Prison Report

The Park Prison Ministry

Update for November 15, 2021, We have made a lot of progress in the last few months.

• We have over 700 students, and over 600 are active.  We keep those released in our database so we can know if they return, only one student has returned.
• In the month of October, we mailed out 440 lessons, a new record.  Our volunteer home graders are doing a fantastic job, with Jake Schweikhard being our grader of the month, as he grades many lessons for us and is always uplifting to our students.  We also were blessed to add Fran and Rochelle to our list of volunteers!  Praise God!
• We are adding new students weekly, with a new record set.  Two of our ladies at Mabel Bassett CC sent us 37 referrals for new students in less than one week! 
• In the past we have mailed out only ½ a course per month which resulted in a high drop-off rate, so in January we began returning lessons as quickly as possible which resulted in fewer dropouts, a higher number of referrals, and of course, higher costs.
• In March Jody decided to start challenging the students for referrals with a great success rate.
• Jody also developed two new courses for correspondence and has had great success with them. We have revived many inactive students with these courses and received numerous letters from inmates telling her how much they loved the courses, and how it has helped and inspired them.
  • Forgiveness
  • How well do you know God?
• The problem with higher success rates, means higher postage cost. So, in October we decided instead of just ½ a course we would mail complete courses. This will save on postage and increase participation.  One reason we think this may happen is due to the work of the men at DCCC.  One inmate Andrew Williams (who has earned 2 Doctorate degrees in Bible Studies while incarcerated) handles the NLB for us with a group of men at DCCC who all want complete courses and they have been successful in completing these courses in a timely manner.
• In October, 2 more men at DCCC received their bachelor’s degrees in Bible Studies: Dewey Katakea (American Indian) and Gary Cooper.
• Andrew Williams has been a great help to me at DCCC, and I am sure will become a great Christian leader when released.
• All of the chapel workers have received their bachelor’s degrees and Reggie Wilson, whom The Park sponsored for obtaining his masters degree, is about to complete his studies and should graduate in the next few months.  I will keep you posted on that.
• I still teach 3 Christian Apologetics Courses at DCCC on Mondays and Wednesdays. This week on Wed afternoons I will be teaching a class on the minimum side, which will be 4 classes taught each week, for a total of 20 Bible classes a month.
• I also preach one sermon a month on Sunday morning on the medium side.  Jim Pinkston and I each preach two sermons a month on Tuesday and Sunday nights, for a total of 5 sermons a month.
• Ray Vaughn also works with the Sheriffs dept as a volunteer Chaplain and performs death notices, crime scene management, rides alongside with the deputies (Which they minister to as much if not more than the inmates, and special assignments, working 8 hour shifts during the Tulsa Fair.
• Jail visitation is still locked down. The Jail volunteers were allowed back in for only about 4 weeks this spring.

I have reached out to Danielle Shrock concerning The Angel Tree Project for the children of inmates and she is making progress in that area.  I also mentioned to her the need to teach Christian Apologetics to the children, starting at an early age so they are well equipped to defend their faith on the school yard and classroom.  She informed me she was already looking into that.  We are blessed to have her looking over the education of our children.

• I talked to Kevin Peters and Tim Maynard concerning a Prison Outreach program to help us have contact with the prisoners’ families who live in the Tulsa area.  If we can take care of the families, showing love to them, the prisoners will respond in a positive way.  My hope is we can get the families to study the same New Life Behavior courses with their spouses who are incarcerated. Kevin is working on this, attempting to find someone who can oversee the project.  I am not allowed to have contact with the families of inmates because I go inside, one of the rules for volunteers.
• I also talked to Ken and Kevin about having a couple of our young preachers obtain a badge for prison visitation, hoping we could encourage them to start preaching on the inside.  I feel this would give them an opportunity to use their preaching skills more often, and help us bring young people into the ministry to follow up behind us for when the time comes, we must step down.
• The following is a list of our Volunteers
• Elaine Russell                   elainerussell@usa.net
• JakeSchweikhard              tulsajake@yahoo.com
• RayVaughn                       rayv0614@gmail.com
• SuzanneVaughn                suzv0203@gmail.com
• WaymonHunnicutt           waymonboyd@hotmail.com
• DianeHunnicutt                waymonboyd@hotmail.com
• LindaBrown                      midtowndiva66@gmail.com
• MikeHawkins                    mhtulsa@yahoo.com
• TeresaHawkins                  tvhawk@att.net
• DaveHuey                         dhuey@dewberry.com
• PattiHuey                          pattihuey@yahoo.com
• CarolynKusler                   cmkusler@gmail.com
• JanetSwopes        
• MikeWilliams                    jmjwilliams@cox.net
• BunnyWilliams                 jmjwilliams@cox.net
• FranciscoDevilla               fdavila@theparkcoc.org
• Fran Thomas                     fthomas@theparkcoc.org
• RochelleEpperson repperson@theparkcoc.org
• BillyMize  bmize34@gmail.com
• Lesley Mize          bmize34@gmail.com
• Jim Pinkston         prison05@gmail.com
• Jean Pinkston        No Email Address

