Participants:
Series Code: TDYL
Program Code: TDYL240035B
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00:09 So I'm so glad you stuck with us for the second hour.
00:13 It's gonna be another Power Packed Hour. 00:15 You're gonna hear all about what God is doing through the wonderful 00:19 ministry of Christmas Behind Bars. 00:22 We played a little bit of musical chairs, but we still have Lemuel. 00:25 And Lemuel, I'm gonna let you go ahead and take it away and 00:28 introduce who we have here with us. 00:30 Jay, the first hour was phenomenal. 00:32 It shares testimonies of people that's been incarcerated. 00:35 And the sheriff is somebody that runs a whole county. 00:39 So he's in charge of that dynamic. 00:41 And so we're grateful to have Mr. Sprouls back. 00:46 He was in our first hour. 00:48 We have Vicki Funk. 00:49 And Vicki is our program coordinator for the whole state of 00:52 Illinois. 00:53 And that's phenomenal. 00:54 She's helped connect the dots with Chaplain Welch. 00:57 So Chaplain Welch is actually a chaplain at the Decatur Illinois 01:01 Prison. 01:05 Christ, for these people. 01:07 We have Michael. 01:07 He traveled up here from Kentucky. 01:10 Now Michael actually has received packages, but he's also been able 01:13 to go back, give back, hand them out. 01:16 And when he goes into that door, they say, wow, what are you doing 01:19 here? 01:22 We have Mitchell Barfield, which is near and dear to our heart and the 01:25 ministry. 01:29 years. 01:30 And it's a great blessing. 01:31 Mitchell, thank you for traveling up here as well. 01:33 Amen. 01:34 Amen. 01:36 I'm looking forward to hearing your story and the impact that you've 01:40 been able to make by the grace of God. 01:42 But Lemuel, we have a video that we're getting ready to go to. 01:46 Why don't you tell us a little bit about what we can expect? 01:49 In this next video, we're going to see how important these packages 01:53 are to the family members. 01:55 We just delivered last week 1,600 packages to the maximum security 01:59 prison where I was in prison. 02:00 The next morning, I got a phone call and it was from this lady 02:04 saying that her husband, 30 years incarcerated, just went to prison 02:09 and she's holding on and she called to say, thank you. 02:12 That's where we're going. 02:13 Wow. 02:17 Hi, my name is Leah and my husband is incarcerated in the state of 02:21 Indiana. 02:25 with their time, their money and their resources to Christmas Behind 02:28 Bars. 02:32 to inmates. 02:33 It doesn't just mean a lot to inmates, but to their families. 02:36 It can often feel like that we are forgotten about as a spouse of an 02:40 inmate or a loved one. 02:41 It can be very disheartening to know that there are men and women 02:45 who take their time to go into the prison and even make my husband a 02:48 homemade car means so much. 02:50 You are not forgotten. 02:53 Please continue to pray for inmates and for their families and thank 02:56 you again to our sponsors. 02:57 God bless you. 03:00 Hi, my name is Francisco Souza. 03:03 I'm a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church here in Lafayette, 03:06 Tennessee. 03:12 ministries and help other people with literary and some snacks, 03:18 good. 03:24 ago, and he promised God, if you bless me, get out of here, this 03:29 situation, I will be involved on the ministry of helping others and 03:35 everybody in the prison. 03:38 When we go visit them, they ask Francisco when Christmas beheads by 03:42 coming, when Christmas behead by coming. 03:45 Serve is one of the best things which Christians is supposed to do 03:50 today, especially living on this time is a such a time is today. 03:57 God bless you. 03:59 And if you have a chance to support this ministry, Christmas behind 04:04 bars, do it because we do it for Jesus. 04:08 Thank you. 04:09 God bless you. 04:10 My name is Chaplain William Douglas Walker. 04:12 I'm the chaplain at A.T.E.F. 04:15 Alabama Thayer Public Education Facility. 04:17 It's a reentry facility owned by G .O. 04:20 Group. 04:25 But first, I want to let you know that God has delivered me from 04:28 alcohol and drugs and all criminal activities for 30 years. 04:33 And so I said to God, if he pulled me out, I would go back in. 04:37 So I've been in prison ministry for about 28 years, and I'm just 04:42 delighted to be able to show back what God gave to me. 04:46 And so when I met Nabil O'Fagar, automatically we kind of had tender 04:53 experience. 04:54 And when I heard about him, and some of the ladies and some of the 04:58 men that my facility had heard about, and I finally got in touch 05:01 with him, and I tapped into it, and man, it was right on time. 05:05 And he delivered. 05:06 Not only he delivered once, but he delivered twice. 05:09 And they are asking me now, when is he coming back? 05:12 So I'm just grateful that God has put on this heart. 05:16 Thank God for all the labor of love. 05:18 Thank God for all the contributions, all the people who 05:21 help, all the people who give. 05:22 Please keep giving, because one thing about it, Jesus said, when I 05:25 was hungry, you didn't feed me. 05:27 When I was cold, you didn't bring me no clothes. 05:29 When I was thirsty, you didn't bring me no water. 05:32 So it is good to be able to give to somebody who really needed, really 05:37 wanted, really need that second chance, that hope or love, that 05:42 love that nobody seemed to want to give it to him. 05:46 So I'm just grateful to be able to be on this video. 05:51 Hi, my name's Cody, and I just go around with this Christmas Behind 05:55 Bars, and I watch miracles happen. 05:58 And there was a guy that I'm dealing with right now, and he's in 06:03 a prison, and he's doing good. 06:04 He's actually out of the prison now at a work release. 06:07 But he'd done a lot of time in prison. 06:10 And when he arrived at the county jail he was in, he was suicidal. 06:15 He was so depressed, and he lost all hope. 06:18 And he was tired that one day, Christmas Behind Bars showed up at 06:24 that county jail. 06:25 And he received a package. 06:27 And when he received that package, he went from wanting to take his 06:31 life to having life. 06:33 He went from the darkness to the light. 06:35 It changed his whole deal. 06:38 And I just want someone to know out there that there is a hope in Jesus 06:43 Christ, our Lord and Savior. 06:45 And I want to read you a scripture that says in Psalms 42, he also 06:51 brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set 06:57 my feet upon a rock. 06:59 And he established my steps. 07:04 In Romans 12, 12, it says, rejoicing in hope, patient in 07:10 tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer. 07:15 I would like to pray today and hope that someone that hears this 07:18 prayer, and I'm just doing this for the Lord to reach to someone who 07:24 right now may be suicidal, depressed, so aggravated and 07:29 frustrated. 