his first book, a memoir of the nixon years and testament to his new found witness, born again became a classic and helping to popular rise the term, breathing life into the evangelical movement in american society and politics. the book came out, barbara walters held it up in television an jimmy carter was asked about it when he campaigned for president. reporter: he founded prison fellowship and it started with small groups of 1 inmates, some violent, released from prison into the custody of he and his associates. the thousand inmates we took out the first five or six years of the ministry, we had not a single incident. it was a huge success. reporter: today, prison fellowship operates in more than 100 countries, in 1993, he joined billy graham, mother teresa as a recipient of the templeton prize. i want to thank chuck colson and mark earl at the prison
any further. i spent probably half an hour on that night, maybe an hour talking to god for the first time seriously in my life. intense skepticism greeted with his announcement of his conversion. in 1976 he published his first book, a memoir of the nixon years and testament to new found with it. born again became a classic, helping to pop are aize the term breathing life into the emerging life in the evangelical movement in politics. when the book came out, and then jimmy carter was asked about it. that same year, he founded prison fellowship. it started with small groups of 12 inmates, released from prison for two week furloughs to colson and his associates. of the thousand inmates we took out we had not a single incident. it was huge success. reporter: today it operates
in more than a hundred countries. in 1993 he joined billy gram and mother theresa as a prestigious of an award. i want to thank chuck colson of the prison fellowship program. i have been hosting the angel tree program, 6 million boys and girls has received a gift on christmas. i want to thank you very much for doing that. [ applause ] reporter: colson underwent surgery to remove a blood clot on his brain. he showed signs of recovery but in recent days his condition grew dire. subject of children s book he expressed concern about the commercialization of evangelical christianity. legacy as a christian with it. i don t want my witness impaired. he was 80 years old. germans rosen, fox news.
western pennsylvania. harris: that happens sometimes in the spring, we forget about that. thank you very much. one of the most influential figures in the nixon white house, chuck coulson was died. he spent nearly a year in prison for his role in watergate and pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and later went onto found prison fellowship ministries. he underwent surgery in march to remove a clot from his brain and doctors saying he died from complications from the surgery, more more on the life of charles coulson, coming up in the fox report a veteran republican senator fighting for his political life. we ll tell you who was forced into a primary battle pitting him against a tea party backed challenger and the battle for the white house, campaign donations can make all the difference, you have to must have money and now, new words on how the donor cash piles are stacking up. or not. and, moments ago, a glorious achievement for one pitcher.
i looked at the woman, the nfb piles they had organized concerneded with the number of children they had. they is what they planned to give their own children at christmas time. after her release, she began working with prison fellowship ministries. my first assignment was a christmas project. i knew instantly it was the children that we needed to do something for. not the inmate. since 1982, her idea has grown. now, helping an estimated 1.7 million children who have parents behind bars. it is exciting. i wasn t expecting to get a lot of gifts. children like 10 year-old keiana smith. making it possible to be part