prison ministry
Prison Ministry Workshop: Thursday Supplemental
Jun 12, 2008 11:39 PM
Here’s a report from two other classes Thursday,
provided by my wife, Linda.
Andrew Sims’ class was titled Take Up Your Position and Stand Firm. He focused on the importance of parents having control in the home and teaching their children respect. Morals in the home should be firm. Parents are not their children’s friends: they’re guides and leaders. Disciplining your children (including spanking) is not abuse. How does this translate to prison work? We need to teach those in prison about Christ, hoping they won’t return to prison. The foundation of discipleship is respect, which must be taught inmates, as they won’t get it in prison otherwise.
Helen Cox is a very special lady in the annals of prison ministry. Mama Cox, as she’s known to everyone, has been involved with prison work for 45 years (since 1963). At age 82, she continues to work full time serving those in prison, along with her husband, Harold. While she primarily works with women, she is deeply involved in “specialty populations” (death row inmates and those with severe mental problems). Many men on death row request her presence when they’re executed. She spoke on ministering to these populations.
Her objectives in setting up programs for these groups are threefold: to change lives, to establish lasting relationships and to show unconditional love. She understands that all people, whatever their situation, have the same needs, especially the need to be the right relationship with God.
One point Linda noted struck me: Helen strongly believes in using prayer cards. She uses them for reference: to keep track of inmates’ family concerns, illnesses in the family and other concerns. It means a lot to them that she remembers their prayer needs.
It reminded me of how Sandra Clark, our church secretary, handles prayer requests. Each Sunday, we collect them during services. On Tuesdays, she sends out an email to the congregation with the prayer requests. In addition, if a request comes in during the week, she’ll send out a special email. Whether we’re incarcerated or not, it’s important for us to know someone care about our needs. How blessed we are to have women like Sandra and Helen to remind us, by their example, of this basic truth.
Andrew Sims’ class was titled Take Up Your Position and Stand Firm. He focused on the importance of parents having control in the home and teaching their children respect. Morals in the home should be firm. Parents are not their children’s friends: they’re guides and leaders. Disciplining your children (including spanking) is not abuse. How does this translate to prison work? We need to teach those in prison about Christ, hoping they won’t return to prison. The foundation of discipleship is respect, which must be taught inmates, as they won’t get it in prison otherwise.
Helen Cox is a very special lady in the annals of prison ministry. Mama Cox, as she’s known to everyone, has been involved with prison work for 45 years (since 1963). At age 82, she continues to work full time serving those in prison, along with her husband, Harold. While she primarily works with women, she is deeply involved in “specialty populations” (death row inmates and those with severe mental problems). Many men on death row request her presence when they’re executed. She spoke on ministering to these populations.
Her objectives in setting up programs for these groups are threefold: to change lives, to establish lasting relationships and to show unconditional love. She understands that all people, whatever their situation, have the same needs, especially the need to be the right relationship with God.
One point Linda noted struck me: Helen strongly believes in using prayer cards. She uses them for reference: to keep track of inmates’ family concerns, illnesses in the family and other concerns. It means a lot to them that she remembers their prayer needs.
It reminded me of how Sandra Clark, our church secretary, handles prayer requests. Each Sunday, we collect them during services. On Tuesdays, she sends out an email to the congregation with the prayer requests. In addition, if a request comes in during the week, she’ll send out a special email. Whether we’re incarcerated or not, it’s important for us to know someone care about our needs. How blessed we are to have women like Sandra and Helen to remind us, by their example, of this basic truth.
Prison Ministry Workshop: Thursday PM
Jun 12, 2008 01:32 PM
Starting pretty much on time after lunch: not bad
(and lunch at Max & Erma’s was pretty good,
too...but that’s for another post). We had a great
conversation with Buck Griffith and John Henry Pruitt
on some our challenges at Butner. One of the
pleasures of the workshops is the chance to talk with
others in the trenches and get encouragement and
insights. And now, on with the Workshop...
1:33 PM First up: Buck Griffith talking about New Life Behavior. NLB is a curriculum based program with the aim of helping people change their lives. It’s not an evangelistic tool. NLB tries to change the way people live, not their relationship to Christ. A lot of people want to show up at prisons on Sunday and baptize all the inmates, but not many want to show up on Monday, Tuesday, etc. to help them become better people.