07:29 They don't know what to do. 07:30 They don't know how to cry out. 07:32 I'm going to cry out for you. 07:35 Father God, we just come to you right now in the name of Jesus 07:38 Christ, Lord. 07:39 I just ask you for a hope. 07:42 And I ask you right now, there's somebody right now that is so tired 07:46 they can't do it no more. 07:48 I ask you to give them a hope and a future like you said in Jeremiah 07:51 29, 11. 07:53 You know the plans for their life, Lord. 07:55 And Father, I just ask that this reaches someone, someone's ears 08:00 because I didn't know how to pray before that you stepped in on me 08:05 one day in that jail cell and change the whole deal. 08:10 And Father, I'm so grateful because today I do have hope. 08:14 I do have an endurance that I never had before. 08:17 I do have a strength that I never had before. 08:20 I do have clarity and I am clean today only because of you, Father 08:25 God. 08:30 And I ask you to hold up whoever's wanting to give up. 08:34 I ask you for mercy to rain down from the heavens over them. 08:37 I ask you to carry them through right now. 08:40 And Father, we just thank you for loving on us and getting us to 08:44 where we need to get to. 08:45 And I thank you, Lord, for going forth on this Christmas behind 08:49 bars, on any prison ministries that gives someone a hope. 08:54 And I watch Christmas behind bars. 08:56 I've heard story after story of how it's gave people hope in a dark 09:01 place. 09:03 Some of them will never have a visitor. 09:05 They'll never have no one put any money on their books. 09:08 They'll never have a phone call. 09:10 And Christmas behind bars will show up and give them a hope and give 09:15 them a visit when they feel like everybody has abandoned them. 09:19 And I thank you, Lord, for this ministry. 09:21 I thank you, Father God, for going before us. 09:24 And I thank you for giving them a hope and a future right where 09:28 they're at. 09:33 right where they're at. 09:34 It don't matter whether they're dressed out in street clothes or 09:38 dressed out in prison clothes. 09:40 They can have freedom right where they're at. 09:43 And Lord, I thank you for that. 09:45 In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. 09:47 Amen. 09:49 Thank you and God bless you. 09:52 Wow, you know what? 09:54 It's no secret. 09:55 I mean, we can see the fruits of Christmas behind bars, what God is 10:00 doing through the ministry of Christmas behind bars and how lives 10:03 are being transformed. 10:04 You know, Mitch, I want to come to you and find out a little bit about 10:09 your role with Christmas behind bars. 10:11 What's it like being a what's your role, a coordinator? 10:16 Well, you can see how God works. 10:18 Tom Breedow and I were going door to door one afternoon and we 10:22 knocked on this door and the father come to the door and you could tell 10:27 there was some kitchen in the house. 10:29 And so he let us come in and he was arguing with his 20 year old son 10:33 who was drugged out. 10:36 And so Tom and I sit there and we had prayer with his father and 10:39 Stephen was his name. 10:41 And we were impressed with him. 10:43 You can see there's a burning desire of the young man to get off 10:45 of it. 10:46 But he didn't have no help. 10:48 So we went on through the week. 10:50 Next week we were going to do it door to door again and Tom said, 10:53 Mitch, let's go see if Stephen's home. 10:55 We go there and his father opened the door in tears. 10:59 He got locked up that week and was locked up in the county jail there 11:02 in Lafette. 11:03 So we went finished door to door and Tom said, let's go see if we 11:07 can see him at jail. 11:08 We have no credentials, no nothing. 11:10 You know, we just go up to jail and there's a phone. 11:13 You pick it up. 11:18 told her who we were. 11:19 We've come to see this young man. 11:21 We'd met him and he found out he was in jail. 11:24 And they said, OK, we got a multi -purpose room. 11:25 You can see him in. 11:27 And she goes, is there anybody else you want to see? 11:30 And my friend Tom goes, anybody wants to come. 11:35 So we come into the jail and they gave us an hour with him. 11:39 Got to meet Stephen. 11:40 And of course, he's innocent. 11:41 He tells us the story. 11:43 And after we get through, we have prayer with them. 11:45 When we're coming back out and Sergeant Racky says, I've never 11:48 seen you two before. 11:50 And they say, where are you from? 11:51 We said, we're from 7th Av. 11:52 Church in Lafette. 11:53 Could we come next week? 11:54 They said, yeah. 11:55 I said, how about the women? 11:56 Do you have women? 11:59 So we go home and we tell our wives and the next week at the church we 12:05 go. 12:06 And my wife and Tom's wife went to see the women. 12:09 We get home and we turn our TV on to 3 a.m. 12:12 and nurse Essel Emiel on this program with Christmas Behind Bars. 12:16 So we, my wife called up right then and Lemuel was in a couple of days, 12:22 brought him and his beautiful bride, his French poodle. 12:25 And they spent the night with us and they come to our church and 12:29 gave a beautiful sermon and he went to the prison, the county jail with 12:33 us. 12:38 the area and one county prison that Lemuel spoke of the day earlier. 12:43 And the Lord is really blessed. 12:45 And Michael is one of the recipients. 12:48 He was at that jail there who met Francisco. 12:52 They're worshipping that Sabbath. 12:53 Wow. 12:54 Tell us about that, Michael. 12:55 Well, I received packages from him, a couple separate, well, from the 13:01 Seventh -day Adventist Church rather, you know, and of course 13:04 they were really hospitable. 13:06 They were super friendly and nice, sung us songs, read some scripture, 13:11 they gave us some words of encouragement, you know. 13:13 But really what made the difference is them following up with Bible 13:18 studies every week. 13:19 You know, I was an atheist for 25 years, you know, and hadn't really 13:25 ever looked at a Bible or anything like that. 13:28 And really one of the things that caught my eye on the floor was the 13:31 great controversy. 13:32 OK, and me at the time, I was like, well, I'm kind of like controversy, 13:36 you know, this is the greatest one. 13:39 Let me see what's up with this. 13:41 And my mom had also given me a Bible, you know, and I'm reading 13:46 these like side by side and then I start going to the church, you 13:51 know, the church, any church service they'd have, you know, and 13:54 I got connected with Francisco there and I kind of learned what 13:59 the Seventh-day Adventist was and how they believe a little bit 14:03 different than some of these denominations I was studying with. 14:07 But from what I could see more accurately, you know, you know, not 14:10 trying to knock anybody. 