Looking closer at violence at jails and prisons

Monroe Corrections Center

I was privileged earlier this week to be available and listen to an officer in one of the units at the RJC about his stress over "the Officer Biendl situation."  I went into a unit to talk with inmates but none came forward. Very naturally, this officer just started to open up.  It's a rare blessing to be available to the staff.

Some inmates and officers alike radically improve their attitudes and behavior when any guest enters the units they are overseeing.

My good friend Gordon is a former inmate in Washington state DOC prisons. We knocked a couple e-mails back and forth about my two most recent blogs as we react to the Jayme Biendl death at the Monroe Corrections Center, in lockdown since the killing.

This is all the more reason to remain faithful to live out and proclaim the greatest good news in the universe--God sent His Son, the unblemished Lamb of God, to save sinners.  This is all the more reason to remain faithful to the stations where the Lord Himself has called us.


A percentage of officers like wearing uniforms so they can exercise power and treat inmates with over-the-line abuse.  The media reports about the inmates who attack officers. 

"The problem, Gordon wrote, " is not just one of noble, dedicated men and women risking their lives with dangerous prisoners...  Nobody documents the slurs, the shoves, the explicit and implicit violence committed by prison guards on their charges.  

"Why does that kind of violence happen?  Because any organization attracts a shadowy group of people who see opportunity.  Prison work attracts a percentage (my addition) of men and women who like to denigrate and punish other grown men.  

"No, they're not all like that.  I know and respect many officers I've met, and I have no wish to hold up one side of the equation to ridicule - but that's the point: there are two sides, and both need attention.  

"The problem is neither "how do we get the cons to behave?" or "how can we support the guards?".    It is simply this: How can we all learn to live with respect, humility, and kindness, convict and guard alike.  

"You know the answer to that, and maybe your expansion of your ministry to include staff is an implicit acknowledgment of it.  I guess Rodney King," Gordon closed, "was right after all: Can't we all just get along?"

No, we can't.  We've proved that.  We live in a sick and sinful world.

What is this all about?  What do we make of the violence in all directions?  Why is it so hard to work through all this?  We live amongst flawed people in a broken world.  We are flawed ourselves.  These acts of violence are evil.  There is no other explanation.  Evil ravages our broken world.  We can go round and round.  

Ongoing ministries toward staff amidst stress

Outside a prison in Pendleton, OR.

In light of the recent killing of Officer Jayme Biendl at the Monroe Corrections Center, how can those of us who serve in jail and prisons impact the sites where we serve for the Kingdom of God?  I am thinking here about support staff, officers, and administrative personnel.

Isolating on one incident in Monroe overlooks a much broader perspective and deeper need.

Keep in mind,  each level of incarceration--city, county, state, and federal-- maintains separate administrative oversight.  Prisoners for Christ Outreach Ministries and other jail and prison ministry groups serve in all levels of incarceration.

 We must not grow discouraged but redouble our heart faithfulness and continue to pray. Occasionally, we are privileged to listen and even pray with staff.  We know our daily presence and consistent, ongoing service has great impact.

Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center

In mid-January, a detention officer at the Kent Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center where I serve was hospitalized after an inmate assaulted him in a common area in the jail's administrative-segregation unit.

The officer suffered very serious injuries and a second officer, who jumped in to help restrain the inmate, was also injured badly enough to be sent to the hospital. Two others received minor injuries while moving the inmate inside the Kent facility.

After this event, I made myself available for prayer and whatever other support the administrative staff might need.  While there was no response at the time, the gesture was important.  Fellow PFC Chaplain Dick Rothlisberger and I shared with a number of officers over the past years.

Here are some statistics dated 2007, US Government Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 31st Edition, US Department of Justice, Washington DC--

Assaults on Corrections Officers

33,000 inmate on staff assaults per year
90 assaults per day, 3.7 per hour

2.7 staff assaults per 100 inmates – county
1.4 staff assaults per 100 inmates – state
0.9 staff assaults per 100 inmates – federal

A Correctional Officer will be seriously assaulted at least twice in a 20 year career.

 

praying for our jail and prison ministries

I appreciate multiple strong reactions to my blog concerning the violent death of a female officer around a chapel service on the Monroe Corrections Center grounds last Saturday night.  The media is all over this.  The governor called for an investigation.

We need to pray.

I learned the officer-inmate ratio standard at the Regional Justice Center is 1:64, one officer for every 64 inmates.  That means most of the units at the RJC are staffed by one officer.  Hallway ratio is 1:10, one officer for every 10 inmates as they are moved throughout the building.

