tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87053420835692619852024-03-13T11:30:40.371-04:00Hope Aglow Prison MinistriesCommitted to the task of prison evangelism, Hope Aglow Ministries is an organization dedicated to reaching prisoners with the message of Christ's love. It is a ministry whose goal is not rehabilitation but regeneration.Hope Aglow Prison Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293036914530875413noreply@blogger.comBlogger70125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705342083569261985.post-74956837190475579792012-04-16T10:44:00.000-04:002012-04-16T10:44:19.800-04:0010 Guidelines for Visiting<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rfqgXjiN-00/T4wvW7Aa6SI/AAAAAAAAANw/vhyq3T3riao/s1600/visitp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rfqgXjiN-00/T4wvW7Aa6SI/AAAAAAAAANw/vhyq3T3riao/s400/visitp.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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By: Lennie Spitale<br />
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<blockquote style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #d9cdcf; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 10px; border-bottom-right-radius: 10px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-left-radius: 10px; border-top-right-radius: 10px; border-top-width: 0px; color: #9c0028; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 15px; padding-top: 1em; quotes: none;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">10 Guidelines for Success</strong><br />Following are 10 guidelines I would suggest after observing these visits for nearly 30 years in Christian prison ministry. Maybe one or two will be helpful to you.<br /><br />1.<em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> Verbally acknowledge that the other person's stress is real.</em> You are temporarily living in two different worlds. Acknowledge that the differences can create misunderstandings. Empathize, but don't pretend to fully understand the other's stress factors.<br /><br />2. <em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Give each other adequate time to express your feelings</em>. I recommend that the one doing time allow the visitor to be the one who talks about his or her life first. The prison world is a small one; by listening to your loved one's experiences first, it'll help to pull you out of it a little bit.<br /><br />3. <em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Give each other the freedom to be honest about your feelings</em>. (If you can't handle the truth, don't ask for it.)<br /><br />4. <em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">There is a time for everything</em>. Agree together whether or not the timing is right to bring up certain issues. If one (or both) of you is not emotionally ready to handle something, you must mutually agree to put it on a back burner until the time is right.<br /><br />5. <em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Listen with your heart as well as your ears</em>. For the men, keep in mind that, if the visitor is a wife or girlfriend, she doesn't necessarily want you to fix the problem; she just wants you to know how she feels. (Since you are already feeling frustrated at your inability to fix outside problems, this should actually be a help to you.)<br /><br />6. <em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Identify the real issues</em>. (But do this with gentleness and respect.) Most of the time, the surface issues aren't the real problem. Sometimes the anger is rooted in unresolved conflicts. For example, family members may be hiding their anger over all the pain and turmoil the incarcerated one has caused, but be afraid to express it.<br /><br />7. <em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The conversation shouldn't be dominated by one person</em>. Agree to give each other equal time to talk about what has been going on in your lives.<br /><br />8. <em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Be kind</em>. It's not all about you. I once heard someone say: "Be kind to each other. Everyone is fighting big battles." The shrink-wrapped world of prison life can cause one to become very self-focused. And, just as easily, the demands and responsibilities of outside life can cause visitors to become the same way.<br /><br />9. <em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Make a commitment at the beginning of each visit that you will make no unreasonable demands upon the other</em>. Stick by it.<br /><br />10. <em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Ask for practical ways in which you can be of help to each other</em>.</blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;"> As a young man, Lennie Spitale served a prison sentence for an armed robbery that was later reduced to assault and robbery. Two years after his conversion to Christianity, he began conducting a weekly Bible study in a local jail and has been involved in prison ministry for more than two decades.</span>Hope Aglow Prison Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293036914530875413noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705342083569261985.post-71757969834336994592012-03-21T09:27:00.003-04:002012-03-21T09:27:45.229-04:00The Impact of Parental Incarceration<br />
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When parents go to prison or jail, their children suffer. The loss of a parent to incarceration can precipitate trauma and disruption that few experience without serious consequences. This loss often compounds or exacerbates existing environmental stress such as poverty, poor schools and violent neighborhoods.<br />
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Incarcerated parents were often themselves raised by adults who were chemically dependent, abusive or both. They are likely to have learned to cope and adapt to trauma and distress by lashing out at others and by self-medicating with drugs or alcohol. They can lack the ability to attach to others and may not have internalized adequate or healthy models of child rearing.<br />
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For many prisoner parents, rage, depression and addiction is and has been a part of life followed by the criminal activity that addiction can require and rage often causes.<br />
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Children of prisoners will experience loss of the parent that cared for them—or of the possibility of a nurturing parent. This loss may include relief that a parent is no longer able to hurt themselves or others. Perhaps the loss is accompanied by satisfaction that the parent will be punished or hope that they will change. But loss remains a consistent reaction to the incarceration of a parent.<br />
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When children are present at the arrest of their parent, the loss of separation can be compounded by powerlessness, and violence. In some cases, the child may see police indifference or brutality.<br /><br />
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Most children of prisoners are cared for by family members. Some remain in stable environments while others are moved to new communities or schools. Many children are plunged into economic hardship or deeper poverty as a result of the incarceration of a family member. As their caregivers struggle to cope, some children will be exposed to the new or continued substance abuse of family members. They may also<br />
experience sexual or physical abuse. Children, who are placed in foster care, often endure multiple placements and are at increased risk for physical and sexual abuse.<br />
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Children with parents in jail or prison feel stigmatized even when they live in communities where many people have family and friends who are incarcerated. Some children even appear to be boastful as they defend against the pain and embarrassment. Children of prisoners, who live with any or all of these conditions and risk factors, have difficulty in school and experience both academic and social failure.<br />
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Children of prisoners are rarely helped by not having their parent in their lives in some way. Without that parent, children mourn. Some mourn the loss of the parent that was available to care for them. Others mourn the<br />
loss of what “could have been.”<br />
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While caregivers of children of prisoners are often unsure about what to tell them and whether or not to take them to visit, most children adjust better when they are told the truth about their parents whereabouts and when contact between parents and children is maintained.<br />
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Visits to a parent in prison or jail are usually helpful in keeping children connected to their parents. There are often however behavioral reactions (increased aggression or anxiety) after visits as children adapt or re-adapt to their loss. These behaviors are difficult and can cause adults to recommend against visiting the incarcerated parent.<br />
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Studies do show that most children manage the crisis of parental incarceration better when they visit their parents. But it usually takes time for children and families to cope with the feelings that the visits raise. While not visiting is sometimes easier on the emotions in the short run, out of sight, is not out of mind. Distance leaves a lot of confusion, questions, imagined dangers and fears for kids to deal with. These feelings may show up in problem behaviors at home, school or both and can be harmful to the child over time.<br />
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Adapted from Responding to Children<br />
and Families of Prisoners: A<br />
Community Guide by Ann AdalistEstrin and Jim Mustin, copyright<br />
Family and Corrections Network,<br />
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<br />Hope Aglow Prison Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293036914530875413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705342083569261985.post-56201791435402252982012-01-30T12:55:00.001-05:002012-01-30T12:55:42.771-05:00The story we hear over and over, but with a happy ending!This is a reprint from Prison Fellowship's "New This Week" Stories. It's so good and full of hope, I had to share it with all of you. It's the story of a young woman and how she overcame great odds. As a volunteer with Hope Aglow, I do a Bible study in our local jail. I have heard this story so many times. Maybe as you read it you can pray for the women in our society who fall prey to the same mistakes. The best thing about this woman's story is how all things really did work together for her good.<br />
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<b style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Seven.</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The number of times Sheaveal Beasley turned in her street clothes for a prison uniform. </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">It wasn’t the path she would have chosen. But when she looks back now, she knows that her life’s journey has only just begun.</span><br />
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<b style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Thirteen.<i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </i></b><i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Sheaveal’s age when she began taking responsibility for her five younger siblings.</i> Growing up in Punta Gorda, Florida, “we cherished each other because we didn’t have much,” she says. Her parents worked hard when Sheaveal was younger, but they eventually started doing marijuana and the family was largely left in Sheaveal’s hands. Resourceful and hopeful, Sheaveal remained in school, graduating with a softball scholarship to attend Miami Dade College.</div>
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<tr style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 250px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #999999; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Sheaveal and her daughter Amber.</em></span></td></tr>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gRuOia5Sj5k/TybZKzKqKMI/AAAAAAAAANY/v2cT49mRJgg/s1600/s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gRuOia5Sj5k/TybZKzKqKMI/AAAAAAAAANY/v2cT49mRJgg/s1600/s.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<b style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Three.<i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </i></b><i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The number of months Sheaveal completed at college before dropping out.</i> It all happened because of a guy… a guy who did drugs. “I wanted to fit in,” Sheaveal admits. “I fell in love with him.” She began smoking marijuana and doing cocaine. Then she lost her scholarship and had to quit school.</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
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<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<b style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Ninety.<i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </i></b><i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The year Sheaveal got caught the first time.</i> She shoplifted to feed her drug habit and landed behind bars. First, jail. Then, prison. After getting out, she began writing bad checks to pay for drugs. She violated probation and found herself back behind bars. The cycle had begun, and it would be years before it came to a stop. “I couldn’t deal with the guilt and the shame after having [lost] all of the scholarship,” she laments. “I kept on [using drugs] to numb the feelings that I felt inside.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<b style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Six.<i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </i></b><i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The number of children Sheaveal gave birth to while shuttling back and forth between cocaine and prison. </i>Not long after getting clean and giving birth to her daughter Amber, Sheaveal fell back into a rut and went to prison for the fourth time. She had five sons over the next 11 years. A few of them were born cocaine positive.</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<b style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Three.<i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </i></b><i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The number of family members who died in 1997: her mother, her father and her grandmother. </i>While in jail in Charlotte , North Carolina, to be closer to her children’s father Leroy, she received word that her mother had passed away. Five weeks later, her father and grandmother died. “They were my backbone. They were always there for me no matter what I did.” Not long after, Leroy fell sick with cancer. He died in 2004, and Sheaveal was left alone with five of her kids and many financial burdens. “I felt myself slipping back into the old me,” she remembers. So she packed up the kids and moved back to Florida. Desperate for companionship, she began to date an old acquaintance. Not long after they started dating, he began to beat her. Sheaveal landed in the hospital with a brain injury. That’s when she decided to take matters into her own hands. She stole a gun and set out to execute justice. But she got caught before she could enact her plan.</div>
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<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<b style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Twenty-five.<i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </i></b><i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The number of years Sheaveal was facing when she went to prison the last time.</i> That’s when she finally gave up and cried out, “God, I can’t do this again. If you don’t help, I will die out here!” God answered her by bringing Jeremiah 29:11 to mind: “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” That promise gave Sheaveal hope that she could find life beyond self-destruction.</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
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<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<b style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Four and a half. </b><i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The number of years the judge actually gave her</i>. “That was one of the times in my life that God showed me that He is true to His Word,” she said. During those four and a half years at Broward Correctional Institution in Fort Lauderdale, Sheaveal did everything she could to change the trajectory of her life. She began hanging around positive people, went to church, read the Bible and joined the choir. She was certified as a help desk analyst and became a peer facilitator for a drug rehab program. Still, she admitted, there was an emptiness. “No one in my family was talking to me. Everyone was disappointed because I went to prison again.” She needed someone to fight for her.</div>
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<b style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Two.<i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </i></b><i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Mentors.<b style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </b></i>After attending a Prison Fellowship event in prison, Sheaveal learned that she could request a volunteer mentor to help her transition back to life on the outside. A year before her release, Prison Fellowship matched her with two women: Pat Kelly and June Nielsen. “I remember the first day when Pat and June walked in there. I smiled because I just knew that God had sent them to me.” Every other week, Pat and June showed up to encourage her and study the Bible with her. For Pat, mentoring Sheaveal was easy. “By the time we became her mentors,” says Pat, “she had already come to a point in her life that she wanted to follow God, and she was going to do everything she could to make that happen … We just came along in the process that God had already started.”</div>
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<b style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Twenty-nine.<i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </i></b><i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">October, 2010 – the day Sheaveal was released from prison the last time.</i>Pat and June met her at the gate and took her out to eat at Cracker Barrel. “After eating prison food for four and a half years, Cracker Barrel was like heaven,” Sheaveal admits. They helped her get settled into a halfway house, where she stayed for three months. During that time, Prison Fellowship also connected her with Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church – her “bridge church” –which had committed to helping Sheaveal with her basic needs. They helped her find a more permanent place to live with a woman from the church, and helped her get a job with a local ministry. “I realize that I’m not alone, that I don’t have to do it alone,” Sheaveal says. “I have all of these people I can call.”</div>
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<b style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">One. </b><i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The number of years Sheaveal stopped dating. </i>Not long after getting out of prison, Sheaveal met a guy. “I thought it was real good,” she says. That’s when Pat and June stepped in. “They reminded me that my downfall was that I would get with a guy and forget everything else,” she remembers. So Sheaveal decided to make a commitment to herself to steer clear of romantic entanglements for a year, in order to focus on her relationship with Christ and make positive life decisions. She stayed true to her decision, thanks to support from Pat and June. “They’re like sisters to me,” rejoices Sheaveal. “They’re like glue. They make me feel like I’m normal. They have shown me how to laugh. They’re showing me how to live.”</div>
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<b style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Six.</b> <i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Her children.</i> As soon as she got out, Sheaveal began working to regain custody of her children. Last November, she got a job at a beauty supply shop and is anticipating a promotion to assistant manager. She also began renting her own apartment – with assistance from Coral Ridge – and is in the process of paying back child support. She hasn’t regained custody of her children yet, but she talks to them on the phone frequently. Her daughter Amber is in college studying to become a dentist. And all five of her sons are doing well, most of them living with Sheaveal’s aunt.</div>
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<b style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Forty-six</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">. </span><i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Years of life.</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> When Sheaveal looks at the past, she doesn’t despair. “I view the past as a shadow, a dark shadow. I view the present as a light … it’s light and joy and peace.”</span>
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<a href="http://www.prisonfellowship.org/new-this-week/stories/16175-transformation-by-the-numbers">http://www.prisonfellowship.org/new-this-week/stories/16175-transformation-by-the-numbers</a>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>Hope Aglow Prison Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293036914530875413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705342083569261985.post-87842516005799961492012-01-09T12:21:00.002-05:002012-01-09T12:45:11.122-05:00Layering<br />
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Life has a way of layering. Let me explain. I used to live in Michigan where winters can be extremely cold. When temperatures were going to drop well below freezing, it was not uncommon for weather reporters to caution us, “Be careful not to get frostbite.” They suggested layering our clothing to keep in body heat and keep out the frigid temperatures.<br /><br />
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We are born with a survival instinct that cautions us against mental and emotional frostbite. We instinctively begin to layer protection against what we may perceive as a cold, cruel world, from an early age. Psychologists call these layers, defense mechanisms. Ways of thinking, behaving, and relating that help us survive as children but often become counter-productive, or even destructive as we grow older.<br />
Let’s think about some of these ‘layers.’ I’ll name two or three that have been in my personal defense arsenal, and you add a few of your own. Ready to work with me? Okay…<br />
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I learned from a very early age that no one can be trusted. So I became…get ready for it…”hyper-vigilant.” I was ever on the alert, stressed out by the possibility that someone, anyone, might hurt me, or at least want to take advantage of me. Hyper-vigilance can come across as suspicious, overly reactive, or even jealous. It stresses us and defeats its own purpose because when you don’t trust anyone or anything, you may miss it when an actual threat comes on the scene and mistrust your perception. After all, you’ve been wrong before.<br />
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The foundation for this defense mechanism is underdeveloped trust. Trust is the first stepping stone to human psychosocial development. How do we free ourselves from this unhealthy ‘layer’?<br />
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<i> <b>We do it by learning how to trust appropriately within the context of safe, healthy, relationships. How do we find a safe place to work on this development? The safest place I know is in a healthy church, small group, or mature Christian friend who has demonstrated loyalty and honesty in the past. </b></i></blockquote>
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You can test every relationship, every advice or counsel offered, and every principle taught by measuring it against the Word of God, God’s personal letters to you—letters provided to help you grow and become more like Him.<br />