14:12 But what really made an impression was Francisco coming in one day, 14:16 really, really, really tired and asking, begging our forgiveness and 14:22 us to excuse him for being tired. 14:24 He had been in Brazil for a week with his dying father trying to 14:29 trying to comfort his mother and watching his father pass away. 14:33 And he was talking to a bunch of inmates that most people, you know, 14:37 don't have the time day for, and he's begging our forgiveness in the 14:41 middle of this, you know, in the middle of this room. 14:44 And I'm just like, you're going through all that and you're still 14:47 here and really showing love, genuine love. 14:53 And the man wiped all the tired off his face and did a study for a good 14:57 hour and a half with us that day. 15:01 And Christmas behind bars, if it wasn't for their literature, I 15:04 would have never received that that truth, you know. 15:07 And if it wasn't for the Lighthouse Church and my brothers and sisters 15:11 there following up, I wouldn't have never had anybody to really lead me 15:16 to the Lord to show me a different way. 15:18 You know, I'm surrounded by inmates, you know, that most of 15:22 them not trying to change. 15:23 So I was very blessed by his ministry, his bags a couple of 15:28 different times, you know, and last year I got to the biggest blessing 15:34 of going back and handing these out. 15:36 And, you know, every pod that I walked into, there's two or three 15:40 guys that was, hey, what are you doing, giving me hugs and, you 15:44 know, and nothing here to tell you guys like how my life has changed 15:49 so drastically, you know. 15:51 And, you know, I was a little nervous, you know, but you could 15:55 see the impact. 15:59 was in, you know, but whenever you have somebody that comes out of it 16:03 and joins them and comes back in, you know, it's just, it's amazing 16:06 what the Lord can do, you know. 16:08 And how did that impact your faith going back in there and passing out 16:13 those bags and seeing the expressions on our fellow 16:18 incarcerated brother's faces? 16:22 To be, to be honest, I'm amazed all the time at what that the Lord 16:28 isn't done with me and that his love and mercy towards, I don't 16:33 know about what y'all have done, but I know about what I've done, 16:36 you know, in a center as, as low down as I am, you know, and he 16:41 could still use me, you know, and he never gives up on me that every, 16:46 every little glimmer of something like that that I get to see really, 16:51 really increases my faith. 16:52 I'm hoping I could be a bigger part of it this year, putting together 16:55 packages as well as handing them out and hopefully have a little bit 16:58 better words of encouragement. 17:01 Amen. 17:02 But what would you say, what kind of advice would you give to 17:05 somebody who maybe they've gone down the wrong path, maybe they're 17:08 still going down the wrong path. 17:09 What advice would you give to them to transition into the right 17:15 direction? 17:15 Right. 17:18 So like a brother said in the earlier segment, just turn to him. 17:23 You don't have to be perfect to turn to him. 17:26 You know, I don't think anybody has ever been perfect and turn to him, 17:30 you know, so you're not too far gone. 17:32 Just turn and resist the devil and watch what he'll do. 17:37 Just keep an eye open. 17:38 He'll show himself. 17:39 Amen. 17:43 don't see people waiting until they're healthy to go to the 17:47 hospital. 17:48 It doesn't make sense. 17:50 Right. 17:54 out. 17:54 Amen. 17:57 What's it like for your faith when you go into these places and you're 18:02 passing out bags and you're seeing transformed lives? 18:06 You're going to see why God is so long suffering because it doesn't 18:11 happen overnight. 18:13 Let me tell you the story here, stories there. 18:16 There'll be more on the other side, stories that we'll get to hear. 18:20 But when you go there, you can see some of them there's nothing in 18:24 their eyes. 18:25 It's just blank. 18:26 But every now and then when you're preaching your heart out and you're 18:30 talking about God's love, there's light coming on. 18:33 You can see some hope coming. 18:35 Their faith counts as change and you know that the Holy Spirit is 18:38 touching their hearts. 18:39 And that's what draws you back. 18:42 One of my brothers liked playing a game of golf. 18:45 You get one good shot but it's enough to bring you back to play 18:48 another 18 holes. 18:51 And the same thing with jail ministry. 18:55 You know somewhere in there that God's going to touch someone and 18:58 it's just that one that really wants to bring you back when you 19:00 get to see that. 19:01 Especially if you see that countless change. 19:04 You know the Holy Spirit is working. 19:06 Amen, amen. 19:08 Let me know what's on your mind. 19:09 You know he was talking about the bag and I want our viewers to know 19:13 the Christmas Behind Bars gift packages was his design. 19:18 It's not about the bag but we physically get together in the 19:23 prison we put together many, many packages and then we go and 19:26 distribute them. 19:27 God transforms the physical efforts, the physical contents into 19:33 a spiritual application and blessing. 19:35 Time and time again I felt the Lord. 19:37 I opened the bag. 19:40 phenomenal. 19:41 And as you shared we don't get all cleaned up first. 19:45 Clay stabbed somebody in prison seven times and in segregation he 19:51 said Lord if you can just change my heart. 19:54 So that's the beauty of the gospel. 19:56 Yes, praise the Lord. 19:57 Amen, you know Chaplain Welch we're getting ready to come to you in 20:01 just a moment but we have a video that we're going to go to before we 20:04 dive into your story. 20:06 Let's check out that video now. 20:11 Christmas Behind Bars is a ministry whereby volunteers in this case 20:15 hundreds of volunteers have come together to put together care 20:19 packages for those that are incarcerated in various places 20:22 around the country. 20:24 These care packages are filled with well because it's for the holidays 20:28 this is comfort food not necessarily fruits and veggies but 20:31 things that will put a smile on prisoners faces when they open 20:35 these bags. 20:36 In addition to the comfort food that's there we've also placed some 20:40 important literature. 20:44 how to be ready for his soon return and maybe most importantly it talks 20:49 about the love of Jesus no matter what the circumstances are. 20:53 That can be a really important message for those that are in 20:55 prison particularly at the holiday season. 20:58 I've had the opportunity to actually deliver some of these bags 21:01 at a maximum state prison and also to a women's correctional center. 