An interesting insight: NLB no longer has a national workshop. Instead, people from NLB attend state level NLB workshops. The reason is, for a given state, the number of people attending the state workshop matches the total number of people attending the national workshop.
Even more interesting: NLB is staffed entirely by volunteers. They don’t spend money on staff or facilities (hosted by a congregation in Corpus Christi), but focus monetary resources on developing training materials, distributing them and training people to teach them. The materials are offered with a perpetual license for a very low fee. Missionaries pay nothing for the materials.
Takeaway Thought (my own, not Buck’s): Christian outreach is about more than evangelism. We serve people in many ways and in many areas. Jesus helped people because they needed help, not so they would become disciples. What is our motive for helping people?
2:36 PM Next up: James Burrus on Be Transformed. The focus is the story of the prodigal son. Without a transformation of heart, inmates will tend to return to crime after their incarceration. That is true for all of us: without transformation, we’ll continue to follow the same bad ways. Transformation must involve the entire church. Men and women (and their families) whose lives have been transformed by the power of God will need the support of the church during and after their incarcerations. Just as the father welcomed the prodigal with open arms, we have to welcome our returning brothers and sisters.
The presentation included many people offering their insights on integrating ex-offenders within the church, including a small debate on whether ex-offenders should let the congregation know their status. While Burrus urges ex-offenders to stand up and tell people the story of their transformation, others feel it better not to publicize it for fear of people in the congregation shunning them. How should we, as the elder brother in the story, respond to the returning prodigal?
Interesting insight: We believe “the prayer of a righteous man avails much.” If so, why aren’t we doing much more praying, especially in the assembly, for those who need our help?
One of the things I like about prison ministry workshops is that it consists of folks in the trenches who care deeply about offenders and ex-offenders and don’t mind talking about that concern. The lively discussion taking place in this class is a prime example of this: people aren’t arguing, but are sharing their viewpoints, listening to each other and learning from each other. We’re not talking theology here: we’re talking people’s souls. It’s serious stuff, and people take it seriously. It’s also pragmatic stuff: how do we deal right here, right now, with people who are trying to transform their lives?
Accountability is key in helping ex-offenders integrate into society and the church. That is a key element of transformation: a Christian who wants to live a transformed life needs limits and boundaries. We need to make clear that, for certain behaviors, there is no choice.
Takeaway Thought: Prisoners want the transformed lives we have. We’re called to make sure they see that transformation in our lives.
3:34 PM The final event of the day is a panel discussion on dealing with sex offenders. Panelists are: Paula Ramsey (attorney), Curtis Skinner (law enforcement), Willie Washington (elder) and Ken Johnson (clinical psychologist). Some of the items discussed:
What are sex offenses? Touching another’s private parts without their consent (including rape), touching the private parts of someone significantly younger, two minors engaging in such activity where one is not consenting or is unable to give consent, exposing oneself to another without consent, exposing oneself to a minor, voyeurism, creating or owning child pornography.
Sex offenders have a much higher recidivism rate than other offenders. Hence, it’s important for the community to know when a sex offender is in the neighborhood. Sex offenders need treatment, both in prison and when they’re released. Follow through is important.
A sex offender has to take a hard look at himself/herself. But, then, each one of us needs to do that daily: who am I today? what’s motivating me? why do I do things I don’t want to do? Treatment should have as an end result knowing why offenders do what they do and how to change that behavior. If we can change how a person thinks, we can change that person’s behavior. What’s important, then, is changing how we think, not focusing on changing behavior.
How to help the families? Counseling and other programs are available for psychological help, but it’s up to the church to help with the spiritual healing. In addition, the church should make families aware of programs and help them take advantage of them.
How prepared are churches to deal with ex-offenders? In general, not at all. Leaders in the church don’t understand the seriousness of the challenges. It’s hard to share with a congregation that a sex offender is a member because that person can become a pariah. The leadership needs to know if a registered offender is part of the congregation and needs to talk to him/her to let them know the congregation’s expectations. The key thing to know is if the offender has been clinically diagnosed and if the offender is in therapy. Most important: how can the congregation help the offender?
The questions and comments show that dealing with sex offfenders is a growing challenge in the church as the number of offenders and ex-offenders grow. What’s especially disturbing to me is the growing number of female sex offenders and the extra challenges that presents. What’s heartening is that people are concerned about helping ex-offenders and making sure they’re not rejected by their congregations, while still keeping everyone in the congregation safe. “Sin is sin.”