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Another defense mechanism which helped me survive early years but became counter-productive later on was denial. The human mind often refuses to accept that which seems to threatening or destructive for survival…so the person in denial may look right at something and not see it. Block out the threat… Sometimes we alter our perception of the threat to make it less intimidating. We ignore or distort any reality we think we can’t survive.<br />
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I remember once, in junior high school, being asked by a teacher to write an essay on what animal I’d like to be if I could choose. Some classmates chose a bear, some a lion, one wanted to be an eagle. I chose the ostrich. I didn’t have a clue about what my choice was telling me…and others. The ostrich hides her head in the sand and pretends the danger doesn’t exist. A perfect example of denial. Denial may keep us alive when we are children caught in an inescapable web of danger…it may keep us sane, but the time comes when we have the power to take action, to remove ourselves from the danger, and get on with the business of living. If we maintain our defense mechanism of denial, we won’t be able to free ourselves because we have accepted the false belief that “it isn’t so bad,” or “there is nothing I can do,” or “this will stop if I just keep hoping, or praying.” It won’t stop unless you take action. You have to stop it. Denial is not your friend. I had to take my head out of the sand before I could free myself from the abuse I grew up with. It is the truth that sets us free…Jesus told us that. Denial distorts or denies the truth and keeps the soul in bondage. It is a layer that keeps us in the darkness when life is meant to be lived in the light.<br />
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I’ve found over the years that books by godly authors can help me identify and deal with the multiple layers of unhealthy coping mechanisms that I adopted during the trauma I experienced growing up. The measure of a books worth is it’s alignment with the Word of God, the absolute truth.<br />
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Some books have been donated to this ministry that may help you identify and deal with your personal ‘layers.’ They are available (with a donation of whatever you can afford) from Hope Aglow Ministries, Inc.. Write or call us and request a book if you want help removing the layers that may be weighing you down with unhelpful or destructive patterns of living and relating. We’ll accept a donation of whatever you are able to afford. Scholarships are available for those who need them. We hope to hear from you.<br />
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Hope Aglow Ministries<br />
P.O. Box 10157<br />
Lynchburg, VA 24506<br />
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434-258-2248<br />
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Love in Christ,<br />
Joy!<br />
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Linda Settles<br />
<a href="http://www.lindasettles.com/" moz-do-not-send="true" target="_blank">www.lindasettles.com</a><br />
<a href="http://www.redeemingourtreasures.com/" moz-do-not-send="true" target="_blank">www.RedeemingOurTreasures.com</a><br />
<a href="http://www.edicthouse.com/" moz-do-not-send="true" target="_blank">www.Edicthouse.com</a>Hope Aglow Prison Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293036914530875413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705342083569261985.post-55345652811200466882011-12-25T06:36:00.000-05:002011-12-25T06:36:41.471-05:00To Whom Do You Surrender?<br />
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Do you ever get overwhelmed with your own desire for change? You want to be like Christ…but that desire seems almost like a ‘pipe-dream.’ Something that vaguely stirs you to change, but seems so far from an attainable reality that you lose hope? If so, believe me, my friend, you are not alone. The great Apostle Paul may have felt that way when he penned, “I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do what I hate.” Romans 5: 15 NLT<br />
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Some people believe that Paul was struggling with some ‘great sin’ that threatened to overpower him. I believe every sin is a ‘great sin’ when it has power over us. If we don’t conquer it—it will conquer us. How do we conquer the sin that wars against our better self? How do we realize the dream of becoming Christ-like? The Apostle Paul verbalizes his own struggle to rise above his sinful (human) nature and take on the nature of his Lord in the following verses and gives us his conclusion in Chapter 8 Verse 5,<br />
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“Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” In verse 6 Paul informs us of his conclusion in the matter, “The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.” </blockquote>
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That is the crux of the matter my friends. In the secret chambers of our heart there is a battle raging. Our desire to be like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is at war with our desire to control our own destiny. William Ernest Henley penned it well in his famous work, <u>Invictus</u> “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” Unfortunately, Henley died at the age of 53 and one would hope he surrendered control to a higher power, the Creator of the Universe, before his untimely death.<br />
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The question we must ask today is this: to whom do I surrender control? If we surrender to addictions, this world’s system of thought which is contrary to the known will of God, our own desires to gratify our sinful nature (as Paul said), then those are the powers that will control us. If we surrender to the Holy Spirit and yield control of our lives to him, we will experience life and peace.<br />
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Someone once said, “Jesus said it. I believe it. And that settles it.” A simple philosophy that may become a guiding light to us if we internalize it and purpose to live by it.<br />
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To whom to you surrender? I pray that you surrender your mind, will, and emotions to the control of the Holy Spirit and begin living a life of peace in Him today!<br />
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Linda Settles<br /><a href="http://www.lindasettles.com/" target="_blank">www.lindasettles.com</a><br /><a href="http://www.redeemingourtreasures.com/" target="_blank">www.RedeemingOurTreasures.com</a><br /><a href="http://www.edicthouse.com/" target="_blank">www.Edicthouse.com</a><br /><br />Hope Aglow Prison Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293036914530875413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705342083569261985.post-86234203239559686292011-12-14T09:00:00.000-05:002011-12-14T09:00:44.869-05:00A Divine Week<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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True stories straight from prison-<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Merriam Webster’s College Dictionary defines “divine” two
ways:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“of, or proceeding from God;” and “to
discover by intuition or insight.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
past week both those definitions came to mind as I watched and lived through
another week of prison. </span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">It all started typically enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was at a visit last Saturday when a young
guy from the college building asked to introduce me to his folks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He goes by the name “Divine”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is an extremely lean, muscular black man,
just 23, soft spoken and very polite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
always calls me sir as in “sir, would you have time to read my essay?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I like him (but, my friends in here will tell
you I like most everyone).</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Divine is a very bright kid and he writes beautifully.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s one of the young guys I really enjoy
helping.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, we completed count in the “VI”
room and Divine said “sir, I’d like to introduce you to my folks.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve had that happen a couple of dozen times
in my stay here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That, or guys I work
with in school will introduce themselves to my folks or friends at visit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We walk over and there is this older,
well-dressed black couple sitting at a small table (dad in a suit; mom in a
dress; late 60’s).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Divine introduced me
to them and said “this is the man who’s taught me to write.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His mother and father hop up and shake my
hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His mom tells me they’ve known
their son was blessed when he got here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A devoutly religious couple, she added “we prayed he’d meet someone who
would befriend him and urge him to be his best.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He’s told us how you work with the young men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank you.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I was speechless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All
that afternoon I thought here I am a felon, an inmate and somehow I made a
difference in this kid’s life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the
prayers I’d uttered about giving me a chance and I realized I was, in fact,
living my chance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I made a difference in
a kid’s life and his parents now have hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was, a humbling insightful moment. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Two days later another A+ certification test was held.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seven of nine students passed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The two who didn’t were mere points from
passing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Mouse”, one of the guys I
spend hours with each week honing his English skills, came back from class
Tuesday night with an “A” on his paper he’d written about Langston Hughes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We spent two afternoons reading and
re-reading poems and then, suddenly it clicked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Like a light switch turning on Mouse’s face, he lit up as he got what
Hughes was saying. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">And then, Thursday the GED was given.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had two guys sit for the test and those two
guys passed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve been thinking a good
deal about unanswered prayers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We pray
about something, it doesn’t occur immediately and we assume God’s not
listening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We forget all the times in
our past when our kids were sick, or we’d lost a job, or we were on the brink
of divorce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somehow God always answered,
always saw us through the difficulties we faced. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I have said “but” a great number of times these past three
years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I realized there’s no “but” in “trust
in the Lord with all your heart”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The strange
thing is I think I’ve known that all along.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Faith is all about the future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
believe because your past proves prayers are answered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A lot of good news came out for the college
guys this week and for the GED students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It reminded me that in any situation good can come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remembering that was divine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span> http://barsstripes.blogspot.com/</span></span><br />
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[The Author] I was an attorney suspended from law practice in Tennessee for
misappropriation of client’s funds; I rebuilt my life by moving to
Virginia. Disclosing my law license problems, I was hired as a claims
adjuster and within 1 year promoted to in-house claims attorney by a
large Virginia insurer. Four years after being hired, I began
embezzling money to lavish gifts on family and friends. From 1996
through the middle of 2008, I traveled as a high roller (making
first-class trips to both the Mirage in Las Vegas and the Borgata in
Atlantic City); ate in the finest restaurants and had front row seats at
shows with family & friends. However, this world came crashing
down in August 2008, when I was confronted by the company president.
Immediately confessing, I was arrested, convicted for embezzling over $2
million and indicted on six counts. I was diagnosed with manic impulse
control disorder (a form of bi-polar disorder). I pled guilty and made
significant attempts to cooperate with authorities and protect my
family. However, the wife I loved divorced me; my two sons withdrew
from me; friends abandoned me. I was sentenced to 30 years in prison
(with only 15 suspended).<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span> </span></span>Hope Aglow Prison Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293036914530875413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705342083569261985.post-23485726733409295912011-12-05T09:31:00.001-05:002011-12-05T09:39:24.238-05:00CHRISTMAS DAY IN PRISON<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In prison, Christmas day is the second happiest day of the year. New year’s day is the happiest because New Year’s signals another year gone and one nearer release and the outside world. It doesn’t really matter which month you were "sent up", another calendar year has passed. It’s gone forever.<br />
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There is an air of expectancy throughout the prison as prisoners anticipate a Christmas visit from their families. Some lay silent on their bunk-beds, trying to recall memories of childhood Christmases. Past and distant images are awakened of family and friends gathered around the table laughing and eating, then later relaxing and exchanging gifts.<br />
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The prisoner tries hard to keep his mind off the length of his sentence and the crime he committed. This is a time to receive word from home...though some messages will prove painful. A solemn air hovers over the prison. Try as he may to keep them away, dark clouds of failures, mistakes, regret and remorse over crimes committed that have separated him from freedom, bring salty raindrops in the form of tears.<br />
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Actually, the Christmas season began weeks ago with the Angel Tree program. Prisoners were asked to submit the names and addresses of their children, and what they would like to give their children for Christmas. The Angel Trees were set up in shopping malls all across America. On the branches hung little angels with the name, age, and clothing size of the prisoner’s children.<br />
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Shoppers chose an angel, purchased the requested gifts or an alternative gift, and presented it to the volunteer sitting beside the tree. Although it is suggested that the gift not exceed $15, some shoppers spent twice as much in the spirit of Christmas. A few days before Christmas the gift is delivered to the prisoner’s child in the name of the parent.<br />
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Excitement abounds as prisoners ask each other what they are requesting for their children. Beautiful Christmas cards in multi-colored envelopes begin arriving, resulting in an atmosphere not felt during any other season of the year. Prisoners tape their Christmas cards on the walls of their cells for others to see, and each day re-read the hand written messages inside.<br />
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A few days earlier, the chaplain has gone throughout the institution making sure that everyone who wanted one was given a card to send home. The chaplain then dipped into his always limited "love fund" to make sure that the hardship cases had postage for their card. Chaplain’s assistants decorated the chapel with evergreen boughs, bright banners and a live Christmas tree.<br />
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Volunteer groups begin coming in, extending best wishes and bringing refreshments and gifts consisting of fresh fruit, homemade fudge, socks and toiletry items...sometimes with a Christmas tract strategically placed.<br />
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On Christmas Eve, the prison factory closes early and visiting hours are extended. Family and friends who come to visit are the highlight of the day, but the annual Christmas Eve play, whose actors are the prisoners themselves, runs a close second. Much preparation and excitement, and much to do about nothing goes into the play, from the screening of the cast to the full dress rehearsal.<br />
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Then the holiday arrives at last. Within reason, the guards will turn their heads on some rules and regulations normally enforced, such as dress codes, shakedowns and group gatherings. Prisoners try, with some difficulty, to be nice to the guards, and guards, with the same difficulty, try being nice to the prisoners. Both prisoners and guards will breathe a sigh of relief when Christmas is over, knowing both sides have come through without any trouble or injuries.<br />
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The prison buzzer will be delayed so the prisoners can sleep late, then all will gather in the mess hall for the highlight of the day...Christmas dinner. The kitchen crew go all out to prepare what the prisoners have requested, including a mouth-watering dessert.<br />
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This is the one day of the year when family members (not friends) are allowed to enter the cafeteria to eat with their loved one. It is a time of introducing their families to their friends. Those who do not have family visitors are usually invited to sit with those who do, and sort of "adopt a family" for the day.<br />
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This is a great time of healing and bonding between prisoners. Some will, of course, pretend to be too preoccupied for such frivolity, others, sadly, will fake a headache or stomach ache and need to return to their cells.<br />
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Recreational privileges will be extended, providing it’s a nice day for gathering in the yard. Most are on good behavior because no one wants to be placed in solitary over Christmas. Friends and family fill their loved one’s prison bank account which usually has a mandatory ceiling.<br />
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Prisoners who smoke exchange cigarettes for gifts. Those who don’t smoke exchange candy bars, stamps or toiletries. These items are normally used for bartering and illegal gambling inside prison.<br />
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Prisoners present craft shop leather goods to their families and used toys that have been donated by various civic groups. The prisoners have labored over these toys, repairing, sanding, polishing, and painting them until they look like new. Some of the "like new" toys are sent back to the civic groups to be distributed among the poor in the community.<br />
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Prisoners are more spiritually sensitive during Christmas than at any other time of the year. Some "make deals" with God, hoping to manipulate a miraculous pardon on Christmas Day, or an early release next year. Sneering at other inmates or at the festivities is frowned upon. Peer pressure controls this. Even non-Christian inmates are silent so as not to disturb the holiday for the others.<br />
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This is a day when the prisoner can feel contact with the outside world. Families around the world are celebrating...he will celebrate too. Even in this confined and confused setting, he feels at one with society. He does not feel like such an outcast...like such a "loser".<br />
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But some have no Christmas memories except those spent in orphanages, foster homes, reformatories, and other prisons. For them depression sets in. They will purchase some of the drugs or liquor that an unscrupulous guard has smuggled in. Others will celebrate by getting a new tattoo, or by smoking the one cigar they have kept hidden away in order to have something special for themselves on Christmas day.<br />
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Some have been locked away so long they are unable to sense joy or happiness, except in a warped fashion, that usually results in pain for someone else. So they try to get all pumped up, to act happy without really knowing how or even why they should.<br />
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This results in a lot of shallow talking and forced laughter. Some will ask the chaplain to show them the proper way to cross themselves, some will ask for a cross to wear around their neck, while others will want the chaplain to tell them where to find the Christmas story in the Bible.<br />
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Christmas seems foreign in a prison setting...like an improper balance. No one wants to be where he is...especially today. Everyone is trying to feel significant. The Muslims and the American Indian Movement will busy themselves so as not to cause a fuss with the attempted celebration.<br />
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Another chapter has been written in the prisoner’s life. Let it read:<br />
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"Today I behaved and enjoyed as best I could...as Christmas dictates. No guards got on my case. I was not sent for counseling or to lock-up. I did not fight or curse a guard. I was not written up...did not receive any tickets or told I need to attend an attitude adjustment class.<br />
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"For one day I did not plot the demise of my enemies or relive my trial. I conducted myself according to what I once was, and what I someday hope to be...not what I am.<br />
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"I cleaned my cell and shined my shoes. I sorted through my locker to find my best prison clothes, making sure there were no tears or patches on the shirt and that my trousers were ironed. While showering, I felt a strange expectation, and wished myself a happy Christmas. Shaving took on a new excitement and upon returning to my cell I said a prayer.<br />
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"I spoke to other prisoners I have never spoken to before. I wished both guards and prisoners ‘Season’s Greetings’. I could tell some of them were eagerly anticipating a greeting from me...a break in the routine...and they wished me the same.<br />
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"I don’t understand Christianity, but I went to chapel anyway. There I saw real women, genuine smiles, wholesome love, and heard great singing. I saw beautifully colored dresses, smelled perfumed candles and touched a member of the opposite sex...if only in a handshake. People even asked me my name...not my number.<br />
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"Blind devotion...tradition...call it what you will, I made peace with my inner man...if only for a day. ‘Merry Christmas’...what a great holiday...no, what a great Holy Day."<br />
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On the day after Christmas when the morning buzzer sounds, the prisoner may react exactly the opposite. He might spit on a guard or curse fellow prisoners.<br />