If I have left anyone out, I apologize… just let me know and I will be sure to add you to our list.

Just in case this is not enough information visit our website at

https://theparkprisonministry.org/

 June 15: 2021 We are continuing to see growth in our correspondence courses in the prison ministry.  We are holding the students accountable for lessons sent to them and sending notices when they become inactive. Our volunteers for home grading increased by 3, so we now have 9 great home graders.  Our Tuesday night graders are usually less than that and with the Tulsa County Jail reopening for Bible lessons on Tuesday night only, we will lose Jim Pinkston, Elaine Russell and Teresa Hawkins on our Tuesday night grading.  Ray Vaughn will also be going to Tulsa County to teach.  He and his wife, Suzanne, are two of our top home graders, along with Waymon and Diane Hunnicutt, Linda Brown and Jake Schweikhard. On the bright side, this past Tuesday night we were blessed to have Mike and Bunny Williams come to help us, with him on a walker, which brought our number of graders to 6.  The lessons being returned to the students is slowing down due to the small group of graders coming on Tuesday nights, and the time it takes for home graders to pick up their lessons, take them home to grade, then return them. This does seem to reduce the enthusiasm and dedication of our students to these studies.  We may need to replace our Tuesday night grading with something different that will attract more volunteers. We are so proud of our ladies at EWCC in Taft for their fantastic participation rate of 23%, over 200 active students, with the prison’s capacity of 900. On the other hand, we have only 18 students at MBCC which houses 1,200 ladies, and this is a maximum-security prison for more serious offenders.  We are sending our students there a challenge to spread the Good News and increase their numbers. We have updated our database to reflect only our active students, and we are not adding all the new students to the database until they have successfully completed lessons.  This is helping us to focus on those who are serious about their Bible studies. We have just sent out a new challenge to our active students in the male facilities, as ALL 15 prisons where we now have students have participation rates of LESS than 1%.  This is not acceptable. I, Jim Carmichael, am  now conducting classes on Monday and Wednesday of each week at DCCC.   We are studying Bible prophecies and how they contribute to Christian Apologetics. I also preach at DCCC on the  1^st and 3^rd Tuesdays of the month while Jim P is teaching lessons at the Tulsa County Jail every Tuesday night.  I preach on the minimum security side every  4^th Sunday night, and Jim P preaches  on the 1^st Sunday night of the month.  We have also scheduled two baptisms at DCCC on Sunday morning, June 27, on the medium side of DCCC.  We have made some progress there, as Brad, the Chaplain who is off work due to illness, required all baptisms to be done by him. As a volunteer Chaplain filling in for Brad, I  have been able to schedule a few Sunday morning sermons, and this service for the baptisms.  We are hoping we will have more than the two men. Jody recently wrote two new courses for the students (Forgiveness and How well do you know God?), which have been well received.  Several inactive students have responded to her Forgiveness course. Francisco has a couple of Hispanic Correspondence students but recently discovered the Hispanics in the prison at Sayre OK were being attacked if caught reading or even carrying a Bible. One of the men (Caucasian) at Dick Connors was also physically attacked by another inmate as he was reading the Bible.  However, apparently this was simply a personal attack on him, not because of his faith, as in the case with the Hispanics at Sayre.  I share this simply to point out how Christianity is under attack, and it is especially evident in the prison system. At one time the men received “Days Off” their sentence if they completed Christian courses, but no longer… the point being it might force others to take Christian courses in order to get the days off… even though other courses that are non-Christian still offer “Days Off” for their participation. Pat and Stan M.  (an elderly couple from another congregation) are teaching one of these other courses which gives days off, but they told me they “sneak in” Christian training with the courses… a modern version of “God’s Smuggler” I suppose. I hope you will keep Pat & Stan in your prayers, along with the prisoners, their families, and the employees of the prison (one of the guards was attacked last week, and I understand it was somewhat severe). We are so thankful to all who contribute to this ministry with their time and money!  

