2003 Conference - Carol Stream, Illinois
The first annual DPMN Conference began at 5:00 PM, Thursday September 4, 2003
with a welcome dinner for the 24 conference attendees. The theme of the
conference was PAH! I Prison, You Came and it was based on Matthew 25:35-36.
The focus was to recognize the great need for reaching out to the Deaf in
prison, but before we can begin to do this, we need to have a great network
of support, resources and training to effectively meet those needs. Phillip
Easterling led the devotionals and maintained the focus throughout the
conference by preaching from The Three Chairs message from Dr. Bruce Wilkinson's
book titled Experiencing Spiritual Breakthroughs: The Powerful Principle of the
Three Chairs.
Scott DeLoach led the business aspect of the conference by having
brainstorming sessions and business meetings to form and solidify Deaf Prison
Network's position in becoming a non-profit organization. During the conference,
Scott gathered a list of visions, desires, needs and issues from everyone. This
information will be used to help the DPMN board continue to shape the goals of
DPMN and its future conferences.
Aside from Phillip's daily devotionals and Scott's general DPMN meetings, we had
4 great speakers:
Arthur Craig gave a presentation on The Criminal Mind and shared
with us on the deception, tricks and schemes that prisoners often play in
order to manipulate and gather information for their own personal gain. This
was important as it taught us to always be on our guard when working with
prisoners, especially when we are on a mission to help them break free from
the bondage and trap of sin and prison life.
Bert Thompson shared with us the need for restorative justice and
after care. Too often when prisoners are released from prison, if they do not
find a good support system they often go back to a life of crime and return to
prison. Too often, most prison ministries focus on ministering within the
prison walls but forget to minister to ex-convicts as well. Bert shared his
testimonies and experiences with First Contact, a ministry geared towards
aftercare.
Manny Mill from Koinonia House gave a very dynamic and encouraging
talk about being responsible stewards for Christ by being a good neighbor to
our brothers and sisters, even those who are in prison or ex-convicts. Manny
himself is an ex-con who found the Lord prior to turning himself over to the
FBI and being sentenced to federal prison for 3 years. Since being released,
Manny founded Koinonia House, a prison after-care ministry to help prisoners
return back into society grounded in their faith with the Lord.
Redd Flett gave an inspiring talk on Prisoners for God based on
Acts 16:18-40
In addition to the presentations, we also watched two videos:
Personal testimonies of Deaf prisoners in Huntsville, Texas. Several
prisoners shared their testimonies of how God had reached out to them through
Woodhaven Baptist Deaf Church's prison ministry.
Movie: Son of Sam - the personal testimony of David Berkowitz, a notorious
criminal who found peace with God. David spoke about how a small decision that
he made cost him his life in prison without parole.
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