Several years ago, some of us from Pleasant Valley were able to attend a National Prison Ministry Workshop. It was held in Searcy at the Harding Campus, if memory serves. Since then it has been held in Michigan, Alaska, California, and other faraway states. Certainly not as close as Searcy.
Even though I have only attended one national workshop, it left a lasting impression on me. For one thing I recall us, the jail ministry, traveling as a group sharing the fellowship of those who work for a common cause. An unintentional mini meeting, if you will, in a van driving the 60 miles back and forth from Searcy to Little Rock. Our gatherings together are scarce as a ministry and it was just joyful being together.
Meeting so many other brothers and sisters from all across the United States who were engaged in jail/prison ministries caused me to appreciate the magnitutde of the numbers God had called to work in his jail/prison fields. Up to that point in my jail ministry experience, it seemed to me that so few had a heart for this ministry based on what I knew from PV. I was shown otherwise.
There is nothing like listening to other workers 'war stories' and learning from their experiences. Or just being regaled by some of the strange and, yes, funny things that can happen in the course of jail ministry. Those stories lighten what can be an emotionally heavy ministry on some days. Or to hear the stories of success....the ex-inmate living a changed life, the ones who overcome their addictions, the ones reunited with their families and now engaged members of a congregation and on and on. These stories showed me the hand of God in people's lives.
Lots of information, lessons, and encouragement to be gleaned before I even attended my first breakout session. Lots of tools for us workers; tools I still use today.
This year's workshop is going to be held in Louisville, Kentucky sponsored by the Midwest Church of Christ. The registration form is below.
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