Takeaway Thought: We’re talking about people, not “offenders.” More importantly, we’re talking about souls.
1:33 PM First up: Buck Griffith talking about New Life Behavior. NLB is a curriculum based program with the aim of helping people change their lives. It’s not an evangelistic tool. NLB tries to change the way people live, not their relationship to Christ. A lot of people want to show up at prisons on Sunday and baptize all the inmates, but not many want to show up on Monday, Tuesday, etc. to help them become better people.
An interesting insight: NLB no longer has a national workshop. Instead, people from NLB attend state level NLB workshops. The reason is, for a given state, the number of people attending the state workshop matches the total number of people attending the national workshop.
Even more interesting: NLB is staffed entirely by volunteers. They don’t spend money on staff or facilities (hosted by a congregation in Corpus Christi), but focus monetary resources on developing training materials, distributing them and training people to teach them. The materials are offered with a perpetual license for a very low fee. Missionaries pay nothing for the materials.
Takeaway Thought (my own, not Buck’s): Christian outreach is about more than evangelism. We serve people in many ways and in many areas. Jesus helped people because they needed help, not so they would become disciples. What is our motive for helping people?
2:36 PM Next up: James Burrus on Be Transformed. The focus is the story of the prodigal son. Without a transformation of heart, inmates will tend to return to crime after their incarceration. That is true for all of us: without transformation, we’ll continue to follow the same bad ways. Transformation must involve the entire church. Men and women (and their families) whose lives have been transformed by the power of God will need the support of the church during and after their incarcerations. Just as the father welcomed the prodigal with open arms, we have to welcome our returning brothers and sisters.
The presentation included many people offering their insights on integrating ex-offenders within the church, including a small debate on whether ex-offenders should let the congregation know their status. While Burrus urges ex-offenders to stand up and tell people the story of their transformation, others feel it better not to publicize it for fear of people in the congregation shunning them. How should we, as the elder brother in the story, respond to the returning prodigal?
Interesting insight: We believe “the prayer of a righteous man avails much.” If so, why aren’t we doing much more praying, especially in the assembly, for those who need our help?
One of the things I like about prison ministry workshops is that it consists of folks in the trenches who care deeply about offenders and ex-offenders and don’t mind talking about that concern. The lively discussion taking place in this class is a prime example of this: people aren’t arguing, but are sharing their viewpoints, listening to each other and learning from each other. We’re not talking theology here: we’re talking people’s souls. It’s serious stuff, and people take it seriously. It’s also pragmatic stuff: how do we deal right here, right now, with people who are trying to transform their lives?
Accountability is key in helping ex-offenders integrate into society and the church. That is a key element of transformation: a Christian who wants to live a transformed life needs limits and boundaries. We need to make clear that, for certain behaviors, there is no choice.
Takeaway Thought: Prisoners want the transformed lives we have. We’re called to make sure they see that transformation in our lives.
3:34 PM The final event of the day is a panel discussion on dealing with sex offenders. Panelists are: Paula Ramsey (attorney), Curtis Skinner (law enforcement), Willie Washington (elder) and Ken Johnson (clinical psychologist). Some of the items discussed:
What are sex offenses? Touching another’s private parts without their consent (including rape), touching the private parts of someone significantly younger, two minors engaging in such activity where one is not consenting or is unable to give consent, exposing oneself to another without consent, exposing oneself to a minor, voyeurism, creating or owning child pornography.
Sex offenders have a much higher recidivism rate than other offenders. Hence, it’s important for the community to know when a sex offender is in the neighborhood. Sex offenders need treatment, both in prison and when they’re released. Follow through is important.
A sex offender has to take a hard look at himself/herself. But, then, each one of us needs to do that daily: who am I today? what’s motivating me? why do I do things I don’t want to do? Treatment should have as an end result knowing why offenders do what they do and how to change that behavior. If we can change how a person thinks, we can change that person’s behavior. What’s important, then, is changing how we think, not focusing on changing behavior.
How to help the families? Counseling and other programs are available for psychological help, but it’s up to the church to help with the spiritual healing. In addition, the church should make families aware of programs and help them take advantage of them.