UPDATE July 2022

& Prison Report for 2021

We have experienced several changes and quite a bit of  growth so I feel this would be a good time to update our report.

We still are not allowed into David L Moss with the exception of baptisms once a quarter. This doesn’t allow as much training for the inmates as we would prefer, however it is still a blessing we are able to at least perform this function.

In most cases this is handled by Jim Pinkston, Ray & Suzanne Vaughn, Elaine Russell, and Francisco Davila.

The correspondence students have increased to over 1,100 with app 55% of the inmates at Eddie Warriors Correctional Center in Taft taking our courses. We now are in need of more courses for our students. Last year, Jody composed two new courses for them, and now Carolyn Kusler has just completed her 3rd new course for students. We thank God for Carolyn!  Even still, we have students who have completed all courses and are wanting more.

We also began in house grading again, along with our home graders. We meet every Thursday evening from 6:30 to 7:30 pm for grading, and we have at least 10 new people who come to these sessions.  What we cannot complete on Thursday evening by 7:30, and lessons we receive on Thursday and Friday are distributed to our home graders on Sunday Morning, and they return them Wed evening when they come to Wed services.

Just to give you an idea of what that means in actual numbers, in the month of June, our volunteers graded almost 4,000 lessons, and since the beginning of the year over 20,000 lessons… that is a lot of grading! This explains why we need so many volunteers to help with the grading. We are hoping to find one or two volunteers who will come into the office and help us with the paperwork and processing work, as it can be overwhelming at times. 

In addition to those numbers the men at Dick Conner’s who do their own grading have graded 352 lessons so far this year.

Considering the preparation for the mailing and grading, I think you can see the amount of work involved, and without our wonderful volunteers we simple would not be able to keep up. 

In May of this year we were granted permission to bring recording equipment into Dick Conner’s by the Warden, and so Kevin Peters stepped up to the challenge. He came to the prison for two days in a row and made videos of our worship service. On Monday May 17, he recorded the testimonies of the chapel orderlies, and then returned on Tuesday evening to record the Tuesday night service. This means several hours of recordings, and he is now in the process of editing the videos and that is another major job he is doing for us. When the video is complete, it will be posted for all to see.

FUTURE PLANS

Immediate:

We are now working on establishing the next phase of the Prison Ministry [The Park Prison Ministry Family Engagement Project] by reaching out to the families of inmates to make sure their basic needs are being met, to work with them in Christian matters, such as staying in the faith, returning to the faith, or introducing them to the faith, teaching them about eternal life and how it can be obtained.

Our basic Goal is to keep the family unit together. In addition if we are showing love to the families of inmates it should inspire them to use the time in prison to grow their Christian life through knowledge of the Word, how to live by it, and how to defend it.

Of course this means we will need more volunteers to work as mentors.

The Families of Prisoners are serving their own “sentence” as well as their loved one. Often, they suffer from great shame, guilt and embarrassment over as a family of a convicted felon. They want their loved one to come out of prison with a changed heart, which is our goal. They fear that the hardness and darkness of prisons will change their loved one forever. They hope and pray for something to happen in prison that changes their life. But unless their loved one has been actively involved in a religious program, the chances of something good happening are minimal…

Not only that, they do not realize they need help as well, to learn a new way of life right along with their loved ones. To understand the conditions that brought on this behavior, and how they can change the direction of their family.

Often, with the father and possible main bread winner now incarcerated meeting the basic needs of life may be difficult. Adding the mental, emotional, and physical stress they are under may be more then they can take, and the family unit is destroyed.

