Episode 152 - Lewis Lee - Leaders On Leadership
Lewis Lee went to prison at the age of 15 and served 45 years. After years of going back to courtrooms and commutation, Lewis finally gained freedom with the help of the Lord. He is now living his life, giving talks and educating people about the grace of God. He's been leading through God and pouring himself into others. And when things get lonely, he knows that the Lord is always with him.
Join Dr. Tracey Jones as she talks to Lewis about his incredible transformation with the help of God. Learn that God is in control of your life and that you should just let him lead the way. God will give you the grace to endure. Also, learn more about the group Lewis is part of, Yokefellowship, where he helps at-risk youth inmates in their lives. Discover how Lewis Lee lives TREMENDOUSLY by serving the Lord.
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Lewis Lee - Leaders On Leadership
I could not be any more excited now than to have my dear brother, my brother from another mother but we share the same father, Brother Lewis Lee. You are going to see why I'm so excited. This is a true story. I met Lewis a few years ago behind bars in Pennsylvania. Lewis and I were both behind bars. Lewis is going to tell you a little bit about this briefly. Lewis went to prison at age 15, where he served 45 years.
Within the last few years, while COVID was going on, by the grace of God, hard work, and him paying his dues, he has been out as a free man back in society. He is going to tell you all about all the tremendous things going on in his life. I want to talk with Lewis about what it takes to pay the price of leadership. He has a unique perspective like none of our other guests have had. Lewis, thank you so much for being a guest on the show.
Thank you, Tracey. I am honored and humbled to be on your show. It is a place where I never thought that I would be. We talked about hopes of me getting out and meeting out here but we never talked about this. I am humbled to be here and to be able to share my story and how God has moved tremendously in my life. I was in prison for 45 years. I went to prison at the age of fifteen for being involved in a crime in which somebody's life was taken. I would receive a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
In the State of Pennsylvania, that meant that I would be in prison for the rest of my life. However, by the grace of God, in 2012, the United States Supreme Court came out with a major ruling that said it is unconstitutional for all juveniles to be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. As a result of that decision, I was afforded the opportunity to go back to court and be resentenced. Not only myself but juveniles throughout the whole United States was then given the opportunity to go back to their own individual courts and receive another sentence.
In 2018, I went back to court and received a sentence of 30 years to life, which made me immediately eligible for parole. I was paroled out of SCI Mahanoy on February the 5th of 2020. I have been out since then, and it has been a tremendous transition. It has been a wonderful experience. I am so thankful for what God has done and is doing in my life. To be sitting here on a show sharing and having an opportunity to share in this show what God has done and is doing is a tremendous blessing for which I am eternally grateful to Tracey and to God Almighty for giving me this opportunity.
I'm going to tell you how Lewis and I met. Shout out to Marcia Sinkovitz, who started the whole program. She does leadership training, L.I.F.E., and Leading Inmates in Faith & Education. She has a tremendous program, which is biblical-based leadership. She goes into all the SCI prisons in Pennsylvania.
They do these discussions weekly with volunteers where they do this leadership curriculum. Marcia comes to me and she's like, “We are doing this graduation.” She would come by the bookstore and say, “Do you have any books you want to donate?” We love donating books. My father was involved in prison ministry. One time she said to me, “Do you want to come? We are having graduation.” I'm like, “Seriously? I could do this?”
God will place the right people in your life because God knows the end from the beginning.
Long story short, we went, and they started asking about what I do. I'm like, “I'm into books. I publish.” They are like, “Let's do a book club.” We started the Tremendous Book Club, where then we met monthly at any SCI that would let us. We digested tremendous books from Viktor Frankl to books of the Bible, to Charlie “Tremendous” Jones, to books on communication, you name it. As iron sharpens iron, the people you meet, and the books you read, it was a tremendous time of fellowship.
