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When John Flynn graduated from Ridley High School in 1975, he received two congressional nominations to the United States Naval Academy.
The standout lacrosse player and president of the National Honor Society saw his future mapped out.
Then a funny thing happened. Flynn found out he wouldn’t be able to take his guitar to Annapolis. It was a life-changing experience.
“Honestly, the fact I couldn’t take my guitar was a bit of an excuse for me,” said Flynn, who now lives in Delaware. “It was a bit of a wake-up call for me because it got me to think about how much a part of my life music was. I was starting to have second thoughts about it and about what I was really interested in doing with my life.”
That decision led to a music career that has taken him all over the world. He’s played with some of the greats, formed a strong friendship with music legend Kris Kristofferson and many others.
More importantly for Flynn, it eventually led him to a program called New Beginnings, a peer-support group for returning residents as they transition from incarceration to freedom.
It is run both for, and with, ex-offenders, along with a vital and growing group of compassionate volunteer-facilitators in order to build a community of hope, and a culture of accountability and possibility on the streets of Wilmington, Delaware.
Twenty years later, Flynn is the executive director of New Beginnings-Next Step, a nonprofit dedicated to helping incarcerated and returning citizens successfully transition to freedom.
“I used to go to Mass at a place called the Franciscan Center in Wilmington, Delaware,” Flynn said. “It was on Market Street and kind of a street mission there. The guy that ran the place — Brother David Schlatter O.F.M — had this thing on Tuesday mornings where he would go into Howard R. Young (Correctional Institution), which is the state prison in northern Delaware. He talked to the guys for about 90 minutes. You know, they just put the chairs in a circle and kind of try and talk some things through to figure out how they could avoid coming back to this place once they went home.
“In 2005, (Brother David) was transferred and he’s still the chaplain at the Walter Reed Medical Center. He asked me to take over for him. I said no a couple times, and on the third time he asked, I figured there must be a reason I’m being asked to do this. So I started volunteering on Tuesday mornings.”
It took a little while, but Flynn eventually grew into the role and started to form relationships
“I realized that part of the deal was just the willingness to keep showing up. For the first year or so, I just kept showing up stubbornly. I think one of my main qualities is stubbornness. You can’t be a singer/songwriter or a folk singer without being stubborn. Eventually, word got out, the group expanded and they asked me to start to run a second group there each week.”
While maintaining his music career, Flynn has been a guiding force for those needing encouragement when finally seeing the prison in the rear-view mirror.
“There’s nothing like hope,” said Flynn, who has expanded New Beginnings into three Delaware prisons. “When it’s manifested right in front of your eyes. When you just shook hands with a guy who did 13 years or 20 years or whatever, and, in a matter of a few years, has done all the things that you have been dreaming about, it’s powerful. He’s, he’s got a good job and he’s reconnected with his family and bought himself a vehicle and gotten off of probation. And you know, the guy say, one guy told me it was, he’s been out about a year and a half and, uh, he was supposed to be on probation for another six years. Now, he’s just breathing air like a regular old American.
“It’s been the privilege of my life to share in many amazing and inspiring journeys over the last two decades. Ram Das says we’re all just walking each other back home. This is what we try to do in New Beginnings and Next Step. We try to build a bridge from a dark place to a future full of hope and possibility. And then we walk with you as you cross it.”
To celebrate his 20 years, Flynn is releasing some new music throughout 2025 beginning with a single co-written by Kristofferson, “Kris’ Rules,” this April and will perform a benefit concert this September at The Arden Concert Guild in Wilmington.
“I was really, um, honored that Kris Kristofferson’s wife, Lisa, allowed me to use Kris’ personal, code for living in a song, which is ‘tell the truth, do your thing with passion, work with laughter, love with heart,’ ” Flynn said. “It’s a song I was writing to say goodbye to him after he passed away. I added his name as a co-writer to my song.”
Besides the new album and his continued work with New Beginnings-Next Step, Flynn is also the host of the Philadelphia Folk Festival, which takes place Aug 15-17 in Harleysville.
“That is such a joyful experience,” Flynn said.
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John Flynn’s full life of music and redemption – Mainline Media News