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But not today...because today is Christmas Day in prison.<br />
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Author’s note: Prisons, like churches, are all alike - yet different. In maximum security prisons, families would never be allowed access into the cafeteria, while in some minimum security units, prisoners are encouraged to earn "points" during the year which will allow them to spend Christmas Day at home.<br />
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<i>Joe R. Garman, President<br />
American Rehabilitation Ministries<br />
P.O. Box 1490, Joplin, MO 64802</i><br />
http://www.arm.org/christmas_day.htmHope Aglow Prison Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293036914530875413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705342083569261985.post-7546257306939096842011-11-18T14:33:00.000-05:002011-11-18T14:33:01.230-05:00Lessons from the Mountaintop, by Linda Settles<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;">The climb is always easier when we leave the garbage at the bottom.</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><b>I learned something yesterday morning. While taking a walk the day before I had realized that our beautiful mountain road had been marred by litter. Coke cans. McDonald bags. Beer cans. So, I took a garbage bag along for my walk. Between my home and the main road (three miles-- mostly downhill) I felt quite proud of myself as I collected garbage and placed it in the bag. All went well until I started back up the mountain. The bag of garbage, comprised mostly of empty cans and paper--a bag which had been easy to carry on the downhill walk--soon felt like a lead weight as I trudged back up the mountain. I was afraid to put it down--what if a dog or wild animal tore into the bag and scattered my garbage everywhere?</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><b> I may have traveled a mile and a half when I came to a rock, a boulder really. It was almost as tall as me. That was when I laid my burden down. I placed it in the shadow of the rock were it was almost hidden from site by smaller boulders scattered around it.</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><b>I walked away feeling lighter—free to lengthen my stride. That was when I realized that I have often done the same thing spiritually and emotionally. I have picked up other people’s garbage. My heart was set on blessing them and beautifying the landscape of my life. But I soon found that my shoulders sagged and I couldn’t quite catch my breath. Other people’s garbage slowed me down.</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><b>It is only when I leave my garbage in the shadow of the Rock—that solid, unmovable, unchangeable, Rock of my Salvation, Jesus Christ, that I have the strength to continue my climb.</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><b>My husband came by later and threw the discarded bag in the back of his big red truck. He then drove it to the waste center. WOW! That is exactly what the Lord does for us. He takes all the accumulated garbage we have picked up—that which belongs to others as well as our own—and throws it in the back of his ‘big red truck’ to be carried away. </b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><b>Let’s lay our burdens down today, my friends. Let someone with the resources to handle it dispose of it as only He can do.</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><b>- Linda Settles</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><b>About Linda:</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><b>"I grew up in a troubled home, learned a lot of lessons, moved away, married an amazing man, created a home of my own, and raised two daughters who are now married and raising my grand children. If that's not a enough of an accomplishment to gain some boasting rights...well...what is?</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><b>Actually, none of us can boast because we survived, and thrived...because we didn't do it on our own. We had the help of God, support of friends, and tenacity born of affliction. </b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><b>I lost my husband of 25 years in 2010. I stopped writing for almost a year. And now...I'm moving on, taking charge, and standing strong. What did I say? Life can't get us down as long as we're looking up.</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><b>I've written 7 books, earned multiple awards, and touched some lives with insights gained through my experiences and my study. I thank God for every good thing that has come out of this life he has given me. I've also made some mistakes and lost my way a few times. As someone so aptly said, "God ain't finished with me yet!" "</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><b>Accomplishments: PhD in Counseling</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><b>MA in Christian Counseling</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><b>Member of American Association of Christian Counselors</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><b>2009 Silver Living Now Award: Redeeming Our Treasures</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><b>2009 Silver Finalist: Benjamin Franklin Award: Redeeming our Treasures (2 categories:Psychology and Self Help)</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><b>Award Winning Author</b></span></div>Hope Aglow Prison Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293036914530875413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705342083569261985.post-84785825601052572722011-11-11T21:35:00.000-05:002011-11-11T21:35:19.679-05:00Dreams Deferred<h3 class="post-title entry-title">
This post is written by a man currently serving a fifteen year sentence at a correctional facility in Virginia. He is a lawyer, and a believer. He found the Lord in prison and now he is a mentor. This post is about one young man he is a friend to and how he helped him keep on dreaming.</h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I had a conversation with my bunkmate the other night that
got me thinking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I must confess I didn’t
like IG very much when he moved into the bottom bunk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was extremely cluttered – to the point of
being sloppy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also brought a lot of “irons
in the fire” with him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He ran a few
hustles:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>parlay sheets, poker
games.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On more than one occasion I lost
my cool with him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On more than one
occasion Big S had to tell him to “tighten up”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">But gradually over the past six months, we’ve developed a
friendship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s a very bright, polite
kid:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>just 24, already locked up seven
years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, when I’d snap, he’d very
quietly just, well, take it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“My mom
told me to be respectful of my elders” he told me one time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s something you don’t hear very often in
here. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">IG has changed a lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He’s much neater and better organized than he was (though still not up
to the standards either Big S or I maintain) and he’s become a voracious
reader.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Almost every afternoon we have a
conversation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’ll read something in
the paper or come across an author he’d not read before and he’ll want to
discuss it. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a1XSJe6jDI8/Tr3aei7fjuI/AAAAAAAAALc/TfzX8TeZssI/s1600/tim_allen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="120" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a1XSJe6jDI8/Tr3aei7fjuI/AAAAAAAAALc/TfzX8TeZssI/s200/tim_allen.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tim Allen</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">He’s a young, bright, black man trying to grow up and learn
and ultimately make something of himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And to do that in this environment is a statement about his character. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The other night I was reading the newest issue of “Esquire”
and there was a brief interview with comedian and actor Tim Allen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>IG saw me reading the piece and asked me
about him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not sure why, but I read
him the part where Allen refers to his first night in jail and the resulting
three years he spent in California’s DOC for cocaine possession conviction. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">“He went to prison?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How old was he?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>IG asked me. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told him he was in his twenties and
explained how he started honing his comic skills in prison as a means of
passing time and protecting himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>IG
grew quiet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Larry, can I tell you
something real personal?” he asked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Sure,”
I replied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“When I was in high school I did
a couple of plays.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wanted to be an
actor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was my dream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I got locked up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I won’t ever be an actor.”</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">“Why not?” I asked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Why
can’t you be an actor?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why does your
conviction have to define your future?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Why can’t you dream?”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Nothing is more destructive, nothing more harmful, than
giving up your dreams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know from
personal experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also know a
prison sentence doesn’t have to be the end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It can be a beginning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">One of the biggest hurdles I face dealing with the guys in
this college program is overcoming their belief that no one will give them a
chance as a felon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, the
evidence supports their view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Virginia
may lead the nation in discriminatory practices toward convicted felons after
release. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">And still there is hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For a long time I agonized over my future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps it was the words I read in a letter
from my ex:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You’re a convicted
felon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You have a huge restitution order
against you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You have no home, no money,
no future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’re not much of a catch.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For more nights than I wish to recall I lay
awake wondering what would become of me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’d be homeless, I thought, living under a highway overpass, alone,
unloved, with nothing. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">And then something happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And I remembered my dreams, dreams I put aside for years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, I realized, I could come back. </span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b9HNHMlkMMI/Tr3ZXcr6v4I/AAAAAAAAALU/iWZhV5TSVRA/s1600/dream.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b9HNHMlkMMI/Tr3ZXcr6v4I/AAAAAAAAALU/iWZhV5TSVRA/s320/dream.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">Guys in here think I’m a hopeless optimist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe I am.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It doesn’t mean I’m not scared or there aren’t days (and nights) that I don’t
cry out “God, what will become of me?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And a day doesn’t go by than I’m not lonely and loneliness is as bad as
hopelessness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told IG I decided I would
endure, I would persevere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as the
words came out of my mouth I realized I was talking to IG about faith. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">IG and I made a plan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We’re writing to some colleges to get information about theatre degrees
and looking for someone willing to mentor him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I realized dreams don’t have to die.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>No matter these men’s circumstances they still can follow their dreams. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The African-American poet Langston Hughes said it best,</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">“What happens to a dream deferred?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">does it dry up</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">like a raisin in the sun?”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">No one should have their dreams dry up. </span></div>Hope Aglow Prison Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293036914530875413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705342083569261985.post-746011131458056152011-10-26T13:41:00.000-04:002011-10-26T13:41:13.147-04:00The Risk of Returning to Prison: What Should We Really Focus On?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"></span><br />
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The following blog post from Prison Fellowship volunteer, Becky Beane is so full of good information I had to share it. Often it's difficult to understand why prisoners re-offend especially when they have suffered so much from being incarcerated. Becky offers keen insight.</span><br />
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<b style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">What makes prisoners more likely to re-offend when they get out of prison?</b> Is it the lack of a job? Hanging around with friends from the “old neighborhood”? Low self-esteem?</div>
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Quite a bit of research has been done to identify <i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">criminogenic needs</i>—a tongue-twister of a phrase that refers to major risk factors highly associated with criminal conduct. Researchers consistently list these major risk factors:</div>
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<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">• Antisocial values and beliefs (criminal thinking)</strong></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">• </strong><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Antisocial peers</strong></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">• </strong><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Personality traits</strong></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">• </strong><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Family dysfunction</strong></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">• </strong><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Low self-control</strong></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">• </strong><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Substance abuse</strong></li>
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Let’s look at each factor in more detail. Then we will consider how Prison Fellowship volunteers help address these needs.</div>
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Antisocial Values and Beliefs</h4>
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Offenders generally exhibit certain thinking errors that affect how they interpret and process information. These errors include a sense of entitlement, self-justification, blaming others, unrealistic perceptions of reality, and taking on a “victim stance” (for example, “the system is out to get me”). They often misinterpret benign behaviors or harmless remarks as threats (“he disrespected me”). They confuse wants with needs.</div>
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Antisocial Peers</span></h4>
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Associating primarily with friends involved in criminal behavior puts one at high risk of sharing in that behavior. Over time, the offender loses contact with “pro-social” people, and then has no social support network to help reinforce appropriate behaviors. In fact, research indicates that a person’s companions may actually be the <i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">greatest </i>predictor of criminal behavior. However, offenders often deny the influence of others on their lives, as that would threaten their sense of autonomy. They fancy themselves as leaders, not followers.</div>
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Personality Traits</h4>
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Some offenders have what could be legitimately diagnosed as an <a href="http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/39/1/25.2.full" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #007f06; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">antisocial personality disorder</a>, characterized by a “pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others.” They are habitually deceitful, irresponsible, aggressive and violent, impulsive; they fail to conform to social norms and laws, show reckless disregard for others’ safety, and experience little or no remorse for their mistreatment of others. Any of these traits can steer a person toward criminal conduct.</div>
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Family Dysfunction</h4>
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People first learn attitudes, values, and behaviors within the context of the family. Broken families, abusive or neglectful relationships, permissiveness, family members involved in drug or alcohol abuse or criminal activities—these and other unhealthy family factors typically contribute to individuals’ negative, harmful ways of thinking and acting.</div>
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Low Self-Control</h4>
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Repeat offenders often engage in impulsive, risk-taking behavior. People with low self-control are easily persuaded by situational and environmental factors. If they lack healthy attachments (to positive friends, family, employment, etc.), there is little to constrain them from risky or criminal behavior.</div>
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Substance Abuse</h4>
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The risk of criminal behavior rises with the degree of dependency on drugs and level of use. Some are true addicts; others are “dabblers,” whose use of drugs may be related more to opportunity than to compulsion. Still others are in-between.</div>
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Factors NOT Heightening the Risk of Recidivism</h4>
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Equally important is being aware of the factors <b style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">not </b>included in the list of criminogenic factors—which means these factors <b style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">do</b><b style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">not</b> generally predict a high risk of returning to crime:</div>
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<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">• </strong><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Low self-esteem</strong></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">• </strong><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Mental-health issues</strong></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">• </strong><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Low education status</strong></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">• </strong><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Lack of employment options</strong></li>
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Interestingly, these are the kind of factors that many reentry programs target. Certainly any of these areas can cause a strain on a person’s life and relationships. But if programs and support networks focus only on these issues <b style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">without</b> addressing the criminogenic needs, research shows they will have little effect on recidivism. Getting a job, for example, is essential for an ex-prisoner to take care of his family and become a productive, contributing member of society. But if his antisocial, self-centered attitudes stir up conflicts with his employer and other workers, he’ll soon be kicked to the curb.</div>
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Inner Transformation</h4>
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Prison Fellowship introduces prisoners to the One who can truly make them into new creations—the Lord Jesus Christ. Our programs focus on helping them gain new attitudes and values based on Christ’s life and teachings. Roman 12:2 tells us to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind,” and this comes through consistently studying God’s Word and exploring how it applies to all of the contexts of our lives. We have found that many Christian prisoners may have a wealth of Bible <i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">knowledge </i>but little wisdom in how to <i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">apply </i>it. Prison Fellowship works on that with them.</div>
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Comprehensive Networks</h4>
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Prison Fellowship is developing strategic networks of organizations and agencies that can effectively address <i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">clusters </i>of criminogenic and non-criminogenic (but still important) needs. These collaborative efforts allow us to serve the <i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">whole</i> person by identifying the range of needs and developing comprehensive plans to provide effective resources. For example, one organization in the network might provide substance-abuse treatment; another might offer reentry employment services that focus on employee <i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">attitudes</i> as well as job contacts; churches can provide a positive social network (to replace antisocial friends) as well as spiritual nurture. One <a href="http://www.uc.edu/ccjr/Articles/What_Are_Criminogenic_Needs.pdf" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #007f06; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">report</a> by University of Cincinnati researchers said “programs that target at least four to six criminogenic needs can reduce recidivism by 30 percent.”</div>
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Mentoring</h4>
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Perhaps the greatest human resource to help a returning prisoner succeed is a mature and positive mentor (or <i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">group </i>of mentors)—a friend, coach, guide, and role model to counter the influence of antisocial peers and illicit temptations. A Florida ex-prisoner named Twain, with a history of drug addiction, leaned upon his mentors when drug cravings slammed against his resolve to stay straight. One day while driving to pick up supplies for a home repair job, a fleck of drywall on his truck seat reminded him of a rock of crack cocaine. Instantly he was on the phone to one of his mentors, who helped him resist the temptation to “go get high.”</div>