That's how Lewis and I met in a book club. Books transform your lives in so many different ways. Thank you, Lewis. I'm so excited for you to come out, right as the murmurings of COVID were happening. You came out into a world not only after 45 years but a world many of us didn't even recognize. It was a blessing, and then it was dealing with that.
It was a tremendous transition. It was one that I wasn't prepared for in that sense. However, I was prepared for it because God had placed people into my life that helped in the transition, even though we didn't know that we were going to run into a pandemic. God knows the end from the beginning. He knew that the pandemic was going to come. The people that he placed in my life were brothers and sisters in Christ. People would think that my transition was so difficult but it has been easy because of the people that God has placed in my life that been there to help and support me.
It has been tremendous. The opportunity to meet Tracey through the book club was a tremendous experience. Men look forward each month to being able to go to the chapel, into a classroom in the education building, and read and talk about the books that we read to share and hear each other's perspectives. That added a whole another level of serving time that wasn't there. I thank Tracey for that.
I thank Marcia also for the life curriculum that she brought into the prisons. That was a springboard off of another ministry that was started by Jim Law but was taken over years later by Marcia. It was taken to a whole another level. I participated in that as a student first. After going through 4 or 5 books, I became a facilitator. That was a tremendous experience. Not only did it help me grow but it allowed me the opportunity to fellowship with my brothers in Christ in a setting that sometimes isn't allowed to happen. That was a tremendous blessing.
There are thousands of people in these institutions. Sometimes only 10 to 20 would show up. Lewis was faithful. My dad would say, “You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.” Lewis was so diligent. He was open to absorbing. For leaders out there, no matter what you do for your people if they are not willing to be developed and have that sense of teachability and humility and that collective desire to be together. Lewis would mentor the younger people coming into the book club. He became a leader within the leaders.
Hats off to you, Lewis, for being the mainstay of that, you provided such guidance. There were days when I was about to hang it out in the outside world. I knew I was coming to see you guys. I'm like, “Thank God. It was a blessing to come and hear your insights.” You saw me at a period of my time where there were a lot of different things going on in my life, and the blessing you were to me. I talk in spark about a lot of what you guys taught and shared with me as my brother. Thank you so much, Lewis.
Lewis Lee: At times there's nobody who is pouring into you. That's when it becomes lonely. You need to know that the Lord is with you, and he is pouring into you when we might not even know it.
My dad did write his speech called the Price of Leadership. Lewis, you would have loved my father. He would have loved you. He came from a difficult upbringing. He was pragmatic, a fighter but also tender-hearted. He had a thick skin and a soft heart rather than a hard heart and a thin skin. He was just like you. One of the things that he said is that, “To pay the price of leadership, there are certain things that you are going to have to be prepared for that are not the corner office, the leader jet, and the billion-dollar salary.”
The first one he talked about was the price of loneliness. A lot of times, as leaders, we may be out there. The only one that sees it sometimes are just some of our family or whatever. We may feel we are alone. Can you unpack what that means for you? His point was that it's not necessarily a bad thing. Jesus went off on his own. We need loneliness, and being alone is not always a bad thing. As an emerging leader, both behind bars and now, how do you deal with loneliness?
Being a leader, sometimes you don't have anybody who pours into you because you are always giving out. When I look at it from a perspective of loneliness, that's what I would think of. A good leader you are always pouring into other people. People are always drawing out of you. At times there's nobody who is pouring into you. That's when it becomes lonely. You need to know that the Lord is with you, and he is pouring into you when we might not even know it.
A lot of times, we don't see the Lord. A lot of times, we need to see some flesh. A lot of times in leadership, you don't see that. That's when you have to go into your quiet place and be like, “Lord, I know that you are here with me. I don't see anybody else. I'm giving out. I'm pouring out. Who is there for me?” That's when the Lord is like, “I'm here. I got you. Don't worry about it.”
All of a sudden, somebody shows up who begins to then pour into your life. That place of loneliness happens when you are always the one as a leader that seems like giving out. People got problems. Everybody comes to you. You are ministering to everybody's problems. You are like, “I got a few problems on my own, too. Who can I talk to about this?” That position right there is what happens in leadership sometimes.
