Meet Terry
- Peyton Silvius
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Happiness Is a Tent, but Joy Is a Home
“My name is Terry Brady, and I grew up basically in the Colorado region along the I-25 corridor between Colorado and Wyoming and Montana.”
// Early Life & The Days Before
Terry describes his childhood as one shaped by work and responsibility at an early age. His parents divorced when he was young. He lived with his father, while his mother, brothers, and sisters stayed on the East Coast. By the time he was nine years old, Terry was already working with his dad and learning carpentry. “I’d been a carpenter all my life,” he says.
Later in life, Terry moved to South Carolina with his wife, whom he describes as his second marriage, to help care for her mother who had dementia. At first, the change felt manageable. But over time, the move and the circumstances took a toll.
“I was sad. I was depressed,” Terry explains. “I stayed out on the road working.” The distance created strain in his marriage. “I wasn’t meeting her needs,” he says. “That divide separated us in several different ways.”
What followed was a rapid unraveling. “As quick as you blink your eyes, my life changed one day and I found myself in prison.”
// Stealing Hope
Terry does not minimize the seriousness of his charges. “My crimes were serious according to the arrest warrants,” he says. He recalls being offered a 40-year sentence. “I wouldn’t be sitting here today” if that had happened.
While incarcerated, Terry reached a moment that would shift his life. At age 60, walking to see his attorney, he noticed a book cart. “I stole three books off of it to have something to read,” he says.
Though Terry says he “didn’t know much about religion,” the books impacted him deeply. “They were very inspirational,” he says. “It caused me to get down on my knees and ask God to forgive me for what I had done and to take control of my life from there.”
At that point, Terry planned to take his case to trial. “If you’re getting 40 years and you’re 60 years old, what do you have to lose?” he remembers thinking. He prayed, prepared, and ultimately served five years.
While at Manning Correctional Facility, Terry first heard about JUMPSTART. “One of the guys had come back from a night service,” he says. When Terry asked where he had been, the man told him about a program called JUMPSTART and said, “If you want parole, you need to go to JUMPSTART.”
Terry is honest about his initial motivation.
“My primary focus for getting into JUMPSTART at that time was parole. That was my motivation. That’s all I wanted.”
When he was denied, he was only 6 weeks into the class. “I had met some of the volunteers, some of the participants, and I had gotten involved in the workbook,” he says.
“I said to myself, do I quit? No, I like the people I've met, and I enjoy the workbook and the community. So I stayed.” During his time, he went through JUMPSTART twice, completing the 40-week program and then continuing into leadership training.
// Happiness Is a Tent, but Joy Is a Home
Through the program, Terry’s understanding of what Christ does in the heart began to change. “Happiness for me has always been materialistic,” he says. Boats, motorcycles, tools. “But what God is bringing me is not happiness in life at all. It’s joy. And joy can’t be bought.”
That realization is what led Terry to Restoration Village. “Slowing down and allowing God to lead has caused me a little bit of anxiety,” he admits. “Because I’m not used to anyone leading. I’m used to leading myself.”
// Prayer for Terry
At the end of his testimony, Terry shares that his prayer is about learning how to speak about his faith. He explains that while his relationship with God has grown, he is still learning how to share God’s Word with others.
Right now I can only say, tell people what I feel He’s doing in my life, but I don’t know how to take the Bible and show people what He’s doing in my life.
Terry asks for prayer for wisdom and guidance as he continues to learn how to communicate what God has done in his life. He wants his words to reflect truth and to point others toward God, not toward himself.
He also asks for prayer as he continues learning how to trust God’s leading instead of relying on his own control. He acknowledges that slowing down and surrendering direction is still difficult for him, especially after a lifetime of self-reliance.
There are people looking for answers in prison. Will you join us in God's mission to chase rebels down? 👉 Learn more sharing the Gospel through JUMPSTART SC: https://www.jumpstartvision.org/get-involved-south-carolina
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