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Through their interactions, mentors help ex-prisoners develop good decision-making and problem-solving skills. Mentors also help expand ex-prisoners’ positive social network by introducing them to friends and a church family, getting them involved in more <i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">pro</i>-social activities.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TgE_2mIeJZg/TqhF8DtsYdI/AAAAAAAAALI/AM6UPX1e5_s/s1600/dinner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TgE_2mIeJZg/TqhF8DtsYdI/AAAAAAAAALI/AM6UPX1e5_s/s320/dinner.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dinner served at Hope Aglow Fellowship </td></tr>
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Church Family</h4>
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Through its partnership with thousands of churches across the U.S., Prison Fellowship helps connect returning prisoners and their families with a caring congregation that will welcome and support them—not only through the tough transitional stage from prison to community, but also for the “long haul” of their ongoing spiritual journey. A church family provides ex-prisoners with a positive support system and opportunities for continued growth in their faith and character. Just as important, it gives ex-prisoners valued opportunities to <i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">serve others</i> in positive ways through the ministry of the church.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Copyright © 2011 Prison Fellowship</span></div>
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">By Becky Beane<br /></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.prisonfellowship.org/new-this-week/volunteers/16095-the-risk-of-returning-to-prison-what-should-we-really-focus-on">http://www.prisonfellowship.org/new-this-week/volunteers/16095-the-risk-of-returning-to-prison-what-should-we-really-focus-on</a></span></div>Hope Aglow Prison Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293036914530875413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705342083569261985.post-56081815047040748272011-10-19T09:11:00.000-04:002011-10-19T09:11:20.842-04:00The struggle to find work after prison<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></span><br />
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While it's hard these days for everyone to get that paycheck, it's much harder for those who have spent time behind bars.</div>
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"Being in prison changes people. You can either come out and be a better man or you can be worse," said David Davis who spent 20 months in prison.</div>
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He now works as a floor employee at PreServe Services in Danville.</div>
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"I've got two sons that I help take care of, and I help take care of my mother and, you know, I need to be able to provide for my family," said Davis.</div>
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Florence Jones-Via recruits employees at PreServe Services, a company that isn't shy about hiring those with a rough past. Many of the employees at PreServe have a history of being incarcerated.</div>
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Jones-Via knows what they have gone through. She struggled to find work after prison.</div>
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"Then, I went to another company that hired me, but in the midst of my training, their policy changed so ex-offenders were no longer welcome in their business," said Jones-Via.</div>
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But she says PreServe helped give her a new life.</div>
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"I'm also working with the ex-offenders to show them that there's hope after prison, so there is life," said Jones-Via.</div>
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"Anything that's not great in your past, whether it's going to prison, you want to state that I take responsibility for what I've done, I've learned from it and now I've moved forward," said Petrina Carter, director of Averett University's Career Services.</div>
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Experts say when applying for jobs, it's imperative to show employers that you've changed. A resume is the perfect document to showcase all that's good about you.</div>
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"The resume is a highlight of the things you've done in your life. So you want to highlight those things that are great and spectacular about you," said Carter.</div>
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And those who have been there say confidence is a must.</div>
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"You're going to find something sooner or later, just keep your head up. Always walk in looking professional and keep a smile on your face," said Davis.</div>
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Experts say lying on a resume or application is far worse than being honest about your past. Employers would much rather someone tell them the truth than hire a liar.</div>
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<a href="http://www.wset.com/story/15683280/getting-a-job-with-a">http://www.wset.com/story/15683280/getting-a-job-with-a</a> < This article from WSET. com</div>
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Resources for Career Opportunities<br /><a href="http://www.vadoc.state.va.us/careers/">http://www.vadoc.state.va.us/careers/</a></div>Hope Aglow Prison Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293036914530875413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705342083569261985.post-34606084463520317412011-10-14T11:02:00.001-04:002011-10-14T11:02:50.912-04:00Our House or the Big House? It’s Parents or Prisons<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #363636; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px;"></span><br />
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For a hauntingly large number of young Americans, prison has become a substitute for parents. Writing in <em><a href="http://www.hoover.org/publications/policyreview/3448276.html" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #eb7b02; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Policy Review</a></em>, Jennifer Roback Morse argued just a few years ago that this “apparent overstatement” is sustained by two realities. As she explains:</div>
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<em>First, without parents — two of them, married to each other, working together as a team — <b>a child is more likely to end up in the criminal justice system at some point in his life. Without parents, prison becomes a greater probability in the child’s life. Second, if a child finds himself in the criminal justice system, either in his youth or adulthood, the prison will perform the parental function of supervising and controlling that person’s behavior</b></em><b>.</b></div>
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The statistics do tell the story. Young males raised without fathers are far more likely than their peers to be involved in anti-social behavior and far more likely to spend time in prison. For some of these young men, prison is the first place they meet an authority they cannot manipulate, a voice they cannot defy, and a consequence they cannot avoid.</div>
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Morse asserts that most people in prison are there because they did not learn self-control, personal responsibility, and the necessity of following rules. To this list we can add the fact that these young people did not learn (or did not learn adequately) how to respect authority and understand the consequences of their behaviors.</div>
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“A free society needs people with consciences,” Morse argues. These are people who obey the laws voluntarily. Without a majority of such citizens, a society soon disintegrates. Writ large, this means the death of nations. On a smaller scale, this explains the disastrous breakdown of order in some neighborhoods.</div>
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When parents fail to inculcate these values and commitments in their offspring (or when parents are not present), the children are headed for big trouble. Many will end up in the criminal justice system. An amazingly large number find themselves in juvenile courts even before they reach adulthood. Nevertheless, prisons are not an adequate substitute for parents.</div>
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As Morse explains:</div>
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<em>Of course, prison is a pathetic substitute for genuine parents. Incarceration provides extreme, tightly controlled supervision that children typically outgrow in their toddler years and does so with none of the love and affection that characterize normal parental care of small children. But that is what is happening: The person has failed to internalize the self-command necessary for living in a reasonably free and open society at the age most people do. Since he cannot control himself, someone else must control him. If he becomes too much for his parents, the criminal justice system takes over.</em></div>
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<em>These necessary societal interventions do not repair the loss the child has sustained by the loss of a relationship with his parents. By the time the penal system steps in, the state is engaged in damage control. A child without a conscience, a child without self-control, is a lifelong problem for the rest of society</em>.</div>
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Families are best suited to fulfill this role. As a matter of fact, parents can do what no institutionalized authority can do, and that is to nurture and discipline their children within the relationship of love and trust.</div>
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More:</div>
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<em>The basic self-control and reciprocity that a free society takes for granted do not develop automatically. Conscience development takes place in childhood. Children need to develop empathy so they will care whether they hurt someone or whether they treat others fairly. They need to develop self-control so they can follow through on these impulses and do the right thing even if it might benefit them to do otherwise.</em></div>
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<em>All this development takes place inside the family. Children attach to the rest of the human race through their first relationships with their parents. They learn reciprocity, trust, and empathy from these primal relationships. Disrupting those foundational relations has a major negative impact on children as well as on the people around them. In particular, children of single parents — or completely absent parents — are more likely to commit crimes</em>.</div>
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Jennifer Roback Morse is so very right when she explains that “a family is a little society.” Indeed, that little society is the most important context for so much of what the larger society depends upon. When parents and families fail in the task of preparing the young for the responsibilities of life, other authorities step in. None of these is up to the task. This phenomenon explains why the public schools are now asked to raise many children, as well as to educate them.</div>
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Tragically, many of these young people — especially young males — will end up in prison. In this context they will confront what has been missing in their lives, but even as prison may be a form of reality therapy for these teenagers and young adults, the prison cannot make up for missing or inattentive parents.</div>
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When you consider the importance of the family — of intact families with both mother and father in the home — consider this choice. It so often comes down to parents or prisons.</div>
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- Albert Mohler, Jr.<br /></div>
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #646464; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"><strong>Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., </strong>serves as president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary — the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention and one of the largest seminaries in the world.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #363636; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px;"><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 21px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 21px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Content Copyright © 2002-2011, R. Albert Mohler, Jr. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #363636; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px;"><a href="http://www.albertmohler.com/2008/02/20/our-house-or-the-big-house-its-parents-or-prisons/">http://www.albertmohler.com/2008/02/20/our-house-or-the-big-house-its-parents-or-prisons/</a></span>Hope Aglow Prison Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293036914530875413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705342083569261985.post-997700623975202402011-09-30T08:08:00.000-04:002011-09-30T08:08:03.683-04:00Love inspires!<br />
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Love inspires!<br />
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Maybe you think you can’t be like other people you admire. You have been down too many wrong roads, taken disturbing turns, and ended up somewhere you didn’t want to go.<br />
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Well, I’ve got good news for you. There is an antidote for despair, a cure for discouragement, and a pathway filled with light and love—and it is available to you. This may sound like an advertisement for some new product that will rip off your money and leave you worse off than ever before. Maybe you’ve been suckered by false claims in the past—or maybe you’ve even been the one to make them! None of that matters—not now. This is the present. Today is the day of salvation. No matter which destructive roads you may have traveled, there is a detour available to you, and if you choose to take it, you’ll never turn back. I can promise you that, because I know that once a person experiences the hope, the joy, and the wonder of walking with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ it is impossible to return to forsaken paths that lead to destruction of the soul.<br />
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Does that mean you’ll never relapse on your addiction of choice? That you’ll never return to unhealthy relationships? Not necessarily. We are human and humans sometimes fail. It means you’ll have experienced the joy and excitement of a journey with Christ and even if you stray, you know there is something out there that is wonderful. Something that draws, even the wandering heart, back home.That something is the love of Christ. A love that inspires us to come up higher. Draw nearer. Dig deeper. Go the distance—all the way to our heavenly home. It secures safe passage through the valley of the shadow of death and opens the door to new life for every believer who earnestly desires to walk with Christ.<br />
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Put your hand in His today. Let him lead you to a place of safety, envelop you in His love, create a new heart in you and inspire you to be the person He always knew you could be. You are beautiful in His eyes. You always were.<br />
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1 Corinthians 13:8a “Love never fails…”<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-apj1GOtoaQU/ToWw6oIeHCI/AAAAAAAAAKk/R6mqdZUXjEc/s1600/rebirth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-apj1GOtoaQU/ToWw6oIeHCI/AAAAAAAAAKk/R6mqdZUXjEc/s200/rebirth.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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Linda Settles<br />
<a href="http://www.lindasettles.com/" target="_blank">www.lindasettles.com</a><br />
<a href="http://www.redeemingourtreasures.com/" target="_blank">www.RedeemingOurTreasures.com</a><br />
<a href="http://www.edicthouse.com/" target="_blank">www.Edicthouse.com</a><br /> <br />Hope Aglow Prison Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293036914530875413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705342083569261985.post-8753272411163214722011-09-19T09:27:00.001-04:002011-09-19T09:27:37.778-04:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l0R73V873Ws/Tnc92GMRyMI/AAAAAAAAAKc/zpLLpJ5Fw4Q/s1600/writinghand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l0R73V873Ws/Tnc92GMRyMI/AAAAAAAAAKc/zpLLpJ5Fw4Q/s320/writinghand.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">"I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you." Colossians 4:18</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">"Remember my chains", Paul doesn't want his friends to forget he is suffering in prison. How easy it is to forget- out of sight, out of mind...right?<br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> One way to help you remember those who are "in chains", so to speak, is to write to them regularly. The ladies in our local jail are only allowed to have a Bible study twice a month, for ninety minutes. They would like to come more often, but the rules for whatever reason, forbid it. In order to stay in touch with the girls I decided to write to them once a week. I mail them small booklets which are allowed by the warden and letters and postcards. It's a great way to keep the gospel in front of them. They love mail and are always very appreciative.<br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you are a prison ministry volunteer I would suggest you write regularly to the inmates you minister to. I will write one letter to everyone, and print it and write a small individual note of encouragement at the bottom of each letter. Sometimes I will send a pretty postcard with a verse on it. In the barren colorless world of jail, a cheerful picture with a promise from God's word can mean so much.<br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pray for the inmates, ask the Lord to help them share with their friends the encouraging letters you send. The booklets I mail have been passed around and have provided hope in some very dark times for the ladies.<br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">"I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life." 1 John 5:13<br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></span>Hope Aglow Prison Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293036914530875413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705342083569261985.post-56032075977566034052011-09-02T12:58:00.001-04:002011-09-02T13:06:26.428-04:00Be careful what you resurrect!<br />
Psalm 99:8 O LORD our God, you answered them; you were to Israel a forgiving God, though you punished their misdeeds.<br />
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What is it in the human heart that takes us down a path that separates us from fellowship with our Father? We find the answer to this question in Matthew 15:19 “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.”<br />
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Listen to me today, my friend. <i> If you are incarcerated behind bars of steel, or if you live in a prison of fear, bitterness, or rage, you must look no further than your own heart to discover the source of your distress. </i><br />
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While it is true that we are unable to control many things that affect our life—a history of childhood abuse, neglect, deprivation, or abandonment—the way we respond to the challenges of our past will determine who we become. A broken, illiterate, teenager can become a mighty man of God. An abused objectified woman can be restored to purity. Think of the prostitute that wept at the feet of Christ and washed his feet with her tears. Broken hearts not only need mending, they need cleansing. And that is the job of the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:5 tells us: “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”<br />
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Are you willing, today, to allow the Holy Spirit of God to cleanse your heart of any and all of the impurities mentioned in Matthew 15:19? You may ask,” Why would he do that for me, a person convicted of breaking the law of our land?” Why would he do it for me—a person convicted by the Spirit of God of transgressing his Holy law? Clearly not because we deserve it. With all that ‘stuff’ in our heart, we hardly deserve to be rescued by a righteous God who hates evil. Titus tells us “He saved us not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy.” The everlasting mercy of God saves us and His Holy Spirit cleanses us from all unrighteousness.<br />
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So, you say, if God loves me so much and is so full of mercy, why am I still here—sitting behind these bars? The Psalmist gives us the answer to that question. “You were to Israel a forgiving God , though you punished their misdeeds.”<br />
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Even though God loves His children and saves them from the eternal consequences of their misdeeds, he does not overlook them. The Word says He “punished their misdeeds.” The Name of God used in this passage (Psalm 99:8 NKJV)) is “The God Who Forgives.” <br />
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What good does it do us to be forgiven if we are still in prison? As the Apostle Paul might say, “Much in every way.” While we serve out the punishment of our misdeeds behind physical bars, we are steadily being released from the guilt and blame that we so richly deserve because of our actions.<br />
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Today is the day of salvation! (11 Corinthians 6:2 NLT) “Choose this day whom you will serve.” (Joshua 24:15) Will you serve the evil that so easily inhabits the human heart (Matthew 15:19) or will you surrender to the mercy of God and allow him to take your through the cleansing process that will renew and revitalize your soul?<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #3c3c3c; font-family: 'Gill Sans', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">Linda Settles is a prolific writer, speaker, and teacher with a story to tell and a purpose to serve. She sees every life challenge as an opportunity for growth, and a call to “come up higher,” in our walk with God.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #3c3c3c; font-family: 'Gill Sans', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #3c3c3c; font-family: 'Gill Sans', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><a href="http://www.lindasettles.com/" target="_blank">www.lindasettles.com</a><br /><a href="http://www.redeemingourtreasures.com/" target="_blank">www.RedeemingOurTreasures.com</a><br /><a href="http://www.edicthouse.com/" target="_blank">www.Edicthouse.com</a><br /> </span><br />
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<br />Hope Aglow Prison Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293036914530875413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705342083569261985.post-82588594383282846752011-08-31T09:25:00.000-04:002011-08-31T09:25:18.595-04:00Letter from an inmate in VA<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="gsc-branding"><tbody>
<tr><td class="gsc-branding-text">I was an attorney suspended from law practice in Tennessee for
misappropriation of client’s funds; I rebuilt my life by moving to
Virginia. Disclosing my law license problems, I was hired as a claims
adjuster and within 1 year promoted to in-house claims attorney by a
large Virginia insurer. Four years after being hired, I began
embezzling money to lavish gifts on family and friends. From 1996
through the middle of 2008, I traveled as a high roller (making
first-class trips to both the Mirage in Las Vegas and the Borgata in
Atlantic City); ate in the finest restaurants and had front row seats at
shows with family & friends. However, this world came crashing
down in August 2008, when I was confronted by the company president.
