There are many examples in God’s word that reveals his power through the brokenness of people’s lives.

What that shows us today is how important our total surrender and utter dependence is in our own lives. No matter how broken you think your life is or how hopeless things look God is waiting for you to run into his arms and to put your faith in Him, so he can show how sovereign he is and how endless his power is. His power can reign in the brokenness of your life as it did back then. I dare you and challenge you to believe.

Genesis 21:2 and 5-7

2 Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the very time God had said to him

5 Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Yitzchak (Isaac) was born to him

6 Sarah said God has given me good reason to laugh now everyone who hears about it will laugh with me.

7 and she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Nevertheless, I have borne him a son in his old age.”

Even when they were past the age of having children God’s power made the impossible happen. Just because the world says its hopeless know that God says, “Yes I can.”, his power is revealed in our weakness.

Genesis 22:1-2

1 After these things, God tested Abraham, he said to him “Abraham,” and he answered, “Here I am,”

2 He said take your son, your only son whom you love Yit’chak (Isaac) and go to the land of Moriah. There you are to offer him as a burnt offering on a mountain that I will point to you.

Even after God has given Abraham and Sarah a child that was promised in their old age now, he was asking him to sacrifice him to God without question, Abraham obeyed. Israel was shown favor based on Abrahams’s faithfulness. Abraham’s willingness to give up his son was a mirror image of what God was going to do for us by sacrificing his one and only son Yeshua for our sins.

Genesis 50:19-20

19 but Yosef said to them, “Don’t be afraid! Am I in the place of God?

20 you meant to do me harm, but God meant it for Good-so that it would come about as it is today, with many people’s lives being saved.

Here Joseph was hated by his brothers, sold as a salve by them accused of rape falsely, thrown into prison. Al this happened over a 13-year period Joseph had every reason to give up. Yet he stayed faithful to God and God’s power was revealed. He was in charge of Potipher’s house, was trustee in prison and eventually became second in command in Egypt. Everything he did God blessed. Through all the broken times in Joseph’s life God’s power conquered. All this led up to the saving of many lives. So, if you’re at the end of your rope, hold on, help is on the way.

Exodus 3:8 So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land flowing with milk and honey to the place of the Cannaanites, and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.

God use Mose to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. Here Moses was hidden so he wasn’t killed. He murdered a man which caused him to flee for forty years. Yet God still revealed his power through him and his brother Aaron to Pharoah to free his chosen people.

Joshua 6:5 The they are to blow a long blast on the shofar. On hearing the sound of the shofar, all the people are to shout as loudly as they can, and the wall will fall down flat. The people are to go up into the city each one straight from where he stands.

God still used this people to conquer Jericho despite their doubts and unfaithfulness. Even though at times when they trusted in other God’s. So, know that God can still use you no matter what you’ve done. As long as true repentance and complete surrender takes place.

2 Kings 4:4 Then go in; shut the door with you and your sons inside; and pour oil into all those containers and as they are filled put them aside

This servant’s husband had died and left a debt. The children were to become slaves as payment for the debt. Elisha told her to take every container she could find and fill it with oil to pay the debt.

No matter how bleak a situation looks in your life God will provide a way and leave you amazed knowing oly God could have done this.

Psalms 51:1-3

1 God in your grace have mercy on me; in your great compassion blotting out my crimes

2 Wash me completely from my guilt and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my crimes, my sin confronts me at all times

Despite being a murderer, adulterer, and liar God used David to become king over his people. It was through his bloodline that the messiah was born.

Mark 14:72 and immediately the rooster crowed a second time, then Kefa (Peter) remembered what Yeshua said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will disown me three times.” and throwing himself down, he burst into tears.

Lord Yeshua restored Peter although he denied him three times, He told him upon this Rock (Peter) I will build my church (Matthew 16:18) So, whether you have denied Jesus or rejected him he is quick to forgive and use you to reveal his power.

Acts 9:5 “Sir who are you?” he asked. “I am Yeshua, and you are persecuting me”

On the road to Damascus Jesus revealed himself to Paul. Up to this point, Paul was persecuting and even approving the killing of those who proclaimed Jesus. Paul from this point on began the journey of teaching Jesus to the Gentiles (us). So, if God can use a person who rejected Jesus to proclaim the good news of salvation through Yeshua, he too can reveal his power through your broken life. Just trust and believe.

Adam Gillespie

October 29, 2022

Thank you 🙂

Jolynn Gillespie

 

LETTER FROM THE EX – PRISONER MR. KYEYUNE RICHARD.