We need to pray.  We need to continue to persevere joyfully.  We need to pray. We need to obey the rules in our facilities.  We need to be aware. We need to pray.

Just today, a news media site reported that for the first time since corrections officer Jayme Biendl was killed at her post at the Monroe Correctional Complex, officials today could lay out plans for changes at state prisons.

Corrections Secretary Eldon Vail told state lawmakers Thursday in Olympia that he hoped to announce “a few changes".

“I’m looking at some security improvements, not just at Monroe but statewide,” he said after appearing in front of the House General Government Appropriations Committee.

What perspectives might we gain from these events while we persevere and joyfully serve at the  facilities where the Lord Himself has called us?   Here are my beginning thoughts.  As I publish this, receive feedback, and continue to serve, the Lord will bring more to write about.

First, pray.

We need to pray for Byron S., the alleged killer, and the family of Jayme Biendl, the slain officer.  Oh, we need to pray on!  We need to pray around all the institutions where God has privileged us to serve.  We should be praying for the inmate population--that we might expand our faith to reach more and more for salvation, re-dedication, and comfort and strength for their families. 

We should also be praying for the officers, support staff, and multiple levels of administration as they do their jobs.

When we enter our facilities, the secured perimeter, we need to pray for the men and women we will contact for the Kingdom of God.  We need to pray in areas the Lord lays on your heart I didn't touch on here. Oh, that He would use us mightily! 

Second, obey the rules.

Rules and the spirit of the rules are outlined for our protection.  Since my initial days at the RJC, I felt safe within the units.  Maybe, no, simply a sense of being too safe.  There have been incidents of violence around me, that's part of being in a jail and prison ministry. While officers have always been attentive, they can't see everything.  Officers can't control the small percentage seeking to fight, harm others, or even try to commit suicide. The rules are set out for our protection.

Third, be aware.

Keep on serving where you are.  Know where you are.  We serve in jails and prisons and even transitional support ministries, not our homes, nor our churches.  We are in a very different culture with those being held for court procedures or serving time.  Inmates are in very different situations.  Some will receive Christ and be forever, eternally changed.  Some inmates mat be innocent of what they have been charged.  Some made mistakes, even several times, will change, and never re-offend.  Some will remain incarcerated their entire lives.  Some are dangerous and are not accurately placed for the safety of their surroundings.  Some are mentally imbalanced. 

Monroe officer killing perspective

Monroe Corrections Center

About once a month, I visit John, an inmate at the Monroe Corrections Center, at the Twin Rivers site.  We've been meeting since 2009.  I started sharing with him while he was at the Regional Justice Center.  While at Twin Rivers, he went through the sexual offenders treatment program.  I met with his counselor a couple of times, at John's request, as part of the program.

I just learned about the attack and death of an officer at one of the Monroe facility chapels. These events escalate the multiple concerns at all corrections facilities--city, county, state, and federal.  Our presence as chaplains is vital in these times.

In context, officers are commonly left alone during certain assignments due to budget constraints. Yes, it is a huge safety issue. Yes, it is a state budget and political issue as this is another area where funds were slashed.  One of the choices will be to discontinue chapel services.  There will be other choices to consider, as well. 

Virtually all of the units at the King County Regional Justice Center, where I serve primarily, are staffed with one officer.  Recently, another inmate attacked an officer in a unit at the RJC.  Yes, same issues. 

I have presented sermons at three Monroe chapels.  John attends chapel services regularly on Saturday nights.  There are five different centers for inmates at Monroe.

As a note to the portion of the article below, the chapel is inside the fenced facility.  It does not state which chapel where this event unfolded. The officer would not "lead" any religious  service as part of her duties.  As reported, she was serving as the lone officer or guard when she was attacked on Saturday night.

Here is part of the online KOMO account:


MONROE, Wash. -- An inmate is suspected in the death of a Washington state corrections officer who was found strangled with a microphone cord in the prison chapel, where she led religious programs, authorities say.

Jayme Biendl, 34, who had raised concerns about being the sole guard in the chapel, was found dead Saturday night at Monroe Correctional Complex northeast of Seattle, Department of Corrections spokesman Chad Lewis said.

He said it was the first time a guard has been killed at the 100-year-old facility. Corrections officers and supporters gathered Sunday night at the entrance to the prison for a candlelight vigil in Biendl's memory.

