Samaritan's Purse

This is the Truth Network. Welcome to the Christian Car Guy radio show.

I say this calls for action and now! Good morning, this is Bill Nixon filling in for Robbie Dilmore who's having a wonderful time at the ARC Museum. This morning I've got two wonderful friends of mine, John Holland who's been up doing some work with Samaritan's Purse trying to help our neighbors up there.

And Mark Hogspen who is our director of the jail and prison ministry, Forsyth Jails and Prison Ministry. Good morning, Mark. Good morning, thanks Bill.

Thank you for being on. John, I know you've gone up and helped Samaritan's Purse and I wanted to encourage our audience to consider what they can do to make a difference for all those hundreds of thousands of people that are living in very difficult situations. Tell us how you ended up going up and helping and what that first day of volunteering was like for you.

Well, one, I think it's that calling you get when you see people suffering. That's where it starts first and then our church actually had us a connection and we were looking for volunteers or they were looking for volunteers and that urging of wanting to do something and not sitting back and hoping others would do it but you getting involved in it as well. Put my name out there and next thing I know meeting with a group of people and we have this convoy of just people wanting to help our neighbors out in the western part of North Carolina. And then we is very organized.

We go into a church area where they shuttle us in and register us in and go through safety briefings, all sorts of wonderful things and then put us together into groups and never was there a time that I felt like I did not know what I was doing and then I was aimless in this. This was fully a purposely led day of helping our neighbors out, whether it was in construction or debris removal, whatever it might be. So you didn't need to be really skilled and know exactly how to use a hammer. No, it was whether or not you just had the willingness. Now, if you like, I am skilled with a chainsaw. I was working with removing trees, debris and so forth.

So it didn't even matter whether or not you had strength, you know, that you had to be big and burly and that kind of thing. It was more of that you had a heart for helping people and they would find a way for you to be able to help out. Mark, you came on with the Forsyth jail and prison ministry in the heart of COVID, if I remember correctly. That's right. It was June of 2021.

So we were still struggling with COVID then. How did you end up in Winston Salem? Yeah, this I had spent the bulk of my career working in nonprofit leadership, specifically as with an international missions organization, and felt like I was ready to lead an organization. And this opportunity came up.

Somebody mentioned the need for an executive director at the jail and prison ministry in Forsyth County. And through a series of events, it worked out. I felt like God was calling my family and I here. And I'm just grateful for the opportunity. It's just been been wonderful. So we, yeah, back in June of 21, we moved from central Virginia down to down here to Winston Salem.

And it's been great. What does the Forsyth jail and prison ministry do and how unique is it? Yeah, we first of all, Forsyth County, for those that don't know, we have two incarceration facilities. We have the Forsyth Correctional Center, known as the Cherry Street Prison on the north side of town. And then we also have the jail downtown and Forsyth jail and prison ministries at its core is a chaplaincy. So we provide we're a community funded nonprofit organization. We provide chaplaincy services every day at the both the prison and at the jail. And out of that comes several opportunities for programs for volunteers to become involved with. We do Bible studies at both facilities routinely throughout every week.

We do worship services at both facilities on Sundays. And then we also we have a reentry program for men coming out of prison. This is at the Cherry Street Prison.

It's called Transitions to Work. And we it's a two year program where where we prepare men who have been incarcerated through a series of life skills classes, financial training, human resource development, those types of things. And then also spiritual development. We take them through two years of classes to prepare them for their release. And then we stay with them for several months after their release, providing support like housing assistance, transportation, counseling, help finding a job, all those types of things that can make for a successful reentry. So the jail and prison ministries is wide. We have a wide net of programs we offer. The vast majority are volunteer driven.

We could not do it without our hundreds and hundreds of very faithful, faithful volunteers. We have more than 100 local churches that support in some capacity, whether that be financially, whether that be through prayer, whether that be for by providing volunteers. Forsyth County is an incredibly supportive community for those folks who find themselves incarcerated. We've got churches from around the surrounding counties, too, if I remember correctly.