21:08 The gratitude that those people express makes it worthwhile. 21:13 When I went to the maximum state prison I had to be there at three o 21:17 'clock in the morning. 21:18 I wasn't a happy camper to think I had to be up at three in the 21:21 morning but I would do that again and again and again because I see 21:25 the difference that it makes. 21:28 You know having some comfort food the spiritual literature that's in 21:32 there some of the people that I saw they have been getting these bags 21:37 for 12 years. 21:38 So that's kind of sad because that means they've been in prison for 12 21:42 years but I could see a difference in the cells of the people who 21:47 actually engage with the literature and let it change their lives. 21:51 Their cells looked different. 21:52 They were brighter they were cleaner and even the prisoners 21:55 themselves looked better. 21:57 So I'm just really grateful for the people that showed up and we're 22:02 cleaning up now but the mission that we had will continue because 22:07 these seeds that have been planted are going to make a difference for 22:10 God's kingdom and I hope that someday we'll get to hear stories 22:14 those whose lives were transformed because of the work that we did 22:17 today. 22:17 Thank you so much. 22:19 Wow! 22:20 Amen! 22:21 Amen! 22:22 You know I heard something there that Esther said. 22:24 She said she saw a difference in the lives and in the cells of 22:28 people who engaged with the literature. 22:32 You know how many of us Christians have seven different Bibles or five 22:36 different Bibles and then don't engage with the literature. 22:40 We see a difference there as well so that's I mean that's powerful to 22:43 see that people are engaging with the spiritual material because you 22:47 put a lot of great snacks and all that stuff in the bag but that's 22:51 not the long lasting material. 22:53 It's the spiritual material that goes a long way. 22:55 Lemuel that was a short video. 22:57 I know there's something you want to add to that. 23:00 I believe the packages are just a conduit to put the glow tracks in 23:03 to put the spiritual literature in there. 23:07 Christmas Behind Bars is not a seasonal ministry so it's year 23:10 -round. 23:15 6,300 loaded in a semi-trailer and they'll be going to the state of 23:19 Nebraska on the 18th of November. 23:23 So it's a year-round ministry so it's really phenomenal. 23:26 So it's awesome. 23:27 Thank you all for being part of it. 23:29 Amen. 23:30 Chaplain Welch tell us a little bit about your involvement with 23:33 Christmas Behind Bars. 23:34 I know we had the opportunity and privilege of going into your 23:38 facility and ministering to the women in there but tell us a little 23:41 bit about what you do. 23:43 Well what I do is I kind of seek to help individuals to know more about 23:53 Christ. 23:55 And to show appreciation for things that they receive kind of the 24:03 ministry of appreciation. 24:05 But when I heard of it was actually an individual who told me that they 24:10 got this cool bag and the people call Christmas Behind Bars. 24:16 It was about Christmas time I believe and they were so excited 24:19 about it and I'm like okay tell me more about it and they said yes 24:24 people come with Christmas time and whenever they come and they give us 24:28 these cool bags and you know things that they don't really have some of 24:31 them don't have and they're so appreciative of it. 24:36 So I think I reached out or I got a call from Vicki sharing that the 24:44 Christmas Behind Bars will be coming in and I'm like tell me more 24:47 about that and she told me and I'm like oh wow and then she said oh 24:51 we're Adventists I'm like Adventists I'm like okay Adventists 24:55 and so she told me that you know we want to bring these things in we 25:01 want to share with the ladies here and I said okay and she gave me Mr. 25:07 Vegas Namuels number and I began talking with him and we made plans 25:11 and she shared with me you know what the donation would look like 25:19 and so we had to go through all this protocol with the wardens and 25:24 you know and so as we got these things going you know we began to 25:29 build a relationship of you know and one of the individuals made a 25:35 comment that it would be so wonderful if he could come in and 25:39 do a program I'm like flesh and blood did not reveal it because I 25:45 was thinking along the same lines you know trying to get volunteers 25:48 more volunteers to come in and to spread their ministry And I'm like, 25:52 Christmas behind bars seems like, you know, a good ministry that 25:56 would come in and give them hope, you know, spread some, apart from 26:00 the packages, you know, I know they love the packages, but some hope, 26:04 you know, some hope, some encouragement. 26:07 Some of them are sat around Christmas time, Easter time, you 26:10 know, so this would be a great privilege to just have them come in 26:15 and share with them. 26:17 And, you know, speaking with my warden, she was so gracious and, 26:21 you know, she said, yeah, let's see what we can do. 26:24 And yes, and it came to pass. 26:27 I noticed too that I was thinking Christmas behind bars was just 26:31 Christmas time, but to find out it was Easter and whenever time there 26:36 was something like, okay, we can plan a time and we did plan a time. 26:41 And to know that 3ABN would also join in the ministry, I was so 26:47 elated and so excited. 26:49 And I'm like, okay, let's see what we can do. 26:52 And it was a blessing. 26:54 It was a blessing. 26:56 The most wonderful thing is to receive those Bibles and to know 27:03 it, even I saw one of my correctional officers, they were 27:06 saying, wow, wait a minute, do each of, because they have to search the 27:11 items. 27:12 We were like, wait a minute, each of these Bibles have a message, a 27:16 personal message in here. 27:18 And I'm like, yes, they do. 27:21 And so we're so grateful. 27:23 Many of the individuals would tell me that they were so encouraged by 27:29 some of the words that they read from others who are interested in 27:35 their lives, in their wellbeing, so to speak. 27:40 And so we were so grateful to have that, have you guys come in. 27:45 And so I want to, in the spirit or in the ministry of appreciation, I 27:51 just want to share this with you. 27:55 It's a certificate of appreciation for Christmas Behind Bars. 28:00 So this is for Mr. Vega and Vicky, you're a part of it, so we thank 28:05 you so much. 28:06 And this is for 3ABN to take in the time out to come with us, to come 28:11 to see with us, to be with us and to share your ministry with us. 28:15 Thank you, thank you so much. 28:17 This is so nice. 28:18 Absolutely. 