You think about Moses, David or any leader. “Heavy is the head that wears the crown.” It's wonderful that even with what you've been through, wherever you are in whatever stage of life, to be a leader means you are not only leaning on yourself but, most often, you are pouring out into others. I love that. We have the biggest advocate of all. The Holy Spirit is always there to walk alongside us.
For us as leaders, it's important to watch out and make sure you've got to have people pouring into you. Lewis revealed some of the things he did. He would go to the weekly Bible study. He took on more and had advocates because when he came on the outside, then he wasn't all alone. He had a network of people. It's important for leaders always to set up. “The cord of three strands is not easily broken,” says Ecclesiastes. Start weaving that strong.
As a leader, sometimes you don't have anybody who pours into you because you're always giving out.
One of my spiritual fathers in the Lord is Brother Jim Newsom. The Lord brought him into my life over 30 years ago. He has been that person who has been there for me. He has poured into my life while I was busy pouring into other people's lives. That relationship right there is phenomenal in terms of how it has developed and how it has been proven over the course of time.
That's how we combat weariness because alone sheep is a dead sheep. None of us is meant to do it alone. We need that body of believers. The next thing he talked about was weariness. My father said, “Leadership is not for sissies.” There's good weariness, and there's bad weariness. There are times when you feel like, “Lord, am I going to get out of this wilderness or not?” You, especially felt that, 45 years behind bars. How do you cope? How did you cope? It's a different weariness now that you are on the outside, but it's a part of life. What would you say, for leaders out there, how to handle and combat the bad types of weariness?
For me, my weariness was at a different place because I was incarcerated. Every person who's incarcerated looks and believes in a day of freedom. At one point throughout my incarceration, I had to sit down and have to have a talk with the Lord when there were no more doors open for me to be released.
In Pennsylvania, serving a life without the possibility of parole sentence, there are only three ways out, either you get back into the courts, receive a new sentence at some point or you go through a process called commutation where the governor would then commute your sentence or death. Those are the only ways out in Pennsylvania. I was done in the courts. There were no more possibilities in the courts. I went through commutation twice and was denied.
I had to have a talk with the Lord. When I talked to the Lord about it, I was like, “Lord, the Bible says that you are in control. If you are in control of my life and I am to do and spend the rest of my life in prison, then that's your will. You are in control of that. It’s because of that that you will give me the peace to endure this because it's your will. It's not the devil's will. The devil might have meant it for evil when I came to prison but you are in control.” When I had that talk with the Lord, I was at a place of peace. There were some days when I didn't feel the peace of God because I was looking at the fact that I might not ever go home.
When that happens, you still got to go back to the word of God because the word of God doesn't change. If he said that and I felt peace yesterday, then I got to put on my bootstrap so that I would feel peace today because it doesn't change. That's how I was able to deal with that. Having that honest talk with the Lord and knowing that if I was going to be in prison for the rest of my life, then it was the will of God. He was going to give me the peace, strength, and ability to wake up every day and serve him with joy and gladness in my heart.
That brought tears to my eyes and made my heart jump. Even for leaders outside, you got to know that God is here to carry that load. When we are at our lowest, He's there. I love that you said that he's already seen this to the end. That, “Let go, let God,” is not just a thing for the coffee mug. He is the creator of the universe. He already knows. He wants the best for us, his sons and daughters. Brother, thank you for unpacking weariness in a way that I have never heard before.
Lewis Lee: God is in control of your life. If he wants you to spend the rest of your life in prison, then you will do it. And because of that, God will give you the peace to endure it.
In terms of getting weary, doing the same work over and over sometimes, we become weary. The Bible says, “Don't become weary in well-doing because, in the end, you are going to reap.” Sometimes it seems like there is no reward but there is a reward. There is not always a reward now, but there is a reward. Sometimes that's when we become focused on this level rather than focus on a heavenly level, knowing that what we are doing here, if we do it, then it's going to be good.
