Inmates make commitments during jailhouse service

As a small crowd of volunteers, family members and officers looked on, 23 inmates at the Randolph County jail in Wedowee publicly declared their faith in Jesus Christ and were baptized in a jailhouse service May 25.
   
The baptismal service was the first for the prison and a first for the prison ministry that began in April with volunteers from several Randolph County churches of various denominations.
   
Each Thursday night, four teams of volunteers lead Bible study with the male inmates at the prison. Another team of volunteers leads Bible study with the female inmates. According to Bob Hamrick, coordinator of the prison ministry and member of First Baptist Church, Wedowee, each inmate who comes to the prison is offered a Bible and Bible study materials, as well as the opportunity to participate in the Thursday night Bible studies.
   
“We are trying to plant seeds here, but we don’t force anyone to participate,” Hamrick said. “We give each inmate a Bible and study materials, and whether they’re here five days or five years, the materials are theirs to keep.”
   
All the inmates who were baptized had made professions of faith during these Thursday night Bible studies and wanted to follow through with their commitment, Hamrick said. So on this Thursday night, Hamrick and other volunteers set up a portable baptistry in a fenced yard adjacent to the prison. Team leaders then went to their study groups and talked to the inmates once more about the meaning of baptism.
   
“We’ve talked to the inmates before about baptism,” said Trent Tomlinson, a volunteer from Trinity Baptist Church, Roanoke. “But we wanted to make sure they understand that baptism isn’t what saves them, that they are only saved by belief in Jesus Christ.”
   
As the volunteers prepared for the service, sheriff’s deputies led the inmates out of the jail in small groups. One by one, each inmate stepped forward and was baptized as others in their group watched from a nearby basketball court. Barry Cosper, then pastor of Trinity and chaplain at the prison, baptized each inmate. Cosper is now pastor of Canaan Baptist in Bessemer.
   
Hamrick and other volunteers hope the baptismal service will help the new Christians stay focused on Christ even after they are released.
   
And although only a few of the inmates were baptized as members of local churches, Tomlinson said encouraging the inmates in their Christian walk both now and later is a top priority.
   
“It is our full intent to keep up with these folks when they get out,” Tomlinson said.