The Church also has a stake in what happens in prisons because it is one of the precepts of Christianity to visit those in prison.  However, this is very strange for most members of a congregation, they can’t imagine going into one of the dark places, these institutions developed to house those convicted of what is often a horrible crime.

Additionally, I have spoken to Scott & Erin Street about these plans and how it could work with their new ministry, which is reaching out to the people who have contacted The Park through the Next Steps Ministry led by Mike Johns.  I believe their ministry may be the most important ministry of our time, considering the number of people that are leaving the church, the condition of the USA, and the world.  I hope many of our ministers, Elders, and Deacons will attend the meetings discussing and training people in this ministry. It meets at 7:30 in the Staff Meeting room located in the old office section.

Future Plans for Next Year…

Currently our prison ministry continues

1. Reaching out to those who are incarcerated, teaching them God’s word, how to live by it, and how to defend it.
   1. 1. Inside missions
      2. Correspondence
      3. Jail ministry
      4. Family Engagement (hopefully coming soon)
2. Angel Tree headed up by Danielle Schrock, with the help of  Hannah Brown, Lisa Hutchins and Michelle Courtright
3. Hope City managed by Marc Clayton

Next year I hope to begin working with local employers who are willing to hire those released from prison in order to help these men and women gain employment very quickly upon release.

We would also like to mention and thank for their help our newest volunteers: Debbie Allison, Janice Coates, Gayla Garren, Steve & Jade Harrold, Billy & Lesley Mize, Krystal Owens, Wayne & Pam Pope, Vicki Younger, Betty Batey, Don & Debbie Branscum, Glen Dennis, Rocky & Dawn Giles, Darrell & Sue Hicks, Patty Maupin, Daven Tackett, Erin Tackett, and Ken & Sarah Wiley.  Praise God!

This covers our progress and I will update again at the first of the year. 

 

 

Jim Carmichael

 

 

Just one year ago Jim Pinkston decided to retire from the Prison Ministry and handed over the reins to me, Jim Carmichael.

Jim Pinkston still works as a volunteer, going into the Tulsa County Jail when allowed, along with Ray & Suzanne Vaughn, Elaine Russell, Francisco, Theresa Hawkins, and others.  As we all know this has been very limited due to the Covid-19 lock-down in both the prison and jail systems.  The county jail remains on lock-down due to the constant flow of people in and out, however the prisons were reopened to volunteers around August.

But in that same light, the offices at the church were locked down for some time, and The Park began having services “live streamed” which also became a blessing… as we now have our in-house congregation (those who come to services) and an “on-line” congregation as well.

Jim P and Elaine continue to attend worship services four times a month in Hominy (DCCC) and Jim P and I take turns preaching.

 

My prison visitations however were not interrupted, being a volunteer Chaplain at the Dick Conner prison, but this also required Jody and I to work from home most of the time during the Covid-19 shutdown.

When we (Jody and I) took over the prison ministry in January of 2021 we were mailing out about 175 lessons a month.

Jody immediately made a few changes and began challenging the prisoners.

In the past, we were mailing out the first 6 lessons, and then when we received them back, in order to save on postage, we held on to them for weeks before sending the last 7 lessons (each course has 13 lessons).

So, Jody in her great wisdom felt like we would lose students because they had to wait so long to receive lessons, so she decided we should grade and return lessons immediately.  This led to a couple of issues… before we were having “grading night” twice a month which often also delayed returning the lessons. Of course we experienced an increase in cost of mailing.  Thanks to two of our contributors, Phil Smith and David Huey, who offered to handle this postage expenses, we can breathe a little easier, however, there are other expenses.

We decided it would be quicker to use volunteer “home graders”, so we now have wonderful, hard-working volunteers who pick up the lessons, grade them, and return them quickly.  As this part of the ministry grows, we see a great need for more volunteer graders.

They include Dave Huey, Ray and Suzanne Vaughn, Waymon and Diane Honeycutt, Fran Thomas, Billy Mize, Wes Crafts, Jim Pinkston, Elaine Russell, Mike and Theresa Hawkins, Caroline Kusler, Mike and Bunny Williams.

