September 2024
Spending time at a state prison is a learning experience.
Newly arriving inmates go to the chapel to request an “A & R Bag” (Assessment and Reception) bag and fellow inmates working at the chapel provide instruction of the services provided and offer to pray with the newcomers. That is how many inmates start to attend the chapel services and find a place to belong rather than joining a prison gang. It’s where many commit their lives to Christ for the first time.
Inmates who attend the chapel services where I teach as a volunteer often tithe $2 to $4 monthly to a fund that helps provide newcomers with these bags at their newly assigned prison. In the bag are hotel-sized deodorant, soap, and shampoo, a toothbrush and toothpaste, a razor, and a pair of shower sandals.
The items in the bag will only provide what they need for a few days until they get oriented to their new facility. Where I serve, the chapel gives away 30 bags per month. DoorWays® recently provided the resources needed to fill 50 of these bags at a cost of just $10 per bag.
This means 30 men each month are introduced to a place where they can find fellowship, instruction, and tools that alter their destinies.
- It’s a place where they can learn of the value they have in Christ Jesus.
- It’s a place where I and other volunteers have the opportunity to share the love, grace, and joy found in following Jesus.
- I am a witness to how it changes the hearts, lives, and families of these men.
Would you help us provide these important bags for new inmates? You can give online at https://doorways.cc/give or by texting any amount to 918-208-0866 and adding the word “Prison” in the message area. You can also send a check to DoorWays® for any amount and include the word, “Prison,” in the memo line. Can you help with one, five, or even ten bags?
The motto of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections is “We Change Lives.” But lives can’t be changed if hearts go untouched. We want to see both – changed hearts and changed lives.