We do. Yes, we do have some churches from even Stokes County, Davie County, Davidson, even out into Guilford County as well. Yeah, very, very supportive community we live in. John, how does somebody get connected to a project where they can help up in the mountains? I think the easiest way to do that is contact Samaritans itself. And they're going to point you to a group or directly have you come to Samaritans where they're reaching out in the community. Now, I have seen lots and lots of things on Facebook where people say, how can I find a place to help? Where can I take all these canned goods?

You know, we've been gathering this item and I showed up somewhere and they said they don't need them. So online, I assume there's a way online for Samaritans first. I remember to see a sign up online to be able to pick where you go.

How did that work for you? Well, from the perspective of where I was volunteering in the group that I was in and we had about 17 people in the group that I was in. Basically, we just went up there and they allocated us based on numbers. It wasn't specifically like I want to work in the outskirts of and it could have been in eastern Tennessee. There was a broad reach where folks were going. So it was primarily just being open to volunteering, signing in and being put into a group and then allocated out from there. It wasn't that you pick which one you wanted.

You could let people know what limitations you had so that they wouldn't put you in a situation that was maybe too complex for what your skill set was. How many people in our church have been going up? Do you have any idea? We've been going up, I guess this is probably the fourth or fifth time I think that we go up on Saturdays and we have about 15 or more people to go up each week. Mark, let's make sure everybody knows how to find Forsyth Jail and Prison Ministry online. If I remember, it's ForsythJPM.org?

That's exactly right. You can visit ForsythJPM.org. You can find out everything about our ministry, who's involved in our ministry, ways you can help. We have calendars online as well and some stories and information about various events.

You can also find us on all of our social media platforms as well, which you can get to through our website. Now, how many volunteers do you figure go through jail training now? We have about 300 that go through every year. For the jail specifically, volunteers have to do the training every year to continue to be eligible to enter the jail. It sounds like a lot of volunteers, and it is, and we're grateful for that. The reality is doing two worship services and five to six Bible studies at least every week with different volunteer groups, it requires hundreds of people to make that happen at the jail. We're just so grateful that people are willing to get out of their comfort zone, enter a place like the jail, and serve Christ in a way that he's called them to do. You know, we've had some spectacular sheriffs in Forsyth County that have made their facility available to the ministry in wonderful ways, and my hat's off to our current sheriff and our previous sheriff, and I know that our jail is running on like two-thirds the number of people that they actually need to run the place.

Is that about right? Yeah, I know their staffing levels are still low. First of all, I agree with you, Bill, if it's not for the leadership, the sheriff, and then also Major Henson at the jail. We're coming to a hard break. We hope everybody will stay tuned and listen to us when we come back after this break. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com.

Welcome back. We are call-in show. Our call-in number is 866-348-7884. Mark, I'm wondering if an individual, if a part of a Sunday school class, part of a small group, somebody at a church, feels the Holy Spirit calling them to help the local jail and prison ministry, what are some things that we can do to help the ministry?

Sure. We are always looking for volunteers. You can, like I said, jump on our website or you can call our office to see the best way to do that. Individuals can serve at the prison. At the jail, we're looking for church groups to come in.

We typically have a coordinator for each church that serves and then individuals at those churches or others can serve under those coordinators just to keep it a little more organized. We also have a number of ways that anybody can be praying, pray for our leadership at both facilities, the warden at the prison and his staff, the major at the jail and his staff. And then you can be praying for those individuals who are incarcerated.

Obviously, it's a very, very difficult time in their lives and pray not only for them, but also for their families as well. The families struggle through the incarceration journey also. And then we do giveaways every month of hygiene items at the prison specifically and then a couple of times a year at the jail just to make sure individuals have what they need.

And so, again, you can see on our website the types of hygiene items we can accept and distribute. That's always a need, always a need. And then, of course, we are community funded, so we're reliant on the community for financial support as well to make sure we can keep chaplains full time in both facilities every day.

John, help me understand. When you got to Boone, you went to an area church they told you to show up at. How many other volunteers were there that particular Saturday in that one location? There was well over 2,000, Bill. 2,000 in that one location in Boone?

Unbelievable. There was actually about a half a mile long line of cars waiting to get into the church area and the overflow parking there at the community college with shuttle buses bringing people in. There was just so many people wanting to help.

