"My uncles, my cousins, and my daddy have all been to jail. I went to jail today, too."

Those are the words of Christian rapper Lecrae, written in a brief Facebook post made earlier this week.

But the artist makes it clear he wasn't behind bars.

"I went to serve people not to serve time," Lecrae says. "I realized that even though I have a lot of scars I’ve also beaten a lot of odds."

Prison ministry has always been a calling close to Christian rapper Lecrae's heart, beyond his own family's run-ins with the law.

My uncles, my cousins, and my daddy have all been to jail. I went to jail today too. But I went to serve people not to...

Posted by Lecrae on Friday, July 10, 2020

In fact, Lecrae came very close to serving time in his younger years. While growing up in Houston, Texas, Lecrae saw his uncles involved in gang culture and drugs.

"I idolized it. I wanted to be the gang member. I wanted every tattoo," Lecrae says.

"I was like, 'This must be what it means to be a man.'"

But the artist's life took a turn in the back of a police vehicle.

After he was arrested for drug possession, Lecrae says he heard God speak to him through a police officer.

The officer had seen a Bible in Lecrae's car and asked the now-artist if he knew what the Bible was really about.

Lecrae responded that he needed to.