I am Mr. kyeyune Richard from Namungona, Luzira Kampala.

I was a prisoner at Kitalya min max prisons wakiso ( second biggest prison in Uganda). I was at the charge of murder and I was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. Before being taken to prison, I was such rude and violent person of which in my violence, I used to steal vehicles in kampala with my ganger, I could beat and kill the difficult owners of the vehicles.

One day, I killed mr. kiiza samuel who was driving himse3lf and I took his vehicle a.k.a prado. The police traced me using CCTV Cameras installed in the city ways and I was arrested and taken to Upper maximum security prison Luzira( biggest prison in Uganda). I was there for six months remand and taken to high court and they sentenced me for 20 years imprisonment. I was taken back to to upper prisons and I spent there 08 years in upper prison then later in 2019 I was transferred to Uganda Government Kitalya min max.

From there my lawyer came and told me that my application to court of appeal has failed and I had nothing to do except to finish my sentence.

Time came and I saw one day my fellow prisoners organizing and I asked them what was going on and they now said there is a team from Gotopo who preaches the gospel to us, then I waited to see the people they were talking about.

In the afternoon I saw them entering the hall where prisoners were seated. We praised and worshipped then finally,
Pr. Poela benard came and preached the gospel and then after him came anoSther man called kyomuhendo who asked among us who would wish to accept and give his life to Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and savior. Inside me I felt touched and I ran for salvation. then, that day I took Jesus to be our personal Lord and savior.

Next day when they came I approached Pr. Poela and kyomuhendo to pray for me about my appeal application and they requested go to do a miracle in my life. They prayed for me and departed, but really God does unbelievingly. It was a Sunday when I heard my name being read among the people who are going on Tuesday to court of appeal. That I remembered the words of his servants they told me when they were praying for me.

The day came and I was taken to court, I was taken in the presence of the judge and he re- read my first judgment and finally made he a final decision and reduced the years of imprisonment of which he placed it to 16 years of imprisonment and of which he included the six months of remand and the years I spent in prison. Then due to remission given by prison on the sentence, the judge commanded me to be released and I was set free.

I will never forget the God who enabled me to go out of prisons and I thank team Gotopo for the work they are doing. Really am a live testimony. Even today am a changed person working with them. I still persue my certificate in Theology sponsored by Gotopo.

To God be the glory
KYEYUNE RICHARD
EX – PRISONER KITALYA MIN MAX.

Remembering prisoners are people who love, hate, and hurt.

Our goal in the prison ministry is to help these people find true freedom… IN TRUTH

John 8:31-32 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 
32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

I mentioned Jody will soon be reading letters we have received  from inmates on line, and will be posted both here and on our Youtube channel.

Our purpose is to share the thoughts of the incarcerated with all of you, by doing this we are hoping to make these people and their humanity more real to you, and hopefully this will lead to true prison reform.

This morning I received two letters from women in the Luzira Women’s prison in Luzira, Kampala, Uganda.

We are always asking for people to help, of course financially, and by helping in the work, but this is one simply way you can also be involved… read the letters, and share them on your personal facebook page, or other social media platforms….

What is true prison reform?

My observation as a prison minister….

Where does prison reform begin?

In the home, the classroom, and the schoolyard.

First: Everyone talks about prison reform when we should be talking about prisoner reform, and society reform.

In other words get rid of the stinkin thinkin

We need to quit thinking in terms of revenge and punishment, and replace those ideas with rehabilitation.

Prison reform starts with prison facility and Nutrition reform, not population reduction…

These first two changes, means showing respect to people who for the most part have not been respected, or had self-respect…

I think some of the Scandinavian nations give a good example of modern prison design.

Drug abuse must first be brought to a stop… currently there are more drugs available in the prisons than on the outside… an alcoholic will not be cured by giving him a drink… they need serious time away from their addiction

A prisoner needs to be trained in a skilled labor, or a profession.

A spiritual/ faith foundation must be instilled to change a criminal mind to the mind of a honest hardworking citizen who contributes to society rather than takes from society.

A gradual removal from the prison system… prison with training and then to a half-way house for up to a year or two with no stress or pressure on the prisoner.

a gradual re-entry into society with supervision that diminishes over time as the prisoner adjusts to an acceptable lifestyle that will contribute to society.

We have several goals with the Park Church of Christ Prison Ministry.

Lead the lost back to the narrow path…

Be involved with the family in order to keep the family unit together.

We are working towards this goal through the Angel Tree project, the Family Engagement Project, and the coming Pen Pal ministry… along with other ideas that will come at a later time.

