Finding Joy on Death Row: Unexpected Lessons from Lives We Discarded

Based on the sermon series that garnered top honors from Yale Divinity School, Finding Joy on Death Row is the powerful story of a broken preacher's transformative experience learning about joy from Death Row prisoners, combined with dramatic handwritten responses from more than twenty men currently sentenced to die.

In Finding Joy on Death Row: Unexpected Lessons from Lives We Discarded, Williams journeys into the hearts and minds of those sentenced to death, illuminating for readers the ways in which the human spirit can suffer--and soar.

Finding Joy on Death Row includes dozens of handwritten statements from those facing capital punishment. The testimonies and contemplations of those sentenced to die offer readers a unique opportunity to hear from individuals whose lives are marked by their looming execution. And yet these prisoners have--in the midst of grim circumstances--managed to find joy.

As Williams serves and shepherds these prisoners, their own stories are unveiled. Williams's account of ministering within North Carolina's prison system and the handwritten statements are punctuated by glimpses into the author's own broken past. This important work will show readers the power of joy to reach us all, the free and imprisoned alike.

Finding Joy on Death Row:

• Offers a glimpse into the minds of those currently and formerly on Death Row
• Presents the effects of the death penalty not only on the incarcerated but on their loved ones as well
• Examines Williams's own experiences that gave him a unique understanding and empathy for those sentenced to death
• Explores the very real possibility of finding joy despite outward circumstances
• Includes online access to transcriptions of the prisoners' responses as well as Pastor Williams's original sermon series

Unprecedented and revealing, Finding Joy on Death Row provides a window into the tragedies, hardships, and victories of those sentenced to die, ultimately offering readers the encouragement that we are all loved, forgiven, and capable of transformation.

DEWEY WILLIAMS is Pastor of Mt. Bright Missionary Baptist Church in Hillsborough, North Carolina, a doctoral student at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University, and a graduate of Duke Divinity School. In 2017, Dewey's sermon series Joy on Death Row won the top award at Yale Divinity School's Theology of Joy and the Good Life competition.