The Apostle Paul did not invent the Roman road system. He did not create the Greek language. He did not establish the imperial courier network that carried his epistles across the Mediterranean world. But he used all of them—strategically, relentlessly, and without apology—to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul was, among his many other gifts, an opportunist in the best sense of the word: he seized every available tool and pressed it into the service of the kingdom. “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22).

Artificial intelligence is such a tool. It is not a pastor. It is not a theologian. It does not possess the illumination of the Holy Spirit, and it cannot discern the spiritual condition of a human soul. What it can do—and what it does, in our ministry at Centro de Detención Preventiva (CDP) Casablanca, a small prison in the Valparaíso region of Chile, every week—is to function as a theological research assistant of remarkable speed and breadth.1

AI can locate cross-references, identify relevant commentaries, draft structural frameworks, and generate initial text that a trained pastor can then review, correct, and refine. In the hands of a theologically competent minister, AI is not a replacement for pastoral labor but a multiplier of it. In the hands of a theologically incompetent one, it is a danger—but so is a Bible commentary, and we do not therefore reject commentaries. AI can be a useful tool for enhancing prison ministry preparation and leaving something printed with imprisoned disciples to help them grow in grace.

My co-pastor Valentín Navarrete Urbina and I use AI regularly—not experimentally, but operationally—to prepare Bible studies for inmates at Casablanca prison through our Bautistas Históricos (Historic Baptists) ministry (see bautistashistoricos.com). We produce six to eight studies per month, and AI plays a substantial role in their preparation. This chapter describes precisely how we use this technology, what guardrails we have established to maintain theological integrity, and why I believe any church with access to AI can now produce quality Bible study materials for prison ministry—even without a seminary-trained pastor on staff.

The Bible Study Format

Our prison Bible studies follow a precise format that we have developed and refined through years of ministry at Casablanca. Each study is printed on one page, both sides—front and back of a single letter-size sheet—designed for a maximum reading time of approximately twenty-five minutes. This physical constraint is deliberate and non-negotiable. The formatting is severely practical: Georgia font at size 11, narrow margins of 1.0 centimeters, to maximize content within the confines of a single sheet of paper. These are men who may not have desks, who may be reading in poor light, who may be sharing a single copy among several inmates. Every design decision reflects the realities of the environment.

A fact that must be stated plainly, because it governs every aspect of study design: the majority of prisoners have not completed high school, and a significant number have not completed grade school. In the Chilean prison system—and this is broadly representative of prison populations worldwide—functional illiteracy and semi-literacy are the norm, not the exception. There are, of course, exceptions: university-educated professionals, former businessmen, even the occasional academic like myself. But these are the minority. The typical inmate reads slowly, has a limited vocabulary, and has never been taught to study a text systematically. This reality demands that our Bible studies be accessible without being simplistic. We use short sentences alongside complex theological concepts. We define terms that seminary graduates take for granted. We include fill-in-the-blank exercises—five per study—not because they are pedagogically sophisticated but because they force the reader to engage actively with the material rather than passively scanning it. These exercises double as homework: the inmate takes the single printed sheet back to his cell or módulo (cell block) and completes the blanks during the evening or the following day, reinforcing the lesson’s key concepts. The answers will be corrected the next time a pastor visits. The study also includes a short evening prayer modeled on the closing-prayer style I learned from Albert N. Martin’s pastoral preaching, giving the inmate something concrete to read and use that very night. Prison disciples need help learning how to pray. The theological structure follows a five-point framework that ensures doctrinal consistency across every study we produce:

A. Contexto (Context)—Historical and literary background of the passage. Who wrote it, to whom, under what circumstances, and why. This section treats the inmates as serious students of the Word—because they are, or can be, when given the opportunity.

B. Malas Noticias (Bad News)—Sin, judgment, the human condition apart from grace. This section confronts the reader with the reality of his situation before God. We do not soften this. The inmate who has been told his whole life that God loves him unconditionally and wants to give him his best life now needs to hear the truth: he is a sinner under the wrath of a holy God, and nothing he can do will remedy that condition.