The next thing Jody did was study the patterns of the students and discovered that women who were in prison for child abuse would take our first course “A sense of self” but would drop off after that.

We were in the habit of immediately sending the following courses which addressed family and parenting issues.  So with that discovery, we started skipping these two courses and moved onto “True Freedom” and that corrected the problem.  We discovered that later many of these ladies would take the family and parenting course, even though many of them have had serious issues with parents and family.

Two months ago, we decided we could substantially save on postage by sending the complete lessons rather than just half at a time.  We expected our mail to be reduced by half… but it didn’t… the people are completing the entire lessons and retuning them at the same rate of speed.   What a blessing!!!  We now see a great need for new lessons to send to our students.

These folks are hungry for the Word…

Due to the work of Jody, over 1/2 of the women at Eddie Warrior Correctional Center in Taft Ok (a women’s prison which houses 900 women) are taking New Life Behavior, The Park’s Bible study lessons, and Christian Apologetics lessons.

At Dick Conner’s Correctional Center in Hominy OK, we have started a very aggressive evangelistic program, reaching out to every man incarcerated encouraging them to take our courses… with men in each pod who have committed their lives to Christ to be our inside contact, and inside evangelists.

One man, Andrew Williams is handling all our courses for us there, distributing them, receiving, and grading them, and letting us know who needs to receive a certificate.  Andrew is one of 6 chapel orderlies, of whom most have received their bachelor’s degrees, and with the help of the benevolence ministry and at the direction of Clark Lineback, we are sponsoring a few of these men to achieve advanced degrees in ministry.  All are training to be inside evangelists, with an eye on the future. When they return to their homes, they will be “street evangelists” to their neighbors, friends, and family, with some becoming preachers in local churches. Again, a special thanks to Clark Lineback. He demonstrates true caring for these men, and women. He realizes that most of these people have never received proper, if any, encouragement in their lives, and when someone steps up to the plate for them, they are moved. The impact is far greater for these people than the average person who has received encouragement from family and friends…

One man who the Park Church of Christ, (through the benevolence committee headed by Clark) has sponsored is Reggie Wilson, who is about to receive his master’s in Divinity, and will begin studying for his doctorate. Reggie is a big, football player kind of guy from the streets of Chicago where he intends to return, taking the word of God with him.

The Angel Tree Project:  A few months ago, I approached Danielle Schrock to consider helping with The Angel Tree project which is reaching out to the children of inmates, purchasing  Christmas presents for them, and other activities throughout the year. Danielle is a super star… no other way to put it… she has not only investigated it, but has associated with this group, has already found 13 children to help with Christmas, has already raised the funds, purchased the presents, and is now going to take the presents to them.

Jamie Simons told me he is experiencing the overflow… and now has 30+ new people in his classes as a direct result of Danielle’s work.

Our next goal is a family outreach program. A program designed to assist the spouses of the incarcerated, helping them with the basic needs of life if needed.

We are looking for our next superstar to join the ranks of Danielle, Clark, Phil Smith, David Huey, Don & Donna Millican, Glen Dennis, Ray and Suzanne Vaughn, Waymon and Diane Honeycutt, Fran Thomas, Rochelle Epperson, Billy Mize, Wes Crafts, Jim Pinkston, Elaine Russell, Mike and Theresa Hawkins, Caroline Kusler, Linda Brown, Mike and Bunny Williams.

Because I am in the prisons personally, teaching and preaching, I am not allowed by DOC regulations to be involved with their families on the outside… so I must find help.

We need help in the following areas…

People who would be willing to go on the “inside” with me to preach or teach classes.

People who will help with grading.

People who will help with our family outreach program.

People who could help create new courses of study for inmates.

People who can and are willing to help finance all the above.