Wherever we do it, whether behind bars or out of bars, it is all to glorify him. In the end, it's just a blip because what we are doing here, we are going to be doing for an eternity, what a beautiful way to look at it. The next thing my father talked about was abandonment. Abandonment typically has a negative connotation. You abandon a job or an animal. He talked about abandonment as a focus. It means that I have to think about what I ought and need to focus on instead of what I like and want to focus on.
He would always say that he did more in a day to contribute to his failure than his success. You are in the routine. You are behind bars. You think, “I've got all the time in the world to do this.” You guys taught me, “Don't kill time, fill time.” How did you stay focused on what was the priority? There were thousands of people there that would be like, “I don't have time for this or I don't want to do this.” How did you stay abandoned and on the path to continue growing in your leadership, in your faith, in your connecting with people, for your hope that you would eventually get out?
It's not hard in a sense because it's the choice that you make each and every day. We know right and wrong. The old adage is, “The one you feed the most is going to be the one that's going to rule and reign in your life.” If you choose to feed your flesh or your spirit, that's going to be the one that's going to rule and reign in your life.
As the spirit man is being fed, then you are being led in the way that you should go, and everything is okay. That's the choice, and it's a choice that you have to make each and every day. For me, it was keeping life simple. The routine in prison blended itself to doing that, which was right. You stay on that path. You do those things, and it works out. If you fall, you get back up, and you get back in the fight because none of us are perfect. We are going to blow it. You get back up. You don't stay down. You stay pressing towards the mark of a high calling, which is in Christ Jesus.
It’s being a light to those who are in darkness, living that life. That's the choice that we have to make, inside and outside. I have to make that choice when I wake up each and every day. I know what's before me. I know the things that are before me. I know my job and responsibilities. I need to take care of them. I know my recreational responsibilities. You should have some recreation in your life so that you have a healthy and balanced life. You know what danger is. You know what is right and wrong. You stay away from it.
You brought up the contentious word, “Choices,” which implies ownership. I love that you bring that up. You know spirit man, flesh man. I'm reading Genesis, and it's the seed of the serpent and seed of the woman, the good and evil. It is old. We are made in God's image, and we know. You talk about the routine and we think, “How mundane.” Habits are what determine excellence.
Don't become weary in well-doing because, in the end, you're going to reap.
I love that you talked about that and that you stayed on the path that set you up for success because you’re like, “It's got to be pure chaos.” Like on the outside, you find the right people that want to do the right things and play by the rules. That's who you hang and associate with. That's why you are here where you are now.
What you focus on is where you are going, and that’s it. I focused on being a servant, Bible study, and fellowship. I left the rest up to God. God was working when I didn't even know that God was working. The Scripture says, “The rain falls on the just and the unjust.” That decision allowed so many juveniles throughout the whole United States to go back to court. It was a decision that fell on the just and the unjust because not every juvenile was a Christian. When that door opened, it didn't open just for Christians but it opened up for some bad people.
God deals with that. I'm thankful that he saw fit to work within that spectrum, to allow so many of His children who didn't have an opportunity to ever get out, to be released and put back out here in the world so that we can make an impact for the kingdom. There are godly men who are making an impact and would have never had that opportunity had that decision not come about in 2012.
Lewis, the last thing my father talked about was the vision. A lot of people think, “Vision, you got to have a high IQ or be like Bill Gates, Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg.” My dad always said, “Vision is seeing what needs to be done and doing it.” You crafted your vision towards seeing the future and what you needed to do to gain your freedom. How do you sharpen your vision now that you are out and in ministry? How do you focus on that vision?