How prepared are churches to deal with ex-offenders? In general, not at all. Leaders in the church don’t understand the seriousness of the challenges. It’s hard to share with a congregation that a sex offender is a member because that person can become a pariah. The leadership needs to know if a registered offender is part of the congregation and needs to talk to him/her to let them know the congregation’s expectations. The key thing to know is if the offender has been clinically diagnosed and if the offender is in therapy. Most important: how can the congregation help the offender?
The questions and comments show that dealing with sex offfenders is a growing challenge in the church as the number of offenders and ex-offenders grow. What’s especially disturbing to me is the growing number of female sex offenders and the extra challenges that presents. What’s heartening is that people are concerned about helping ex-offenders and making sure they’re not rejected by their congregations, while still keeping everyone in the congregation safe. “Sin is sin.”
Takeaway Thought: We’re talking about people, not “offenders.” More importantly, we’re talking about souls.
Live from Livonia...
Jun 12, 2008 08:18 AM
...it’s the 35th Annual Jail & Prison
Ministry Workshop. I’ll be semi-liveblogging
from here today and tomorrow. Keep watching this
post for updates throughout the day.
8:20 AM Looking around, it seems the prison ministry population is greying along with the prison population. Most workers seem to be in their late 40s and up. While this is a sign of the longevity of prison ministry workers (most have been involved for many years), it also raises questions about the next generation of prison workers. As the prison population grows, the need for workers grows as well. More than ever, we need to ask the Lord of harvest to send forth reapers.
8:36 AM Still waiting for the opening assembly to start...it appears it doesn’t matter what the activity: if it’s Church of Christ, it’s going to start late (and involve food, but that’s for another posting).
8:43 AM Finally starting...now comes my favorite part of any assembly: the singing. It’s worth coming to a workshop just to hear the singing. People who come to the workshops are workers in the trenches. We share the joys and sorrows of prison ministry, and it shows in the fervor of our singing, even without songbooks.
9:03 AM The first speaker: Patrick Mead, who just woke us up by the loudest feedback squawk in recent memory. He believes Christians should not use Macs because “Heaven isn’t here yet and Christians should suffer along with the rest of the world.” He reminded us of Victor Frankl and the importance of choosing what we’re going to see and how we’ll respond to it.
“Why are you eating that Krispy Kreme doughnut? It will kill you.” “What’s the downside? If I eat a Krispy Kreme doughnut, I’ll see Jesus sooner. So if you’re drinking a V-8, are you trying to avoid Jesus?”
Prison ministry is about helping people make better decisions. People in prison, for the most part, are people who have made bad decisions and have been caught (unlike the rest of us, who make bad decisions and don’t get caught). They need help to break the cycle: that’s what we do. The only thing we truly have is the power to choose. Give them a reason to choose Jesus Christ.
As prison workers, we help inmates understand the God we’ve got, not the God we’d like to have. We help them understand that God will be with us, no matter where we are. The gift of God is initimacy: His abiding presence. God may not give us what we want, but He’ll be there for us. It doesn’t matter where we are: God has not forgotten us.
As prison workers, we help inmates understand they have a job to do, even in prison. God has put us where we are for a reason; He has work for us to do. Marshall Keeble: “God wouldn’t have given us an eternity of rest unless He figured we’re going to need it.” We do good regardless of the reaction of others. I do good because I’ve chosen to do good, because that’s what God wants me to do, not just the easy stuff, but the hard work.
Takeaway Thought: In Hebrews 11, every time there’s a “by faith,” there a verb. Faith leads to action. By faith, what am I supposed to do here? What’s my verb? The world’s verbs: lust, kill, steal... The Lord’s verbs: love, bless, serve...
9:53 AM Decisions, decisions: so many good classes, all at the same time. I’m in When You Mess Up, Fess Up, taught by Duvon Jones. It’s based on II Samuel 11-12 (David and Bathsheba). Duvon calls this a workshop and he’s not kidding. First, he’s rearranged the room so we all have to look at each other. Second, he’s got us standing and holding a Bible at arm’s length. Lesson: holding a lightweight Bible at arm’s length gets tiring very fast. So does guilt: it weighs us down. Messing up (sin) is cancerous and cantankerous. It stays with us, sticks to us and festers. We may try to ignore it or recategorize it (switch hands, pull the arm in), but it’s still there attacking us.
