses for disciple-making movements that transform families and communities.

One disciple I started investing in early on in jail is now discipling many others across multiple institutions. Her unit has changed so dramatically that guards and other inmates notice the peace and transformation that the culture has had there.

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The Vision & How We Work

My mission, in partnership with e3 Partners, is:

To train, equip, and empower inmate-run disciple-making churches in every prison in Oregon.

We do this with simple, reproducible tools:

• The Four Fields framework for entering new places, sharing the Gospel, discipling responders, gathering simple churches, and raising leaders
• Gospel tools (like 3 Circles and personal testimonies)
• Discovery Bible Studies and 3/3 groups to help people hear God, obey Him, and live as real church behind bars
• Leadership development that equips faithful inmates to lead and multiply the work themselves

My goal is not to be the main leader, but to see inmates become the primary disciple‑makers and church planters.

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How You Can Join Us

Pray

I share stories and specific prayer needs here:

Prayer updates: https://missio.app/disciplingoregoninmates/site

If you pray, you are part of this.

Give

As a partner-funded missionary with e3 Partners, my family depends on a support team so I can stay focused on this work in Oregon’s jails, prisons, and simple churches.

Your giving:

• Keeps me present with inmates and returning citizens
• Provides training, materials, and travel
• Helps sustain our family as we follow where God is leading

You can give a one-time or recurring gift here:

Give financially: https://www.purecharity.com/checkout/592453

If you give, you are part of this.

Thank you for caring about what Jesus is doing in Oregon’s darkest and most unlikely places.