Prison Ministry

Today was the prison's annual Volunteer Banquet.  Technically I'm a volunteer but I usually only make it to the banquet LOL  Jon works at a very unique prison.  It has several mental health units, a hospice unit, a medical unit and an elderly  unit. 

 He has developed a strong volunteer base, I think he has the most volunteers per inmate ratio in the state- or he had the last time I heard the statistics.   While Jon is a conservative protestant, his volunteers come from every religion and christian denomination.   He tries to have a volunteer for each religion/denomination represented by the inmates, so their spiritual needs can be met if they desire it. 

The volunteers are very committed.  It's a lot of work to go into a prison, paperwork, time involved and travel.  Even coming through security takes awhile.  Jon has been at this prison for 8 years and for 8 years I've been seeing the same faces every year at the banquet.  It's very good to see such commitment. 

This is Jon's 20th year of being a chaplain and he absolutely loves his job.  The administration and staff are good folks to work with, people have a good work ethic and are pleasant.  He has support of the chapel programs by his warden and assistant wardens. In fact today's meal was made and served by staff who came in on their day off!   His prison is very rehabilitation and restorative based.  .They want to help the men to be ready to go back to the outside world with good skills!  They don't want to see them unless they come in to volunteer AND that happens!  I met the most pleasant man today who by God's help has turned his life completely around.  He's been out a few years and his life is going great.  He is fully serving the Lord and in ministry.  He is now a volunteer at the very prison he was in!  I LOVE stories like that! 

Jon surprised me today and brought me up on stage.  He told the group that I supported him and made it easy for him to do his ministry.  I had a few minutes to talk and shared to them how much Jon truly loves what he does.  I shared that when he first became a chaplain I was not too thrilled because I was more on the "law and order side" as a probation officer.  But over the years how I've seen how the chaplaincy can make a difference in inmate's lives. 

The main speaker was another chaplain who is actually a Ukrainian!  It was good to have some time to talk with him.  Plus he is a good speaker.   It was a good banquet and everything went great. 

If you are interested in prison ministry, call your local prison or even county jail and ask for the chaplain's office.  They can tell you how to apply to volunteer. 


Well I don't know if you've seen the news but there was snow in Florida....about 200 miles north of us!  But it is COLD here- my thermometer  reads only 58 degrees. Yall know we are not used to that!  It's supposed to be cool for about two weeks.  We usually don't have this kind of weather in December.  Usually we have a few weeks of cold weather in January but this is nice.  We get to wear our cold weather clothes for a few days:)  I just bought Sarah the cutest fleeced sweatshirt.   I'm rather addicted to buying her clothes.  I can't hardly buy Selah any clothes because she has nurses that adore her and she has a fan club LOL  Her closet is not as deep as my closet but it's only a little smaller and is filled with clothes.  I have to buy the practical things for her.  Selah is a little bigger than Sarah but they have such totally different body shapes that they seldom can wear the same clothes.  Shad and Sam are the same way.  But we are looking forward to our little winter for the next few days before we get back to regular Florida weather.