"A very kind person. Hard working, dedicated to her job, her family, her horses," said Sgt. Jim Fletcher, who served as Biendl's supervisor for two years at the prison. "It's not going to be easy not having her around. You wish you could have been there to help out."

Byron Scherf, a 52-year-old inmate, was reported missing during a routine count at 9:14 p.m. Saturday. He was found three minutes later in the chapel lobby and told officers he had planned to escape.

"He is our primary suspect," Monroe police spokeswoman Debbie Willis said. Scherf is serving a life sentence without parole after being convicted of first-degree rape and kidnapping in 1997 under the state's "three-strikes" law, Lewis said.

Prison officials said Scherf had been serving as a volunteer worker in the chapel. Lewis said Biendl was alone at the chapel Saturday night and was not carrying a weapon, as is typical for many corrections officers.

Transformation for Tyrone

Changed lives

For just a little more than a year, I have been ministering to Tyrone at the Regional Justice Center in Kent.  Tyrone is awaiting his court process and has passed through amazing growth.  He was given an ESV Study Bible and just soaks the Scriptures in. 

 It is just awesome to watch how the Lord Himself is transforming Tyrone's life.  After writing his testimony, he turned to Philippians 3, and we read together. 

"Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."  Philippians 3:12-14 

Here is his own story:

"Hello, my name is Tyrone and in January of 2010 I made the most important and best decision in my life. I came to Christ! Wow! If you knew me, that is what you would also say! It is now January of 2011 and here I still sit at the Kent Regional Justice Center and I'm OK.

The real battles of life

"I can tell you that this past year has been one of the most exciting and growing processes of my entire life. With the spiritual leadership of Prisoners for Christ, namely Chaplains Mark Richardson and Dick Rothlisberger and the numerous other volunteers that came in, I have been able to keep my relationship with Christ strong.

"We are faced with many challenges in this concrete beast and sometimes the difference can be just a simple visit from a spiritual leader. We are truly grateful that the Lord has provided for us this type of resource. 

"Personally, for me, Mark Richardson has been amazing. I can say that through the loving power of Christ, he has been a comfort, leader, and, I feel, a friend. My life is forever changed and I know it. The ministry of PFC has been a huge part of that.


"I don't know what lies ahead but because of the peace I have through the confidence in my relationship with Christ, all I can do is consider it a working process and keep praying. I know I can speak with a great deal of confidence and truth for all the believers in Christ that are incarcerated--we would be lost without an outside ministry. 

Thank you, Prisoners for Christ."

Christmas Goody Bags distributed

The Weidner clan during assembling

As part of my ministry at the Regional Justice Center in Kent, I serve as president of our Chaplaincy Advisory Group which meets the second Monday monthly.  

We support all the 33 ministry groups serving at the RJC under trhe direction of Mary Ann Morbley, the programs director at the RJC.  

For the past several years, the CAG has sponsored a Christian Goody Bag distribution to the 700 inmates and officers. It is amazing how genuinely touched and appreciative the men and women are when we pass out the lunch sack size bags.  

Merv Weidner, one of the chaplains, and his family come in to assemble the bags.  A group of elementary classes from Kentview Christian School color the bags.  The supporting ministries brought in candy, cookies, and crackers and the CAG provided additional items.  One of our board members worked with area grocery stores to provide candy items.

I was privileged to assemble some extra bags and distribute the bags with Chaplains Dick Rothlisberger and Mary Rutter to several of the units.  I have been able to follow-up with inmates for one-on-one Bible studies and visitation.

Real repentance in prison ministries

Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent

 Over December and the Christmas season, I am serving faithfully at the Regional Justice Center in Kent.  I've been back from the short-term missions trip to Rwanda and Burundi in Africa for a little more than a month.

John, an inmate at the RJC, who I shared with earlier this week.  His journey with Jesus began when he was 18.  He's 40-something now and his story is constantly intertwined with drugs and alcohol.  He's in jail now because while he was drunk he struck his two children and frightened his wife.  

He doesn't get it.  I repeated, "You abused your family...that is abuse...that was violence."  He said, "but it wasn't a crime...I pushed them with an open hand.  I shouldn't be in jail...."  

What?

His life does not show fruits of repentance, by his own admission.  His life is without evidence of real change.

He is sober, right now, so he is set on reading the Bible and pursuing Christ.  I told him I just am not sure what happened when he was 18.  He hasn't read his Bible, nor gone to church, nor pursued recovery support groups.  


