194-COFFEE Interview #6: Boyd Harrell, C.O.O.L. Ministries

At the age of 7, Boyd Harrell was stealing cigarettes. At the age of 8, he was drunk on a dare. At 10, he sniffed glue and smoked pot. At 13, he was using needles with PCP and heroin. From the late '70s to late '90s, he spent over a dozen years in Texas prisons for aggravated robbery, burglary, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and robbery with a bodily injury. He acted mean, rough and tough, but it was only a facade, he said. "I didn't really mean to hurt people," Harrell said. "I didn't even know who I was." In a 1993 article about him, The Houston Chronicle showed him to be a totally different person, showing him to be "A soft-spoken guy ... who listens intently with eyes that reflect kindness." Since his conversion in prison, Boyd Harrell now heads C.O.O.L. Ministries in Houston. In this interview, we hear his story.