It was amazing. A long time ago, I helped with some flood relief on Hannibal, Missouri. And what was explained to me at the time was that if you had flood insurance in some particular areas, if the house was over 50% damaged, you weren't allowed to use your money to build back the house there. So that the way they explained it to me was that we need the volunteers to come in and help muck out the house and to get the repair costs down under that 50% where the person living there wasn't going to be able to build back the house in that particular spot.

And I got to say, the worst smell I ever smelled in my life was a house two months after flooded having to rip out that carpet. There's a lot of stuff that needs to be done right now or they won't ever be able to recoup the house. The sheetrock will wick up, so you might have six inches of water, but the entire room can end up being wet and mold hazard. So all the sheetrock's got to be torn out and then the structure dried out for them to be able to fix the house to live in. That's correct.

What type of stuff did your groups do? Oh wow, it goes everything from ripping out insulation between the floor joists in a crawl space, and they provide the protective gear, eye protection, face protection, basically a throwaway suit so you don't get anything on you, but you're crawling around in mud in a crawl space, ripping out insulation so as you said, the structure can dry out. Then there's also where you have a walkout basement and you're basically with the homeowner looking at the things that they've collected through the years, various life-keeping things that they want.

This is a job you don't have to get under a house, right? No, that's if you're walking out of a crawl space. We'll move past the crawl space to the job that some people might be willing to do, which is in your nice clean clothes doing what? Well, you're mucking out, and that means basically you're picking through what's now litter because the water has damaged it and deteriorated whatever it was. It's gotten into storage boxes. It really does just an amazing thing to the knick-knacks that you have, and now you're taking a shovel or a rake, or you're just grabbing it and putting it into a garbage bag and you're carrying it out, but you have these giant buckets that you're just scooping mud and water, and it doesn't smell pretty, Bill.

Like you said, it's not the best smell, and you're trying to get out while it is wet because it's a little bit easier to deal with it when it is something that's pliable, right? So you're shoveling it out, and then you're carrying it out, and then you're dumping it, and then all the trash that you're taking out that the homeowner says, yes, this is something I don't want to rinse off or wash off, or it's damaged beyond repair, and you're carrying it to the curb so that it can be picked up by a salvage operation. Well, I just imagine two different families, one family there all by themselves knowing that their neighbors are in the same situation, having to go through their entire house and put this giant pile of trash out where somebody will come pick it up, and then another neighborhood where you've got 20 or 30 people there helping the family get through the process of getting all that stuff out.

I would just feel so much more connected to God. If I had a bunch of people there helping me do it, then if I was standing there looking at a job, I didn't see how I was ever going to get to the other end of. It's wonderful that we had folks jump in early to go up and do all the help, but there's still a lot of help that needs to be done up there, and I would encourage you, if you're physically fit and capable of going up to the mountains and finding a place to pitch in and make a difference, that you pray about doing that. Mark, I understand there's some programs at the prison that somebody can jump into and help with Bible study or some educational information, or they even can check out. They can go there and say, I'm willing to take an inmate to church with me and to a meal afterwards. But right this minute, I don't remember the group that meets in the evenings that works with the guys. Yeah, so we have an evening group called Yoke Fellows that works with us.

Okay, let's get back and talk a little bit about Yoke Fellows when we get to the other side of it. If you're not in our area, you have jails and prisons in your area that you can do a little bit of research on and see if that's a way that you can help the chaplains in your local institutions. And they need some prayer. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com We want to welcome everybody back and encourage you to call in if you've got a question about flood relief work or jail and prison ministry.

The number is 866-348-7884. We were talking about our local prison and that we've got volunteers go in. What do they do when they go in and help, Mark?

Sure, we have a number of opportunities. First of all, we were talking about Yoke Fellows before the break. Yoke Fellow is a listening ministry designed to get incarcerated individuals talking, sharing what's on their hearts. So we do that every Thursday night at 7 o'clock and volunteers are matched up with a group of incarcerated folks at the prison.

We typically give a prompt to get the discussion started. And then our volunteers are there just to simply listen to hear what's on the heart of men, the men incarcerated to Cherry Street Prison. So that's a very popular needed program where volunteers can easily serve.

