bikerfury

The Good Lord is really keeping us busy lately. I guess we must be doing something right. We are excited about teaming up with the ministry of  “Child Evangelism Fellowship” from  Missouri. This program is very dear to us.  I always say watch what you pray for. My prayer has been to reach more folks in prison that the crusades were not reaching. So the CEF ministry called us and asked  if we could help out which we replied, yes.

Our first time joining this group we went to Florida State Prison. I know that not too many ministries are going into this prison and we were excited about this opportunity. We met the other men in the prison parking lot and that time Sharon could not join us so she had to stay in town because this was a man thing only. We entered t prison and was greeted by the sergeant at the front desk. She was very helpful and made us feel welcomed.

They searched us and checked the boxes of brochures that we were bringing in.  They gave us a visiting id and we walked into the prison. I thought to myself that this was way too easy for a maximum security prison like this.   We were walking down the long hallway when we were stopped and sent back to the front desk. Now that is more like it. If Satan is going to try to stop us he would have to make this adventure a hassle so we would  become discouraged.

They told us that we were not cleared. We assured them that the chaplain had preformed our background checks and that we were indeed scheduled to come in on this day. They told us that they did not do the background check so we would have to wait for them to approve us to go in. So we sat for an hour and prayed that we would be able to perform this ministry. Of course God being in charge they let us in and we made our way down the long hallway.

There are over 1,400 men at Florida Sate Prison. They let us visit every man at his individual cell. This is a hard ministry because the door is a solid piece of steel with a 12″ X 12″ Plexiglas that has 5 holes drilled out to speak into. So with all the other noise in the prison I found myself shouting to almost everyone.  That is a rude way to witness to someone.

When I walked up to a cell many men were on the defense. “What do you want?”  was most of the greetings I received. I told them that I was here representing a ministry that cared about their kids. They did a national research and found out that 70% of the children of incarcerated men and women will end up in prison.  I then told them that this ministry would send their kids a bible study and a brand new bible. When they seem to want to argue with me I rephrased my question. “Do you want your kids to make the same mistakes that you made and end up in a place like this?” Every man said no.

I would say that about 80% of the men appreciated us being there that day. But then there was the other 20% that let us know that we were not welcomed. Some men are just mad at the world and continue to push God out of their lives.  I really knew that this is where God wanted me that day. I got to pray with over 400 men and let them know that they are still loved. The awesome part of going into these prison is that the CEF schedules me to also speak in the chapels while we are there.

Since then Sharon has joined me to introduce this program to 4 prisons and we are scheduled to visit many more this year. Please pray for the extra finances to be able to travel to the different prisons throughout Florida. We are able to reach hundreds more than before for Jesus.

 
IN HIS WIND

Rev. Al Paquette