Lifeline Global Ministries

I love supporting Awana Lifeline Ministry. Awana lifeline has several elements. Malachi Dads is a study for men and Hannah's Gift is a study for women to become moral parents even from within prison walls. And, returning Hearts Celebration where the inmates invite their kids to spend the day with them to re-unite, re-connection, and reconciliation between the parent and the child. (http://awanalifeline.org/media.php?pageID=39)

The returning Hearts Event has several aspects: reuniting the inmate and child, and a day of togetherness unlike any normal visitation time.

Here are just a few stories. One child that came had Down's syndrome and when he arrived at the check-in area, he was so excited. He kept saying 'I'm going to see by daddy!'. When the two got united, the dad and son hugged for a long time and both were happy. In the rodeo arena before the main presentation at the end of the day, I went up to him and asked how his day was and both said 'great'. I ask the boy what was his favorite part of the day? And with a big smile and eyes on his dad said 'Spending the day with my dad!' Both hugged each other with smiles and tears.

I met with a dad who had his kids for the first time that day. He was looking out the gates watching as they walked out to go home. His lip was quivering and I just stood with him with my arm on his shoulder. After a bit, he thanked me, we prayed, he wept, and then hugged ' for him, prison was about to start again except he had many new memories and a new relationship with his kids.
I also saw another inmate named Chris that I was the family assistant for maybe two years before. At that time, Chris and his 5-year-old son , who had had no contact with his dad since his incarceration, were meeting for the first time. For about half the day on that first time, little CJ wanted nothing to do with his dad; kept saying he's in jail and many prayers were going up, but then about lunch time, things changed and father and son reconciled. A few years later I saw Chris from a distance and he ran up to me with a big smile and hug. He said that this day was great and a big change from the first visit a few years ago. He thanked me and Awana for allowing him to have a day with his son.
One year I went to the area where the guardians were gathering to be re-united with their kids. Several ladies (moms and grand-moms) were there and I spoke with them. Some didn't know what returning Hearts was even about. So I explained it to them and shared the reference verse (Malachi 4:6 ' last verse in Old Testament) and that it was a time for reconciliation just like Jesus seeks us to reconcile with Him. Then I saw a man, maybe mid-30's, standing by himself so I went to talk with him. He said he was there to get his three girls who were visiting their grandfather. I paused a moment, 'your dad?' He said yes. He went on to say that he tries to keep his connection with his dad and to keep his kids in touch with him in the safe environment that is provided by the Awana returning Hearts Celebration. He said they live out of state and it takes an effort to visit. God loves kids of inmates too!

Years ago, I had paddled a canoe past the Louisiana State Penitentiary, or Angola as it is commonly known, on my way down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. I was 19 at the time. One of the guys with me in the canoe pointed to the east and said, "Over there is the bloodiest prison in the country. We're not camping on the east bank tonight, that's for sure!"

Thirty eight years later, I was walking into that same prison. My heart was beating fast remembering what I had been told so many years ago, but now I was walking into a prison I had been told has seen a complete change.

Back in the '70's there was an average of one stabbing every day in Angola prison. There was a murder every three days. A third of the prison population were sex slaves. Hardened criminals were said to break down and cry when told they were going to Angola.

Today there is a church service being held somewhere on the grounds every day. There are 26 prisoner led churches behind those walls. A third of the prison population are Christians. Once hardened criminals break down and cry as they recount the pain they have caused their victims and their family.

After coming to Angola, Warden Burl Cain started talking... and truly listening... to the inmates and found a consistent fear among the men: that their children would follow them behind bars. In fact, the child of a prisoner is 70% more likely to be incarcerated than a child who has never had a parent in prison. This fact was really driven home when Warden Cain found out a recent inmate had been introduced to both his father and grandfather, both also inmates, for the first time after he arrived.

Not knowing where to turn for help, Warden Cain contacted Awana, a ministry based in the Chicago area known for work with children around the world. From that call, Awana Lifeline (www.awanalifeline.org) was born. It was with this ministry I entered Angola prison to see the changes that had come to what was once the bloodiest prison in the country.

What I saw was amazing. I could see the change that had come to many of these men. It was in their talk, their smiles, their eyes and although I couldn't see it, I knew it was in their hearts. I spoke with men on death row. I spoke with men who were serving life sentences (in Louisiana, a life sentence means LIFE). I spoke with a man who was due to be getting out soon. He was 38 years old and finishing a twenty year sentence. "Do you have an actual release date?" I asked him. "No, but it's soon. It really doesn't matter though, it's in God's hands and his timing will be perfect, so whenever it is will be the right time."

On my last of three days there, I handed a check to the director of Awana Lifeline, who raises his own salary. Angola had changed me as it had so many of it's prisoners. Within a year, I joined Awana Lifeline as an unpaid staff member to do what I can during my retirement to spread the Awana Lifeline programs to other prisons. With programs that have shown to cut recidivism rates by more than 50% and to "turn the hearts of (inmate) fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers" this is an investment too good to pass up!