It doesn't require, other than the safety training, it doesn't require any special skills or anything like that. Just somebody willing to listen and to engage. And then we have worship services on Sundays where church groups can come out and volunteer and help with those services at Sunday evening at 5 o'clock. We have a couple of Bible studies throughout the week as well. And then we do some different classes and then some special events as well at different times throughout the year. So anybody interested in volunteering can jump on our Web site or call our office.

Three three six seven five nine zero zero six three. And we'll match you up with a with a program that that you're interested in and that's needed. And it should be a great experience for everybody. Now, we broadcast all across the nation and there are people that aren't anywhere close to Forsyth, North Carolina. And I'm going to tell you, from what I've been told, in most of the nation, your facilities, your jails and prisons don't have anybody helping them. That the chaplains that they have there may or may not be religious or Christian and that very few organizations go in and take them reading material.

There is a great need for people across the United States, for their small group, their church to call up and ask the local jail or prison. Do you have Bibles to give away free? Could you use some and to collect Bibles for the local facilities to have in their library? A lot of jails and prisons do not have any type of library. They don't have a cart with books on it. They don't have cases of Bibles for whoever is got the chaplain type job there to pass out. There is a great opportunity for Christians across the country to reach out to their local facilities and see if they can step up and provide those items. There also, it's hard to understand this, but in most facilities, if you get locked up and put in jail, you have to come up with your own toothpaste. You have to come up with your own toothbrush.

You have to come up with your own soap. And there are folks that have next to nothing and nobody on the outside willing to put a few dollars in their account so that they can purchase those type items. In a great many facilities, there's not anybody there that wears the hat of chaplain that is even available to ask, is it possible for you to get me a Bible? So I would encourage all of you in the audience to pray about is there, are there things that you and your group can do to lighten the load and make a difference in those that are incarcerated.

Now why? Why in the world would we want to do that? Well, easiest reason is that Jesus specifically told us that we're supposed to help people that are incarcerated. Personally, I would much rather those folks be out with a good job and a nice family and two cars complaining about the federal taxes they're paying instead of taking my tax dollars and being supported inside those facilities. Well, it takes love and compassion and care to encourage people to make those changes. I've done some jail and prison ministry and some of the neatest ministry I've done in my life has been to those that are incarcerated to encourage them to understand that not everybody on the outside wants them locked up. Quite frankly, there's probably nobody on the outside that's thinking about them and want them locked up, but to open your mind and your heart that we have an all loving and caring God and that there are people that actually would help us if we were to ask for help. That's a hard concept for some people. John was talking about some families that they went to help up in the mountains.

You want to share that with us? Well, first I just want to share also isn't just around the Watauga County in the Boone area we, you know, we have operations and I should want to say that I have Samaritan's Purse shirt volunteer shirt so I feel like I'm part of the family. But there's operations in Florida and Georgia, all throughout the western mountains that we've got folks that are been dispatched through that area and looking for volunteers to be able to help in the recovery from Hurricane Helene.

In the area in which we went. This was a family, a husband and wife elderly that had asked for help. And we went in and they had a walkout basement and it was flooded up to about four or five feet and so all their belongings that were stored in this walkout basement area, their washer, their dryer, a refrigerator, their boiler, a bunch of different things besides the keepsakes tools had all been flooded out we had to get it all out of there and then once we got down to the bare bones we had to power wash it out.

But this couple who was elderly the husband in the beginning said no I can handle it. You know I just give me a rig I'll just clean it all off in a hose and the wife had convinced him that hey let's get some help here it's a little bit much and as the day progressed we had about 50 people in 15, 16, 17 from our church that had gone to make up this 50. They throughout the day just realized how much work it was and eventually the husband and the wife both cried and said we could have never done it without you now it wasn't about us doing the work it was more about coming around people and loving on them and letting them know that the community cares and there were people from New Jersey there were people from Arizona. There were people from all over the place that had been compelled in their heart to come along their fellow men and women, and to be able to support them any way that they can. So, in this case, not only and I mentioned, I think Bill you mentioned about our, you know, neighbors, and those that might, you know, see a group of people in orange shirts from Samaritan Purse fixing their house and there's a neighbor's house that is in destroyed condition right needs help.

