Chris Fabry Live

Linda Ahrens

Linda Ahrens is a volunteer chaplain to staff at the Cook County Sheriff's Office in Chicago, as well as chaplain and member of the board of directors for the American Jail Association. Linda grew up by Detroit in the 1950s and studied journalism and marketing at Michigan State University. Linda then moved to Australia, where she lived for 11 years, was a book editor at Reader's Digest, did an MBA, had a marketing consultancy, studied construction, and renovated homes. In 1983, Linda moved to Montana where she created a national real estate newsletter that failed, raised chickens, chopped wood for a wood stove, then started and sold a dating service. She moved to Chicago and, in 1988 at age 39, accepted Jesus' gift of eternal life. Since then, Linda has focused on learning and applying God's Word and, through her church, mentored at-risk youth and inmates at Cook County jail. In 2018, she became the jail's first volunteer chaplain dedicated solely to correctional staff, where she roves tier to tier. Linda is also a Rapid Response Team chaplain with the Billy Graham Association's Samaritan's Purse and has been honored with the American Jail Association's 2020 Volunteer of the Year award, Cook County Sheriff's Office Volunteer of the Year award in 2021,  and the National Sheriffs' Association's 2023 Chaplain of the Year award.

• Linda Ahrens' testimony on YouTube