Well Done Good and Faithful Servant
Tom Beatty, Director of New Life Corrections, a ministry of Wayside Cross, went home to be with Jesus on September 5th, five months after being diagnosed with cancer. Tom was a brother in Christ, a prison ministry colleague and a friend who was also a great influence to me personally in my serving in prison ministry.
More importantly though he had a powerful influence in bringing the Gospel and love of Christ to the incarcerated men and women of Illinois Department of Corrections and the four Federal prisons in Illinois through his programs ‘Transforming Incarcerated Dads,’ ‘Freedom From Fear’ and the distribution of literature in Stateville’s Northern Receiving and Classification and other county jails. To accomplish all of this Tom recruited over 400 volunteers.
Rich Hines a friend and colleague of Tom’s said ‘How fitting that Tom should die on Labor Day, his being such a laborer for the Kingdom.’ Indeed Tom was.
I learned a lot from Tom. He encouraged me to become ordained minister thus allowing me to be able to do pastoral visits in the county jails.
Tom very much looked forward to going home to be with Jesus. However he did not stop laboring for the Kingdom as he shared the Gospel with unsaved family to the last day. When I first heard of Tom’s diagnosis I did not known the extent and when I inquired in an e-mail his response was ‘The doctors say 6 - 10 months, God says eternal life’. Tom will truly be missed, but through God’s grace it will be only for awhile
Barbed Wire Spikes - Short Barbed Wire News Items
October in November - If you’re wondering if this issue of The Barbed Wire is late, it is. Personal health issues and just a lot of busy prevented me in finding the time to write this issue. Barring health and time restraints I hope to have the next edition of the Barbed Wire distributed the first week of January 2017.
Pursuing a Hope in Rockford - You may remember the mention of Anthony wishing to get connected to a church upon parole. SOCPM introduced him to a church partner ‘Living Stones’ pastored by Jeremiah Griffen. They began communicating and Anthony shared with me a few months back that getting connected to Pastor Griffen this was the first time, after four previous paroles only to be sent back to prison, that he had a true hope of staying out this time. Anthony paroled October 20. I contacted Pastor Griffen on October 21 who confirmed that Anthony did contact him. Praise God. It is a long road ahead for Anthony but it is a joy knowing he was vigilant in pursuing that hope he expressed by getting him and his family connected to a church upon parole. Please pray that Anthony continues the pursuit of that hope.
Malachi Dads
SOCPM is changing the primary curriculum in the Christian Living program. Beginning with the Sheridan Winter 2016 session (Dec. 2016) the new curriculum will be Awana Lifeline’s Malachi Dads. It is a return of sorts to a program SOCPM taught in October 2010 to August 2011. However, at that time, Awana Lifeline’s Malachi Dads program was a whole different curriculum.
It was then a yearlong curriculum and resulted in a high drop out rate. SOCPM consulted with the then Assistant Warden of Programs at Sheridan, Mary Johnson, about the high drop out rate and she suggested reducing the length of a curriculum to 10-12 weeks. Following the advice of Warden Johnson SOCPM adapted the last module of the old Malachi Dads program “InsideOut Dad Christian” so it could be taught in a 10-12 week time frame. In November 2011 SOCPM implemented what SOCPM called “Christian Living: Renewing Fatherhood” and since has taught 30 classes using the InsideOut Dad curriculum at Sheridan and Dixon.
This past August, Sheridan approached SOCPM about teaching Awana Lifeline’s revised Malachi Dad’s curriculum. Initially SOCPM was concerned that the complete curriculum, which consists of 4 books on average would run XX weeks and would result in a return to high dropout rate. After expressing that concern Awana Lifeline agreed with SOCPM’s suggestion of teaching each book as an individual class. A student will receive an SOCPM certificate for each attended class. After a student has attended all four classes he will receive a certificate from Awana Lifeline for completion of the entire Malachi Dads curriculum.
As for curriculum content “InsideOut Dad Christian” was a revision of a non-Christian version of “InsideOut Dad” and SOCPM personally felt the Christian content was not as strong as SOCPM was seeking. For sometime SOCPM was planning to write its own curriculum but it became clear an, with an already heavy schedule, it was not going to happen. When SOCPM was given the new Malachi Dad’s curriculum for review it was clearly more Christian based meeting SOCPM’s desire for a stronger Christian based content. Also the cost of the Awana Lifeline books are much lower than the InsideOut Dad workbook. With Awana Lifeline willing to reduce the shipping cost, SOCPM is saving 50% annually.
A more solid Christian based curriculum at half the costs it doesn’t take a Harvard Business graduate to determine that Malachi Dads would be a good choice. After a couple of weeks of prayerful consideration SCOPM has partnered with Awana Lifeline to teach Malachi Dads as “Christian Living: Malachi Dads” in Sheridan beginning December 2016 and plans to begin teaching at Dixon at a yet undetermined date.
SOCPM and Awana Lifeline have also discussed brining Malachi Dads to Chicagoland county jails. SOCPM would oversee the partnering with the various county jails and the teachings. Awana Lifeline would help assist with recruiting volunteers.
SOCPM asks for prayers in the implementation of the Malachi Dads to reach deeply into the hearts of the SOCPM students, and that they would hear weekly the need of the Gospel in their lives. Additionally please pray for God’s leading in possible future teachings of Malachi Dads in county jails.
October in November?
If you’re wondering if this issue of The Barbed Wire is late, it is. Personal health issues and just a lot of busy prevented me in finding the time to write this issue. Barring health and time restraints I hope to have the next edition of the Barbed Wire distributed the first week of January 2017.
Pursuing a Hope in Rockford
You may remember the mention of Anthony wishing to get connected to a church upon parole. SOCPM introduced him to a church partner ‘Living Stones’ pastored by Jeremiah Griffen. They began communicating and Anthony shared with me a few months back that getting connected to Pastor Griffen this was the first time, after four previous paroles only to be sent back to prison, that he had a true hope of stay ing out this time. Anthony paroled October 20. I contacted Pastor Griffen on October 21 who confirmed that Anthony did contact him. Praise God. It is a long road ahead for Anthony but it is a joy knowing he was vigilant in pursuing that hope he expressed by getting him and his family connected to a church upon parole. Please pray that Anthony continues the pursuit of that hope.
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