VL - Issue 17 - August 2015

MURF
the
SURF
Light AT THE END OF
THE TUNNEL
Murf the Surf. At seventy-eight years young, this
man lives with more passion and purpose than
anyone I’ve ever met. When Murf walks into a room,
people take notice, from the least to the greatest.
His charismatic personality naturally charges the
atmosphere, drawing in and holding captive those in
his path.
I was immediately drawn to Murf the Surf when
I met him a year ago. We share a common love for
water sports that has resulted for both of us in Hall of
Fame titles (his in surfing; mine in water skiing). We
also share a love for Christ and a heart for prisoners.
But it wasn’t Murf’s exciting storytelling ability, his
incredible life journey, his fame and success, the
Hollywood movies produced in his honor, or his
handsome charm that drew me in. It was his heart.
Murf the Surf is the real deal. A true champion.
He’s a man of integrity and humility. A selfless man
whose compassion for others leads him to action.
He’s a man who travels the world, sacrificing his time
and resources in order to tell others about the Man
who changed his life.
I entered prison ministry in 2013, sharing how God
was moving in the hearts of inmates and how they
were responding to the gospel. People would ask
skeptically, “Do you really think those inmates have
given their lives to Christ? Do you actually believe
their response is more than just a grasp at something
to get them through their incarceration? You really
think they can change and that they will continue in
Christ once they’re released?”
by Kristi Overton Johnson
I can reply with confidence that, yes, I do think
people can change. I don’t know if every inmate will
continue in the faith, just as I don’t know if every
person who responds to the gospel in a church will
hold fast to it. But I do know that some, like Murf, will.
Murf the Surf is living proof of the redemptive
power of Jesus Christ. He is a walking testimony
of how God can take the most hardened, selfish,
prideful criminal and transform his life until there
is absolutely no trace of the old man anywhere to
be found.
When I stand before a group of inmates, sharing
the hope within me, I picture Murf. I envision him as
he once was—a desperate man in a gray jumpsuit,
sitting in the last row of inmates, filled to the brim
with hopelessness and pride, and totally skeptical of
the message I am sharing. I think to myself, “There’s
a Murf out there. There’s a man or a woman who’s
getting ready to grab hold of this message for the first
time and be radically changed by the love and grace
of God. There’s someone who’s ready to embark
on an adventure with God and be used by Him to
change the world!” And then, with the help of the
Holy Spirit, I bring it. Murf’s life motivates me to keep
going into prisons, to keep telling, and to keep loving.
Jack Roland Murphy wasn’t always a man of
character. He was a character, all right, but not a man
of character. There’s a difference, and he’ll be the
first to tell you that. Recently, Murf and I ministered
together at the Citrus County Detention Center
(CCDC) in Lecanto, Florida. With incredible power
and passion, he brought God’s message of hope
to hundreds of inmates. He has been bringing this
same message for thirty years in over 2500 prisons
worldwide.
Why would a man go back to a place that nearly
killed him? Why would someone who had been
released run back to the prison gates and ask to be
let back in? To Jack Murphy, it’s simple. There are
hundreds of thousands of men and women drowning
in a sea of hopelessness, being beaten down by
shame and despair, anger, bitterness, and fear. Those
people, Murf will tell you, need to know there is a
better way. They need to know there is hope, and that
hope’s name is Jesus.
Murf’s message of hope to the inmates of CCDC
began something like this: “You know those sayings,
‘once a con, always a con,’ and the infamous ‘you
can’t teach an old dog new tricks’? Well, let me
tell you something—those sayings are nonsense.
One hundred percent lies. I was a con once; one of
the best.”
Murf related bits and pieces of his life of crime
to his audience as they sat in tattered jumpsuits of
various colors. “In 1964, my partner and I pulled off
what was dubbed the ‘jewel robbery of the century.’
We stole the JP Morgan jewel collection, which
included the Star of India, the largest star sapphire
in the world, and twenty-seven other precious gems,
straight from the American Museum of Natural
History in New York City. We scaled the 125-foot high
wall overlooking west Central Park, slid down a thin
rope into the gem room, and took everything they
had! The crime caught the attention of newspapers
around the world. Even Hollywood captured the
scene back in a 1975 movie called Murf the Surf. And
another movie is in the works.
“I served three years
in the infamous New York
City Tombs and Rikers
Island prison for that little
rendezvous. And I left that
place a changed man. A
hard man. In the years
following my release, I
slipped deeper into a life of
crime, racking felony charges
across the United States,
including a couple of murder
charges. In the end, I was
sentenced to serve two life
sentences plus twenty years.
I spent twenty-one years in
maximum security prisons,
the worst of the worst.
I know what it’s like to be
sitting where you are.”
With a release date of
2244, it certainly seemed
WHAT
WAS I
HOLDING
ON TO?
THIS
WASN’T
LIFE.
THIS WAS
MADNESS.
16 www.kojministries.org