Immediately confessing, I was arrested, convicted for embezzling over $2
million and indicted on six counts. I was diagnosed with manic impulse
control disorder (a form of bi-polar disorder). I pled guilty and made
significant attempts to cooperate with authorities and protect my
family. However, the wife I loved divorced me; my two sons withdrew
from me; friends abandoned me. I was sentenced to 30 years in prison
(with only 15 suspended).</td><td class="gsc-branding-img-noclear"><br /></td></tr>
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<span>Tuesday, August 30, 2011</span></h2>
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<h3 class="post-title entry-title">
<a href="http://barsstripes.blogspot.com/2011/08/58.html">"58"</a>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l2tbMrmi-OQ/Tl41JBAzztI/AAAAAAAAAKU/23T6kU8FWos/s1600/inmates.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l2tbMrmi-OQ/Tl41JBAzztI/AAAAAAAAAKU/23T6kU8FWos/s1600/inmates.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Larry, ( Back row 2nd from Left) and his fellow inmates </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I read a fascinating essay about a recently launched
evangelical campaign called “58”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s built
around the words of Isaiah 58:</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">“You will call, and the Lord will answer,</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">You will cry, and He will say ‘Here I am’.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you give yourself to the hungry</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And satisfy the desire of the afflicted</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Then your light will rise in darkness</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And your gloom will become like midday.”</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As mainline churches see their numbers dwindling, evangelical
Christians have found a voice and an enthusiastic following among young people
who desire to make a difference, yet see church as full of self-promoting
hypocrites.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Poverty, homelessness, you
name it can be ended, these 58ers believe, because the power of God is greater
than any social problem. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And what of the passage where Jesus remarks “the poor will
always be with you?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said that to Judas
– pre-betrayal knowing Judas was already stealing from the money bags.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a sarcastic rebuke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Of course the poor, the homeless, the
imprisoned, will always be with you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because your hearts are closed to doing what God requires.”</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’m turned off right now by the moralism of the church I was
raised in and attended every week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh,
we said “we’re all God’s children”, we shook hands with strangers when they
arrived and did our once a quarter packing bags of food at the local
pantry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that is touchy-feely
stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s easy and you do it and head
home and say “I care”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">God requires more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m
part of a leper colony.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People, good
church going middle class, whites (yes race plays a role) don’t know the first
thing about what goes on inside here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Worse, they don’t care.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m here
to tell you, God’s children are inside these walls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They may have done horrendous things, but
they are children of God and He expects each of us to be treated with dignity,
and respect, and mercy.</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A minister friend asked me one day “what can my church do to
help the incarcerated?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told him what churches
typically do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They come in here and tell
you “God loves you; repent”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s
singing and hands raised in praise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then
the inmate is released.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where’s the
church? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does anyone offer the inmate a
bed, a meal, a job?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s what “58”
means.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There was an old, crazy woman that came to worship at our
family’s church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was dirty, loud,
undignified and didn’t fit in with the well-heeled Presbyterians she came in
contact with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Frankly, she annoyed the
hell out of me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We did a ceremonial handwashing
for a Good Friday service one year and she sat beside me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She reeked and when I washed her hands the
water turned brown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I swore I’d never
attend another service like that again.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And then it came to me one evening as I sat in receiving on
a sweltering August night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You never
fed me when I was hungry; you never visited me in prison.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was Jesus’ parable in Matthew 25.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As you treat the least of my children, so
shall you be treated. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There’s a reason the lepers, and possessed, and filthy, and
whores and tax collectors flocked to Jesus and the well-heeled ignored
Him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He carried a message of freedom
unlike anything in the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God loves
you and forgives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You are free of your
sins, and poverty, and self-loathing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How
ironic that such a beautiful empowering message has been lost on so many of us “modern”
American Christians.</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Isaiah 58 is a call to action and a reminder that God hears.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He will answer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He tells us all, no matter what our
circumstances, that a child of His is in need.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That child may be in a homeless shelter or even a prison.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">As James reminds us, faith without works is not
really faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Read Isaiah 58.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God’s calling us to action.</span></div>
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<span class="post-author vcard">
Posted by
<span class="fn">Behind Bars</span></span><br />
http://barsstripes.blogspot.com/<br />
<br />
Larry is the author of this blog post. He sends written copies of his post to a friend outside prison who posts it for him on Bars and Stripes. He is incarcerated in VA<br />
<span class="post-author vcard"><span class="fn"> </span>
</span>Hope Aglow Prison Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293036914530875413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705342083569261985.post-1383514275924779312011-08-25T12:08:00.000-04:002011-08-25T12:08:03.087-04:00Plaxico Burress and Michael Vick - ex-cons and 2nd chances.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">"Former Super Bowl champion Plaxico Burress was released from prison in June 2011 after serving nearly two years on a gun charge." 1</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R4X1Ohul0OU/TlZyQk3JLWI/AAAAAAAAAKM/OSj3xZM9cRQ/s1600/Plaxico-Burress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R4X1Ohul0OU/TlZyQk3JLWI/AAAAAAAAAKM/OSj3xZM9cRQ/s320/Plaxico-Burress.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">According to an article in <a href="http://www.christianpost.com/news/plaxico-burress-victorious-in-return-for-new-york-jets-54292/">ChristianPost.com </a>" </span><br />
<blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 29px;">The wideout caught three passes for 66 yards, one being a touchdown pass from <span class="keyword" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Mark Sanchez</span>. The WR played in his first game since 2008, just before he was indicted on felony charges and forced to spend two years in prison.</span><br />
<blockquote>
After more than three years away from the football field, New York <span class="keyword" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Jets</span>’ wide receiver <span class="keyword" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Plaxico Burress</span><strong class="keyword" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </strong>has led his team to a 27-7 preseason win against the <span class="keyword" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Cincinnati Bengals</span> on Sunday night.<br />
However, Burress said his return to the field came naturally for him.<br />
"It just felt good to get back what I love to do so much,” Burress said. “To be honest, it feels like I never left. The ball hanging up there in the lights, I just trusted myself."<br />
Although Burress did not seem fazed by accomplishing the task at hand, he expressed the excitement he felt for returning.<br />
“It’s a day that myself and my family have been waiting for that would inevitably come,” said Burress. “It just felt good to get back what I love to do so much and that’s run around on a football field and score touchdowns, and compete at the highest level of competition playing in this league. It’s definitely a privilege to play.”</blockquote>
</blockquote>
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Remember <a href="http://hopeaglow.blogspot.com/2011/03/michael-vick-says-he-wouldnt-do.html">Michael Vick</a>?<br /><br />
He was given a second chance too. Praise God for his mercy and goodness. Not all men who leave jail, however, are as blessed with stepping back into a lucrative career with many fans. Most need extra help when they get out. Hope Aglow exists to provide mentoring, a church home and recovery programs to newly released men and women. We know God forgives, heals and restores the years the locust has eaten. We want to be sure those who are released from jail receive a warm welcome and a second chance even if they cannot throw a football for a touchdown in the NFL.<br /><br />
Please support us. Give generously!<br /><br />
God Bless you.<br />
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1. source- blog post from Prison Fellowship.org 6/15481Hope Aglow Prison Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293036914530875413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705342083569261985.post-31112355756570821972011-08-12T17:30:00.001-04:002011-08-12T17:31:16.052-04:00The National Prison Problem<span lang="EN">Written by: Garry Sims, Director- Hope Aglow Prison Ministries.<br /><br /><br /> </span><br />
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<strong>Do we really want to lower the recidivism rate of our prisons? </strong><br /><br /> I’m not sure. Why would I say this? Because, we continue in the same mindset that created the mess to start with and I see no signs of change. If we really want to address this problem and it is a huge problem, we must address it from the viewpoint of why the offender is in prison to start with. <br /><blockquote>
<em>This is the overriding issue of why most inmates are not prepared to re-enter or function in society; they were not prepared to do so before entering prison. </em></blockquote>
We must understand we don’t have an inmate re-entry problem. What we have is a segment of our society that does not know how to function in society. Therefore it is not possible to address the problem of prisoner re-entry until you address the mental mind set of the men and women we are working with. <br /><br /> When I started working in the prison system more than twenty five years ago (after spending two and half years in prison myself) we had men and women who had a number of social problems; but today, we have men and women who do not know how to think. <br /><br /> Someone has told them what to do for most of their lives either welfare case worker, school or mental health social worker or counselor, gang leader, correctional officer, parole or probation officer. Someone has always had direct influence in their everyday decisions. From his or her first day in the Department of Corrections this has only been magnified. Someone tells them when to get up, when to eat, what they will watch on television, when to go outside, I hope you are getting the point. <br /><br /> <br /><blockquote>
<em><span style="font-size: large;">How can we expect someone to make good decisions when they have never been allowed or taught how to make good decisions? You can’t rehab what you never had</span></em></blockquote>
. <br /> If all we do is develop a plan get their welfare or SSI check re-started, tell them where the shelter is, or how to get on the next program where someone will tell them what or how to make it until they can get a job as if that will ever come, when it is just easier to continue working the system. This leads to depression and low self-worth which leads to drug and alcohol abuse which leads to the commission of another crime or parole or probation violation which leads to jail and then back to prison.<br /><br /> We must re-think this whole process in order to have a client who is able to think for themselves. <br />Romans 12:2 says, "be ye not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind; that ye may prove what is good, and acceptable, and prefect will of GOD." We must have men and women with transformed minds. <br /><br /> Now the real question is what is our intent? Is it to help ex-offenders work the government and social programs better or make a real difference in the lives of ex-offenders and their families?If it is to better work the system we are doomed from the start. If it is to have a positive effect on the men and women who are in the prison system by helping them develop a new positive mindset then we will be successful.<br /><br /><strong><em><blockquote>
<strong><em>Most inmates have been a drain on the social welfare and court systems for all of their lives. They believe they are failures. Changing their mental outlook while they are in the prison system is the only way to have a positive effect on the recidivism rate. </em></strong></blockquote>
</em></strong> As a society we must be willing to at least look at the way we conduct and think of our prisons system. <br />This will in turn save millions of your tax dollars, which is the only reason we are looking at this problem anyway. If we truly cared about the men and women in the prison system we would have done something about this problem years ago before we spent billions of our tax dollars building new prisons which we are closing. <br /><br />Is anything going to change? I pray so but I am not sure anyone is willing to take to risk of going outside the norm. Hope Aglow Prison Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293036914530875413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705342083569261985.post-26828679208219809602011-08-10T12:01:00.000-04:002011-08-10T12:01:37.390-04:00and sometimes you end up hereIncarcerated women have great wisdom. The women I have the privilege of studying the Bible with, teach me something every time we meet together. Last Sunday I read them a sermon entitled, <em>My Heart- Christ's Home,</em> by Robert Boyd Munger, and we talked about what obedience to Christ looked like to them. <br />
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We studied from Colossians, learning about who Christ is and what He means to each Christian and the practical results of that relationship. The ladies love to read aloud from their Bibles and they are very patient with each other if one of them has trouble reading. They treat each other with tenderness and respect. It's very endearing. <br />
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We talked about the consequences of life's choices. They always speak very matter of factly about their own lives. They are quick to point out that while they knew better, there they are- sitting in jail. They don't seem bitter at all, in fact, surprisingly they seem thankful and accept this as a wake up call from the Lord. <br />
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In case you aren't familiar with it, I have posted the sermon in it's entirety below this post. <br />
In Paul's epistle to the Ephesians, we find these words: "That [God] would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith" (Eph 3:16). Or, as another has translated, "that Christ may settle down and be at home in your hearts by faith." <br />
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Without question, one of the most remarkable Christian doctrines is that Jesus Christ himself through the presence of the Holy Spirit will actually enter a heart, settle down and be at home there. Christ will make the human heart his abode. <br />
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Our Lord said to his disciples, "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him" (John 14:23). It was difficult for them to understand what he was saying. How was it possible for him to make his abode with them in this sense? <br />
It is interesting that our Lord used the same word here that he gave them in the first of the 14th chapter of John: "I go to prepare a place for you...that where I am, you may be also." Our Lord was promising his disciples that, just as he was going to heaven to prepare a place for them and would welcome them one day, now it would be possible for them to prepare a place for him in their hearts and he would come and make his abode with them. <br />
They could not understand this. How could it be? <br />
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Then came Pentecost. The Spirit of the living Christ was given to the church and they understood. God did not dwell in Herod's temple in Jerusalem! God did not dwell in a temple made with hands; but now, through the miracle of the outpoured Spirit, God would dwell in human hearts. The body of the believer would be the temple of the living God and the human heart would be the home of Jesus Christ. It is difficult for me to think of a higher privilege than to make for Christ a home in my heart, to welcome, to serve. to please, to fellowship with him there. One evening that I shall never forget, I invited him into my heart. What an entrance he made! It was not a spectacular emotional thing, but very real. It was at the very center of my life. He came into the darkness of my heart and turned on the light. He built a fire in the cold hearth and banished the chill. He started music where there had been stillness and he filled the emptiness with his own wonderful loving fellowship. I have never regretted opening the door to Christ and I never will-- not into eternity! <br />
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This, of course, is the first step in making the heart Christ's home. He has said, "Behold I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" (Rev. 3:20). If you are interested in making your life an abode of the living God, let me encourage you to invite Christ into your heart and he will surely come. <br />
After Christ entered my heart and in the joy of that new-found relationship, I said to him, "Lord, I want this heart of mine to be yours. I want to have you settle down here and be perfectly at home. Everything I have belongs to you. Let me show you around and introduce you to the various features of the home that you may be more comfortable and that we may have fuller fellowship together." He was very glad to come, of course, and happier still to be given a place in the heart. <br />
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<strong>THE LIBRARY</strong> <br />
The first room was the study -- the library. Let us call it the study of the mind. Now in my home this room of the mind is a very small room with very thick walls. But it is an important room. In a sense, it is the control room of the house. He entered with me and looked around at the books in the bookcase, the magazines upon the table, the pictures on the wall. As I followed his gaze I became uncomfortable. Strangely enough, I had not felt badly about this before, but now that he was there looking at these things I was embarrassed. There were some books there that his eyes were too pure to behold. There was a lot of trash and literature on the table that a Christian had no business reading and as for the pictures on the wall -- the imaginations and thoughts of the mind-- these were shameful. <br />
I turned to him and said, "Master, I know that this room needs a radical alteration. Will you help me make it what it ought to be-- to bring every thought into captivity to you?" <br />
"Surely!" he said. "Gladly will I help you. That is one reason I am here. First of all, take all the things that you are reading and seeing which are not helpful, pure, good and true, and throw them out! Now put on the empty shelves the books of the Bible. Fill the library with scriptures and meditate on them day and night. As for the pictures on the wall, you will have difficulty controlling these images, but here is an aid." He gave me a full sized picture of himself. "Hang this centrally," he said, "on the wall of the mind." I did and I have discovered through the years that when my thoughts are centered upon Christ himself, his purity and power cause impure imaginations to retreat. So he has helped me to bring my thoughts into captivity. <br />
May I suggest to you if you have difficulty in this little room of the mind, that you bring Christ in there. Pack it full with the Word of God, meditate upon it and keep before it ever the immediate presence of the Lord Jesus. <br />
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<strong>THE DINING ROOM</strong> <br />
From the study we went to the dining room, the room of appetites and desires. Now this was a very large room. I spent a good deal of time in the dining room and much effort in satisfying my wants. <br />
I said to him, "This is a very commodious room and I am quite sure you will be pleased with what we serve here." <br />
He seated himself at the table with me and asked, "What is on the menu for dinner?" <br />
"Well," I said, "my favorite dishes: old bones, corn husks, sour cabbage, leeks, onions and garlic right out of Egypt." There were the things I liked -- worldly fare. I suppose there was nothing radically wrong in any particular item, but it was not the food that should satisfy the life of a real Christian. When the food was placed before him, he said nothing about it. However, I observed that he did not eat it, and I said to him, somewhat disturbed, "Savior, you don't care for the food that is placed before you? What is the trouble?" <br />