Without effective recovery support group involvement, the drug, alcohol, or self-medicating addict is setting himself or herself up to fall.  They could remain clean and sober for a season.  They are more likely to fall.  They need a solid, Christian mentor.  John needs a group like Alcoholics Anonymous or Celebrate Recover.  I shared with John he needs a group he will go to regularly.  He needs to engage in his daily and weekly recovery in Christ Jesus.

This is not "works salvation," but the fruit of sanctification through the gracious progressive work of the Holy Spirit.

This real life anecdote is exactly why I am so cautious about leading converts in salvation prayers and altar calls.  Yes, the lord uses these prayers and altar calls.  I am very cautious about giving a seeker or new convert a sense that they might trust in the prayer or walking down the aisle and to think those acts save them or prove their salvation.  

• Where is a contrite and broken heart?  
• Where is the repentance?  What does it look like?
• How will "John" make things really right before God and his family?

I have John reading and studying through a worksheet I developed on living faith in keeping with repentance.  I'll go back in later this week to see where he is at.

I just read an a real life story from missionary John Paton about genuine conversions and changed lives in a missionary setting and what we can observe.

"When I have read or heard the shallow objections of irreligious scribblers and talkers, hinting that there was no reality in conversions, and that Mission effort was but waste...

oh, how my heart has yearned to plant them just one week in Tanna, with the "natural" man all around in the person of Cannibal and Heathen...

and only the one "spiritual" man in the person of the converted Abraham [Paton's Aneityumese friend who worked tirelessly for the kingdom of God], nursing them, feeding them, saving them "for the love of Jesus"--that I might just learn how many hours it took to convince them that Christ in man was a reality after all! 

All the skepticism of Europe would hide its head in foolish shame; and all its doubts would dissolve under one glance of the new light that Jesus, and Jesus alone, pours from the converted Cannibal's eye."

Dave Niehaus--we saw it on the radio

Katharine is involved in ministries to the sight-impaired and recently shared with me a letter from Marlaina Lieberg, from the Washington Council for the Blind, who spoke at the Seattle Mariners Dave Niehaus Memorial at Safeco Field.  

Here is an excerpt from Marlaina's reflections:

"I was seated in the second row just behind Rick (Rizz--Dave's radio and tv M's partner for years). He is a very tiny man as men go.

He is a very nice guy, and we were all moved and felt helpless when we saw him fall apart emotionally. When Edgar, Jay, Dan Wilson and Kevin Kremmons went up to surround him, you could feel everybody just letting go.

Marlaina speaking

The stage had four steps to walk up and the podium was a few feet away from those steps.  Originally John Olerud was going to escort me, but he ended up sitting in the wrong seat so a guy from the Marketing Department escorted me instead.

It was very weird at first to speak and hear my word a fraction of a second later!

I was using my BrailleNote Apex, and the one time I deviated from my notes, I nearly got lost because my hand was so cold it was almost numb.  They gave me hand warmers, but those only work if you keep your hands in your pocket!  Oops!


While I was speaking, I really felt aware of the fact that I was representing all fans, but especially we who are visually impaired.

I wanted to make the point that because of Dave, you didn't need to see the game.  When people applauded, I almost fainted!  It was very awesome to hear the sound coming from left, center and right of me.  

But what was more awesome was the fact that over 5 thousand sighted people clapped when they understood you didn't need sight!  I never thought that would happen in this lifetime.

Edgar Martinez and his family sat behind Gary and me.  After the ceremony was over, we shook hands.  Let me tell you, that man has the most muscular hands I've ever felt.  They aren't fat, but oh boy are they muscular!"

God's freeing grace for flawed people

In Paul David Tripp's book, "What did you expect--redeeming the realities of marriage," pages 51-52, he uses the word "stultifying."  While serving at the Regional Justice Center in Kent, I often share with men about the Kingdom of God and God's deeper purposes for their lives.  

He wants to amazingly free them from ongoing sin, patterns that the evil one uses to keep them chained up indefinitely and continually returning to their old ways. He wants to lovingly draw them into a life-changing relationship with Him through Jesus.  He wants them to please Him in everything they do.  

So much gets in the way. 

Stultifying means humiliation, or the abasement of pride, which creates mortification or leads to a state of being humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission.  It can be brought about through bullying, intimidation, physical or mental mistreatment or trickery, or by embarrassment if a person is revealed to have committed a socially or legally unacceptable act.

Now, that definition got my attention. Some of the behaviors of inmates lead to stultifying results.  How might this impact oue own marriages, relationships, and ministries?