 

 

How you can help:

 

 

• IN HOUSE GRADERS NEEDED:
• GRADING ON THURSDAY EVENINGS 6:30 – 7:30…
• LESSONS NEEDED…  IF YOU HAVE BIBLE COURSES THAT CAN BE USED IN THE PRISON MINISTRY, WE CAN USE THEM…
• VIDEO TRAINING SERIES: APOLOGETICS, AND BIBLE STUDIES NEEDED…
• PEOPLE WILLING TO JOIN US IN THE PRISONS FOR WORSHIP, TEACHING, AND PREACHING NEEDED…
• FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE NEEDED…
• HELP WITH OUR NEXT GOAL OF AN ASSOCIATED FAMILY OUTREACH PROGRAM NEEDED…

 

IF YOU CAN HELP IN ANY OF THESE AREAS, PLEASE CONTACT US 

 

 

JIM & JODY CARMICHAEL

I wanted to take a moment to say thank you for sending this lesson to me!
It speaks right to the heart of my greatest issue right now.
I have lots of time on my ands, lots of time to dwell on the hurt I have caused to others throughout my life. There are countless times that I could have been a better person, made better choices, taken different paths. But I am coming to realize that being here was God’s way of saying “The Lord is a jealous and avenging God” (Nahum 1:2)
By choosing things I wanted to do, by not putting God at the fron of my life, I spurred His jealousy and He brought Himself to the front and center of my life. And I couldn’t be more THANKFUL that this happened!
I’M NOT SAYING THAT I ENJOY PRISON. What I am saying is that I would never have found my way without Him doing tis, and my sins were leading me to eternal death. I still struggle with guilt for the people I have hurt over the course of my life (one person more than all others combined) but I can readily and frelly say that I am a better person now and will never make the choices I have made in the past. When someone asks to borrow from me I will give freely, when someone hurts me I will turn the other cheek to them, I will guard all of my words, and actions for the rest of my days and strive to continue to grow into the man God intended me to be.
Thank you for being a part of my journey…
John