And they're looking going, how can I get help. And what's interesting is that I've witnessed for the first time was the leaders of our group actually went next door to the right to the left and said hey, do you have a need for us to come over. And so even though we were at one house while we were working in with this group of 50 people, we ended up touching three homes we ended up fixing house to the left and to the right. And one of the houses there were unbelievers really didn't want anything to do with folks thinking that we were going to press the Lord on them and so forth and at the end of the whole day, we had given them a Bible signed by all the volunteers, and that's something that does it as they help you all the volunteers that are helping muck out the house will sign a Bible and present it and pray over this other family did not want that they didn't want prayer they didn't want a Bible they didn't want anything at the end of the day. They gladly received the Bible and receive prayer.

And just thankfulness to God that we were able to help. Mark, if I remember in past the Forsyth jail and prison ministry has had a Christmas party at the prison for the inmates and their children. That's correct and we have that coming up on December 7. It's called in the name of the father and it's a family builder activity we want to make sure that the men that are incarcerated at the Cherry Street prison have an opportunity to stay connected with their children as much as we can. So we do a program where volunteers and folks supporting us in the community, provide gifts that the, the men incarcerated the prison can select from. And then we have a big party, it'll be on Saturday December 7 where they're significant other and their children can come in and they can spend the morning together, the men are able to give those gifts we wrap them up for them with volunteers, they're able to give them to their kids watch their kids open them and kind of have a Christmas celebration right there at the prison it's just a fantastic program.

And I'm really grateful to our warden who allows us to do that. But it's a great time for these men to stay connected with their families at Christmas. If you're a child who's got a father who's been away because they've been locked up.

It makes it really difficult to grow up and become the type person that we want them to grow up to be. Point being, we want to encourage those that are incarcerated to get out and stay out. We want to encourage their families to raise children that are going to make a difference in their communities. We need to find ways to help and praying about these organizations is a great way to start. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com Well, we want to thank you for tuning into the Christian car guys show we are talking about the flood relief going on in the mountains of North Carolina and we're talking about jail and prison ministry. All across the nation, and we're asking our audience to think about putting those things on their daily prayer list. Think about those folks that have next to nothing that are trying to rebuild and the volunteers that are going up and trying to make a difference in those hurricane Helene areas and think about those folks that are incarcerated.

Yeah, I don't know about you, but over my life. I have done some stupid idiotic things that if the police had been there at the wrong time, I could have served a little bit of time and I have grown out of that and their folks that when they make a mistake, they don't have the financial resources to hire the people to keep it from following them around on their record. There's some rather nice wonderful people that have been locked up. Now, there may be some people that weren't but we need to soften our hearts and think of ways to make life better for those people around us personally.

I don't want the government doing all that. I want the church doing a lot of that. I'd like to see us trying to make a positive difference to our neighbors and the people that God puts in our path and to reach out a little bit farther than that and to help folks that we know need assistance. Those folks are going to be a whole lot more likely to listen to what you've got to say about Jesus if you've given them a helping hand and the world's full of people that need to understand how much God loves them, why Jesus came. Mark, how did you end up in jail and prison ministry?

Do you remember what tugged at your heart? Yeah, I have always had a soft spot in my heart for folks who are underserved and have spent the bulk of my career working in nonprofit ministry settings. God led me here, not because I'm anything special or whatever, but I just felt like this is where God wanted me and it's been a great opportunity to serve a population oftentimes that is underserved. Our mission is simple at Forsyth Jail and Prison Ministries. We use Christ's love and forgiveness to transform lives and break the cycle of crime and punishment. Ultimately, freedom comes through a relationship with Christ, whether you're incarcerated or not.

That's where we find true freedom. And I feel blessed to be able to, along with the incredible folks I work with and our great volunteers, to be able to carry out that mission every day. The chaplains at the jail do a whole lot more than just lift up the inmates.