Here is what Paul David Tripp writes:

"[God's] grace purposes to expose and free you from your bondage to you. His grace is meant to bring you to the end of yourself so that you willing finally begin to place your identity, your meaning and purpose, and your inner sense of well-being in him."

So, he places you in a comprehensive relationship with another flawed person, and he places that relationship right in the middle of a very broken world. To add to this, he designs circumstances for you that you would have never designed for yourself. All this is meant to bring you to the end of yourself, because that is where true righteousness begins.

  

•      He wants you to give up.   
•    He wants you to abandon your dream.     
•  He wants you to face the futility of trying to manipulate the other person into your service.       
•  He knows there is no life to be found in these things.

What does this practically mean?

It means the trouble that you face in your marriage is not an evidence of the failure of grace. No, these troubles are grace. They are tools God uses to pry us out of the stultifying confines of the kingdom of self so that we can be free to luxuriate in the big-sky glories of the kingdom of God.

Paul David Tripp

This means that you and I will never understand our marriages and never be satisfied with them until we understand that marriage is not an end to itself. 

No, the reality is that marriage has been designed by God to be a means to an end. When you make it the end, bad things happen. 

But when you begin to understand that it is a means to an end, then you begin to enjoy and see the value in things that you would not have been able to enjoy before."

Going-- first step of obedience

On my recently completed short-term missions trip to Rwanda and Burundi in central eastern Africa, I was struck by the amazing amount of time allotted in the two weeks to travel.  There were close to 40 hours of travel each way between air travel and layovers in Amsterdam, Entrebbe, and JFK in New York.

on the road again

While we were in the beautifully green and mountainous Rwanda and Burundi,  our five-member PFC team along with Pastors Bernarde and John, from Rwanda, spent hours trekking up and down winding roads to prison sites in a simple SUV.

We were not able to enter the Democratic Republic of the Congo despite having completed visas from the Congo Embassy in Rwanda.  The Congo border officials refused to recognize the visas and would not allow us to enter the country. 

After three hours of prayerful and tiring waiting in between phone calls and conversations, we returned to Rwanda.  We were not able to visit one prison and complete one conference in the Congo.  It simply was not going to happen.

We conducted one conference in Rwanda and visited seven prisons between Rwanda and Burundi.  The purposes of the conference is to train and to encourage those already serving and others wanting to be involved.  Another prominent ministry in these countries is the Good News Jail and Prison Ministry which hosted the Rwanda conference with 28 participants.  We use core materials from the PFC University classes.  I taught on working with jail and prison staff.

As we traveled and I was feeling drained, I quoted Matthew 28:19-20 and John 15:16.

Rwanda countryside from the van

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  Matthew 28:19-20

There are three active participle activities in going, baptizing, and teaching, all supporting the main verb "make disciples."  

"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you."  John 15:16

So, going, all the travel, sitting, watching, repositioning, and listening is the first step of obedience to "make disciples in Rwanda and Burundi. I remember repeatedly embracing the trip and thanking God for everything around me.  What an incredibly beautiful two countries.

Genocide Museum

Genocide Museum

On our first day in Kigali, Rwanda on Monday, November 9, our PFC team visited the national genocide museum. My tour was conducted with Pastor Bernarde and Pastor John, both who lost direct family members.

During our eight full days of direct ministry, we visited seven prisons and conducted one conference in Rwanda and Burundi.  The actual travel time is about 40 hours each way, including layovers in the airports.

I will write about the awesome time I shared with Rachel Jacobs in Burundi and how we connected perfectly.  She is doing great!

I will write more about Bernarde and John in future days.

The genocide began in April of 1994 and continued through 1999. A great many of the inmates we preached to across Rwanda and Burundi were imprisoned for their roles.

Between 800,000 and one million were slaughtered--many from within families. The disaster left two million orphans. Uncounted babies and small children were killed or left permanently and severely wounded. It was all during a season of widespread turmoil across Africa.

I didn't cry while I was walking through. I was too profoundly impacted.  I was taught we learn from history. We learn from history only if we want to.  I was asking many questions.

The adversary's evil takes full advantage of every opportunity  "to steal, kill, and destroy," John 10:10a.

The watching world stood by and remained inactive despite repeated pleas for help from the United Nations.

Finally -- Some News! (another guest post by the wife)

For those of you who've been keeping track, you realize that Mark has been gone eleven days, and that means he'll be home tomorrow night. Were you worried that you may have missed several posts about his exploits? Would you like to get ALL the details?

