God and me. Together.
It’s been a crazy couple months filled with LOTS of meetings, training (to go into prisons) and learning the new culture of this thing called God Behind Bars.
It’s been great so far! I get to work with some fantastic people who are on fire for the Lord and have a deep passion to bring God into the lives of prisoners world wide. But for now we are focusing on Las Vegas (and Oklahoma, and Denver, and Alaska… Why stop at one, when you can change the world!) :)
We are serving over 1000 individuals a month in 4 prisons with our worship experience. For the past 2 months I’ve been running the service at a transitional housing location (Casa Grande) with up to 50 inmates per service. I LOVE them! They are so fun, so hungry for God and so humble. For the past 3 weeks we have been running small groups as well and it's been so fun getting to know some of the girls on a more personal level.
After Care
But the real heart of it all lays in After Care. So we are working on getting programs set up inside the prison, that will help the inmate get ready for when they are released.
Once released we meet them at the gate and connect them with mentors and churches that will help them get housing, get a job and stay on the outside. It’s amazing! Just today we were able to help a former inmate get one step closer to getting a job.
The youth
There are lots of things I really love about this new ministry, but I especially love that they invited me to dream with them for the youth and are now backing me up in making it happen.
We are in the process of getting into 2 youth prisons with our worship experience and the youth after care mentorship program we have set up.
That after care mentorship program will also serve those kids and youth who have one or more parent in prison and are at risk of ending up on the inside themselves.
We will be working with professional athletes and artists to create a 1 year mentorship experience for the students that will help them stay on the straight path. The heart of it is of course introducing them to Jesus and helping them understand how important a relationship with Jesus will be in their life.
Sobering fact: Over the past 2 months I have met TWO fathers who met their sons for the first time in the prison yard… Shocking!
I’m excited for where God is going to take me in all this.
As for what’s going to happen in the next 2 weeks… I will be in Germany, visiting my Mum and celebrating her 70th birthday with her! So excited.
Things God Behind Bars does, but I am not directly involved:
-Starting a new campus in Colorado and Alaska in 2012
-Opening a 2nd hand store to create jobs for former inmates
-Fresh Start Kits: Greeting the former inmate at the gate upon their release with the Fresh Start kit, that includes clothing, sheets, pillows, prepaid cell phone, toiletries and more. This also includes their first meal on the outside that they got to pick out themselves. (This is apparently a conversation that can take a while, because as an inmate you're not used to making decisions anymore. Making a decision about their first meal is sometimes overwhelming, but necessary to get them used to life on the outside again.)
-Media art studio: God Behind Bars is teaching inmates in one of the prisons how to be a graphic designer. This serves to help them create income for themselves upon their release.
-Celebrate Recovery (CR) meets at least once a week in all of our prisons. Upon their release (if former inmate stays in Vegas) they can join Celebrate Recovery at Central (our partner church). It's a Christian 12 step program that doesn't just focus on addiction, but rather hurts, habits and hang ups. It takes 1 year to 'graduate' from CR and we have well over 100 inmates who have graduated.
Linkage you should check out here, here and here! Oh and you can follow me here!