28:20 Yes, awarded to 3ABN ministry team for your faithful services to the 28:25 Body of Christ. 28:26 Praise God. 28:28 Praise God. 28:29 Pre -educator Correctional Facility. 28:30 Now their packages was a little bit different because when we just came 28:34 with 3ABN, we got the hygiene packages approved. 28:38 So women, something different, they had soap, shampoo, deodorant, 28:41 toothpaste, so we prepared and got approved a hygiene package. 28:45 So once that was approved, I said, well, what about a bag of pretzels? 28:49 So you can't put pretzels in hygiene, so we had the hygiene 28:52 packages prepared and then we added pretzels, candy, I think some 28:57 cookies, I'm not sure. 28:58 And then we also got the fresh flowers. 29:02 So then we were thinking about utilizing the brand new 3ABN Bible 29:06 study sets. 29:07 So we said, well, hygiene items, snack items, a fresh carnation. 29:12 One lady said she hadn't had a flower for 20-some years. 29:15 The last time she had a fresh flower, so flower. 29:18 Then I was driving down the highway and the Lord impressed me about 29:22 study Bible. 29:23 And then I called Andrews University astronaut. 29:26 I said, hey, what kind of deal can you make us on study Bible? 29:28 Well, they're real expensive. 29:29 And I said, can you give us a deal? 29:31 We're already giving you a deal. 29:33 And I said, well, we'll take them. 29:35 So put it on the charge card, a bunch of money. 29:37 They donated some finances we still owe for the study Bibles. 29:41 But then I said, can you write in the Bible a personal note to the 29:45 people? 29:48 I said, yeah, that's what we want. 29:50 So the students, they got together one Sabbath afternoon and they 29:54 wrote Bible verses and they wrote a book and then they put them back in 29:57 the boxes. 29:58 And all I can say is God was good. 29:59 He started with the high dust, shampoo to take care of your 30:02 external, but then the internal come through. 30:05 Amen. 30:07 What was the morale like in there after Christmas Behind Bars was 30:12 gone? 30:15 There was... 30:19 Come on, girl. 30:21 Come on, don't stall. 30:24 It's hard to express what these ladies were feeling. 30:28 They were so appreciative that they would stop by my office just to say 30:33 thanks and to tell Mr. Vega how much they appreciated. 30:38 Some of them were in tears. 30:42 Some of them were... 30:44 I know one of them said to you that you can come back any time whether 30:49 without the package or not. 30:50 You can always come back. 30:52 So that's the kind of appreciation. 30:54 It wasn't just about the packages. 30:56 It was just about that somebody took the time to put those notes in 31:01 the Bibles, to pack these bags and to bring them all this way. 31:07 Your truck got some troubles coming in. 31:10 And all of that. 31:17 And they were there and they received it. 31:20 And it wasn't just that they wanted to bring the bags to get what you 31:27 call it. 31:28 Props. 31:29 It was from the heart. 31:32 And they took that to heart. 31:34 That people cared about them. 31:36 Because many of them don't have people to care. 31:40 I've had two of the staff sergeants personally tell me two to three 31:45 days after they had received them bag, the morale in that jail was 31:49 totally different. 31:50 Totally different. 31:51 It makes a huge difference. 31:53 It does. 31:53 It makes a huge difference. 31:55 What made you decide to serve in that capacity? 31:59 Well, I was a chaplain for hospice prior to going to Decatur and also 32:09 in counseling. 32:13 And I had a heart for ministering to women. 32:17 And out of curiosity, I said, you know, I'm going to apply for this 32:21 job. 32:26 or even recognize. 32:29 But I applied for the job. 32:31 I started a new job. 32:33 And then six months later, I got a call with an offer to go to work in 32:40 the prison. 32:41 And I'm like, what? 32:42 I can't leave my caregivers now because I had the case workers. 32:47 I'm like, I can't leave them right now. 32:48 It's just six months. 32:50 You know, but God impressed on my heart. 32:53 The lady who called with the job offer, she said, I'll give you 32:56 another week. 32:57 Another week came, I was still like, I don't know. 33:00 You know, but when I actually took the job, you know, I'm like, oh my 33:07 goodness, wait a minute. 33:07 This is all women. 33:10 That's what I've been asking God for, to minister to women. 33:14 And you know, when I first went in and they were all in the gymnasium, 33:22 all these women in the gymnasium. 33:25 And when they said, we have a new chaplain and the break out in roar 33:32 that they gave was, I just teared up. 33:35 And I'm like, God, this is really, this is really where you want me to 33:40 be right now. 33:41 I don't know where he's taking me next, but this is where he has me 33:45 right now. 33:48 Lemuel, you want to? 33:48 I love the connection. 33:49 She was a chaplain for hospice. 33:51 The dead, the sick, the dying, the perishing. 33:55 And the Lord put her in the chaplaincy to bring life and hope. 33:59 So yeah, praise the Lord. 34:00 That's awesome. 34:00 Amen. 34:01 Yes. 34:05 Vickie, I've known you for a little while too. 34:08 Tell us about what you do and how you've been. 34:10 Well, I started prison ministries in 2018 and actually ended up by 34:16 accident. 34:21 down the road and the Holy Spirit impressed me to go and, you know, 34:25 go to do something in prison ministries. 34:28 And so I contacted the chaplain there and he said, well, come on in 34:33 and tell me what you want to do. 34:36 And I said, all I do is want to send cards. 34:38 I just want to send birthday cards. 34:41 And he said, no, you're going to come in. 34:43 You're going to do Bible studies. 34:45 You're going to do Daniel and Revelation. 34:48 He said, I know they have Venice. 34:49 They're good at that. 34:51 You're going to come in. 34:52 And so I started going in every week and doing a Bible study on 34:58 Daniel and Revelation with 30 guys and did that for two or three, a 35:04 couple of years and then COVID hit. 35:06 And then I went back in for a little while. 35:10 But in the meantime, I got my church involved in sending cards 35:16 and we would send out not only birthday cards but Christmas cards. 35:20 I got to know Lemio and I got in touch with him. 35:24 And every year from 2018, we've gone in and delivered bags to the 35:31 guys at Stateville, both on the maximum side and the NRC side. 35:37 And then one of the chaplains over at the hospital because they built 35:43 the hospital there. 35:45 What's the NRC side? 35:47 That's the receiving side. 35:49 So anybody who has gotten sentenced, they take them to NRC 35:55 and they stay there until they decide what prison they're going to 35:59 go to. 36:04 and they'll stay there and then they'll take them to court for 36:11 their court cases and so forth. 