Sure. At both facilities, really, part of our mission is to reach out to not only those that are incarcerated, but the staff and the leadership at both facilities as well. Those that are working in incarceration facilities as officers or as in leadership, they have incredibly, incredibly difficult jobs. They are some of the most faithful, hardworking people I know. And we as a community should be grateful for the folks that are working in our incarceration facilities. So our chaplains are there for them when they need to talk or just take a break for a minute and just share what's on their heart. And we feel privileged to be able to do that for the staff as well. And then also reach out and work with the families some, too, I believe.

We do. We have some family builder programs where we try to keep the men and women who are incarcerated in our community connected with their families. Of course, families come and visit their loved ones who are incarcerated as well. And we encourage that time of visitation, whether it be weekly or monthly or whatever the case may be.

That's so important to maintain connection between the incarcerated individual and the family throughout their incarceration journey. John, we don't necessarily need everybody know exactly which gas company it is, but you've got a deep background in making sure people can heat their homes and that. The tell us a little bit about how difficult it is for all those folks in the mountains that in this cold weather don't have the heating systems they used to.

Yeah, I think that's a great point. I think we think of the impact of Hurricane Helene with the washout of homes and cars and the businesses and so forth. And so we think about those people that also escaped the ravages of the storm, but yet they're still impacted not only by the roadways.

It might be deteriorated and closed, but now you have people that use propane gas to heat their homes or to take a shower or to cook or all three. And now their local provider may have been impacted by the storm. And I know our company, as well as other companies, literally had their businesses taken off the earth, were just completely washed out. They lost their assets, the rolling stock, meaning their their trucks, their propane cylinders that they would put at a customer's home, as well as their bulk storage to be able to load the trucks to deliver to your house. So there were several companies up there that were impacted by this. So you might be a residential customer or even a business that wasn't, in fact, impacted by Hurricane Helene.

But now you can't get gas and you're worried about having a hot shower. And so what we've done in our company, I know other companies have done the same thing, is we've gone up and taken our trucks and personnel from up in New England and New York, brought them down to service areas like Hendersonville and the Asheville area, locations around Douglasville, Georgia, places that were highly impacted. And the first group that we were able to touch were those that had generators. So these are these things that we have as generators are great.

They don't run a lot, but then when you need them, you got to have them. And so what's neat about it is it's great as long as you got propane. But if you can't get your propane, your generator doesn't work. So that's been a challenge for the people that haven't been necessarily impacted by the water itself. Yeah, a lot of the waste treatment plants are built right next to the creeks and the rivers. And an awful lot of those mountain communities lost the ability to flush their toilets. There are an awful lot of water lines and power lines that were put in right along the creek beds, because that's the easiest, cheapest place to do it. There are folks up there that have a house, but they don't have water.

They've got to truck it in. They don't have electricity in some cases. My hat's off to they've done a tremendous job getting electricity back in a lot of communities. But there's some in those little back cities that nobody ever drives through that are still fighting for electricity and water and sewer. We need to take a deep breath and think about how good we have it right now. The vast majority of the folks, if you actually had the time, energy, and effort right now to listen to a radio show, you probably have it a whole lot better off than a large portion of the folks in the mountains of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia. And we need to pray for those folks and we need to pray, what can we do to make a difference?

Can we hop in the car? Yes, John. Yeah, I was going to say, just to give you a number, we had roughly 90,000 customers that were impacted by the storm. So when you said that when you're able to sit and comfortably listen to a radio program and yet there's 90,000 people, that's just impacting our customers of our company.

Think about the enormity of the people that are out there that are suffering for various reasons, whether it's water, electricity, or heating. Well, we appreciate you tuning in. We ask you to pray for the station. We ask you to pray for the show. We ask you to consider putting on your daily prayer list those that are incarcerated near you. And try to figure out what you can do to make a difference in the lives of others. If you've got Jesus in your heart, when you look at your hands, you should see Jesus' hands. When you think about your shoulder that needs crying on, that's Jesus' shoulder. We were instructed to make a difference in our world, to be a time of refreshment and a light on the hill, so that the good news of Jesus Christ can be shared. And if you're lifting people up and you're making a difference in their lives, they're a whole lot more interested in hearing what you have to say about Jesus.