He answered, "I have meat to eat that you know not of. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me." He looked at me again and said, "if you want food that really satisfies you, seek the will of the Father, not your own pleasures, not your own desires, not your own satisfaction. Seek to please me, and that food will satisfy you." And there about the table he gave me a taste of doing God's will. What a flavor! There is no food like it in all the world. It alone satisfies. Everything else is dissatisfying in the end. <br />
Now if Christ is in your heart, and I trust he is, what kind of food are you serving him and what kind of food are you eating yourself? Are you living for the lust of the flesh and the pride of life-- selfishly? Or are you choosing God's will for your meat and drink? <br />
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<strong>THE DRAWING ROOM</strong> <br />
We walked next into the drawing room. This room was rather intimate and comfortable. I liked it. It had a fireplace, overstuffed chairs, a bookcase, sofa and a quiet atmosphere. <br />
He also seemed pleased with it. He said, "This is indeed a delightful room. Let us come here often. It is secluded and quiet and we can have fellowship together." <br />
Well, naturally, as a young Christian I was thrilled. I could not think of anything I would rather do than have a few minutes apart with Christ in intimate comradeship. <br />
He promised, "I will be here every morning early. Meet with me here and we will start the day together." So, morning after morning, I would come downstairs to the drawing room and he would take a book of the Bible from the bookcase. He would open it and then we would read together. He would tell me of its riches and unfold to me its truth. He would make my heart warm as he revealed his love and grace towards me. They were wonderful hours together. In fact, we called the dining room the "withdrawing room." It was a period when we had our quiet time together. <br />
But little by little, under the pressure of many responsibilities, this time began to be shortened. Why, I don't know, but I thought I was just too busy to spend time with Christ. This was not intentional, you understand; it just happened that way. Finally, not only was the time shortened, but I began to miss a day now and then. It was examination time at the university. Then it was some other urgent emergency. I would miss it two days in a row and often more. <br />
I remember one morning when I was in a hurry, rushing down the steps, eager to be on my way. <br />
As I passed the drawing room, the door was ajar. Looking in I saw a fire in the fireplace and the Lord sitting there. Suddenly in dismay, I thought to myself, "He was my guest. I had invited him into my heart! He had come as Lord of my home. And yet here I am neglecting him." I turned and went in. With downcast glance I said, "Blessed Master, forgive me. Have you been here all these mornings?" <br />
"Yes," he said, "I told you I would be here every morning to meet with you." Then I was even more ashamed. He had been faithful in spite of my faithlessness. I asked his forgiveness and he readily forgave me as he does when we are truly penitent. <br />
He said, "The trouble with you is this: You have been thinking of the quiet time, of the Bible study and prayer time, as a factor in your own spiritual progress, but you have forgotten that this hour means something to me also. Remember, I love you. I have redeemed you at a great cost. I desire your fellowship. Now," he said, "do not neglect this hour if only for my sake. Whatever else may be your desire, remember I want your fellowship!" <br />
You know, the truth that Christ wants my fellowship, that he loves me, wants me to be with him, wants to be with me and waits for me, has done more to transform my quiet time with God than any other single fact. Don't let Christ wait alone in the drawing room of your heart, but every day find some time when, with the Word of God and in prayer, you may fellowship with him. <br />
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<strong>THE WORKSHOP</strong> <br />
Before long he asked, "Do you have a workshop in your home?" Down in the basement of the home of my heart I had a workbench and some equipment, but I was not doing much with it. Once in a while I would go down and fuss around with a few little gadgets, but I wasn't producing anything worthwhile. <br />
I led him down there. <br />
He looked over the workbench and what little talents and skills I had. He said, "This is quite well furnished. What are you producing with your life for the Kingdom of God?" He looked at one or two of the little toys that I had thrown together on the bench and he held one up to me. "Are these little toys all that you are producing in your Christian life?" <br />
"Well," I said, "Lord, that is the best I can do. I know it isn't much and I really want to do more, but after all, I have no skill or strength." <br />
"Would you like to do better?" he asked. <br />
"Certainly," I replied. <br />
"All right. Let me have your hands. Now relax in me and let my Spirit work through you. I know you are unskilled and clumsy and awkward, but the Spirit is the Master-worker and if he controls your hands and your heart he will work through you." And so, stepping around behind me and putting his great, strong hands over mine, controlling the tools with his skillful fingers, he began to work through me. <br />
There's much more that I must still learn and I am very far from satisfied with the product that is being turned out, but I do know that whatever has been produced for God has been through his strong hand and through the power of his Spirit in me. <br />
Do not become discouraged because you cannot do much for God. Your ability is not the fundamental condition. It is he who is controlling your fingers and upon whom you are relying. Give your talents and gifts to God and he will do things with them that will surprise you. <br />
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<strong>THE RUMPUS</strong> <br />
I remember the time he inquired about the playroom. I was hoping he would not ask me about that. There were certain associations and friendships, activities and amusements that I wanted to keep for myself. I did not think Christ would enjoy them or approve of them so I evaded the question. <br />
But there came an evening when I was leaving to join some companions -- I was in college at the time -- and as I was about to cross the threshold, he stopped me with a glance. "Are you going out?" <br />
I answered, "Yes." <br />
"Good," he said, "I would like to go with you." <br />
"Oh," I replied rather awkwardly. "I don't think, Lord, that you would really want to go with us. Let's go out tomorrow night. Tomorrow night we will go to prayer meeting, but tonight I have another appointment." <br />
He said, "that's all right. Only I thought when I came into your home we were going to do everything together. We were going to be partners. I want you to know that I am willing to go with you." <br />
"Well," I said, "we will go some place together tomorrow night." <br />
But that evening I spent some miserable hours. I felt wretched. What kind of friend was I to Christ, When I was deliberately leaving him out of my associations, doing things and going places that I knew very well he would not enjoy? When I returned that evening, there was a light in his room and I went up to talk it over with him. I said, "Lord, I have learned my lesson. I cannot have a good time without you. We will do everything together from now on." <br />
Then we went down into the rumpus room of the house and he transformed it. He brought into life real joy, real happiness, real satisfaction, real friendship. Laughter and music have been ringing in the house ever since. <br />
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<strong>THE HALL CLOSET</strong> <br />
There is just one more matter that I might share with you. One day I found him waiting for me at the door. There was an arresting look in his eye. He said to me as I entered, "There is a peculiar odor in the house. There is something dead around here. It's upstairs. I think it is in the hall closet." As soon as he said the words, I knew what he was talking about. Yes, there was a small hall closet behind lock and key I had one or two little personal things that I did not want anybody to know about and certainly I did not want Christ to see. I knew they were dead and rotting things. And yet I loved them, and I wanted them so for myself that I was afraid to admit they were there. I went up the stairs with him and as we mounted, the odor became stronger and stronger. He pointed at the door and said, "It's in there! Some dead thing!" <br />
I was angry. That's the only way I can put it. I had given him access to the library, the dining room, the drawing room, the workshop, the rumpus room, and now he was asking me about a little two-by-four closet. I said inwardly, "This is too much. I am not going to give him the key." <br />
"Well," he said, reading my thoughts, "if you think I am going to stay up here on the second floor with this odor, you are mistaken. I will take my bed out on the back porch. I'm certainly not going to put up with that." And I saw him start down the stairs. <br />
When you have come to know and love Christ, the worst thing that can happen to you is to sense his fellowship retreating from you. I had to surrender. "I'll give you the key," I said sadly, "but you'll have to open the closet. You'll have to clean it out. I haven't the strength to do it." <br />
"I know," he said. "I know you haven't. Just give me the key. Just authorize me to take care of that closet and I will." So, with trembling fingers I passed the key over to him. He took it from my hand, walked over to the door, opened it, entered it, took out all the putrefying stuff that was rotting there and threw it away. Then he cleansed the closet, painted it, fixed it up, doing it all in a moment's time. Oh, what victory and release to have that dead thing out of my life! <br />
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<strong>TRANSFERRING THE TITLE</strong> <br />
Then a thought came to me. I said to myself, "I have been trying to keep this heart of mine clear for Christ. I start on one room and no sooner have I cleaned that then another room is dirty. I begin on the second room and the first room becomes dusty again. I am so tired and weary trying to maintain a clean heart and an obedient life. I just am not up to it!" So I ventured a question: "Lord, is there any chance that you would take over the responsibility of the whole house and operate it for me and with me just as you did that closet? Would you take the responsibility to keep my heart what it ought to be and my life where it ought to be?" <br />
I could see his face lighten up as he replied, "Certainly, that is what I came to do. You can not be a victorious Christian in your own strength. That is impossible. Let me do it through you and for you. That is the way. But," he added slowly, "I am not owner of this house. I am just a guest. I have no authority to proceed since the property is not mine." <br />
I saw it in a minute and dropping to my knees, I said, "Lord, you have been a guest, and I have been the host. From now on I am going to be the servant. You are going to be the Lord." Running as fast as I could to the strong box, I took out the title deed to the house describing its assets and liabilities, its situation and condition. Then returning to him, I eagerly signed it over to belong to him alone for time and eternity. "Here," I said, "here it is, all that I am and have forever. Now you run the house. I'll just remain with you as houseboy and friend." <br />
He took my life that day and I can give you my word, there is no better way to live the Christian life. He knows how to keep it in shape and deep peace settles down on the soul. May Christ settle down and be at home in your heart as Lord of all. *<br />
*http://freegroups.net/ministry_files/The_Reading_Room/Inspiration_n_Instruction_2/My_Heart_Christs_Home.shtml<br />
Hope Aglow Prison Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293036914530875413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705342083569261985.post-50947093835599484662011-08-04T11:13:00.000-04:002011-08-04T11:13:44.487-04:00What happens in prison changes our community. Changed hearts = changed lives!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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God Behind Bars intends to introduce prisoners to God's life-changing principles, thereby helping them turn their broken road of failure into a solid pathway of personal success. <div>
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</div>Hope Aglow Prison Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293036914530875413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705342083569261985.post-29391734496523772332011-08-02T13:08:00.002-04:002011-08-02T13:12:54.597-04:00"The Lord sets the prisoners free;..." Psalm 146<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have never served time. My perspective on prison ministry is not from the inside. When I walk into jail on Sunday, I get to walk out and go wherever I want. I am not bound by parole or probation. <br />
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The women with whom I have had the honor to share Christ while they are in jail do not have that luxury. Of the twenty or so women I have met with regularly, five have been released; two of those are out on bond. The other three served all of their time and are now on parole, which is still a tether to the jail.<br />
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To be imprisoned is a humbling, terrifying and life changing experience. I base this statement on my relationship with the women who are there, and my friendship with our Director at Hope Aglow, Garry Sims who served time in Draper prison in Alabama. Our founder Ed Martin, served hard time on a chain gang in Tazewell, VA. Hope Aglow was built on the reality of Christ's call to "remember the prisoner as though you were there", a passage found in Hebrews 13. <br />
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<strong>What does the Bible have to say about prison and prisoners?</strong><br />
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"The earliest occurrence of the word "prison" in the King James Version is found in the narrative of Joseph's life in Egypt. The term used, namely, cohar, means perhaps "round house" or "tower." It seems probable that among the Hebrews there were no special buildings erected as "jails" in the premonarchical period, and perhaps not before the post-exilic period, when the adoption of the civic institutions and customs of surrounding nations prevailed. In Egypt and Assyria, on the contrary, there were probably public buildings corresponding to our modern jails. Among the Hebrews, rooms in connection with the royal palace or the residence of prominent court officials would be used for the purpose. 1</blockquote>
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In the New Testament "prison" generally occurs for the Greek word phulake, which corresponds to the Hebrew word <em>mishmar, -</em> translated " prison" in the following verse<em>-</em><br />
<table><tbody>
<tr valign="top"><td><br /></td><td>"Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into <i>prison.</i> Matt 5:25</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In one passage "ward" is the rendering in the King James Version (Acts 12:10). In connection with the imprisonment of John the term used is desmoterion, "place of bonds" or "fetters" (Mt 11:2); the same word is used in the case of Peter and John (Acts 5:21,23), and of Paul and Silas (Acts 16:26). But the more common term is also found in these narratives. In Acts 12:17 "prison" renders a Greek word which means "dwelling." In Acts 5:18 the King James Version, "prison" is the rendering for another Greek word, namely, teresis, "watching" or "ward" In Acts 4:3, the King James Version employs "hold" as the rendering for the same word. This would correspond to the modern "police station" or "lockup." 1</blockquote>
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The word prison is found in the Bible 175 times, the word prisoner is found 118.<br />
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Here is an in depth study from bible-topics.com, a wonderful resource for word study.<br />
<h1>
Prisons</h1>
<ul><br />
<li>Antiquity of. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Genesis 39:20</b> And Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners <i>were</i> bound: and he was there in the prison.</div>
</li>
<br />
<li>KINDS OF, MENTIONED;</li>
<ul><br />
<li>State. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Jeremiah 37:21</b> Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread out of the bakers' street, until all the bread in the city were spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.</div>
<div id="versequote">
<b>Genesis 39:20</b> And Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners <i>were</i> bound: and he was there in the prison.</div>
</li>
<br />
<li>Common. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Acts 5:18</b> And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.</div>
</li>
</ul>
<br />
<li>Dungeons attached to. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Jeremiah 38:6</b> Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that <i>was</i> in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon <i>there was</i> no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire. </div>
<div id="versequote">
<b>Zechariah 9:11</b> As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein <i>is</i> no water. </div>
</li>
<br />
<li>Were under the care of a keeper. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Genesis 39:21</b> But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison. </div>
</li>
<br />
<li>USED FOR CONFINING</li>
<ul><br />
<li>Persons accused of crimes. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Luke 23:19</b> (Who for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murder, was cast into prison.)</div>
</li>
<br />
<li>Persons accused of heresy. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Acts 4:3</b> And they laid hands on them, and put <i>them</i> in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide.</div>
<div id="versequote">
<b>Acts 5:18</b> And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.</div>
<div id="versequote">
<b>Acts 8:3</b> As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed <i>them</i> to prison.</div>
</li>
<br />
<li>Suspected persons. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Genesis 42:19</b> If ye <i>be</i> true <i>men</i>, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses:</div>
</li>
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<li>Condemned criminals till executed. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Leviticus 24:12</b> And they put him in ward, that the mind of the LORD might be shewed them. </div>
<div id="versequote">
<b>Acts 12:4-5</b> And when he had apprehended him, he put <i>him</i> in prison, and delivered <i>him</i> to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. </div>
</li>
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<li>Enemies taken captive. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Judges 16:21</b> But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house. </div>
<div id="versequote">
<b>2 Kings 17:4</b> And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as <i>he had done</i> year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison. </div>
<div id="versequote">
<b>Jeremiah 52:11</b> Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death. </div>
</li>
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<li>Debtors till they paid. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Matthew 5:26</b> Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.</div>
<div id="versequote">
<b>Matthew 18:30</b> And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.</div>
</li>
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<li>Persons under the king's displeasure. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>1 Kings 22:27</b> And say, Thus saith the king, Put this <i>fellow</i> in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.</div>
<div id="versequote">
<b>2 Chronicles 16:10</b> Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison house; for <i>he was</i> in a rage with him because of this <i>thing</i>. And Asa oppressed <i>some</i> of the people the same time. </div>
<div id="versequote">
<b>Mark 6:17</b> For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife: for he had married her.</div>
</li>
</ul>
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<li>Confinement in, often awarded as a punishment. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Ezra 7:26</b> And whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether <i>it be</i> unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment. </div>
</li>
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<li>Confinement in, considered a severe punishment. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Luke 22:33</b> And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.</div>
</li>
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<li>PLACES USED AS;</li>
<ul><br />
<li>Court of the king's house. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Jeremiah 32:2</b> For then the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which <i>was</i> in the king of Judah's house.</div>
</li>
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<li>House of the king's scribe. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Jeremiah 37:15</b> Wherefore the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had made that the prison.</div>
</li>
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<li>House of the captain of the guard. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Genesis 40:3</b> And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph <i>was</i> bound.</div>
</li>
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<li>Prisoner's own house, where he was kept bound to a soldier. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Acts 28:16</b> And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him.</div>
<div id="versequote">
<b>Acts 28:30</b> And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him,</div>
<div id="versequote">
<b>2 Timothy 1:16-18</b> The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain: But, when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found <i>me</i>. The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day: and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well.</div>
</li>
</ul>
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<li>The king had power to commit to. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>1 Kings 22:27</b> And say, Thus saith the king, Put this <i>fellow</i> in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.</div>
</li>
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<li>Magistrates had power to commit to. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Matthew 5:25</b> Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.</div>
</li>
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<li>PERSONS CONFINED IN,</li>
<ul><br />
<li>Said to be in ward. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Leviticus 24:12</b> And they put him in ward, that the mind of the LORD might be shewed them. </div>
</li>
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<li>Said to be in hold. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Acts 4:3</b> And they laid hands on them, and put <i>them</i> in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide.</div>