Confession is admitting our guilt, taking ownership of our own mess ups. It takes away the constraints of humiliation, embarrassment and fear. Confession is scary, but it’s liberating, releasing, relieving and relaxing. All sin is against God, so confession begins with Him. Confession doesn’t free us from the consequences of our mess ups, but it liberates us from the guilt and that allows us to relax: to do what we need to be doing.
To minimize (not eliminate) mess ups, our hearts need to be reprogrammed. What happens when you add a spoon of water to half a glass of Coke? Nothing. What happens when you add a spoon of Coke to half a glass of water? It changes color slightly: it’s tarnished. A little bit of sin tarnishes our lives. It takes a lot of water to change the color of a glass of Coke. It takes a lot of God’s word to reprogram a heart full of passions and desires. How long does it take? The rest of our lives, perhaps...as long as it takes.
Takeaway Thought: Psalm 1: What we delight in, we bite in. What keeps us rooted in God? A constant meditation (tuning in) on the word of God.
10:50 AM Good lessons, good fellowship, renewing old acquaintances: what more can one ask? Next class: The Spirit and Energy of Self-Improvement, taught by Clyde Mayberry. He’s stuck sitting, due to the exigencies of the recording process. “I feel like I’m at a press conference.” He’s a bereavement counselor, with a book (Final Countdown) due out later this year.
It takes more than wanting to do better to do better. It takes a change of mind. Job’s friends were focused on the doctrine of retaliation: if you’re good, God will bless you. If you do bad, God will punish you. Their reasoning was flawed. Change starts from within, but knowledge is not enough. There’s an energy, a will, that leads us to change, like the fuse lit at the beginning of every Mission: Impossible episode (the first time I’ve heard Mission: Impossible used as a church-related illustration).
Why don’t people change when we help them? Because, like the prodigal son, people are only willing to change when they’re tired of their current situation. If the desire is not there, there will be no change. To improve, we must be willing to change. There are three groups of people:
From Albert Ellis to Job: an event takes place and we respond. However, there’s a step in between: our belief about what the event means. Our belief determines our response to an event, not the event itself. Our environment creates the events in our lives. Our beliefs determine our response to them. The event (“I live in a bad neighborhood.”) can be an excuse, but we have a choice. Excuses hinder us and cause us to be stuck in the past. Our challenge: help people work from the future (what we can be through Christ) to erase the past (what we’ve been) and establish the present (what we need to do to be where we want to be).
Takeaway Thought:If I understand I’m created in the image of God and that I can have access to Him and His power, that changes the game. Coming to Christ is a reconciliation. We started out in relationship with God. Sin broke that relationship. Christ reestablishes it. If my beliefs have changed, my responses will follow.
Lunch break I’ll post the afternoon sessions in another entry (I don’t want you to get carpal tunnel syndrome from clicking the scroll bar too much).
8:20 AM Looking around, it seems the prison ministry population is greying along with the prison population. Most workers seem to be in their late 40s and up. While this is a sign of the longevity of prison ministry workers (most have been involved for many years), it also raises questions about the next generation of prison workers. As the prison population grows, the need for workers grows as well. More than ever, we need to ask the Lord of harvest to send forth reapers.
8:36 AM Still waiting for the opening assembly to start...it appears it doesn’t matter what the activity: if it’s Church of Christ, it’s going to start late (and involve food, but that’s for another posting).
8:43 AM Finally starting...now comes my favorite part of any assembly: the singing. It’s worth coming to a workshop just to hear the singing. People who come to the workshops are workers in the trenches. We share the joys and sorrows of prison ministry, and it shows in the fervor of our singing, even without songbooks.
- When Morning Comes: “We will understand it better by and by.” Prison ministry is not for those looking for short term results. We are sowers and waterers. God brings the harvest in His time, in His way.
- Victory in Jesus: In prison, as well as everywhere else, victory comes through Jesus and Jesus alone. Every person who comes to Him is another victory, not for us, but for God.
9:03 AM The first speaker: Patrick Mead, who just woke us up by the loudest feedback squawk in recent memory. He believes Christians should not use Macs because “Heaven isn’t here yet and Christians should suffer along with the rest of the world.” He reminded us of Victor Frankl and the importance of choosing what we’re going to see and how we’ll respond to it.