When you talk about vision, I wasn't one of those people who had a vision board. I look at it as staying in my lane and true to what God has equipped and called me to do. When they first get saved, a lot of people want to be a preacher. That was never my desire. That was never my lane. A lot of people wanted to be musicians. It's never my calling. I never tried to go do those things. For me, in terms of vision, it's staying true to what God called me to do and letting the next man do what he's called to do.
I'm not looking at that which is big and that which is small because God, in the end, will determine that. Some of the greatest people who are going to be in the kingdom of God are people who did work behind the scenes that we didn't even see out in the front but that was their vision. That was their purpose. That was their calling, so they remained faithful to them. That's the life that I'm living. I'm not trying to do something that is greater than me. I'm just trying to be faithful over that what God has called me to, so I can stay focused.
It's not about the outcome. It's about falling deeper in love with Christ every day and being the light so that somebody else can see what they are looking for. You are living that. Lewis, is there anything else on leadership that we haven't hit on regarding loneliness, weariness, abandonment, and vision before we talk about your ministry and what's going on with that?
Lewis Lee: The one you feed the most is going to be the one that's going to rule and reign in your life. If you choose your flesh, then your flesh will rule and reign in your life. What you focus on is where you're going.
I look at it from the perspective that if somebody were to ask me if I am a leader, that's for other people to judge. I'm trying to live one day at a time. I never aspire to be a leader. If you say that I'm a leader, then go where I'm going. Otherwise, I'm trying to live now to be faithful so that at the end of the day, God can say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” If you say that I'm a leader, then to God be the glory. I don't know that I'm a leader. I'm just trying to do what I believe God has called me to do, and that's it.
You are affiliated with an organization and ministry called Yokefellowship. Tell us about that and what you've got coming out with them.
Yoke Fellowship is a group of men and women who go into prison. They are all over the country because one of the brothers who were on the Zoom meeting was out in California. Yokefellowship is a nationally known prison ministry that goes into the prison. While in prison, I had an opportunity to be in that Bible study. As a result of that, I developed some very good friendships. It was a very excellent Bible study group.
When I came out, Yokefellowship decided that they wanted to put together a book profiling men and women who have been in their Bible study and are now out and living successful lives. I was asked to share my experience of being a part of the Yokefellowship Bible study participants. This book will be coming out in July 2022. That was a tremendous opportunity, a door that God has opened for me to share what Yokefellowship Bible study is meant to me and how it has helped me in my transition.
Lewis, this isn't the first time you have been in a book. Can you tell us about the first time?
It's amazing when we look back over our lives and see that God is moving and doing well. Several years ago, there was an African American sister named Linda Watkins. She decided she wanted to write a book that would profile God showing up in people's lives. That's the name of the book, God Just Showed Up. When she went to her pastor, she asked if he could recommend an inmate to be in the book. Her pastor got in contact with my spiritual father who is Jim Newsom. Jim Newsom said, “I have the perfect person who should be in your book.” He recommended me.
Ms. Watkins came out to Mahanoy Prison, interviewed me, and put my story in her book. I am the only inmate in the book. The rest are about twelve free world people who share their experiences about how God showed up in their lives. We know that when God shows up in our life, our life is turned around. It's about our turnaround and our experience. That was an amazing, tremendous blessing and opportunity for my story to be shared. It's out there. It's still available on Amazon if you would like to get it.
Stay in your lane. Stay true to what you know that God has equipped and called you to do.
Other than responding to this show and letting me know, is there a best way for people to get ahold of you in the event they would like to have you come speak to their groups, their camps, their ministries, and their churches? What's the best way for them to reach out to you?
I have an email address. My email address is Lee4Jesus23@Gmail.com.
With all my anticipation, I didn't even know if this would happen. We hope it will because I know you guys. To think that we would have the depth of this conversation, truly the Holy Spirit was all over this in a way that I marveled. I marveled at your wisdom when I knew you before but to see the unfolding and the love of Christ in you, it is a blessing to spend time with you.
