There are four of us on the Enoch Says team. Enoch, Andrew, Drew, and Gordon
The four of us met because of Drew’s work in the Texas prison system. We’re now friends and we’re putting our energy together to try and bring about some greatly needed changes to the prison system. It’s a big job, and we are only four people. But whatever energy we have, we are using together to try and make a difference.
James “Enoch” Banks
You can read Enoch’s full biography here.
Andrew Cantu
Andrew Is The Vice President of Enoch Says. He has been impacted by prison system in a very personal way, he spent over half his adult life in prison. After doing a little over 6 years in prison he was released in 2018. While in prison Andrew dedicated his mind and thoughts on change. He gained his BA in Behavioral Science and Comparative Religion and helped Mentor many inmates in effective habit change. As a leader in many religious communities he helped coordinate classes and services and instructed classes in the Cognitive Intervention Program(C.I.P) on many topics such as Validation Manhood, Ideals Goals and Visions, Gang Awareness and Prevention, Effective Parenting, and many more. This is where he met James “Enoch” Banks in 2016. He was instructor also in the C.I.P class and exhorted Andrew into becoming one also. This is where the bond was tied. They became a great team and decided then that their purpose was tied together in this life. Upon Release Andrew Met Drew Cauthorn who was also a friend of James and asked if He would Hop on board with Enoch Says and help expand the vision and reach of the awareness it was trying to Convey. Drew also mentors Andrew and is currently helping gain his Certification as a Life and Health Coach. Amongst this Andrew has been helping Families of inmates by coaching them on how to properly maintain relationships with their loved ones, Educating them on Prison Life and the Stresses involved while on the inside, How to find their loved ones, how to set up communication, send funds and pictures, and mentors them into building a successful support team for themselves and their incarcerated loved ones. Its Andrews Goal in life to leave a legacy of positivity and hope that change is real and a person who has been through the system can make it out and help change it from the inside out. As he believes “Real Change can only come from the Inside, If we have the ability to help than we have the responsibility to do so as Human Beings.”
Andrew was raised in a broken home by his mother and is the oldest out of three siblings, living on the poverty line as his mother worked 3 jobs to support them. Andrew found his way to the streets and Gang life for Guidance and support. Most of of childhood was filled with courtrooms and institutions and transferred over into his adult life. Andrew is a father of a handsome boy who was a catalyst to his change on the inside. Andrew realized that to be a Father in the highest ideal He couldn’t be a the same, he had to be better, and he couldn’t be in prison. Since being released it has been his mission to do everything he can to insure that many fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters can be reunited and reconciled into the community as Agents Of Change and Successful Human Beings in the Highest of ideals. This is his Legacy. Enoch Says is just another footprint in the sand to help guide others to their own.
Drew Cauthorn
I had the privilege of meeting Enoch in 2015 at a Kairos retreat inside the Torres Unit. In the years that have followed, we have become very close—he calls me “Uncle Drew” and I call him “Nephew”. Early on, I recognized giftedness and wisdom in Enoch. It has been one of my life’s pleasures to assist Enoch in getting his message of hope and abundant life widely distributed. Stated differently, I join Enoch in bringing God’s People out of Captivity to a good and broad land flowing with milk and honey. Exodus 3:8
This is unlikely, but very rich and rewarding, territory for me. I grew up in Del Rio, Texas, the son of a rancher. I attended The University of Texas at Austin graduating in 1967 with a law degree. Until seven years ago, I would never have imagined I would be going to prison or spending so much time and energy with those who have been incarcerated.
I am a letter-mentor having exchanged over 1,500 letters with inmates over the last seven years. Yes, I sometimes get writer’s cramp but it is rewarding. I also mentor men in prison in Torres, visit regularly with several men living in a halfway house in San Antonio and assist others in ways that I can. “Takes So Little” is a Texas 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, I started which makes interest-free loans to men and women recently released from prison helping them to bridge the financial chasm to the outside world.
Gordon Atkinson
I was a pastor in San Antonio for twenty years. These days I do computer work, internet related kind of stuff. Everything from website design to social media management. Drew and I have been friends for more than twenty years.
My role at Enoch Says is to be in charge of the website and social media. If you like the content, thank Enoch, Andrew, and Drew. If you think the content looks nice, thank me.