Ralph Watts was once a busy bail bondsman in Cleveland who serviced 150 accounts a month. When felons didn’t show up for court, Ralph had to track them down.
“Every night I didn’t know if I was coming home, but I trusted God to be with me,” Ralph says. “I was never stabbed, hurt, or harmed.” But he adds, “I was shot at once.”
While crime and his bail–bonds business were booming—Watts says he made $300,000 in 2004—something was
missing. He watched his clients go through the criminal justice system like it was a revolving door, and they never seemed to change.
“There was something grossly and just inhumanely wrong with that,” he says. “I would notice that the men that I would be getting out on bond, they were being recycled. There was no recovery net for them, no after-care program for them.
“There was nothing that had changed or altered their state of mind physically, spiritually, or emotionally,” he says. “My spirit was really vexed and troubled about what I was doing at the expense of someone whose soul was crying out for help. I was really hurt on the inside.”
Ralph had all the money he could ever need; he even had three Lincoln Town Cars. But what he needed didn’t cost anything. He wanted to make a difference.
“I had all my heart’s desires, but my heart was crying,” he says. “It was like every night, I could wring it out over the sink, and I prayed and cried out to God. I wanted to tell them [his clients] about the love of Jesus Christ.”
Then, a few years ago at a dinner, Ralph ran into Envoy Emmett Jones, pastor of the Salvation Army’s Hough New Hope Recovery Corps. Jones asked Watts to help him with a life–skills class for people living at the Harbor Light, a Salvation Army rehabilitation center.
Ralph also has plans to be involved with a new re–entry program for men making the transition from prison to society. The program may start this year.
“A lot of people who come through our program know him because they’ve used his services,” says Emmett.
Ralph can also relate to the men. He grew up poor in Cleveland and battled substance abuse before graduating from the Harbor Light himself.
“I’ve been recovering from drugs and alcohol for 21 years,” he says. “There were a lot of times I would say, ‘But for the grace of God, there go I.’ ”
Ralph, who started worshipping at the Cleveland Hough Corps in 2007 and became a soldier (member) last year, couldn’t be happier about his new role. He left the bail–bond business behind after 10 years because “[God knew] what I wanted to do to help these men; He knew that I couldn’t do it inside this system.”
He’s now free to tell the men about a better way.
“I want to be the one to say, ‘I believe God can make a difference in your heart. If the Lord has … really transformed me and put excitement where there used to be anger or doubt or drugs, He can do it for you.’ When they accept Him as their Lord and Savior, their lives are transformed in every area imaginable.”
Ralph says that quitting the business has definitely affected his income.
“Since then, I don’t have much, but I have more than I ever had in my life,” he says. “I feel richer now than I ever did with all that material wealth. Because once the power of Jesus Christ is in your heart, you have the Kingdom riches, and there’s no amount of money you can put on that. I see out of different eyes now. My ‘economy’ has just been transformed.”
Part of that transformation, for Ralph, is prayer.
“I’m praying that for The Salvation Army, the difference [I make in men’s lives] will be an eternal difference.”
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