By Loren Gier

SINCE I WAS A CHILD CLICHES HAVE CAUGHT MY ATTENTION. I’M
IN THE MID FORTIES NOW AND I STILL ENJOY RESEARCHING CLICHES OF
OLD. AS A CHRISTIAN, CLICHES HAVE BEEN SURPASSED IN INTEREST BY
THE INFALLIBLE TRUTHS OF SCRIPTURE. AS OF LATE, I LIKE TO THINK OF
CLICHES AS A TYPE OF COMPACT PARABLE OR MYSTERY BY WHICH
GOD’S TRUTH MAY (OR MAY NOT) BE REVEALED; HAVE YOU EVER
WONDER ABOUT HIS WAYS WITH YOU?
IN PROVERBS CHAPTER 1 MYSTERIES AND SECRET SAYINGS ARE
REVEALED BY PROVERBS (WISDOM OF THOSE LONG BEFORE US
WHO’VE SOUGHT SIMPLE TRUTHS FOR A COMPLICATED LIFE).
SCRIPTURE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT SAYS THAT GOD IS KNOWN BY THE
THINGS HE’S CREATED, THEREFORE EVERY PERSON IS WITHOUT
EXCUSE OF MISSING THE BUS (ROMANS 1).
ONE CLICHE RECENTLY HELD MY ATTENTION IN A SERVICE ABOUT
DAILY CHRISTIAN DIFFICULTIES. I DID NOT HEAR THIS CLICHE IN THE
SERMON BUT RATHER WAS REMINDED OF IT IN A NEW PERSPECTIVE.
LET ME EXPLAIN:
(NASB) 2 CORINTHIANS 4:15-18 SAYS,
“For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is
spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to
abound to the glory of God. Therefore, we do not lose heart; but though
our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by
day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal
weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the
things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the
things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen
are eternal.”
IN OTHER WORDS, BECAUSE OF THIS UNDERSTANDING, LET YOUR
PROBLEMS FALL OFF YOUR SHOULDERS LIKE, “WATER OFF A DUCK’S
BACK”.
A QUESTION BEGAN TO RISE UP IN MY MIND TURNING HEART.
“WHAT DOES A DUCK HAVE THAT I DON’T?” I’M A MAN. I CAN BUILD,
CREATE AND IMPROVISE ON A MUCH HIGHER LEVELTHAN AN ANIMAL
I’M CREATED IN THE CREATOR’S IMAGE WHICH MEANS I’M INTENDED
TO BE LIKE HIM. HE IS MY MODEL, NOT A DUCK. BUT EVEN THOSE
THINGS GOD HAS CREATED MAY BE USED TO CONVEY, TO RELATE AND
REVEAL THE MYSTERY OF GOD’S SIMPLE POWER FOR LIVING
VICTORIOUSLY.
IN THE PRESENCE OF A TRIAL OR THE MYSTERY OF THEM, TWO OF
MANY ANSWERS WHICH SURFACED WERE:
(1) A DUCK HAS FEATHERS (COVERING) AND
(2) A DUCK HAS OIL ON THOSE FEATHERS (PROTECTION OF EASE).
THE PRESENCE OF OIL ON FEATHERS ISN’T RESTRICTED TO DUCKS
ONLY. FOR EXAMPLE, AN EAGLE, AT SOME POINT OVER 40 YRS OLD
HAVE BEEN THROUGH SO MANY STORMS THE OIL ON THEIR FEATHERS
FADE. OIL KEEPS THEM LIGHT AS THEIR FEATHERS AND WHEN THEY
DIVE INTO WATER ARE NOT WEIGHTED DOWN BY WET FEATHERS. IN A
CHRISTIANS LIFE OIL IS TYPIFIED AS A LIKENESS OF GOD’S SPIRIT.
HOLY SPIRIT’S PRESENCE IN OUR THOUGHTS AND HEART
CONVERTS LIKE OIL ON OUR BACKS, OUR RELATIONSHIPS AND
UNPREDICTABLY DEMANDING CIRCUMSTANCES IN LIFE.
FEATHERS ARE A COVERING. GOD COVERS US WITH HIS
SALVATION (AKA REST: HIS PROMISES HIS WAY). WE HELP BY GOING TO
HIM FOR GUIDANCE AND DIRECTION, WAITING FOR HIS ANSWER.
AS WE WAIT ON THE LORD HE HAS OUR PERMISSION TO COVER
US MORE THAN HIS PROMISE WITH EXTRA BLESSING (AKA DOUBLE
PORTIONS).
JUST LIKE OIL SPILLING ONTO YOU, WHOEVER YOU TOUCH,
WHATEVER YOU TOUCH BECOMES COVERED. WHEN YOU GOT GOD ON
YOU AND IN YOU, WHATEVER HIS SPIRIT HAS WILL TRANSFER ONTO
OTHERS AND THEIR PROBLEMS LIKE YOUR OWN.
(SEE ISAIAH 61:1-4 AND LUKE 4:18-19)
FRIENDS, WE ARE COVERED. THAT’S THE PROMISE OF JESUS. BUT
THE PROMISE DOESN’T STOP THERE. THE PROMISE CONTINUES WITH
JESUS AND OUR FATHER’S PRESENCE, HOLY SPIRIT, COVERING US WITH
HIS SALVATION AND COATING AND PROVIDING VITALITY AND LIFE TO
LIVE, NOT JUST PLAIN OLD LIFE EITHER. WE ARE OVERCOMERS, MORE
THAN CONQUERORS.
(SEE ACTS 2:12-21 AND ROMANS 10:3-4,6-13)
IT’S TIME TO BE THANKFUL FOR THOSE THINGS THAT TRUMP ALL
THINGS. A FRIEND OF MINE RECENTLY DEFINED THE GIVING OF THANKS
AS THE ACT OF GRATITUDE. GRATITUDE IS THE EXPRESSION OF
THANKFULNESS. WHAT ARE YOU THANKFUL FOR? DON’T KEEP IT TO
YOURSELF, BUT LET IT OUT AND THE OIL WILL FLOW. IT WILL GET ALL
OVER YOU AND EVERYTHING YOU COME IN CONTACT WITH. DO THIS
EVERY DAY. BECAUSE OF THE TRUTH’S YOU DISCOVER IN THE SCRIPT
OF GOD, LET THE PROBLEMS OF LIFE ROLL OFF YOUR BACK. IS THE
CREATOR ALIVE IN YOU? LG

To Whom It May Concern:

July of 2018 was when I came to realize I’d been chosen to be a light bearer for Christ.

Unfortunately, I was in Tulsa County Jail at the time, but the effect was still the same.

One night while in my bunk I finally said to the Lord, in so many words, I don’t want these burdens anymore PLEASE TAKE THEM FROM ME AND I’M YOURS FOREVER.