C. Buenas Noticias (Good News / Gospel)—Salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Regeneration and the substitutionary atonement. The resurrection. The Second Coming. The offer of forgiveness to every sinner who repents and believes. This teaching is included in every study, and every other section exists to serve it.

D. Aplicación (Application)—Prison-specific application. This is where the study becomes pastoral rather than merely academic. How does this passage speak to a man serving a twenty-year sentence? How does it address the man whose family has abandoned him? How does it counsel the man who is guilty and knows it, or the man who is innocent and cannot prove it? The application section is where the Word meets the concrete and steel of daily prison life.

E. Conclusión (Conclusion)—A conclusion that speaks separately to the unconverted (a call to repentance and faith) and to believers (an exhortation to perseverance and faithfulness). Every study answers a central question posed at the outset, bringing the reader full circle.

In addition to the five-point framework, a strict guideline that AI must follow before generating a study, each study includes three bold reflective questions designed to provoke meditation and discussion, Greek or Hebrew words with transliterations to give inmates access to the original languages, cross-references throughout (a minimum of five per study, with at least three drawn from the New Testament), an evening prayer in Baptist style, five fill-in-the-blank exercises to reinforce key concepts, and a support-texts section introduced by the phrase “Considera todo el consejo de Dios (Hechos 20:27)”—“Consider all God’s counsel (Acts 20:27).” All Scripture quotations are in the Reina-Valera 1960 (RVR1960) Spanish translation, the most popular in Hispanic America.

Sample Evening Prayer

The following is a sample of a closing prayer printed at the bottom of our March 5, 2026, study on Jeremiah 11:18-23 (“¿Confías en que Dios ve tu sufrimiento y defenderá tu causa?” / “Do you trust that God sees your suffering and will defend your cause?”). It illustrates the Albert N. Martin style—concrete, doctrinally precise, suited to a man about to lie down on a thin, foam mattress, on a grill, in a concrete cell.

Oración para esta noche. Dios santo y justo, juez de toda la tierra, esta noche vengo a Ti como Jeremías vino—traicionado por aquellos que debían amarme, sin fuerza para vengarme, sin recursos para defenderme. Tú viste a Jeremías. Tú ves mis lágrimas. Tú conoces el nombre de cada hombre que ha conspirado contra mí, y también mis propios pecados, que merecen tu juicio mucho más que los suyos. Lávame en la sangre de Cristo, perdona mi amargura y enséñame a esperar tu justicia en lugar de tomarla por mi mano. Si esta es mi última noche en esta cárcel o si me esperan diez años más, dame paz para dormir bajo tu mirada. En el nombre de Jesús. Amén.

Tonight’s prayer. Holy and just God, Judge of all the earth, tonight I come to You as Jeremiah came—betrayed by those who should have loved me, without strength to avenge myself, without resources to defend myself. You saw Jeremiah. You see my tears. You know the name of every man who has conspired against me, and You know also my own sins that deserve Your judgment far more than theirs. Wash me in the blood of Christ, forgive my bitterness, and teach me to wait for Your justice rather than to take it by my own hand. Whether this is my last night in this prison or whether ten more years await me, give me peace to sleep under Your watching eye. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Sample Fill-in-the-Blank and Reflective Questions

The inmate’s printed sheet ends with five fill-in-the-blank items (Cinco preguntas para completar) and three reflective questions (Tres preguntas reflexivas). The blanks are drawn directly from the body of the study so that the man cannot complete them without re-reading. The reflective questions are open-ended and pastoral.

What follows is a representative selection of fifteen items drawn from several of our recent studies, given here in English translation with the Spanish original in parentheses for items I judge essential to preserve in the Reina-Valera 1960 idiom. These illustrate the level and tone we aim for:

1. The men of Anatot conspired to kill Jeremiah because they could not tolerate his __________. (Jeremiah 11)

2. According to Romans 12:19, vengeance belongs to __________, not to me.

3. Daniel prayed to Jehovah three times a day, even though the king’s decree commanded death in the lions’ den. This shows that obedience to God __________ obedience to the state. (supera / surpasses)

4. The Hebrew midwives feared __________ more than they feared Pharaoh, and God dealt well with them.

5. La paciencia de Dios in 2 Peter 3:9 is directed toward __________ (the elect / los escogidos), not toward all humanity without distinction.