</li>
<br />
<li>Often placed in dungeons. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Jeremiah 39:6</b> Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah.</div>
<div id="versequote">
<b>Acts 16:24</b> Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.</div>
</li>
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<li>Often bound with fetters. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Genesis 42:19</b> If ye <i>be</i> true <i>men</i>, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses:</div>
<div id="versequote">
<b>Ezekiel 19:9</b> And they put him in ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel. </div>
<div id="versequote">
<b>Mark 6:17</b> For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife: for he had married her.</div>
</li>
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<li>Often chained to two soldiers. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Acts 12:6</b> And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison.</div>
</li>
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<li>Often fastened in stocks. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Jeremiah 29:26</b> The LORD hath made thee priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest, that ye should be officers in the house of the LORD, for every man <i>that is</i> mad, and maketh himself a prophet, that thou shouldest put him in prison, and in the stocks.</div>
<div id="versequote">
<b>Acts 16:24</b> Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.</div>
</li>
<br />
<li>Often kept to hard labor. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Judges 16:21</b> But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house. </div>
</li>
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<li>Often subjected to extreme suffering. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Psalms 79:11</b> Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die; </div>
<div id="versequote">
<b>Psalms 102:20</b> To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death; </div>
<div id="versequote">
<b>Psalms 105:18</b> Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron: </div>
(<i>marg.</i>)</li>
<br />
<li>Fed on bread and water. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>1 Kings 22:27</b> And say, Thus saith the king, Put this <i>fellow</i> in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.</div>
</li>
<br />
<li>Clothed in prison dress. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>2 Kings 25:29</b> And changed his prison garments: and he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his life.</div>
</li>
<br />
<li>Sometimes allowed to be visited by their friends. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Matthew 11:2</b> Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,</div>
<div id="versequote">
<b>Matthew 25:36</b> Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.</div>
<div id="versequote">
<b>Acts 24:23</b> And he commanded a centurion to keep Paul, and to let <i>him</i> have liberty, and that he should forbid none of his acquaintance to minister or come unto him.</div>
</li>
<br />
<li>Might have their condition ameliorated by the king. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Jeremiah 37:20-21</b> Therefore hear now, I pray thee, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I pray thee, be accepted before thee; that thou cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there. Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread out of the bakers' street, until all the bread in the city were spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.</div>
</li>
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<li>Often executed in. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Genesis 40:22</b> But he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them.</div>
<div id="versequote">
<b>Matthew 14:10</b> And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.</div>
</li>
</ul>
<br />
<li>The king had power to release from. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Genesis 40:21</b> And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand:</div>
</li>
<br />
<li>Magistrates had power to release from. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Acts 16:35-36</b> And when it was day, the magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go. And the keeper of the prison told this saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go: now therefore depart, and go in peace.</div>
</li>
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<li>KEEPERS OF,</li>
<ul><br />
<li>Strictly guarded the doors. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Acts 12:6</b> And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison.</div>
</li>
<br />
<li>Responsible for the prisoners. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Acts 16:23</b> And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast <i>them</i> into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:</div>
<div id="versequote">
<b>Acts 16:27</b> And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.</div>
</li>
<br />
<li>Put to death if prisoners escaped. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Acts 12:19</b> And when Herod had sought for him, and found him not, he examined the keepers, and commanded that <i>they</i> should be put to death. And he went down from Judaea to Caesarea, and <i>there</i> abode.</div>
</li>
<br />
<li>Often used severity. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Jeremiah 37:16</b> When Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon, and into the cabins, and Jeremiah had remained there many days; </div>
<div id="versequote">
<b>Jeremiah 37:20</b> Therefore hear now, I pray thee, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I pray thee, be accepted before thee; that thou cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there. </div>
</li>
<br />
<li>Sometimes acted kindly. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Genesis 39:21</b> But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison. </div>
<div id="versequote">
<b>Acts 16:33-34</b> And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed <i>their</i> stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.</div>
</li>
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<li>Sometimes entrusted the care of the prison to well-conducted prisoners. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Genesis 39:22-23</b> And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that <i>were</i> in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer <i>of it</i>. The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing <i>that was</i> under his hand; because the LORD was with him, and <i>that</i> which he did, the LORD made <i>it</i> to prosper.</div>
</li>
</ul>
<br />
<li>ILLUSTRATIVE OF</li>
<ul><br />
<li>Deep afflictions. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Psalms 142:7</b> Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me.</div>
</li>
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<li>Hell. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Revelation 20:7</b> And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,</div>
</li>
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<li>Bondage to sin and Satan. <br /><div id="versequote">
<b>Isaiah 42:7</b> To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, <i>and</i> them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.</div>
<div id="versequote">
<b>Isaiah 49:9</b> That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that <i>are</i> in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures <i>shall be</i> in all high places.</div>
<div id="versequote">
<b>Isaiah 61:1</b> The Spirit of the Lord GOD <i>is</i> upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to <i>them that are</i> bound;</div>
</li>
</ul>
</ul>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DGaCzh6PbOc/Tjgt7xcQlEI/AAAAAAAAAKA/n6wASQRnSzs/s1600/womens-prison7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DGaCzh6PbOc/Tjgt7xcQlEI/AAAAAAAAAKA/n6wASQRnSzs/s320/womens-prison7.jpg" t$="true" width="320" /></a></div>
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What are we called to do? Care about people who have made some bad mistakes and are being punished very harshly for it. They know they have messed up, but they are human beings that Christ died for and that gives them infinite value, worth and dignity. Care enough to support your church's local ministry to jails and prisons. Consider volunteering, contact us for more information on how to start a prison ministry. <a href="mailto:hopeaglowprisonministries@gmail.com">hopeaglowprisonministries@gmail.com</a> <br />
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Remember those in prison as though you were there with them. Heb 13- If you won't go, send us. We will take a Bible and share Christ. Pray for us.<br />
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Thanks. <br />
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1. http://bible.org/netbible/index.htm <br />
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2. <a href="http://www.bible-topics.com/Prisons.html">http://www.bible-topics.com/Prisons.html</a><br />
<br />Hope Aglow Prison Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293036914530875413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705342083569261985.post-53393700738326004782011-07-25T15:58:00.005-04:002011-07-28T08:45:31.319-04:00Should your donation to prison ministry provide a Koran or a Wiccan Book of Shadows?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JCJVdaRD_VY/Ti243yOdnEI/AAAAAAAAAJo/hkHKumI-vpE/s1600/bokksad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JCJVdaRD_VY/Ti243yOdnEI/AAAAAAAAAJo/hkHKumI-vpE/s200/bokksad.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wiccan Book of Shadows</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AwTFa48QQ1Y/Ti25VCPOwpI/AAAAAAAAAJs/V4BBGcYkDoc/s1600/kor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="153" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AwTFa48QQ1Y/Ti25VCPOwpI/AAAAAAAAAJs/V4BBGcYkDoc/s200/kor.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Islamic Koran</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
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If you found that your donation to a Christian prison ministry was being used to provide literature requested by inmates of other religions, would you consider that an affront to your own faith? Do you feel a responsibility to know how your contributions are being spent? These are good questions to ask of any mission you support.<br />
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Giving to Hope Aglow provides a Holy Bible, NKJV. We do not, nor will we ever, give out literature that stands in opposition to <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/hopeaglowprisonministries/our-mission">our statement of beliefs. </a><br />
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Hope Aglow Ministries stands by the inerrancy of the Bible and it's message of the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ as the only way to eternal life with God in heaven. Moreover, we believe there is no other way by which men may be saved but by belief in Jesus Christ. <br />
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If you donate to Hope Aglow Ministries, you are giving to support men and women who stand firm on these principles, preach and teach them in the jails and prisons, and provide a Bible to all who ask.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oj7AaWHGCy0/TjBk26xs_VI/AAAAAAAAAJ4/t7T6FLUiBzY/s1600/hagres-004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="264" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oj7AaWHGCy0/TjBk26xs_VI/AAAAAAAAAJ4/t7T6FLUiBzY/s320/hagres-004.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Basic Bible Doctrine Study course and test booklet</td></tr>
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We provide a Basic Bible Doctrine Study Course, based on our statement of beliefs which was first published in 1971, by our founders Ed and Alfreda Martin.<br />
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All Hope Aglow volunteers see themselves as missionaries in the white field of jails and prisons. We feel called to preach the good news those held captive there. We understand that our system of government, while imperfect is the best one we have. We understand there are deficiencies in the criminal justice system that need to be corrected. However, our first calling is to the gospel and to the Bible, not to political correctness.<br />
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This is where we stand.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inmates sharing at Bible study in Powhatan prison</td></tr>
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Please give to support the ministry of the gospel in jails and prisons. <br />
<strong><span style="color: #660000;">You may donate by mail at Hope Aglow P.O.Box 10157 Lynchburg, VA 24506<br /></span></strong>Thanks! All donations are tax deductible.<br /><br />We are registered with <br /><b>Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability</b><br />440 West Jubal Early Drive, Suite 130 • Winchester, VA 22601<br />Telephone: 800-323-9473 • Fax: 540-535-0533 • Website: www.ECFA.org • Email: <a href="mailto:information@ECFA.org">information@ECFA.org</a><br />
<div>
Hope Aglow Ministries, Inc. is a registered 503(c) organization.</div>
<div>
A financial statement is available from the State Div. of Consumer Affairs, upon request. </div>
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Div. of Consumer Affairs P.O. Box 1163 Richmond, VA 23209</div>
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<br />Hope Aglow Prison Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293036914530875413noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705342083569261985.post-19018500009968038702011-07-22T14:55:00.001-04:002011-07-25T14:35:03.129-04:00Need versus Reality - What are you called to do?<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>The Reality</u></span></b><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5V1OpnVljI0/TYTS8zQRFjI/AAAAAAAAACs/NaP2Mi053d0/s1600/icm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="142" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5V1OpnVljI0/TYTS8zQRFjI/AAAAAAAAACs/NaP2Mi053d0/s320/icm.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">Virginia </span></b><br />
<br />
<b>Number of Federal Penitentiaries</b> -2 <br />
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<b>Number of inmates -</b>5091 <br />
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<b>Number of State Prisons</b>- 32<br />
<b>Number of Inmates</b>- 31,427<br />
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<b>Number of Jails</b>- 28 Regional<br />
39 Local<br />
2 Jail Farms <br />
Total= 69 Jails<br />
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<b>Number of Inmates in Jails</b>- 32,336<br />
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<b>Average cost per day per inmate</b>- @ $65.00<br />
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<span style="color: black;">Virginia is number 2 in the nation in spending on jail and prison operations per inmate. This figure does not include building and renovating prisons and jails.</span><span style="color: black;"></span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">I tell you these figures so you will be aware of the needs. Crime is expensive for us, and it's not getting any less expensive to house the ever growing number of inmates, build facilities, pay law enforcement salaries and court costs. It's no surprise that this is happening. We are promised that times will wax worse and worse until the end. My point is this- we have a God given responsibility to attend to this mission field.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><b><u>Our Call</u></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><blockquote>
<span style="color: black;">"The services of volunteers are an indispensable resource for our criminal justice system. The vast majority of incarcerated offenders will eventually re-enter the community upon the completion of their sentences. Crime and delinquency are tremendous burdens on the community - both in the costs related to law enforcement and corrections, and in terms of human suffering. By supplementing the work of Department of Corrections employees, volunteers help to stretch our tax dollars. Each year, volunteers donate more than one million dollars worth of their valuable time to the Department - hours that otherwise might be paid for by taxpayers."</span></blockquote>
<b>and a word from our higher power-</b><br />
<br />
<a cmimpressionsent="1" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+13:3&version=NIV"><span style="color: #651300;"><b>Hebrews 13:3</b></span></a><br />Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.<br /> <br />
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Please donate to the ministry of Hope Aglow. We believe the best way to address crime prevention is changed hearts.<br />
Hope Aglow Ministries<br />P.O. Box 10157<br />
Lynchburg, VA 24506<br />
<br />
<div>
Hope Aglow Ministries, Inc. is a registered 503(c) organization. A financial statement is available from the State Div. of Consumer Affairs, upon request.<br />
Div. of Consumer Affairs<br />
P.O. Box 1163 Richmond, VA 23209</div>
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</span>Hope Aglow Prison Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293036914530875413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705342083569261985.post-77833455366240856452011-07-21T15:57:00.000-04:002011-07-21T15:57:11.187-04:00Lynchburg, VA Lawyer Frees Man from Death Row<div orgfontsize="14px">
Lynchburg, VA - Lawyers call it an extraordinarily rare legal event. A man charged with capital murder, tried in 2003, and sentenced to death is now out of prison.</div>
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Cory Maye is a free man in Mississippi, but that would not have been possible without lots of work from a Lynchburg lawyer.</div>
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When Attorney Abram Pafford was working in D.C., he read about this case online in 2005. Ever since, he's worked to set Cory Maye free.</div>
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"Very few defendants who are convicted of capital murder, sentenced to death, spend time on death row, and then live to breathe free air," said Pafford.</div>
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Cory Maye is one of the few. But, it's been a long journey.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pafford, lawyer</td></tr>
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It all started in 2001. Cory Maye and his 14-month-old daughter were sound asleep when, according to Maye's lead lawyer, police - search warrant in hand and looking for drugs - kicked in his rear door.</div>
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"And as the rear door was kicked in, and someone charged in to the bedroom in the dark, he squeezed off three shots. At which point he heard them shouting 'police, police,'" said Pafford.</div>
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It was too late. Maye had shot and killed a police officer with a small handgun.</div>
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Maye said he had no idea they were police and was defending himself and his child. The state of Mississippi said Maye knew they were police and fired anyway. They threw the book at him for capital murder.</div>
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But, Attorney Abram Pafford found Maye's case.</div>
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"I'll never forget when I first read about the case," said Pafford.</div>
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Pafford saw many holes in the state's case and took it to the Mississippi Supreme Court. Maye, Pafford says, had no motive to shoot a police officer, had no criminal record, and was just defending himself and his child</div>
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"It just struck me that this was a situation where the father was trying to protect his little girl, but was sitting on death row as a result of it," said Pafford.</div>
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Not any more. Now that a Lynchburg lawyer gave a Mississippi inmate a second chance at life.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CvUkVvuBZXk/TiiEFCXAP3I/AAAAAAAAAJg/StDlKchPVgY/s1600/Cory.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CvUkVvuBZXk/TiiEFCXAP3I/AAAAAAAAAJg/StDlKchPVgY/s1600/Cory.jpg" t$="true" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cory Maye</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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"A day or two ago, he got to see his first sunrise in five years without viewing it through prison bars," said Pafford.</div>
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Cory Maye wrapped up his case with a plea agreement. So, he's a free man, but forever a convicted criminal.</div>
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<div orgfontsize="14px">
<a href="http://www.wset.com/story/15119376/lynchburg-lawyer-frees-man-from-death-row">http://www.wset.com/story/15119376/lynchburg-lawyer-frees-man-from-death-row</a></div>
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<br /></div>Hope Aglow Prison Ministryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293036914530875413noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705342083569261985.post-80467368567929536942011-07-07T09:23:00.002-04:002011-07-07T10:13:10.106-04:00Resources for pre-release and newly released inmates in Virginia<a href="http://vacares.org/services.html">http://vacares.org/services.html</a><br />
Virginia CARES operates a statewide network of ex-offender reentry
programs to provide transitional assistance, financial aid, job
readiness training, temporary employment, job search and career
development, human relations & self-awareness training, and ongoing
support services to prisoners, ex-offenders, and their families in
Virginia.<br />
<b class="head"><br /></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T2hjlal-2zQ/ThW-ycnPt8I/AAAAAAAAAJU/ZYsXSz5-AMc/s1600/virginiacares_logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="93" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T2hjlal-2zQ/ThW-ycnPt8I/AAAAAAAAAJU/ZYsXSz5-AMc/s320/virginiacares_logo.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<b class="head"><br /></b><br />
<b class="head"><br /></b><br />
<b class="head">Other resources-</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8705342083569261985&postID=8046736856792953694" name="labor"></a><span class="fontboldsans">I. Virginia Employment Commission</span><br />
<blockquote>
<div class="bodynoindent">
<span style="color: #990000;">Contact:</span><br />
Virginia Employment Commission <br />
703 E. Main St. <br />
Richmond, VA 23219 <br />
804-786-1485 <br />
804-731-0616 fax <br />
Web Site: <a href="http://www.vec.state.va.us/" target="_blank">www.vec.state.va.us</a> </div>
</blockquote>
<div class="bodynoindent">
Information about State Department of Labor resources may be of interest to:<br />
• potential employers looking for incentives to hire individuals with criminal histories;<br />
• service providers and individuals with criminal histories who are looking for assistance in finding employment; and<br />
• researchers and policy makers looking at current programs to
ascertain what programs are effective and serve their intended purpose.