36:12 So it's kind of a holding area. 36:15 But some of the guys can end up there for six months or even 36:18 longer. 36:20 And so you've got this constant influx of guys through NRC. 36:26 So you never know. 36:28 One year you may deliver the bags there and the next year they're all 36:32 different. 36:34 So you're touching a lot of lives. 36:38 And this past summer we went... 36:41 I got my church together and we put together packets of literature with 36:45 the Thinking of You card and we mailed them out and I said, mail 36:48 them out to people that aren't on the list. 36:50 I have a list of about 500 guys, 800 guys that I send Christmas 36:55 cards or birthday cards to. 36:57 I said, let's send to somebody we haven't sent to before. 37:01 And in there was a letter that said, if you want any books or 37:05 Bibles or Bible studies, let us know and we'll send them to you for 37:09 free. 37:10 And we got letters back asking for... 37:14 One guy said, send me books on everything you got. 37:18 And so I'm putting up boxes of books and I'm shipping them to all 37:23 the prisons in Illinois and Bible studies and Bibles and whatever 37:27 they ask. 37:30 And then I send out birthday cards and I get these letters back that 37:34 says, nobody's ever sent me a letter in the 20 years I've been 37:37 here. 37:40 I've never gotten anything from anyone. 37:44 And it's so sad. 37:47 And, you know, so I just, you know, as one guy gets paroled or drops 37:51 off the list, I keep adding to the list. 37:53 So I keep sending out to new guys, you know, because you never know 37:59 whose lives you're going to touch. 38:01 And this is so interesting because Lemuel, he would take, you know, 38:05 he'd take the bags into Stateville and there was literature in there. 38:09 And I remember one guy said that somebody had left the literature 38:14 and he picked it up. 38:16 And he goes, man, and he started reading and studying. 38:21 He goes, Seventh-day Adventist, he was a Baptist. 38:23 And he goes, Seventh-day Adventist. 38:25 He said, they got it together. 38:27 This is true. 38:28 And he started writing letters and he wanted to be baptized as Seventh 38:32 -day Adventist. 38:36 up getting transferred. 38:38 But I still keep in contact with him. 38:40 And he goes, he said, this is great. 38:43 And he said, send me literature and I'll send him like three or four 38:46 books of the same kind and he'll set them out. 38:49 And he said, Vicki, they're gone, just like that. 38:51 He said, guys are looking. 38:53 And then he said, I had one guy write me a letter and he said, can 38:57 you send me a Sabbath school lesson? 39:00 He had saw a 3BN Sabbath school panel and he said, of course, 39:05 they're not able to download. 39:07 You know, and he said, can you send me a quarterly? 39:11 I said, absolutely. 39:14 And I send out about five to six Sabbath school quarterlies every 39:19 quarter and he's one of them. 39:23 And I've been doing that for, I don't know, maybe two or three 39:26 years. 39:31 are seeing it on 3ABN but aren't able to download so that they can 39:37 study along. 39:38 And it's just, it's been wonderful. 39:42 Just the letters I get, guys thanking me, appreciative, the 39:49 bags. 39:51 We try to do different prisons. 39:56 We've done maybe 13 prisons in Illinois and Stateville is closed 40:03 down. 40:08 are writing letters saying, hey, can you come? 40:12 And so we're going to try to set that up. 40:15 So this is all, because you just named a whole lot, right? 40:20 This is all on top of your nine to five job. 40:23 Yes, I have a nine to five job. 40:26 Even on top of all of that, you're doing all the stuff that you 40:30 mentioned. 40:38 work so that I could take time off to go into the prison because of my 40:44 job, the demands of my job. 40:47 And so I've been kind of like working every Sunday since 2018. 40:53 So I'm working five and a half days. 40:56 I'm going in just so I can have time to do prison ministries. 41:02 And then, so it's kind of like I plan my week. 41:05 Okay, this week I sit down and do the birthday cards and then I'm 41:09 getting all the packages together to mail out and then I'm going to 41:12 the post office to mail these out. 41:15 And it's like, you know, and then, so it's a lot. 41:19 Yeah, praise God for your heart for service and what God is doing 41:22 through you. 41:23 Lemuel, I know you got something. 41:24 Yeah, real quick. 41:26 The packages at one facility, the warden said no. 41:30 So we'd been going in, the warden said no and Vicki contacted the 41:33 warden and he said no. 41:35 And so Vicki went to the congressman here in Illinois and 41:38 next thing, somehow congressman contacted the prison. 41:41 The prison calls back to Vicki and said, oh no, we want your program. 41:46 I mean, God is good. 41:47 And I'll tell you, my first prison stint, my first prison visit, I was 41:52 probably six years old. 41:54 My brother, my little sister and my mother and my aunts and we went to 41:59 the Joliet Correctional Facility in Statesville, Illinois. 42:02 As little kids, we went in there for evangelism. 42:04 And I remember walking in the gymnasium, it didn't smell so good. 42:07 There was just a smell about prison. 42:09 And we went up on stage and we sang, I'll make you fishers of men. 42:13 Six, seven years old, little did I know, within 10 years I'd be 42:17 looking at 10 to 20 years in prison. 42:18 So God has brought it full circle now to be able to come back and, 42:21 you know, we got people in high places like sheriff and 42:24 commissioners and so God is in control of kings and judges and 42:28 it's a blessing to have our sheriff here in the second hour. 42:31 Sheriff Sprouls, tell us a little bit about what happens with the 42:35 families because multiple people end up doing time. 42:37 So talk to us about the families. 42:39 You know, when I first took office January of 2023, I noticed that our 42:44 new jail, which had just been finished, as I said earlier, $25 42:48 million place, the way it was designed, all of the correction 42:53 officers from the jail, they kind of had a back exit and entrance 42:57 where you don't come through the front, where the foyer is, where 43:01 all of the family members come in. 43:04 And I immediately said, this is going to change. 43:09 You're not going out a back entrance. 43:11 You're going to walk through the foyer so you can see mom and dad 43:16 and kids who are there waiting to get on FaceTime basically with 43:21 their family back in there. 