SPEAK UP for those who cannot be heard. I need your past experience to help others in prison.
Calling ALL! Here is a chance to use your voice to help those who are without one. If you have been jailed or imprisoned, or you have a friend or family member who has been, I need your feedback. Where do you feel there is a GAP in our society and prison system, when it comes to helping freed ex-offenders walk out the door? How can we assist in helping everyone have a successful future? Please be specific, honest and open. Below is a description of the burden God has put on my heart to create a global non-profit that speaks to your concerns. It doesn't matter if it is Africa or America, the cry of the inmates are the same.
I have walked in prison ministry with inmates and ex-cons in the USA for a decade and now in Africa for the past three. I have gotten feedback from police inspectors, chiefs of villages, Bishops, pastors and church leaders. Unfortunately, some watch the freed ex-cons with a suspecting eye expecting them to fail. Many inmates do ok when first released but return to crime because of the judging and rejection. There is a huge GAP that is causing inmates to fail upon being released. There is isolation and judgment that is causing individuals to reoffending or worse - commit suicide after release.
WHO is waiting for them to help them get back on their feet. Where are the believers of Christ? Where are the churches in all this rehabilitation? Who is waiting for them at the door when they get out? The Bible tells us DO NOT FORGET THE PRISONERS. God has put a burden on my heart to start a non-profit organization to bring awareness to this gap around the globe. This ministry will help bring
prisoners and mentors of excellence together.
- Basic Needs: This organization will first meet their basic needs. It will include raising funds to bring needed supplies such as soap, toilet paper, shoes and Bibles into the poverty stricken prisons.
- Power-filled Lives: I have witnessed the Almighty power of God move through the prisons. We next need to be sharing the Gospel in a simple, truthful, exciting way in order to bring Spiritual healing and life-changing POWER into their lives.
- Expand Awareness: I'd like to bring local area pastors into the prisons themselves to see firsthand the power of God inside of prison. For Bishops, Pastors and church leaders to see their faces and shake hands with the inmates. To care for, and interact with the prisoners. To dispel their fears and see the incarcerated are no different than you or me. GOD LOVES THEM JUST THE WAY THEY ARE!
- In-Prison Leaders Training: I'd like to create and promote an in-prison leaders training and on-going Bible study for those that are incarcerated for life. So they can be there 24/7 for all who need them. Those in-prison leaders can reach deep with God's love into the darkest corners of the prison itself.
- Letter Writing Ministry: A Letters of Encouragement division to train those outside who want to help inmates inside. This is done through letter writing and scripture responses to the inmate's prayer requests.
- Re-Entry Training: To partner in a re-entry program that provides much needed mentoring/friendship of inmates for their last few months and after incarceration.
- Mentoring: Last but not least - inmates around the world are crying out for a non-judgmental friend to walk alongside them to help them get back on their feet and feel welcomed back into society after doing their time.
NETWORKING WEBSITE: Why reinvent the wheel? Networking is essential! I want to assemble a world-wide web-site that all people who are serving in prison ministry can tap into for ministry support. There will be ideas from other parts of the world and links to prison organizations with contact information that may be close to them. A networking website for all to contribute their successes, failures and much needed support. What works and what doesn't?
I had a chance on my last day to meet with a few leaders in Nairobi that I had met before this trip. One was following my limited blog for training and is doing a powerful women's prison ministry, the other is working with juveniles and their families in prison ministry. They both felt they are on their own, desperate for any training and ministry ideas in Africa. In the USA we are blessed in abundance. Let's pass it on!
Please put your thinking caps on… I could also use your name ideas for this non-profit. Something edgy, yet something that crosses cultural boundaries. (For example: Rock'n The Rebels doesn't work because Rock'n isn't understood in Africa.) Let's throw a few names on the wall and see what sticks.
What speaks to you?
"Now is your chance to make a difference in the lives of those without a voice."
Lets allow God to mold and create this ministry together… Time is short, let's not waste it.
Shug