Guess what? HE did!!!!!!!

I immediately had such an overwhelming feeling of a huge weight being lifted from my entire being and I finally found what had been missing in my life.

Crazy thing is, I had no idea that this is what I’d been missing this whole time.

In retrospect, deep down inside, I always knew something was missing; I guess it would be better described as a certain type of emptiness, but I just assumed that was me missing my birth mother so very much.

Now, I’m so happy and my life has a purpose. I feel so fulfilled, bright, spiritual, and powerful in my day to day like never before.

My life and spirit were so broken, that just about every day (if not every day) I’d look at myself in the mirror and hate the individual I saw looking back at me. Like all us humans, we are our own worst enemy at times and sell ‘destruction kills the soul.

Growing up the way I did, then becoming a young father at 21, and then on top of all that, my 3 yr. daughter Whitney passing away of complications 10 months after a near fatal car accident in which she, her siblings and birth mother were all involved.

Thank goodness no one died immediately, but the point I’m making is, Him, knowing all these things, plus all the other good and bad things I ever did or thought, He still loved me so much that He gave His life on the Cross for all those things and beyond.

He forgave me when I couldn’t forgive myself … man what a life changing revelation.

He forgave me, so I could, He died and arose, so I could, He loves me, so I can. Being falsely accused of a crime is very difficult to deal with and I know for a fact that things happened the way they did so I would be totally dependent on Him because without Him I couldn’t do it.

Thank You Jesus!!! Amen.

1 wanted to share this so that others can know God is real and you can make it through anything with Him at the Helm.

God Bless you all. Sincerely,

Anthony P. Miller, Jr

AKA Miller Thyme an

inmate at Dick Connor Correctional Center

My name is Reginald Wilson and this is about my conversion moment.

I’m not sure when it happened so to say.

I guess I can say it happened in county jail. I was sitting there with a bond that was so high I couldn’t get out and didn’t do what I was charged with. I found myself praying to God for help because I couldn’t get out, but I knew I was going to get out because of the fact that I  didn’t do it, so I started reading my Bible and seeking God.

This was something I knew to do from growing up in church, and when I got old enough, I stop going to church. I don’t think I really accepted Him as Lord of my life or else I wouldn’t be here.

So, my seeking has sent me on a journey, it seems like the more Bible studies I would do, the hungrier I became for the Word of God. Today I sit here a changed man, it’s been seven years since that day in October of 2014 and I have not stopped following Him.

Before Christ I wandered aimlessly from place to place but, since accepting what Christ done for me, I have a purpose now and that’s what He does for you when you choose Him.

It’s been a life of peace since that day, and I am very thankful for my choice. I will never turn away from Him I’m with Jesus till the day I die.

May God Bless You and keep you

My name is Andrew Williams

For me leaving the darkness of life to live in God’s marvelous light wasn’t so easy. I have constantly struggled to get rid of violence, anger, addictions, and foul speech. God has done a complete restoration in my life, and I have learned to appreciate my growth a lot more due to the struggles of change.

I have learned that, in order to fully grasp and enjoy growth it starts with step one.

You cannot enjoy step 10, if you do not go through the pain, and life lessons that lived between one and 10.

I thank God for the strength he provides, and I asked that whatever you may be going through, know that it is only temporary, and God has amazing things in store for you. Amen.

When Jesus came into my life as my savior and Lord, I was five years into a life sentence. Some guys I worked with in the kitchen invited me to church to hear a group coming in that had a great music program.

I went that night and listened to them, and a preacher got up named Don Boatwright and it seemed he knew me and where I had been because he preached my life to me and said you have tried everything but Jesus and if you will try him you will never go back.

I got up with the intention of leaving and to this day I can’t tell you how I walked passed the door and knelt at the altar, but I said God, I don’t know if you want this life but if you do it’s yours.

 It felt as if the building was lifted up off my back and for the first time in my life, I knew  love. That was 37 years ago and Don was right if you truly taste the love of God how could you want or need anything else. I tell everyone. I sold out and I’m gonna hold out.

Richard Fox

https://youtu.be/20AGi50UNf0