43:23 You're going to go back and forth to where it keeps the reality in 43:28 front of you of, hey, this is somebody's son, daughter, husband, 43:32 and wife. 43:34 And I'll never forget, I had been, it had been a long day and I was 43:39 walking through the foyer leaving and a grandmother was there with 43:43 maybe a little, she was probably six years old or so and they're 43:46 there waiting to go pick up a phone and view their, you know, talk to 43:50 their loved one. 43:52 And this little girl jumped off of grandma's lap, came running up to 43:55 me and grabbed a hold of me. 43:56 She said, hey, I want to see my real mommy, not on the screen 44:00 mommy. 44:02 And I was thinking, you know, I was so ready to get home. 44:06 And she said, can you, she said, is my real mommy's back in there, 44:09 right? 44:10 I said, I said, yes. 44:11 She said, well, I want you to go get her. 44:14 Can you do that? 44:18 I said, I said, you know what, just hang on, hang on. 44:22 I said, who is your mommy? 44:23 And she told me so. 44:25 I went back there and got her out of her cell and brought her up to 44:29 a, like where the attorneys can come in and meet them. 44:32 So, so of course they don't know. 44:33 So I walked back there. 44:35 I said, hey, you all come in here. 44:36 So I opened the door and there's real mommy sitting there. 44:39 So, you know, it's so important that we, we just remember these 44:43 are, these are family. 44:44 These are people that God loves. 44:47 And you know, our architect came back for a follow-up and he asked 44:52 me, he said, you know, is there anything about the jail that we 44:55 need to change? 44:55 And I said, absolutely. 44:57 I said, there's just one thing. 44:58 It's a great place. 44:59 But I said, just one thing. 45:01 I said, don't ever design it to where the corrections officers get 45:05 to slip out the back door, so to speak. 45:08 He said, I've never heard that before. 45:09 He said, we always design it that way. 45:11 And I said, don't ever do it again. 45:13 I said, corrections officers need to know these people are moms, 45:17 dads, granddaughters, grandmothers, grand dads. 45:21 And it just keeps the reality there and it helps our corrections 45:26 officers to treat them as family. 45:29 That's, that's incredible. 45:30 I have never heard that before. 45:33 That's, that's powerful. 45:34 On the other side of things, what have you seen? 45:38 You know, have you seen children of those that are incarcerated coming 45:43 in? 45:45 Interesting, interesting question. 45:47 So as I had said earlier, I was sworn in as a reserve deputy 45:52 sheriff for my county on my 21st birthday. 45:55 I did it for a couple of years and got out of it for many, many years 45:58 because I'm a church builder and I was busy building churches and also 46:02 starting a Christian school. 46:04 And so I got back into it eight years ago as a reserve and I ran 46:08 into one of my friends who was on the department back 20 some years 46:12 ago, who is now the chief of police in Newcastle. 46:16 And I said, I said, hey, Matt, I said, what's different now? 46:19 I said, Oh, Johnny, he said, not a, not a lot different. 46:23 He said, you remember all of the regulars that we used to deal with? 46:26 I said, yeah. 46:28 And that was so profound. 46:30 And he didn't, he didn't mean it that way. 46:32 He was just being real. 46:33 He said, we're just dealing with all their kids now. 46:35 And I thought, wow, somebody has to break the cycle. 46:40 And I'll tell you, I feel a burden from the Lord for me to break that 46:45 cycle of, we have got to bring Christ back front and center to law 46:51 enforcement. 46:53 We've got to rebuild the trust that we all know is broken. 46:58 And you know what? 47:03 at a time, caring for one person at a time. 47:07 What would you say is one of the greatest challenges in your role? 47:14 I think, I think building that level of trust back. 47:16 I think that is the, it's the biggest challenge. 47:20 As I said earlier, these other guys, their testimonies are so 47:24 powerful because their buddies trust them. 47:27 When you come back and you show that I'm different, they trust, and 47:31 so it's powerful. 47:33 There is, we've just got a long way to go to rebuild the trust between 47:37 the community and law enforcement. 47:41 You know, in my very first debate when I was campaigning for sheriff, 47:45 I said, if I'm elected as your next sheriff, the F word on duty is 47:50 gone. 47:52 It's not professional. 47:53 We don't talk to anybody like that, let alone the citizens. 47:58 And so, you know, it's a, we're working on creating a different 48:02 culture and the atmosphere in our jail is different. 48:08 And I'll tell you, we've had to, we've had to send some people on 48:11 down the road because they would berate the inmates, F-bombing the 48:16 inmates. 48:17 And I told one guy, I said, I'm telling you, don't do it again 48:21 because I'm not going to tolerate that. 48:23 And sure enough, he did it again. 48:24 I pulled him into office and I said, I'm going to tell you 48:28 something, I'm going to let you tell me whatever you feel like you 48:30 need to tell me. 48:32 And I said, but we're not going to have a back and forth. 48:34 I said, what I'm going to tell you is you're terminated effective 48:37 immediately. 48:39 He said, I've been here 15 years. 48:41 And I said, you're not going to be here 15 more minutes because the 48:43 chief deputy is escorting you to your car and we'll get whatever you 48:47 need out of the office. 48:48 We do not treat our inmates that way. 48:50 God loves us just the same as he loves them. 48:54 We can reverse that. 48:55 He loves them just the same as he loves us, even though I'm wearing 48:57 the gold badge. 49:00 And we've got to keep that in focus. 49:02 We are here to serve people and show it to show Christ. 49:08 That's what I'm here for. 49:09 Amen. 49:10 That's huge. 49:11 Well said. 49:11 Well said. 49:13 Lemuel, did you ever think, I mean sitting here all these years later, 49:18 did you ever think that Christmas behind bars would grow to what it 49:22 is today? 49:24 We never thought. 49:26 We just kept going. 49:28 People ask how many prisons, how many states, how many inmates. 49:32 It's not about how many, it's about that one. 49:35 You know, and we've never had a sheriff like this before. 49:38 We have a new warden at the reformatory where I was in prison 49:41 at. 49:41 Whole different paradigm. 49:43 They're the same. 49:44 They're on the same page. 49:45 So now the staff treats the volunteers better. 49:48 The staff treats the inmates' families better. 49:51 So we see a change, and if the change is at the top in that 49:54 formation, it's going to continue to make a difference within. 49:58 I have a story about that child. 50:00 Can I share that? 50:05 You know, we were putting together 3,000 packages for this huge 50:08 prison, one prison, and one of the volunteers said that that little 50:12 boy, his dad, is in that prison. 50:14 And I'm real busy with all the busyness of getting everything 50:16 together. 