6. According to 1 Timothy 5:8, the man who refuses to provide for his own household has denied the __________ and is worse than an __________.

7. Jesus told His disciples to be wise as __________ and harmless as __________ (Matthew 10:16).

8. The phrase “pecador” (sinner) in the New Testament refers to a man under the just __________ of God, not merely a man who makes mistakes.

9. The substitutionary atonement means that Christ bore the wrath of God __________ (in the place of) sinners.

10. El temor del Señor (the fear of the Lord) is described in Proverbs 1:7 as the beginning of __________.

Reflective questions (preguntas reflexivas—bold in the printed sheet):

1. What persons in your life have betrayed you, and how is your response to their betrayal different from Jeremiah’s response to Anatot?

2. If God has predestined those whom He will save, why does He still command sinners to repent and believe?

3. What sins, named or unnamed, do you need to confess tonight before you sleep?

4. Have you provided for your wife and children even from inside this prison? In what concrete ways?

5. If God brings you out of this prison alive, what kind of Christian will you be on the outside?

These questions are not casual icebreakers. They are designed to drive the inmate from intellectual assent to repentance, from passive listening to spiritual self-examination. They are also designed to be answerable by a man with limited education—there are no trick questions, no academic jargon, no demand for outside reading. Everything needed to answer is in the study itself or in the inmate’s own conscience before God.

How AI Is Actually Used

Let me be precise about what AI does and does not do in our ministry, because the popular imagination—fed by breathless media coverage and Silicon Valley hype—tends to assume either that AI is writing our sermons for us or that we are using it to replace human judgment. Neither is true.

The human process begins with selecting a Scripture text, a central question to be answered, five outline headings for the sermon, and, sometimes, subpoints and additional Scripture passages to be emphasized. Our AI process begins with two comprehensive guideline documents that I have developed and refined over many hours. The first is our prison Bible study template, Pauta y Plantilla para Preparación de Estudios para CDP de Bautistas Históricos con IA—a concise two-page document that specifies the format, required elements, theological content, and practical application parameters for every prison study. The second is our sermon preparation guide, Pauta y Plantilla Sermones de Bautistas Históricos: Ventana de Contexto de IA—an eighteen-page document containing 683 paragraphs of detailed theological, structural, and stylistic instructions. This longer document includes a comprehensive hierarchical list of preferred theological authorities—from Historic Baptists (Gill, Bunyan, Keach, Backus, Leland) through Waldensian and Anabaptist sources, Presbyterian and Reformed theologians, and contemporary Reformed Baptists—as well as an extensive bibliography of approved reference works spanning systematic theology, biblical commentaries, church history, apologetics, and Christian biography. Both documents serve as what AI practitioners call “system prompts,” encoding our doctrinal convictions, structural requirements, citation standards, preferred authorities, and pastoral philosophy. The quality of the AI’s output is directly proportional to the quality and specificity of these instructions.

Both guideline documents are available for download from the Bautistas Históricos website (bautistashistoricos.com). We encourage any church or ministry considering using AI for Bible study preparation to download our documents, study their structure and content, and then modify them to align with their own confessional commitments and ministry context. A Presbyterian church will want to substitute the Westminster Standards for the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith (1689). A ministry operating in English will want to replace the RVR1960 Scripture references with KJV, NKJV, or ESV equivalents. A church with Arminian convictions will want to adjust the soteriological guardrails—though, with all due respect, we would urge them to reconsider those convictions before encoding them into an AI system. The point is that the template is adaptable. What is not adaptable—what must remain constant regardless of denominational affiliation—is the principle that AI must operate under explicit theological constraints, or it will default to the theological lowest common denominator of the internet. With this framework in place, the AI assists in several specific ways:

Cross-referencing. For any given passage, the AI identifies five or more relevant cross-references, at least three of which are from the New Testament. This task would require a concordance, a commentary, and considerable time if done manually. The AI accomplishes it in seconds, and while its suggestions must be verified, they are generally accurate and often illuminating.