Hi, This is Tex. My calling is discipleship: knowing, being, making and teaching others to make disciples for Jesus. A big part of being a disciple is in being involved with “extra-church” activities, where you develop relationships with people who are NOT your garden variety church-goers. Prison ministry is one of those activities. I’ve been involved in prison ministry for about 16 years now, and the Holy Spirit moves in prisons in a way He hardly ever moves in traditional church. Below is a letter from Jim, a brother of mine in the Jubilee Prison Ministry. This story is about a prison ministry weekend that happened a few weeks ago near Houston.
I have been serving in prison on Jubilee or Kairos weekends for 17 years. Many of you have supported my efforts over the years (thank you!) and have often asked me what happens on these weekends. So I thought you might enjoy the following story – I’m a CFO, cynic and pessimist but this story is miraculous (or very close to it).
I was the leader of Jubilee #1 at the Scott unit in Angleton 3 weeks ago. One of my jobs was to assign the 25 or so talks to our volunteers. Most of the Scott #1 volunteers were new, so I didn’t know them – so had little insight to help assign the right talk to the “right” person. So I asked God to somehow intervene as I made “random” talk assignments. I assigned the “Forgiving Others” talk to Joseph, one of 3 volunteers who came from San Antonio to serve. Joseph is a relatively new Christian, and is also an ex offender, so when he heard about Jubilee he believed God had called him and agreed to participate. Our weekend started early Friday morning. Joseph’s talk occurred Saturday afternoon. Here is a summary of his talk:
“My little brother was murdered on April 1st. I was very close to him, and was unbelievably upset, angry and full of hatred at the man who killed him. I started planning my revenge – when, where and how I was going to kill the man who murdered my little brother. But then I agreed to serve on this Jubilee weekend. Continue reading
The question for today is: Can a believer in Jesus trust God for the healing (inside or outside) of another person? The answer (or at least one answer) is found in Mark 2:1-12, where it tells the story of four men who brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus to be healed. When they got to His house, they couldn’t even get in the door, so they went up on the roof, cut a hole, and lowered the guy down into the room, right beside Jesus. Then verse 5 says, “Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ ” When the Pharisees condemned Him for forgiving sins, denying His authority, He said, “I’ll prove that I have the authority to forgive sins.” He turned to the man and said, “Stand up, get your mat and go home.” Miraculous healing.
In John 8:3-9 is this story: “Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught[b] in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” . . . He said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” . . . Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. . . . ” He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
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