50:20 that little boy, and I kneeled down, we're eye level now, blonde 50:24 hair, blue eyes. 50:25 I said, your daddy's in this prison? 50:27 He said, yes. 50:30 I said, if I could find your daddy, I said, would you like me to tell 50:33 him anything? 50:34 And this little boy said, yes. 50:36 Tell my daddy that I love him. 50:39 My daddy killed my mommy. 50:42 That is the love of this little child. 50:45 I had the privilege of finding that man's cell, and I got down at the 50:48 cupboard, and I gave him a personal message from his son. 50:52 And I said, your son still loves you no matter that you killed his 50:56 mommy. 51:00 in the Garden of Gethsemane, He said, Father, if it be possible, 51:03 let this cup pass from me. 51:05 It was a dark time, but He brings light and hope in the midst of 51:08 darkness. 51:13 that privilege of hope no matter that we killed His only begotten 51:16 Son, Jesus. 51:18 Amen. 51:18 That's powerful. 51:20 You know, Lemuel, when we go into some of these prisons and jails, I 51:23 mean, we've gone into quite a few of them. 51:25 You've gone into more than I have. 51:27 But when we go in there, you share a message, and you always encourage 51:32 them to try how many more times? 51:35 One more time. 51:36 One more time. 51:38 If you appreciate anything about this program, would you do us a 51:41 favor? 51:41 Would you? 51:42 And they'll raise their hand. 51:44 I said, we'd just like to encourage you to try one more time. 51:47 It's not about an altar call. 51:48 It's not, boy, you need to make a commitment to Christ today. 51:51 But would you be willing to try one more time? 51:53 For somebody like Michael, he might write home and say, Honey, I'm 51:56 sorry. 51:58 So just to try one more time. 52:01 And for somebody who's interested in getting involved in prison 52:05 ministry, maybe they have a connection at their local jail and 52:08 they want to go in there. 52:10 What would you recommend that they do if they have a program or 52:13 something that they want to put on? 52:15 What do you recommend they share? 52:17 Keep it simple. 52:18 Keep it simple. 52:19 Share what Christ has done in your life. 52:21 Share with God. 52:25 alcoholism. 52:25 He helped me with anger. 52:27 He helped me. 52:31 You don't have to have a badge. 52:33 You don't got to have a pastoral degree. 52:35 Share with them what you promised them. 52:38 And that's the message of Christ. 52:39 I love there's something that you've done in the past that I 52:43 love. 52:45 And you'll take like a $20 bill or $10 bill, which you're not even 52:50 supposed to have in jail anyway. 52:52 But hey, you take a $20 bill in, right? 52:55 And then you say, how many of you want this $20 bill? 53:01 And then everybody's hands go up. 53:04 In fact, why don't you take over and do the illustration? 53:06 You do it so well. 53:07 So if you offer an inmate a $20 bill, green money is worth more in 53:11 prison than it is on the street. 53:12 So you take that $20 bill. 53:13 You said, how many of you like this if I could give it to you? 53:16 Some of them raise their hand. 53:17 They think it's a joke. 53:18 I said, no, really, how many if I... 53:21 Majority, almost all of them raise their hand. 53:23 And if you crumple up that $20 bill and you say, how many of you still 53:27 want this? 53:28 Every hand goes up. 53:29 And then you throw it on the ground. 53:30 You step on it, kick it to the curb. 53:32 I said, how many of you still want that $20 bill? 53:35 Hands goes up. 53:36 I said, why? 53:37 Why would they still want this, brother? 53:39 Why? 53:40 It still has intrinsic value. 53:41 It still has intrinsic value. 53:43 The value's not changed. 53:45 And Christ will take you no matter how rumpled and crumpled you may 53:50 think you is. 53:51 Matter of fact, your value is worth more because God gave his only 53:54 begotten son to buy us back. 53:57 And that's the power of the gospel. 53:58 So simple analogies for Christ. 54:00 Amen, that's powerful. 54:02 It's like Christ's object lesson. 54:03 It's beautiful. 54:05 What are the needs of Christmas Behind Bars? 54:08 I want to hit that again. 54:09 I know we talked about it in the first hour but this is a powerful 54:12 ministry. 54:13 I want to approach it again. 54:14 So share what are the needs of your organization. 54:17 Sure, I'm going to let you share that because you know different 54:20 aspects of it. 54:26 You know, 54:30 and we did not talk about this. 54:32 I want a disclaimer here. 54:33 We never said anything about this but I come from a business 54:36 background. 54:41 Kindergarten through 12th grade, out of the blue. 54:43 We started 13 years ago and we've gone from 26 students, grown every 54:47 year to 230 with a waiting list. 54:50 And I'll tell you what I have found out that it takes money. 54:57 It really takes money. 54:58 You know, God will supply the need but he'll usually have somebody 55:04 else still sign their name on the check. 55:07 And so I can imagine the financial burden but God supplies and God 55:16 will supply but God will supply through people like you and me. 55:24 And you know, God has put the burden on his heart to be out 55:30 hustling and putting this stuff together, pulling these things 55:34 together. 55:41 And I'll tell you what, it can change the ripple effect to that 55:45 check that you wrote that actually provided a bag or two bags or a 55:50 thousand bags. 55:51 There's some thousand bag people out there and there's some 10,000 55:55 bag people out there. 55:57 But the ripple effect that will touch generations to come, change 56:02 lives through the message that they, when they were, oh, I love 56:06 this candy bar and what's this? 56:08 God loves me? 56:09 Really? 56:11 So you know what? 56:14 We need people to give. 56:16 And to pray. 56:17 I'd like to say on the way to your prison, Chaplain, I lost a wheel, 56:21 wheel bearing, gone, trailer were running on one wheel. 56:24 I prayed for the last 100 miles. 56:26 I said, Lord, if I lose another wheel, what do I do? 56:28 Rent a U-Haul, we ain't going to make it. 56:30 But the Lord brought it all the way. 56:32 Trailer's still in the shop. 56:33 They've got a new axle order. 56:35 But it's all, God is good. 56:37 All the time. 56:39 So I want your website one more time before we go. 56:43 ChristmasBehindBars.org, easy peasy. 56:45 ChristmasBehindBars.org. 56:47 That way people can find out where to mail the check, how they can 56:50 support online and everything. 56:52 Thank you all for coming on and sharing. 56:54 Thank you for your heart for service. 56:55 We want to thank you for joining us. 56:58 Make sure you support the wonderful ministry of Christmas Behind Bars 57:01 and get involved in prison ministry. 57:04 Until next time, God bless you. 57:06 Amen. |
Revised 2024-10-31