GRUNDY COUNTY- Ron Gruber is a walking testament to the concepts of forgiveness and redemption, and since he left the correctional system, he’s been sharing his message with anyone who’s willing to listen.
“There’s one essential truth that we believe in, and that’s the value of the Gospel, where you forgive. When you can forgive yourself in real life, you’ve got some value that you’re able to look at the guy next to you and forgive him, and he’s got value,” Gruber said. “
While serving a prison sentence for second-degree murder, Gruber, a former member of the Sons of Silence motorcycle gang, found God, and the discovery changed him completely. He was eventually paroled, settled in Steamboat Rock and then Grundy Center, got married in 2019 and now serves as a volunteer coach for the Spartan football team. He’s made it his life’s mission to share the word of God and offer his services to the formerly incarcerated in any way he can. He’s also worked closely Iowa Training School for Boys Superintendent Mark Day on ministry and outreach to the residents in hopes that they can get back on the right track.
“When some of the staff interact with (the boys), there’s a sense that they don’t know because they’ve never lived it,” Day said. “When you throw Ron at them, and Ron starts talking, there’s nothing that they could’ve done that Ron hadn’t been exposed to… So he’s got a credibility that none of my staff could have.”
Gruber’s church, “Essential Instruction: Freedom Bound,” is located in rural Grundy County at the site of the former Lincoln Center Christian Reformed Church, and it’s open to everyone, whether they’ve been in prison or not. He strives for a non-judgmental environment that welcomes people in all walks of life and unites them in faith, and members of the old Lincoln Center church are still encouraged to hold weddings and funerals at the building.
“This church isn’t for people getting out of prison. This church is for the community here in Grundy County, Hardin County and whoever wants to come. This is not a church for ex-cons,” Gruber said. “This is a community church, and this is no different than any other church in the quality and the type of people that come in, except there are people who decide ‘Wow, I can still hear (Ron) and the way he brings the gospel,’ and walk through the door.”
Although he’s the first to admit he isn’t a political man by nature, Gruber has even worked with the governor’s office to promote rehabilitation efforts and outreach to young men who run the risk of staying in the system for life.
“Within 30 seconds (of meeting him), I knew he was real, and Ron teaches people to look past the obvious and to not be so superficial in your appraisal of people,” Day said. “To look at him, I don’t want him at my dinner table with my 10-year-old daughter, but to know him, there’s nobody in the state I’d rather have at my dinner table.”
The ministry has also led to a burgeoning friendship and partnership with the UNI football team—specifically, strength and conditioning coach Jed Smith—and athletes as well known as former Hawkeye and current San Francisco 49ers CJ Beathard and George Kittle. As Day notes, his phone rings over 40 times a day, and Gruber’s rolodex is “unlike any in Iowa.”
His long-term goal is to attract more members from all walks of life and reach them in a plainspoken way, stripped of pretension, judgment and condescension in any form.
“People feel disenfranchised, whether they’re convicts, whether they’re down on their luck or whether they just don’t fit the typical mold of a Grundy Center resident or an Eldora resident or a Conrad resident. They feel disenfranchised,” Day said. “If Ron has a particular gift, it’s that nobody is ever disenfranchised when they’re in his company, ever. That sense of belonging is what makes people comfortable, and that sense of comfort is what makes them part of a community.”
At the end of the day, the choice to change always lies with the individual, but Gruber hopes to serve as a guide for anyone who believes in second chances—and maybe even third, fourth and fifth chances.
“Some of them, we’re not going to change. Some of them are going to go out and be able, but here’s the difference: we don’t know which ones until we’ve had our shot at them,” Day said. “Everybody gets a shot coming in.”
Essential Instruction: Freedom Bound holds services at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday mornings. To learn more about the church, email Ron at ron@essentialinstruction.org or call him at (501) 762-5560.
