Spiritual minister Dr. Jerry Stubblefield made his mark at San Quentin by volunteering and teaching men life lessons through community activism and his passion for fellowshipping.
Stubblefield, a retired seminary professor, began his ministry at San Quentin State Prison 17 years ago. “I would come here with Barry Stricker (former pastor at Tiburon Baptist Church) and music professor Craig Singleton.
We started coming in to be with the inmates who had no visitors,” said Stubblefield.
During those early days, Stubblefield and the other volunteers talked and played dominoes and UNO a process that assisted in forming bonds with the men. Stubblefield remembered talking with was Dennis Pratt, a San Quentin resident. “Mr. Stubblefield …would come for our Fellowship Nights. Jerry is a man of honor,” said Pratt. “He told me once that his integrity was not for sale, I’ve always admired him for that.”
In 1995, Stubblefield had open-heart surgery and said he was uplifted in prayer by the men at San Quentin. “I had a dissecting aneurysm and had to have the surgery,” Stubblefield said. “The men prayed for me and sent me cards during my recovery time.”
For years, he taught Master Life, a discipleship program, and was an instructor for Patten Bible College for three courses in the Spiritual Diploma Program. The classes were in Christian Leadership, such as Introduction to the New Testament, and Evangelism and Church Planting.
In the fall of 2010, Stubblefield taught Educational Ministry of the Church in the Contextualized Leadership Development program for Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. He also served as the director of the North Bay School of Theology at San Quentin for the CLD program of the Golden Gate Seminary.
“The men are highly motivated and easy to teach. I have been richly blessed by my involvement at San Quentin,” said Stubblefield. “I have said that “If you cannot teach at San Quentin, you cannot teach anywhere.”
Of the men at San Quentin, he said, “I treasure my relationship with them, I always look forward to coming to San Quentin.”