Yep, I thought you would. Me too. I got a partial text message that I *think* was from him, on Sunday night. Here, apart from the mushy salutation, is what it said:

"Better since Friday. Didn't"

Do not adjust your monitor; that's all the message contained. Sorry. This was followed by a telephone call from the same number, but the connection wasn't quite connected so I couldn't hear any voice.

So, I've been living on assumptions (and prayer) this week. When Mark called me from Amsterdam, he said he'd felt poorly on the flight from Seattle. I can only guess that he kept on feeling poorly until Friday.

But wait! Now there's more!

Rachel, the missionary Special Education teacher in Burundi, contacted me on Facebook today. Her message is proof that Mark actually did land in Africa. (I was picturing him in the plane, circling, circling, for ten days.) Here's what her first line said:

"Thanks for sending your husband. He was an awesome encouragement!"


Okay, then! I'll see if I can snag some other info from Rachel, and will write another post if there's time before I go to the airport tomorrow. If you've read this far, you would perhaps be willing to join me in prayer for the team and their health on the homeward flights. It's no fun at all to fly when you aren't feeling well, and they've got a lot of flying to do.

NEWS FLASH!!! More info from Rachel:

"He was better by the time he got to me. They didn't go into Congo. The border patrol wouldn't let them in or something like that. I met them at the Buja prison and then had dinner that evening with them at the hotel. The next day I went to a church they were preaching at that was 5 blocks from my house :)
That's about all I know. Oh I gave them some peanutbutter cookies one of the missionaries here made me. They seemed to like them :)"

Well, there you have it. Mark may be a journalist, but when you want the full scoop, ask a girl. We've got the information and we're happy to share it!

Thanks, Rachel!!!

Guest Post #1 From the Wife

Before Mark left the country, he gave me the passwords to his Blogger account. Mua-ha-ha-ha! Stay tuned for some remarkable photos and stories of Mark's early years...

But in the mean time, here's all I know about his travels thus far. He called from Amsterdam at 11 p.m. Monday night (our time.) The team had made it, all together, that far. The first ten-hour flight went okay and they were preparing for the next leg of the journey.

There you go -- that's all the news I've got.

But, in case you've got a hankering for more details, I snagged a photo of the airplane to share with you. Ready? This was taken during their flight from Seattle to Amsterdam. In case you can't quite make him out, that's Mark sitting in an aisle seat somewhere near the middle of the plane. He's listening to music.

 

Easy... or hard to get saved--grace!

by John MacArthur

I know this shocks some people, because we hear all the time that getting saved is easy. “Just sign this little card!” “Just raise your hand!” “Just walk down that aisle while the choir sings one more stanza!” “Just recite this prayer!” “Just ask Jesus into your heart.” 

It all sounds simple. The only problem is that none of those actions has anything to do with real salvation and getting through the narrow gate. That sort of invitationalism implies that Jesus is some poor pitiful Savior, waiting for us to make the first move to allow Him His way. 

It implies that salvation hinges on a human decision, as if the power that saves us were the power of human “free will.”

 [MacArthur provides a few paragraphs explaining how this sort of invitational phenomenon started with Finney in the late nineteenth century, was carried on by Moody and soon became part of standard Christianity. He shows how it is, at its heart, anti-Calvinist. He then continues…]

According to Jesus, it’s very, very difficult to get saved. At the end of Matthew 7:14, He said of the narrow gate, “There are few who find it.” I don’t believe anyone ever slipped and fell into the kingdom of God. That’s cheap grace, easy-believism, Christianity Lite, a shallow, emotional revivalist approach: “I believe in Jesus!” “Fine, you’re part of the family, come on in!” No. The few who find the narrow gate have to search hard for it, then come through it alone. It’s hard to find a church or preacher—or a Christian—who can direct you to it. 

The kingdom is for those who agonize to enter it, whose hearts are shattered over their sinfulness, who mourn in meekness, who hunger and thirst and long for God to change their lives. It’s hard because you’ve got all hell against you. 

One of Satan’s pervasive lies in the world today is that it’s easy to become a Christian. It’s not easy at all. It’s a very narrow gate that you must find and go through alone, anguished over your sinfulness and longing for forgiveness.

Somebody might say this sounds like the religion of human achievement. 

Not so. When you come to brokenness, the recognition that you, of yourself, cannot make it through the narrow gate, then Christ pours into you grace upon grace to strengthen you for that entrance. In your brokenness, His power becomes your resource. Our part is to admit our sin and inability and plead for mercy and power from on high.