“Why are you eating that Krispy Kreme doughnut? It will kill you.” “What’s the downside? If I eat a Krispy Kreme doughnut, I’ll see Jesus sooner. So if you’re drinking a V-8, are you trying to avoid Jesus?”
Prison ministry is about helping people make better decisions. People in prison, for the most part, are people who have made bad decisions and have been caught (unlike the rest of us, who make bad decisions and don’t get caught). They need help to break the cycle: that’s what we do. The only thing we truly have is the power to choose. Give them a reason to choose Jesus Christ.
As prison workers, we help inmates understand the God we’ve got, not the God we’d like to have. We help them understand that God will be with us, no matter where we are. The gift of God is initimacy: His abiding presence. God may not give us what we want, but He’ll be there for us. It doesn’t matter where we are: God has not forgotten us.
As prison workers, we help inmates understand they have a job to do, even in prison. God has put us where we are for a reason; He has work for us to do. Marshall Keeble: “God wouldn’t have given us an eternity of rest unless He figured we’re going to need it.” We do good regardless of the reaction of others. I do good because I’ve chosen to do good, because that’s what God wants me to do, not just the easy stuff, but the hard work.
Takeaway Thought: In Hebrews 11, every time there’s a “by faith,” there a verb. Faith leads to action. By faith, what am I supposed to do here? What’s my verb? The world’s verbs: lust, kill, steal... The Lord’s verbs: love, bless, serve...
9:53 AM Decisions, decisions: so many good classes, all at the same time. I’m in When You Mess Up, Fess Up, taught by Duvon Jones. It’s based on II Samuel 11-12 (David and Bathsheba). Duvon calls this a workshop and he’s not kidding. First, he’s rearranged the room so we all have to look at each other. Second, he’s got us standing and holding a Bible at arm’s length. Lesson: holding a lightweight Bible at arm’s length gets tiring very fast. So does guilt: it weighs us down. Messing up (sin) is cancerous and cantankerous. It stays with us, sticks to us and festers. We may try to ignore it or recategorize it (switch hands, pull the arm in), but it’s still there attacking us.
Confession is admitting our guilt, taking ownership of our own mess ups. It takes away the constraints of humiliation, embarrassment and fear. Confession is scary, but it’s liberating, releasing, relieving and relaxing. All sin is against God, so confession begins with Him. Confession doesn’t free us from the consequences of our mess ups, but it liberates us from the guilt and that allows us to relax: to do what we need to be doing.
To minimize (not eliminate) mess ups, our hearts need to be reprogrammed. What happens when you add a spoon of water to half a glass of Coke? Nothing. What happens when you add a spoon of Coke to half a glass of water? It changes color slightly: it’s tarnished. A little bit of sin tarnishes our lives. It takes a lot of water to change the color of a glass of Coke. It takes a lot of God’s word to reprogram a heart full of passions and desires. How long does it take? The rest of our lives, perhaps...as long as it takes.
Takeaway Thought: Psalm 1: What we delight in, we bite in. What keeps us rooted in God? A constant meditation (tuning in) on the word of God.
10:50 AM Good lessons, good fellowship, renewing old acquaintances: what more can one ask? Next class: The Spirit and Energy of Self-Improvement, taught by Clyde Mayberry. He’s stuck sitting, due to the exigencies of the recording process. “I feel like I’m at a press conference.” He’s a bereavement counselor, with a book (Final Countdown) due out later this year.
It takes more than wanting to do better to do better. It takes a change of mind. Job’s friends were focused on the doctrine of retaliation: if you’re good, God will bless you. If you do bad, God will punish you. Their reasoning was flawed. Change starts from within, but knowledge is not enough. There’s an energy, a will, that leads us to change, like the fuse lit at the beginning of every Mission: Impossible episode (the first time I’ve heard Mission: Impossible used as a church-related illustration).
Why don’t people change when we help them? Because, like the prodigal son, people are only willing to change when they’re tired of their current situation. If the desire is not there, there will be no change. To improve, we must be willing to change. There are three groups of people:
- those who make things happen (made mistakes and learned from them)
- those who watch things happen (afraid to engage, in a comfort zone, mediocre)
- those who ask, “What happened?” (not interested in changing, only in blaming)
From Albert Ellis to Job: an event takes place and we respond. However, there’s a step in between: our belief about what the event means. Our belief determines our response to an event, not the event itself. Our environment creates the events in our lives. Our beliefs determine our response to them. The event (“I live in a bad neighborhood.”) can be an excuse, but we have a choice. Excuses hinder us and cause us to be stuck in the past. Our challenge: help people work from the future (what we can be through Christ) to erase the past (what we’ve been) and establish the present (what we need to do to be where we want to be).