It has been a blessing to me, Tracey. My encouragement to the reading community is to be open to what God is doing. God is doing something in each one of our lives. You don't even know what tomorrow holds. I couldn't have seen this when I was on the inside. My dream, when I got out, was number one, to connect with everybody who had been a part of my life on the inside. I've had the opportunity to do that with Marcia and Ed. We have been out to dinner twice. I'm looking forward to doing that with Tracey. I had the opportunity to do that with about every volunteer who came in and administered to me on the inside.
I wanted to connect with them since I have been out to let them see the fruits of their labors. A lot of times, people come in and minister through Bible study groups, and they don't see the fruit through years of laboring. It was always my desire that when I got out to be able to connect with everybody who came in through a Bible study, to preach at a Sunday service, to let them know that I thank them, number one, for their service to me on the inside, and then to show them what God is doing in my life now that I'm out.
With that, since I have been out, I've started two ministries. When I first came out, it was always my desire to connect the church on the inside with the church on the outside. I felt that there has always been a disconnect there. That's the ministry that I'm working on. The fellowship that men on the inside had had when I came out and ran into the pandemic, there was no fellowship. I was like, “Lord, what is going on?”
I reached out to a friend, a fellow chaplain, and a mentor of mine, Chaplain Bell, out in Texas. I talked to him, and he told me about Zoom. We set up a Zoom system. Now every Saturday morning, the Men of Purpose International meet on Zoom at 9:00. Brothers who had developed that fellowship on the inside continue that fellowship. That ministry is growing by leaps and bounds. We are about ready to launch our own webpage next month. That was something that the Lord had laid on my heart. He brought other people into my life to help take it to the next level.
Just be open to what God is doing because God is doing something in each one of our lives.
Just be open to what God is doing because God is doing something in each one of our lives.
That has been a tremendous blessing. There's also another ministry that I'm a Cofounder of, and that's called LIFER Ministry, which stands for Lifers Initiative For Early Release. Me and my cofounder brother, Gerald Everett, are in the process of building that ministry. We will then go back in and help men and women who are still incarcerated with very little help, the hope of release, help them through the legal system and try to get them out. Those are two ministries that God has laid on my heart and that I'm working with. It has been a blessing.
Our readers are going to want to advocate for you, be a resource for you or connect with you so that they can get that information, too. For all of you that have gotten out, I am delighted that everybody is starting a ministry. Everybody is so intent on getting out and serving. What an incredible blessing, Lewis, I can't thank you enough for the time that we spent together.
I thank you. I do because it has truly been a blessing. Any time that I can have a platform to share what God is doing and has done in my life, then I'm all for it because to him be the glory for the things that He has done and is doing in my life.
I'm so excited about where it's going to go. For the readers, if you have not thought about prison ministry, I can't tell you how it has changed my life. Lewis is talking about how it changed his life. If you've thought, “Could I?” Yes, you can. Find out how we can connect you. There are nationwide ministries. There are local at the state level all across the country. If you've thought about, “How do I go in and make the world a better place?” please consider volunteering and getting involved with prison ministry. Once you do it, you are going to be like, “What have I been missing?” It's so unique and a blessing. We get to have connections like this.
To our Tremendous Leadership fans, if you like what you heard, be sure and hit that subscribes button, share this with your friends, family, your clients, and your colleagues, and prop us a note. We would be honored if you would give us a five-star review wherever you tune in to the show, YouTube, Stitcher, and Spotify. You name it. We are out there.
Be sure and share with this all about how people can learn how to pay the price of leadership. Connect with Lewis. Connect with Marcia. Get involved. Read Tremendous books and remember to keep on paying the price of leadership. Everybody, thank you so much, Brother Lewis. Until we meet again, goodbye. God bless you all.
God bless you, Tracey. Thank you for the opportunity, and we will be getting together soon in person.
I can’t wait.
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About Lewis Lee
Lewis Lee went to prison at the age of 15 and served 45 years. He gained his freedom in Feb of 2020 and is living life TREMENDOUSLY out here serving the Lord.