A full packet of prayer requests

I am reminding myself heart prayer needs in the coming days as we serve in Rwanda, the DR of Congo, and Burundi. Again, our trip is from November 8-20.  Our team meets Sunday evening for weigh-in of bags and prayer and dinner with our spouses in Woodinville.  We leave about noon from Sea-Tac on Monday.

Rachel Jacobs

As I am getting ready, do I have everything?  

What am I missing?

What will it be really like? 

What will we really do?

Am I anticipating the Lord so that I will be awed and amazed at what He does around us?  

Will the Lord Himself change our itinerary for His awesome glory?   

Tomorrow morning, I'll be interviewed along with Lowell and Ann Zeigle.  Lowell and Ann will be joining Jerry and Carol Kind in Northern Africa and Spain.  Keep praying for the faithful team there and that Jerry and Carol will get back there very soon.

One particular blessing will be connecting directly with Rachel Jacobs from our home church, Faith Baptist in Kent, who is teaching in Burundi. I am hopeful I'll have a great chance to meet with her in a significant way.  She may just bless me all over the place.

Would you pray Rachel and I can make a solid connection in Burundi and that I might encourage her? I'll be carrying a family package to deliver.  Please also pray for the team that is already in India with PFC.

To Jesus Christ who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Revelation 1:5-6

How can you pray for me? 

1. I'll "die to self" when I feel tired and disrupted.  Galatians 2:20, 6:14

2. I'll be a genuine encouragement to my team members.

3. I'll gang tackle love on our hosts who are excited about us coming.

4. I'll preach and teach God's glorious word with His anointing.

5. I'll pray on faithfully throughout every aspect of our trip.

6. I'll keep my things in safe order and support our team.

7. I'll pray for Katharine, Andy, Peter, and Jon.

 This is what we have been preparing since August to do:

Our CRB team

TRAIN saints currently doing prison ministry.
INTRODUCE the PFC umbrella and raise up missionary partners.
BLESS saints with resources and prisons with humanitarian aid.
EVANGELIZE inside the national prisons and everywhere.
TEACH churches to recruit volunteers and to multiply in other churches.

Very God of very God for Muslims

During the last three days at the Regional Justice Center, I've been following up with Sam, a 20 year-old inmate with an Islamic family background.  Another chaplain and two really faithful inmates, one a converted Muslim, recently worked through the gospel with him.

Sam said he believes Jesus is his Savior through whom he received the forgiveness of sin. 

Can Jesus be Savior and forgiver of sin and not be God? 

Is Allah of the Quran the same as the Father and the Tri-une God of the Bible?

I am not to persuade nor convince him, the work of the Holy Spirit. The next time we meet will now be after I return from Africa on November 20.

He hasn't read the Quran extensively but has a pretty solid understanding of Allah. He discovered a chain of statements in the book of Sura from the Quran asserting Muslims are to read and trust in the writings of Moses, David, the prophets, and the gospels.

I am using, "The gospel for Muslims--an encouragement to share Christ with confidence," by Thabiti Anyabwile as a tremendously clear resource as I pray and read through issues in sharing with Sam.

Our meetings are very peaceful and full of respect.  He wants to share Jesus with his family but struggles with what the Bible says about God as  Tri-une and if Jesus was a man or is God.  I asked him to read John 1:1-18 before we met today.

Is the Trinity a man-made doctrine that intentionally perverts the truth by "you guys?"  He repeatedly asserts the Bible has been perverted around the doctrine of the Trinity, a man-made doctrine.

I am committed consistently to not speaking a negative word about Islam nor the Quran.  Today, he peppered me with questions about who the Bible says Jesus is.  He believes Jesus is a man. We worked through Hebrews 1:5-13: David, Psalms 2:7, 104:4, 45:6-7, 102:25-27, 110:1; Moses, Deuteronomy 32:43; Isaiah in 61:1 and 3;  Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6-7

"Don't say say it is contradictory because what we think it says," I repeated.  "Would you read the Biblical passages and look honestly at what the Scriptures the Quran's Sura repeatedly state are trustworthy about Jesus?"

John 1:1-4 was hard for him.  I repeated it for him slowly several times as it is a section I have memorized.  He doesn't allow me to thoroughly answer his questions as he moves on to a set of more questions.

We read through the role of the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Birth of Jesus from Matthew 1:18-25.  We have the Father speaking through Isaiah, the Holy Spirit bringing about the birth, and the birth of Jesus, as the Son of God, a stunning Tri-une God passage.