Takeaway Thought:If I understand I’m created in the image of God and that I can have access to Him and His power, that changes the game. Coming to Christ is a reconciliation. We started out in relationship with God. Sin broke that relationship. Christ reestablishes it. If my beliefs have changed, my responses will follow.
Lunch break I’ll post the afternoon sessions in another entry (I don’t want you to get carpal tunnel syndrome from clicking the scroll bar too much).
Why Prison Ministry?
Jun 11, 2008 08:06 PM
This is going to be a rare autobiographical posting.
People often ask how I got involved in prison
ministry. Normally, I don’t like telling stories
about myself, but, in this case, it’s not really
about me, as you’ll see.
Some 20+ years ago, shortly after we moved to Durham, I was approached by Steve Tuten, who was in charge of prison ministry at the congregation I then attended. He asked me if I’d be interested in getting involved in the work at Butner. At the time, I knew what my gifts and talents were: prison ministry was definitely not one of them. Steve, though, was a modern day persistent widow and finally wore me down to the point that I agreed to go with him for one Sunday...just one Sunday...
When we arrived for the service, I noticed a couple of men seated toward the rear and gesticulating to each other. I had learned sign language in Greensboro and could tell they were, in fact, signing. I approached them and learned they were deaf, but interested in the service. Naturally, I interpreted the service for them, as I had done many times in Greensboro. Afterwards, one of them asked if I was going to be back next week, as they wanted to talk about the Bible. What could I say?
On the way home, I asked Steve if they had been to services before. He told me no, that this was their first time. The following week, after another round of interpreting the service, they asked if I would be willing to have a Bible study with them. From that moment, my fate was sealed. Even someone as rationalistic as I could tell when God was opening a door and kicking me through.
So, you see, this story really wasn’t about me at all. But, then, for Christians, what story is?
Some 20+ years ago, shortly after we moved to Durham, I was approached by Steve Tuten, who was in charge of prison ministry at the congregation I then attended. He asked me if I’d be interested in getting involved in the work at Butner. At the time, I knew what my gifts and talents were: prison ministry was definitely not one of them. Steve, though, was a modern day persistent widow and finally wore me down to the point that I agreed to go with him for one Sunday...just one Sunday...
When we arrived for the service, I noticed a couple of men seated toward the rear and gesticulating to each other. I had learned sign language in Greensboro and could tell they were, in fact, signing. I approached them and learned they were deaf, but interested in the service. Naturally, I interpreted the service for them, as I had done many times in Greensboro. Afterwards, one of them asked if I was going to be back next week, as they wanted to talk about the Bible. What could I say?
On the way home, I asked Steve if they had been to services before. He told me no, that this was their first time. The following week, after another round of interpreting the service, they asked if I would be willing to have a Bible study with them. From that moment, my fate was sealed. Even someone as rationalistic as I could tell when God was opening a door and kicking me through.
So, you see, this story really wasn’t about me at all. But, then, for Christians, what story is?
30 Seconds to Bible Study
Jun 11, 2008 12:29 AM
I’ve been involved in prison ministry at FCC Butner
for the past 20 years. During that time, I’ve
developed a set of guidelines for our Bible studies
there. Every new man has had to endure the recitation
of my ground rules for our study. Over the years,
I’ve reduced them to a 30 second spiel. If the guys
at Butner have to go through the ritual, why
shouldn’t you?
- I accept the Bible as the word of God. It’s inspired by Him, accurate as originally written and able to be understood by all of us.
- We’re all students of God’s word, especially me. If you ever catch me teaching (or writing) something that’s wrong, let me know and I’ll fess up. I’ve done it before and I’ve no doubt I’ll be doing it many times in the future.
- In studying Scripture, everyone should participate. However, we should focus on what’s written in the Bible rather than our own opinions. I checked today and I’m still batting 1.000: so far, my opinions haven’t saved anyone.
- The only dumb question is the one you don’t ask.