I mentioned at the beginning of the article that prison reform begins at home, the classroom, and the schoolyard… what I didn’t mention is it is my belief this needs to be the same for a generation or two.

The public school system in general is no longer teaching children the basic tools for functioning successfully in society, but spending more time in political indoctrination… and that should not be the purpose, nor even permitted in the classroom.

I also hope to see Christian based private schools to start appearing, at either affordable costs, or free for students.

Hillsdale is making a serious effort in accomplishing this.

https://k12.hillsdale.edu/Schools/Affiliate-Classical-Schools/

And in Tulsa!!!

Home

As I walk down the halls of the Park COC (getting my steps in) I pray all those classrooms will someday be filled with students receiving tradition education coupled with Christian Education, which will include what Scripture says, How to live by it, and How to defend it.

One of the problems we have is people not knowing how to defend the faith in a logical manner that makes sense to the person who asks them why they believe.

This is especially important for children, for if the learn these facts early, they won’t forget them later.

The most common understanding of recidivism is based on state data from the US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics , stating that two-thirds (68 percent) of prisoners released were arrested for a new crime within three years of release from prison, and three-quarters (77 percent) were arrested within five years.

Oklahoma The three-year recidivism rate in Oklahoma is 20.1%, one of the lowest in the country. Despite this, Oklahoma has the second-highest incarceration rate in the country, behind Louisiana.

Results of statistical analyses revealed that the faith-based prison had the lower recidivism rate, 16 percent compared to 36 percent for the vocational training prison. This was the case even though the faith-based prison housed more prisoners convicted of severe offenses.

Last night (Oct 16, 2022) we had our first volunteer Appreciation Dinner.

I had planned on just a simple dinner, four speakers, which included myself, Jim Pinkston, Elaine Russell, and Jody.

My original idea was to just have a dinner, thank everyone for their participation, and everyone visit and get to know each other.

That is not what happened!

This group took over, and it became quite an affair. A number of people, in fact most of the people in attendance also gave a brief talk about their experiences with the ministry, and everyone of them were very touching, telling us how their hearts and lives had been changed due to their giving of themselves to a people who have been forgotten, who lived in places they can’t leave, in the shadows of society.

The video is a part of that meeting, I think gathering is a better description, the sound is horrible, but honestly I didn’t plan on using sound in the final editing of the video, but simply using it as part of another video, and that was a big mistake. I had no idea this would happen as it did.

It reminded me of those flash dances or songs we see once in awhile in an airport or shopping mall… it just had a life of it’s own.

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!  

“Opinion on the Trinity Doctrine & Reexamining The Great Commission”

By: Andrew D. Williams.

 

I want to start this opinion with Scripture so that all will see what Gods Word has revealed to those who truly seek Him.

 

In Genesis 1:11:  It is written,

“In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth.” The name God is “Elohim”; it is a plural name; however, when used in reference to the one true God, it is constantly joined with verbs and adjectives in the singular (Deut 6:4; 32:39).

In many Old Testament passages Elohim is used with a plural verb or pronoun (Gen 1:26; 3:22; 11 : 7). I want to let Scripture speak for itself. Since it is God’s Word, He is very capable of defending Himself.

In John l : 1-3 it is written,

“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” When we speak of the attributes of God, we are referring to those qualities of God which constitute what He is.

They are the very characteristics of His nature. I am not referring here to the acts which He performs, such as creating, guiding, and preserving, nor to the corresponding roles He plays- Creator, Guide, Preserver. The attributes are qualities of the entire Godhead. They should not be confused with the properties, which, technically speaking, are the distinctive characteristics of the various persons of the Trinity.

Properties are functions (general), activities (more specific), or acts (most specific) of the individual members of the Godhead. Keep in mind the attributes are permanent qualities. They cannot be gained or lost. They are intrinsic.

While our understandings attributes are not our conceptions projected upon Him. They are objective characteristics of His nature.

I want to look at a few noncommunicable attributes.

• God is Spirit: He is the ultimate pure and perfect being, incorporeal, without material substance or physical parts, not having size or dimensions.
• God is One: He is the only and ultimate unified being, with each divine attribute perfectly united with all other attributes, yet each maintaining its own uniqueness, identity and function.
• God is a tri-unity: There is only one God, but in the unity of the Godhead there are three eternal and co-equal persons- the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit-the same in substance (who each person is), but distinct in subsistence (what each person does).