We also read through Christ's response to a rich young man in Mark 10:17-22 where Jesus raises up the definition of a good teacher to the striking attribute of God's goodness.  Jesus holds Himself up as the One God who is truly good. Mark reported Jesus loved this young man.  My heart is to love Sam.

Is he being dishonest or manipulative?  I don't read it that way.  He is clearly seeing the Quran and the Bible do not agree on the very heart nature of God.  I ask him to identify the differences as he becomes aware.

We are committed to continue meeting together. Today, it was very, very clear this is outright spiritual warfare over this man's soul and the souls of his family. My place is to ask him questions and answer his questions by turning to Bible passages. 

Go and bear sustaining fruit

Yesterday, I was asked how I could go all the way around the world to Africa on a short-term missions trip to prisons and communities around the prisons when there are people that need to be reached right here in Kent and King County. Giving to a PFC short-term missions trip to Africa didn't seem like the best use of finances.

"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another." John 15:16-17 ESV

My giving support target of $3,950 was reached and exceeded,  as of Tuesday.  We'll be leaving Monday, November 8 and returning November 20 for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi.  While there, we are scheduled to do evangelistic services prisons, training conferences in churches, and preach in churches.  

The greatest long-term sustained fruit on this trip to Africa is in the conferences where we train, equip, and encourage the saints in that place to go into the prisons and reach the involved families and communities.

So, then, why should I go to Africa when people need to be reached here?  I am going: 

• primarily as a chaplain at the Regional Justice Center in Kent
• with Jim Dixon to Forks and the Olympic Corrections Centers several times a year
• team leader to prisons in eastern WA and northeastern OR 2 or 3 times yearly 
• visit an inmate at Twin Rivers in Monroe once or twice a month 
• write several letters regularly to inmates

• serve as an instructor twice a year at the PFC-University in Bothell
• this missions trip to Africa...and other trips, in time

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  Matthew 28:19-20 ESV


But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
Acts 1:8 ESV 

That is just the start of the Biblical mandate to go. God's heart from Genesis 12:1-3 through Psalm 67...and on throughout to Revelation 5:9-10 and to the end... bleeds missionary red.  The harder question is how can you and I stay.  Yes, be going across the street, into your neighborhood, and community. Go, go, go!  Do a Bible word study on "nations."  It's amazing!

 This is the richest ministry experience of my entire life since I started in 2002 and more full-time in 2006 with Prisoners for Christ Outreach Ministries.  The reality is I am seeking to raise more support for my various PFC ministries in Kent, King County, Washington, and Oregon.

powerful prayer focus to send us out

African service

Dear Board, staff, prayer team, mission partners, friends of the ministry and supporters,

Just wanted to let everyone know that PFC has two teams going out to the field almost simultaneously. Myself and five others will be heading to India from 11/4-11/19. 

The other team of five will be going to Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi from 11/8-11/20.

Please pray for the following:

1.       That God would be gloriefied

2.       That many souls would get saved in our prison crusades

3.       That we would have great meetings with government officials

4.       That we would be a source of encouragement to our national brothers on the ground

5.       That our conferences would go well

6.       Safety in the air

7.       Safety on the ground

8.       Safety from bandits

9.       Safety from accidents

10.   Safety from food illnesses

11.   For our teams to be unified

12.   For our team members by name that they would have a divine appt. India Team- Jeff McVey, Bob Jordan, Alex Ananenko, Jamie Neault, Nate Bean, Greg Von Tobel.

Greg Von Tobel  and Bob Jordan

Rwandan Team- Don Szolomayer, David Jordan, Mark Young, Mark Richardson, Ron Trask.

AGAIN pray that each team member have a God moment or multiple God moments!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blessings to all.

Greg Von Tobel

Prisoners for Christ Outreach Ministries

Standing Stones Ministry

Countdown to departure

Congo, Rwanda, Burundi

Our PFC short-term missions team of five leaves for Africa now in one week. The trip is scheduled for November 8-20 and the days are counting down.  We will be in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, and Rwanda. 

I feel the urgency and excitement.  Our team has been meeting five times since August and we have our weigh-in, prayer, and dinner with our wives Sunday evening.  I'll have an interview with Pastor John in church on Sunday, November 7. Everything seems to be moving at "Star Trek warp speed," now. 

Rachel Jacobs serves in Burundi.  So I am praying about being able to connect with her.  I don't know the itinerary details about being in Burundi, yet.

It would be awesome if we could talk together and pray when our team is there.