It’s not often that I sent out ‘blast’ e-mails like this, but I thought you would like to read about Dennis Rainey’s recent experience in jail. After reading this post, I think you’ll agree with me that ‘Lives are being changed!’
Dennis’ email:
Last night I went to prison…to speak at a graduation ceremony…at Wrightsville Prison, about an hour south of here where 865 souls are serving time…a light to medium security unit.
You [FamilyLife staff] know most of the story, but let me just say at the outset how proud I am of Jim W for stepping up and out in faith to see this venture completed. It would have never happened without. Nice work Jim…well done!
The chaplain there, who has served as a chaplain for over 15 years in California before coming to Arkansas, saw the Stepping Up Video Series and got the Warden to approve this series for their prisoners. When they advertized the series on “Courageous Manhood” to the men, amazingly 265 men signed up to go through it! The Warden doesn’t have a room large enough so he limited it to 136 men who started the series 10 weeks ago. The Chaplain had no money for the kit and manuals and YOU [FamilyLife staff] GAVE and paid for all of the materials for the men. A hearty thanks to all of the stakeholders who participated!!!
We had no idea how it would go because the Stepping Up Video Series has never been used in a prison setting. But we had a good idea it was working as they wrapped it up last night, with dozens of men weeping as they watched session 10 on Legacy. They did it all–all 10 video segments, small groups with leaders, and projects in the workbooks.
I need to add here, that earlier in the day I made a call to a leader of a prison ministry, Ron Tijerina, (who had served 15 years for a crime he didn’t commit) to ask him for advice on how to speak to these men, to prisoners. His words got my attention. Ron told me these men feel like the lepers of our day. They feel valueless and dehumanized by the results of their choices, every man reminded daily of his failures. He told me the most important thing I could do with these guys was to look each man in the eyes, ask him his name, shake his hand and affirm him for going through this material.
I was on the verge of tears from the moment I walked in until I left. I met men from all kinds of backgrounds, with most of them coming from fatherless homes. Their ages spanned a half century, 25-75. They were there for being sex offenders, drug dealers, murderers, theft, and white collar crime. As they were given their Stepping Up graduation certificate, I looked each man in the eyes, shook his hand and hugged him, and I told each man I was proud of him completing the course. (93 of the men finished it…35 were transferred out of prison, and only 8 dropped out.)
The evening concluded with about a fourth of them standing up and sharing what the series had meant to them. One guy said “the series had a been really hard, a bitter pill,” because it pointed out the truth about him. Another said “I thought I was a man, but I wasn’t one. I abused my wife and abandoned my children. And after going through this series I now understand my real identity as a man and how I need to be God’s man.” A Muslim man shared. One man took 5 hours to write a four page paper of how his life was transformed. Dad’s shared that they couldn’t wait to take their sons through this material, even from prison. I have no idea how many men received Christ, but it was evident from their words that many did.
We took a video crew in with us and they captured everything. We are thinking that we can produce a 4-5 minute documentary that can be used across the country to open up prison ministries to men.
The chaplain walked us back out and through security and thanked us. There is a waiting list of another 130 men who want to go through Stepping Up starting in 2 weeks. In addition, he has scheduled the next quarterly meeting for all the chaplains in the state system (18 penitentiaries in all) to meet at FamilyLife to challenge them to take their men through Stepping Up. His vision is for 100% of the prisons here to have this as an ongoing program.
As I drove home I thought to myself, “I now know why Chuck Colson so loved prison ministry.” It really is like going into an orphanage and ministering to the least of these. I never grow weary of the “AWE” of how God uses broken pots for His purposes.
One Home at a Time,
Dennis