Now I want to point out two communicable attributes.

l) God is a person: He exists and is aware of His existence, having the power of self-determination and possessing all the attributes of personality.
2) God is True: This means His being and knowledge eternally conform to each other. Thus God, is true for He alone represents things as they actually are, for truth is reality revealed.

I believe that now since Scripture has spoken for itself we can have a better understanding of the “un” Baptismal formula that is recorded in Matthew 28:19. Jesus, Himself told Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to go and tell His disciples that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. (Matt 28:16-20),

We read this. . . “Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.” It may sound a little weird that Jesus would give a baptismal formula on a mountain high up, that has no water. However, when you read Scripture it is not only a baptism formula, it is a Great Commission that Jesus was giving to His disciples and what better spot than a mountain that is above “see level.”

We as believers need not to get caught up on where it was given, but Who was giving it (Jesus). He commanded His disciples to go make disciples of all nations.

What does a disciple do after he has been taught the things of God? He then gets baptized. Jesus then says, “baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

And surely I [Jesus] am with you always, to the very end of this age.” I want to point out that God watches over His Word.

2 Timothy 3:16 says, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”

If we say that what is recorded in Acts 2:38 is more important than what Jesus says in Matthew 28: 19 than we choose Peter’s words over the words of Jesus, if that is so with Jesus being God, we basically chose mans words over God.

Luke was describing the effect of Christian baptism the person baptized comes under the authority of Jesus. Keep in mind that this authority came from the Father. Luke was not giving standardized formula to be pronounced at baptism. In the name of meant “under the authority or influence of.” More important than the formula pronounced over the person being baptized is that person’s confession of faith in Jesus (Acts 22:16; Rom 10:10; Acts 2:38; 8:14-16; 10:48).

I also want to point out that at Jesus’ Baptism by John the Holy Spirit descended from heaven like a dove and remained upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Jesus tells us to obey His commandments and that is exactly what I aim to do.

I am also very familiar that Acts 4:12 says “Nor is there salvation in any other name under heaven given among men which we must be saved.” When dealing with the Godhead you cannot take one without the other.

The Word of God tells us that each teacher will be held accountable for who they lead astray, so Jesus will be held accountable if His Words in Matt 28: 19 are not correct. However, I want to say thank you for your time you took to read this.

 

Sincerely,

Andrew Williams

I just wanted to mention that my wife Jody is the backbone of our ministry. It is her diligent work ethic, her complete commitment to our students that keep us going, day to day, she never stops.

I believe her motivation is Love.

Love of God

Love of her fellow man

Love of the prisoners.

My Testimony by Janet Swopes

So far I have visited with one contact,

I truly enjoyed it and mailed my written testimony with a short note to 3 others.

I am excited about this opportunity to do the Lord’s  will!!

This is my testimony, and every word is true. I was in a body of water felt like a lake. I was deep in the center above me I could see the sunlight and I could see my granddaughters Swimming below me the water was dark, death I sensed that it was cold, above me it was light and warm, life, I know God was with me I felt his love for me and his power, all his power! He is so powerful! I asked Him if I could stay and be with my family And I felt Him lift me up and here I am alive, alive on Earth, on Earth with my family! This happened while I was on the ventilator, I am positive of that. I was in The Valley of the shadow of death and God was with me. I know He was with me. He is always with me but at that moment when I was dying, He made His presence known and I actually talked to Him. I asked Him a question and He answered it! I know I am a true miracle. God still performs miracles. God is still with us He is taking care of us. He is here for us. He is at the door, all we have to do is open it. He has saved me so many times and by the grace of God I am still here. He sent his son, Jesus to die for us so that our sins could be forgiven because He loves us so much, thank you Jesus! Thank you, God!

This story is true, and at the time it happened I was in the hospital, Hillcrest South in Tulsa. I had covid, I had it bad! I had triple pneumonia, and I was on the ventilator. I was on the ventilator for 48 days, the mortality rate at the time was 95%. I am 59 years old so I was in the high risk category.

I was dying. God was with me in the valley of the shadow of death. This happened in 2021 the month of June.

At the time I belonged, still do, to the

Church of Christ Grand Avenue in

Okmulgee. My church family was praying for me, my family in Florida, was praying for me, my husband, my daughters my sons-in-laws all were praying for me, praying hard! God answered each and every one of their prayers! God answered my simple request! God will answer yours if you just ask!  But you have to believe! You have to accept Jesus as your savior! And you have to do His will! But the rewards are mind-boggling they are so numerous and Powerful! Our Father in Heaven can do anything!!

 

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.