Please Pray Please Help
Metanoia’s Mentor Ministry and MINTS Seminary-in-Prison are both returning to Walker State Prison for the first time since March 2020.
The Mentor Ministry at Walker State Prison has 100 Christian men from 52 churches who go inside the prison twice a month to meet with their mentoring partners. They study the Bible together, they talk about challenges they face in their lives, they share advice with each other, and they pray torgther. In other words, they “encourage one another and build one another up” (1 Thess. 5:11).
It is a beautiful thing . Luke 15:10 says that there is “joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” I believe that there is joy in heaven over 100 pairs of mentoring partners sitting together inside a state prison with a Bible open in front of them, doing life togetther.
In March 2020 the prison closed to outside volunteers. Our ministry pivoted to mentoring through letter writing. How exciting it will be to see those partners together again after 17 long months.
And consider the long-term impact of those mentor partners on lives, families, and society. Just today a friend shared with me the lastest study from the US Department of Justice on recidivism rates, the rate at which released offenders are rearrested. The five year average recidivism rate for released offenders is 71%. The recidivism rate for prisoners who have been in our mentoring program is 2.7%.
Mentoring works- it makes a difference for prisoners, for prisons, for families, and for society.
Our first group of mentors returns to Walker State Prison tonight, August 9th, at 7:00 pm. We’ll have groups going into the prison on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.
Please rejoice with us at the return to in-person mentoring! And, please pray. Mentoring restarts in an environment with a rapidly changing health situation. Covid protocols in place today may need to change tomorrow. We are very aware of the possible danger of reintroducing the virus into the institution. Please pray for the safety of prisoners, prison staff, mentors, and everyone’s family.
As wonderful as it is to have 100 mentor pairs meeting together inside the prison, we have a deep sadness too. We are sad that we do not have enough mentors to meet the requests of all those who want one.
I was in the prison last week for a preliminary meeting in preparation for restarting our ministries. A prisoner took me aside and asked, “Is there anythng that you can do to get me a mentor? I don’t have any family or friends that visit me. I don’t have anyone helping me with my Christian walk. I really want to change, I want to grow, I want to get better, but I need help. Can you please help me?”
I felt my heart breaking as I listened to him. It is wonderful that we have 100 mentor pairs. I priase God for that. But there are another 100 men on the waiting list. There are 100 men like the man who talked to me last week, who want to change, to grow, to become better men, and who want someone to help them. There are 100 men saying, “Please come and help me.” The average time on the waiting list is 16 months.
Jesus said that when we visit those in prison we visit him (Matt. 25:36), when we serve our incarcerated brothers, we serve Jesus.
Please pray for God to stir up dozens and dozens of men all over Chattanooga, the Tennessee Valley, and Northwest Georgia to step forward to visit those in prison, to become mentors to their incarcerated brothers.
If you are a pastor, a church leader, a Sunday school teacher, or a small group leader within an hour’s drive to Rock Spring, GA, please invite me to come and share the Metanoia Prison Ministry story with your people.
And, we are also excited that MINTS Seminary-in-Prison teachers return to their classes this week. For 17 months we’ve keep the seminary going with prisoner facilitators leading classes and with correspondence courses. On Wednesday morning at 7:30 am classes resume with MINTS professors going inside to teach our seminary students.
Please pray for a safe resumption of Seminary-in-Prison classes.
Thank you friends for your love and support! I appreciate you so much. Your prayers, encouragement, and financial partnership make a difference now and for eternity.
Much love, Barry