Two hours. That’s all the time Eddie Hall has when he visits with inmates in Alabama’s prisons. But he knows those 120 minutes can result in where those inmates spend eternity.
“I get to talk to them, minister to them one-on-one,” Hall said. “They get saved, all kind of things happen.
“It’s a ministry opportunity,” said Hall, a member of McElwain Baptist Church, Birmingham. “When I go in the jails, I spend two hours there and it’s a ministry opportunity. It can be one-on-one, group ministry, we do it all kinds of ways — we do everything but baptize them.”
Hall’s efforts are among those of many Alabama Baptists who are involved in ministering to the state’s inmate population. From visiting with inmates and helping their families to assisting through financial efforts and donations, Alabama Baptists are fulfilling the Great Commission by ministering to these individuals.
Ray Baker, an associate in the office of Christian ethics/chaplaincy ministries with the State Board of Missions, said numerous opportunities exist for Baptists to help inmates and their families.
“The biggest thing that we need are people who are willing to develop a relationship with an assigned inmate from their area and their family and to be a friend to that individual,” Baker noted.
He said visiting an inmate once a month or once a quarter can make a difference in their lives. He added inmate families are also in need of everything from transportation and financial assistance to tutoring for children.
“Something a family could do is possibly provide transportation for an inmate’s family — where there’s parents or a spouse or children — to visit the inmate at the institution,” Baker said, noting many inmates have no visitors.
Baker said helping inmates and their families does not only make a difference in their rehabilitation, but can also help the inmate integrating into a church family prior to their release. The inmates also need support after they are released, he added.
“Once that individual is released, church members can help them find employment and a way of staying out of prison,” Baker said.
Writing letters to inmates is another ministry in which church members can become involved, said Tom Gibson. A member of Dauphin Way Baptist Church, Mobile, Gibson said many inmates have been abandoned by their families and need someone with whom to communicate. Gibson said he has been involved with prison ministry for approximately 12 years, regularly visiting with inmates and leading a Bible study at J.O. Davis and Fountain correctional facilities, both in Atmore, along with a third facility in Mississippi. Addressing its importance, he said witnessing to inmates offers a chance for rehabilitation that no prison system can produce.
“I don’t necessarily have much faith in rehabilitating a man from the outside in,” Gibson said. “Just because you lock him up and let him do penance, there’s no guarantee he’s going to be rehabilitated.
“I believe there’s only one way to rehabilitate a person, whether in jail or not and that’s from the inside out,” Gibson added. “If we have hopes of rehabilitating them, I think Christ is the only hope.”
The holidays offer another area for ministry identified by Gibson. He said Sunday School classes can collect toiletries and other items for inmates during the holiday season.
“I basically believe that when you minister, you speak the truth in love,” Gibson said. “When you show the love of Christ by providing for some of their physical needs, it ministers to them and it shows them that someone does care.”
Discussing another area in which Baptists are helping inmates and their families, Baker said the Alabama Baptist Children’s Home and Family Ministries adopts the babies of females inmates. The Children’s Homes also places babies of inmates with short sentences in foster care so mothers can visit their children until they are released and then regain custody.
Hall, who visits with inmates at the correctional facility in Talladega twice each month and three times monthly at prisons in Jefferson County, works to restore families.
“The goal is to bring families back together and if you’re going to do that, you’ve got to start with the men,” Hall said.
“They need to be taught how to be the men God has designed them to be, the godly men that they should be,” Hall added.
More than 800 inmates made professions of faith at the recent Bill Glass Weekend. The evangelical weekend, held March 16–18, took place at correctional facilities throughout Alabama and parts of Florida. The event featured sports and entertainment figures, along with sky divers and rodeo wranglers, some of whom shared their testimony and the difference Christ has made in their lives since they were saved.
“And then they transitioned into the one-on-one volunteers on the ground who sat down and led these inmates into making these decisions,” Baker said.
He said follow-ups on those inmates and their families is an opportunity for Baptists to become involved in prison ministry.
Baker said his office is placing church members with inmates who asked for a follow-up visit. Encouraging families not to give up on their loved ones is one goal of the weekend, Baker said.
For information on how to help with Alabama Baptist prison ministries, contact Baker at 1-800-264-1225.
Bullock-Centennial helps fund chaplain in Union Springs
Bullock-Centennial Baptist Association is helping fund a Baptist chaplain in the prison system. The association established a trust fund with The Baptist Foundation of Alabama (BFA) that provides for a chaplain in the Bullock County Correctional Facility in Union Springs.
The trust fund has been named the Barney F. Ferguson Memorial Prison Ministry Fund. Ferguson served as director of missions for Bullock-Centennial until his death in 1999. A local committee appointed by the association will allocate funds according to the trust document managed by BFA.
The trust fund stipulates that the funds must be used for a Baptist chaplaincy ministry at the Bullock County Correctional Facility unless such a ministry is prohibited there. If such a ministry is prohibited, then the interest generated by the trust will be made available to one of the Barbour County prison facilities for a Baptist chaplain’s ministry.
The Union Springs facility was built in 1987 by the state of Alabama. Six years later several denominations spearheaded an effort to build a chapel at the facility. Money from the Ferguson Trust Fund, established in 1999, helps fund the services of Ted Youngblood, a part-time Baptist chaplain at the facility. Youngblood also is director of missions for Bullock-Centennial.
Income from a family trust was also used by BFA in helping to build the chapel. (BFA)
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