GULF SHORES, Ala. — If you had encountered Richard David Coss in the 1960s, you’d have crossed to the other side of the road.

By age 22, he had racked up 26 arrests. He went to prison in Chihuahua, Mexico, involved in a car theft scheme, but as he says, “The FBI purchased me,” so he could be tried and convicted for crimes on this side of the border.

And after he found redemption, was saved and became a Baptist minister, Coss had another burden to bear.

Two of his grandchildren, Chase and Colton Smith, were in the America’s Kids Child Development Center of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City April 19, 1995. That’s the day the building was bombed, and both youngsters died. Their uncle, Coss’ son, Danny, a police officer in a nearby town, identified his nephews. Coss preached at his grandsons’ funeral.

“The biggest struggle in my life was to forgive McVeigh,” Coss said slowly. “I finally wrote him that for months and months I hated you.”

While Coss did not get a response from McVeigh or co-defendant Terry Nichols, he did witness to them via letter until contact with Nichols was cut off by Nichols’ transfer to a super maximum security federal prison near Florence, Colo.

McVeigh was executed June 11, 2001. Coss takes joy in hearing that Nichols has become a Christian in prison.

As a young man, Coss had fallen into a pattern. According to his book, “Wanted,” he would tell a judge, “Sir, you'll never see me back here again.”

According to “Wanted,” Coss would go straight — “… straight that is to the nearest liquor store. I bought a bottle of vodka, went to a buddy’s apartment, got drunk, and planned my next score.”

Scoring, or crime, provided, “my drug and alcohol money,” said Coss, seated in his Gulf Shores home.

Coss says that he “grew up on a barstool.” He had his first drink before age 10, and was expelled from school at 15.

In “Wanted,” Coss says, “Even though I did not deserve it, I realize now that God was watching over me in those days.”

Coss kept walking through a revolving door between crime and prison. That went on until March 16, 1969. He noticed a number of “free-world” men in the prison and learned that a group of men were holding a meeting with inmates in the chapel.

Curious, and bored by prison life, Coss went to the meeting. He did not know anything about the Christian religion, nor who Jesus Christ was.

Coss listened and says that he told himself, “Wow if this is true, then I need some help. God fixes broken people.”

Coss says he decided “that I need God in my life.” He accepted Christ as his savior and became a Christian.

“I took all the Bible courses they had in prison,” he said. “There were seven different ones.”

He continued to learn, and two years later he was eligible for parole. When he got out, he became a youth pastor in Oklahoma City. He says the parents knew of his past.

Eventually, Coss felt called to full-time prison ministry. He traveled “all over the United States,” visiting state and federal prisons. He’s done mission work in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Columbia and Romania.

And on December 23, 1975, President Gerald Ford extended to Richard Coss a full presidential pardon. It wasn’t something Coss had thought of at first, but a fellow Christian urged him to take the step, to apply for the pardon, which restored full citizenship rights to Coss.

Eventually, he and his wife, Phyllis, came down to the Gulf Coast on a visit.

“That was 22 years ago,” chuckles Coss. “We came back to Oklahoma and moved here. Phyllis has been involved with real estate and Coss has continued his ministry.

He visits jails, like the one in Foley regularly. He goes to prisons around the country, and speaks at the Home of Grace in Robertsdale.

Coss even has a website, www.christbarsnone.com.

He is realistic about his ministry. He’s dealt with prisoners on death row and “hears some pretty horrible things.” As a former convict, he listens with a trained ear.

“A lot of men and women find Christ in prison,'” he said “But some go back (to their former lives).”

But, seeing one person turn their life around makes it all worth it.

A few weeks before the interview, Coss says that police chased a suspect who “was making progress” to his home. The police said the person had committed some additional crimes, crimes that would send him back to prison.

His bail was going to be revoked, but the officers let him stay with Coss until the bail bondsman came to return the man to jail.

“He’s finally going to get clean,” said Coss confidently. “Sometimes people slip on the way.”