TELL YOUR STORY
Former athlete,
prison inmate,
finds Jesus and
now serves Him
BY RICHARD ZOWIE
B E A CON W R I T E R
A promising football career
dissolved for Willie Culpepper through
a series of bad choices. His life ended
up turning into a criminal career that
led to almost two decades of incarcera-tion.
Whether it’s been as a star high
school football player or as an inmate
doing time, Willie Culpepper has seen
life’s mountain tops and valleys. But,
God had a plan!
Originally from Alabama, Willie
eventually moved to Texas. “My mother
remarried a soldier, and we moved first
to Killeen, near Fort Hood,” he says.
“Then, we moved south to San
Antonio.”
Willie and his family settled in the
Alamo City, and he excelled in sports
at Roosevelt High School. In football,
he played wingback, defensive back
and also returned kickoffs and punts
for the Rough Riders.
“I was named All-District and
All-City, from my sophomore to my
senior years,” says Willie, who graduat-ed
in 1976. He attended Wharton
County Junior College, where he hoped
to eventually transfer to a four-year
college, play football and get the atten-tion
of scouts. Instead, his life took a
different direction.
After his expulsion from college, he
spent his time as a pimp, drug dealer
and drug addict.
Willie’s first prison
sentence on pimping
and pandering put
him behind bars at
19, while his second
prison sentence for
drug trafficking put
him back in prison in
his late twenties.
“From 19 to 40, I was
incarcerated off and on. Nothing I was
proud of,” Willie remembers.
God had other plans for Willie. His
path toward God materialized after his
last prison stint.
His older brother had hope in
Willie’s future. “My older brother told
me that in the Book of Malachi, God
commands us to bring tithes and not
send tithes," Willie says. “He was refer-ring
to me going to church with him. I
went with him to church and haven’t
left since.”
Willie and his brother attended Mt.
Zion First Baptist Church on San
Antonio’s east side. Willie became a
Christian in the mid-1990s and has
been at the church
ever since.
These days, Willie
is “Reverend Willie”
and serves on the
church’s ministerial
staff. According to the
church’s website,
Willie “…added vitality
and courage to the
staff, with a concen-tration
on prison
ministry throughout
the South Texas area.”
Willie now serves in
the same place he
once dreaded in his
past life, as a field
director for Prison
Top, left: Willie in his days of drug dealing. Above:
Willie in his football days.
Fellowship. “God sent me back to
minister in the prisons because those
brothers don’t have much hope,” Willie
says, smiling.
Willie continues, referencing Chuck
Colson, the late founder of Prison
Fellowship. “Chuck Colson once said
where people have been incarcerated,
there in a place to become people who
put their trust in God and become
great leaders. God has blessed me in
that way and I am so thankful.”
Every Christmas season, Angel
Tree provides presents for the
children of those incarcerated.
Please email Willie Culpepper
at willie_culpepper@pfm.org
to learn how you can help.
Willie is now on staff at Mt. Zion Baptist Church and a field director for
Prison Fellowship.
14 www.saBeacon.com December 2019 / January 2020
/www.saBeacon.com
link
