| Volume 1, Issue 6 | September 2007 |
The 5th annual Deaf Prison Ministries Network Conference was a historical event
when we met on September 6, 7 and 8th at the Prison Fellowship headquarters in
Lansdowne, Virgina. Over 60 people participated in the conference which was
themed From Death Row to Life Row. The focus of the conference was
to show that all of us, including prisoners are on "Death Row" because of sin,
but through the grace of God we can be on "Life Row". This is the message
of hope we can bring to those who are in prison.
The conference kicked off on Thursday night with a panel discussion led by
Mark Ehrlichmann of Maryland. We had three people on our panel, all were
prisoners at one time. The hearing man on the left is Dennis Sobin. Dennis shared
with us how he was falsely charged but did not allow his experience
in prison discourage him. Instead he turned to art to help him make his
time in prison a positive experience. The deaf man in the middle is Bob
Lenderman. Bob was in federal prison for 18 months. Bob gave a very powerful
testimony of his experience leading up to and including his time in prison.
Bob explained in detail what it was like being deaf in prison. The hearing
man on the right is Quinn Law. Quinn was a drug dealer and served time in
prison. While Quinn was in prison, he found Jesus and it changed his life.
Today, Quinn frequently speaks to groups sharing his powerful testimony of
how Jesus changed his life and brought him to "Life Row".
On Friday, we had three intensive workshops led by Prison Fellowship. Dave
Heffington (shown in the picture) is our Prison Fellowship liason. The
workshops covered were: Volunteers in Prison,
The Basics of Mentoring and Developing an Aftercare/Reentry
Strategy. There was much information shared and everyone benefited from
the workshops. The workshops
allowed us to have a better understanding of how to effectively minister to
people in prison.
Then on Friday evening, we had two keynote speakers. Our first keynote speaker was Rev. Joo Kang, who is Deaf. Rev. Kang was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea. As a young child, he came to know the Lord and became a deaf pastor to a deaf Presbyterian church in Seoul. During his pastorate in Korea, he had the opportunity to go into a Korean prison. Rev. Kang shared with us what it was like for deaf prisoners in Korea. We learned that the Korean prison is very different than what we see here in America. Most of the deaf prisoners in Korea were arrested for purse snatching because the deaf in Korea are very oppressed and do not make much money. It was enlightening to learn from Rev. Kang about Deaf prisoners from another country.
Our second keynote speaker was Warden Alexis Chase. Warden Chase is the warden
for the Men's State Prison in Hardwick, Georgia. This prison houses all of the
disabled and elderly male prisoners for the State of Georiga. There are 12 deaf
men at this prison. Warden Chase helped us understand better how the prison
system sees their inmates and why they do the things that they do. Warden
Chase has a big desire for the Deaf in her prison to know the Lord and be on
"Life Row" with Christ.
On Saturday morning, Scott DeLoach, our Executive Director gave a presentation on the vision of Deaf Prison Ministries Network. Scott talked about Healing Hands Ranch and what it would look like once all the captial improvement projects were completed. Scott also gave many ideas of how Deaf Prison Ministries Network could expand and grow.
Deaf Prison Ministries Network would like to extend a special thank you
to Dave Heffington of Prison Fellowship,
Niel Augstine and his deaf congregation at
First Baptist Church, Alexandria, Virginia and Mark Ehlrichmann of
Embracing Lambs Ministries
for hosting
this year's conference. Our conference host worked very hard to make this
conference successful. Many of the conference attendees left very motivated
to go out and make a difference in the lives of Deaf people affected by crime.
On September 17, 2007 another historical event occured.
Our very first resident, Steven Bullard, came to live at Healing Hands Ranch.
Steven is 21 years old and was in jail for 5 months then on probation for
2 years. Although Steven has already finished his probation, he expressed
desire to change his life so that he won't be trapped into an inappropriate
lifestyle.
We will
be working with Steven to give him life skills, bible classes, and job training
so that he can be successfully re-integrated back into society.
Steven's personal mentor, Don Payne, will be working with Steven to give him
the encouragement and support that he will need in order to succeed at
Healing Hands Ranch. Please pray for Don and Steven that the Lord will
be gracious to them as they work together to achieve Steven's goals.
Meanwhile, we will be soon inviting 3 more residents
to join us in the near future and we will be announcing them in our future
newsletter.
During the month of September, we had two church groups come to Healing Hands Ranch and continue to make improvements to the property. The group on the left is the Hands of Praise Deaf choir from the Belle Park Baptist Church in Haughton, Louisana. The group on the right is the singles ministry from First Baptist Church of Houston, Texas. Both groups worked hard mowing, building decks, repairing stair rails, and cleaning up the property. We would like to extend a great appreciation to those two groups who came with a true heart of service!
If your church group would like to come to Healing Hands Ranch and experience
a missions project, please contact
us and we will be happy to work with you to organize a trip.
Thank you for your prayers and support!
Click here to subscribe to this eNewsletter
Click here to send email to the editor of this eNewsletter