</div>
<blockquote>
<div class="bodynoindent">
<b>A. Federal Bonding Program</b><br />
The Federal Bonding Program provides fidelity bonding insurance
coverage to individuals with criminal histories and other high-risk job
applicants who are qualified, but fail to get jobs because regular
commercial bonding is denied due to their backgrounds.</div>
<blockquote>
<div class="bodynoindent">
<span style="color: #990000;">Contact:</span></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="bodynoindent">
<b>B. Tax Credits</b><br />
The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) is a federal tax credit to
reduce the federal tax liability of private for profit employers to be
used as an incentive for employers to hire individuals from eight
different targeted groups: TANF recipients, veterans, ex-felons, high
risk youth, summer youth, Food Stamp recipients, SSI recipients, and
vocational rehabilitation referrals.</div>
<blockquote>
<div class="bodynoindent">
<span style="color: #990000;">Contact:</span><br />
Virginia Employment Commission <br />
Gateway Building <br />
P.O. Box 1358 <br />
Richmond, VA 23218 <br />
804-786-2887 or 804-786-4468 <br />
804-786-6091 fax <br />
Web Site: <a href="http://www.vec.state.va.us/" target="_blank">www.vec.state.va.us</a> </div>
</blockquote>
<div class="bodynoindent">
<b>C. Unemployment Insurance Office</b><br />
Unemployment compensation is a social insurance program designed to
provide benefits to most individuals out of work, generally through no
fault of their own, for periods between jobs. In order to be eligible
for benefits, jobless workers must demonstrate that they have worked,
usually measured by amount of wages and/or weeks of work, and must be
able and available for work.<br />
<br />
The unemployment compensation program is based upon federal law, but administered by states under state law.</div>
<div class="bodynoindent">
Applications for unemployment insurance
benefits require reporting in person to the nearest office of the
Virginia Employment Commission to complete an application, speak with an
interviewer, and receive monetary determination. Applications can also
be filed via the internet at the web site listed below. </div>
<blockquote>
<div class="bodynoindent">
<span style="color: #990000;">Contact:</span><br />
Virginia Employment Commission <br />
703 E. Main St. <br />
Richmond, VA 23219 <br />
804-786-1484 <br />
Web Site: <a href="http://www.vec.state.va.us/" target="_blank">www.vec.state.va.us</a> </div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<div class="bodynoindent">
<span class="fontboldsans"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8705342083569261985&postID=8046736856792953694" name="repository"></a>II. Criminal Record Repository</span><br />
This is the agency individuals may contact to obtain a copy of their
state rap sheet. The criminal record repository can also tell the
individual who else is legally entitled to have access to his or her
record.
</div>
<div class="bodynoindent">
Requests for criminal record searches in
Virginia must be made by submitting a "Criminal Record Name Search" form
SP-167. The instructions for the completion of this form are noted on
the reverse side of the document. This form can be viewed, downloaded
and/or printed by visiting the Virginia State Police Forms web site. A
$13 fee must accompany each request. </div>
<blockquote>
<div class="bodynoindent">
<span style="color: #990000;">Contact:</span><br />
Virginia State Police <br />
Records Management Division <br />
P.O. Box 27472 <br />
Richmond, VA 23261 <br />
804-674-2086 <br />
Web Site: <a href="http://www.vsp.state.va.us/" target="_blank">www.vsp.state.va.us</a> </div>
</blockquote>
<div class="bodynoindent">
<span class="fontboldsans"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8705342083569261985&postID=8046736856792953694" name="attorneygen"></a>III. State Attorney General</span><br />
Employers and service providers may obtain information from the state
attorney general regarding occupational bars, the licensing of
individuals with criminal records in certain jobs, and whether the state
has laws that limit what employers may ask job applicants or
protections against employment discrimination based on a criminal
record.</div>
<blockquote>
<div class="bodynoindent">
<span style="color: #990000;">Contact:</span><br />
Office of the Attorney General <br />
900 E. Main St. <br />
Richmond, VA 23219 <br />
804-786-2071 <br />
804-786-1991 fax <br />
Web Site: <a href="http://www.oag.state.va.us/" target="_blank">www.oag.state.va.us</a> </div>
</blockquote>
<div class="fontboldsans">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8705342083569261985&postID=8046736856792953694" name="correx"></a>IV. State Department of Corrections</div>
<div class="bodynoindent">
<span class="fontboldsans">Prison Industry Program</span></div>
<div class="bodynoindent">
Virginia
Correctional Enterprises (VCE) produces quality products and services
and furnishes work for prison inmates. Products manufactured include
office furniture, metal storage equipment, dorm furniture, and apparel.
Services offered include printing and institutional laundry. </div>
<blockquote>
<div class="bodynoindent">
<span style="color: #990000;">Contact:</span><br />
Virginia Correctional Enterprises <br />
8030 White Bark Terrace <br />
Richmond, VA 23237 <br />
804-743-4100 (Central VA) or 800-823-2823 <br />
804-743-2210 fax <br />
E-Mail: <a href="mailto:vcemail@vadoc.state.va.us">vcemail@vadoc.state.va.us</a> <br />
Web Site: <a href="http://www.vadoc.state.va.us/resources/vce/default.htm" target="_blank">www.vadoc.state.va.us/resources/vce/default.htm</a> </div>
</blockquote>
<span class="fontboldsans">Work Release Program</span><br />
<div class="bodynoindent">
The
Virginia Department of Corrections offers a work release program for
prisoners who are nearing completion of their sentences and who meet
specific eligibility criteria. The primary goal is to provide work
opportunities in a location close to where inmates will be released.
Eligible inmates are placed into local jail work release programs. To
be eligible, inmates must be at security level one, have a good time
earning level of one, have non-violent crime convictions, and be within
12 months of their good time release date or within three years of their
mandatory parole release date. </div>
<blockquote>
<div class="bodynoindent">
<span style="color: #990000;">Contact:</span><br />
Virginia Department of Corrections <br />
6900 Atmore Dr. <br />
Richmond, VA 23225 <br />
804-674-3000 <br />
E-Mail: <a href="mailto:directorsoffice@vadoc.state.va.us">directorsoffice@vadoc.state.va.us</a> <br />
Web Site: <a href="http://www.vadoc.state.va.us/" target="_blank">www.vadoc.state.va.us</a> </div>
</blockquote>
<span class="fontboldsans">Pre-Release Program</span><br />
<div class="bodynoindent">
During
the year prior to an inmate’s release from prison, a 19-session life
skills program is made available which addresses information inmates
need to live in the community. Topics include finding and keeping a
job, locating a residence, budgeting and family responsibilities.
Participation is not mandatory. </div>
<blockquote>
<div class="bodynoindent">
<span style="color: #990000;">Contact:</span><br />
Virginia Department of Corrections <br />
6900 Atmore Dr. <br />
Richmond, VA 23225 <br />
804-674-3000 <br />
E-Mail: <a href="mailto:directorsoffice@vadoc.state.va.us">directorsoffice@vadoc.state.va.us</a> <br />
Web Site: <a href="http://www.vadoc.state.va.us/" target="_blank">www.vadoc.state.va.us</a> </div>
</blockquote>
<div class="fontboldsans">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8705342083569261985&postID=8046736856792953694" name="paroleprob"></a>V. Virginia Department of Corrections</div>
<span class="fontboldsans">Community Corrections</span><br />
<div class="bodynoindent">
Probation
and Parole supervision is operated through the Community Corrections
Division of the Virginia Department of Corrections. Supervision is
provided through 42 district offices, 12 state-operated facilities, 10
day reporting centers, and oversight for 10 privately contracted adult
residential centers. Day reporting centers provide intensive substance
abuse treatment, aftercare/relapse prevention counseling, AA/NA groups,
GED/ABE and life skills classes, job referrals, and vocational services.
Other services such as parenting skills are provided based on client
needs. Adult Residential Programs (ARP) are used by the Parole Board as
a condition of parole and by Probation and Parole officers as an
intermediate sanction. Offenders receive supervised housing, random
urinalysis testing, life skills, and basic counseling. </div>
<blockquote>
<div class="bodynoindent">
<span style="color: #990000;">Contact:</span><br />
Community Corrections <br />
Virginia Department of Corrections <br />
6900 Atmore Dr. <br />
Richmond, VA 23225 <br />
804-674-3244 <br />
E-Mail: <a href="mailto:communitycorrections@vadoc.state.va.us">communitycorrections@vadoc.state.va.us</a> <br />
Web Site: <a href="http://www.vadoc.state.va.us/offenders/community/" target="_blank">www.vadoc.state.va.us/offenders/community/</a> </div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div class="bodynoindent">
<span style="color: #990000;">Contact:</span></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="bodynoindent">
<span class="fontboldsans">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8705342083569261985&postID=8046736856792953694" name="legal"></a>VI. Legal Assistance</span><span class="bodynoindent"><br />
Free or low-cost legal resources, both in civil and criminal law, are
helpful to individuals with criminal histories in learning about
relevant state laws governing the expungement or sealing of criminal
histories or addressing other legal issues resulting from having a
criminal history.</span></div>
<blockquote>
<span class="bodynoindent"><b>A. State Public Defender</b></span><br />
<blockquote>
<div class="bodynoindent">
<span style="color: #990000;">Contact:</span><br />
Public Defender Commission <br />
701 East Franklin St., Suite 1416 <br />
Richmond, VA 23219 <br />
804-225-3297 <br />
804-371-8326 fax </div>
</blockquote>
<span class="bodynoindent"><b>B. Legal Services</b><br />
</span><br />
<div class="bodynoindent">
The Legal Services Corporation of
Virginia and the Virginia Poverty Law Center publish a directory of all
legal services available to low-income Virginians. The directory is
available upon request from the Virginia Poverty Law Center or at the
following web site: www.vplc.org/2002_vls_directory.htm. </div>
<blockquote>
<div class="bodynoindent">
<span style="color: #990000;">Contact:</span><br />
Legal Services Corporation of Virginia <br />
700 East Main St., Suite 1504 <br />
Richmond, VA 23219 <br />
804-782-9438 </div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div class="bodynoindent">
<span style="color: #990000;">Contact:</span><br />
Virginia Poverty Law Center <br />
201 West Broad St., Suite 302 <br />
Richmond, VA 23220 <br />
804-782-9430 </div>
</blockquote>
<span class="bodynoindent"><b>C. State Bar Association</b><br />
</span><br />
<blockquote>
<div class="bodynoindent">
<span style="color: #990000;">Contact:</span><br />
Virginia Bar Association <br />
701 E. Franklin St., Suite 1120 <br />
Richmond, VA 23219 <br />
804-644-0041 <br />
804-644-0052 fax <br />
E-Mail: <a href="mailto:thevba@vba.org">thevba@vba.org</a> <br />
Web Site: <a href="http://www.vba.org/" target="_blank">www.vba.org</a> </div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<div class="bodynoindent">
<span class="fontboldsans">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8705342083569261985&postID=8046736856792953694" name="local"></a>VII. Local Service Providers</span>
<span class="bodynoindent"><br />
Community agencies are available to assist individuals with criminal
records find employment. This information will inform individuals with
criminal records about government agencies and community-based
organizations that assist with employment, education or vocational
training. Researchers and policy makers may find this information useful
in identifying agencies and service providers in order to evaluate the
effectiveness of these programs.</span></div>
<span class="fontboldsans">Career Connect</span><br />
<div class="bodynoindent">
The
One-Stop Career Centers in Virginia are known as Career Connect.
Services available to job seekers include job referral and placement,
referrals for training, and job search, skill-building activities. A
wide variety of self-help, computer assisted, as well as printed and
video career guidance materials are available. Computers are available
to allow easy access to Internet services. </div>
<blockquote>
<div class="bodynoindent">
<span style="color: #990000;">Contact:</span><br />
Virginia Employment Commission <br />
703 E. Main St. <br />
Richmond, VA 23219 <br />
804-786-1484 <br />
Web Site: <a href="http://www.vec.state.va.us/" target="_blank">www.vec.state.va.us</a> </div>
</blockquote>
<span class="fontboldsans">TAP Virginia CARES (Community Action Re-entry System)</span><br />
<div class="bodynoindent">
TAP
Virginia CARES (Community Action Re-entry System) program facilitates
the return of people with criminal records to their communities and
society. They provide basic needs assessments and support services,
including employment counseling, assistance with job leads,
transportation, resume and application assistance, peer support groups,
civil rights restoration assistance, and referrals to appropriate
agencies to people with criminal records and their families. Mondays
Orientation at 1 pm. </div>
<span style="color: #990000;">Contact:</span><br />
141 Campbell Ave. SW <br />
TAP Room 147 <br />
108 Henry St NW, 3rd Fl. <br />
Roanoke, VA 24016 <br />
540-342-9344 <br />
540-342-9427 fax <br />
E-Mail: <a href="mailto:caresclerk@vacares.org">caresclerk@vacares.org</a> <br />
Web Site: <a href="http://http//www.tapintohope.org/programs/vacares.html" target="_blank">http://www.tapintohope.org/programs/vacares.html</a> <br />
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