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Hi from the Salvation Army, and you're listening to Words of Life. These are the words, these are the words, these are the words of life. These are the words, these are the words, these are the words of life. There are these misconceptions about people. I had a Savish Army officer asked me this one time when we were talking about an upcoming presentation.
And the fact is, a lot of people think that everybody's guilty. That may be true. But we may not know. And so we reproach them with this mindset. They're guilty.
And That's how we treat them. But again, it may be guilt by association. They didn't know what was happening. Or they didn't report what they heard was going to happen, and there's law authorities in the state of Texas and some other states, an individual. and be convicted and be sentenced.
Can be executed, and that has happened based upon the law of parties guilt by association. And then this assumption where there's people that we say, oh, they're no, they're. They will never change.
So these are misperceptions. And the other thing is where they say, oh, everybody's in jail as a non-believer. It's my job to go in there and preach to them or send them cards and letters to try to witness to them. And there's some in there that probably have stronger faith than some people that I know walking free.
So those are just a few things there. Hey, you're listening to the Salvation Army's Words of Life. We're going to take a quick ad break, and we'll be right back. Hey friends, it's Catherine from Christian Parent Crazy World. I just had to tell you how excited I am about an upcoming episode dropping May 11th with Christy Graham from Samaritans Purse.
We talk about what it looks like to raise kids with a global, faith-filled perspective in a world that can feel so small and so self-focused. Christy shares powerful stories from the front lines: children receiving life-saving heart surgery, women in traumatic situations rebuilding their lives through Christ, and even incredible testimonies of faith in the middle of war and persecution. And I'll be honest, some of these stories had me on the edge of my seat. They reminded me that God is moving in big, bold ways all over the world. And it challenged me as a mom to think differently about how I'm disciplined.
My own kids. I truly believe this episode will encourage you, stretch you, and give you a bigger vision of your family's faith.
So, mark your calendar for May 11th. You don't want to miss this special episode of Christian Parent Crazy World.
Now here's a really cool thing that our listeners will be interested in. Can you tell them about some of the initiatives or programs that the Salvation Army has that support? Correctional Ministries.
Well, as mentioned, one of the things we we broaden the scope, at least here in Texas, the Salvation Army, to include the staff. But primarily right now for the incarcerated individuals, we do have our Bible study correspondence program. It's not only just operated through Texas, but our other four territories in the U.S. And that is branching into a digital discipleship program that will be made, actually is already available on the tablets that many of the facilities have. Right now, there's an app on the secured tablets.
The app is called Edovo, E-D-O-V-O, and is a digital educational platform on the secured content tablets. And not to scare anybody to think that it was internet tablets, these people, individuals or friends who are able to reach out through the internet, that's not the case. There may be rare cases in the U.S., but most of it is very secured content and filtered. But the Edovo app, we've been able to make available. This has been a project that started a couple of years ago.
And just within the last few weeks, we've been able to put the podcast, Words of Life, both in English and Spanish, out on Edovo. And I have some metrics I need to share with you all. Also, we put out some of the war cry. Magazines, and then also the video. We have one short video about what is the Salvation Army.
And then we have the two courses, prisoners in the Bible, Old Testament study and prisoners in the Bible and New Testament study, exploring the characters in the Old Testament, exploring the characters in the New Testament, those that we see in the biblical stories that talk about those individuals in prison or in confinement, captivity, and how God didn't leave them and God still cares. Those are some exciting things, at least in that aspect. And then We're doing some things with trying to promote more the salvation army as it relates to correctional ministries, more involvement. There is um organization Called uh crit uh Correctional Ministries and Chaplains Association, CMCA. And there is a website, cmcainternational.org.
And so this is an opportunity for individuals to go out there if they're involved or want to find more about ministry within correctional facilities. that they can attend a conference that's coming up in May. And Savesh Army, we are present at that conference and seeking to invite more people to become more involved. Beautiful. I could never have imagined there was that much going on.
Incredible. We pray that you're enjoying and being blessed by this conversation. Uh We're going to take one more ad break and we'll be right back. Hey friends, it's Catherine from Christian Parent Crazy World. I just had to tell you how excited I am about an upcoming episode dropping May 11th with Christy Graham from Samaritan's Purse.
We talk about what it looks like to raise kids with a global, faith-filled perspective in a world that can feel so small and so self-focused. Christy shares powerful stories from the front lines: children receiving life-saving heart surgery, women in traumatic situations rebuilding their lives through Christ, and even incredible testimonies of faith in the middle of war and persecution. And I'll be honest, some of these stories had me on the edge of my seat. They reminded me that God is moving in big, bold ways all over the world. And it challenged me as a mom to think differently about how I'm discipling my own kids.
truly believe this episode will encourage you, stretch you, and give you a bigger vision of your family's faith.
So mark your calendar for May 11th. You don't want to miss this special episode of Christian Parent Crazy World.
Sergeant Brown, can you share a story of individuals that you've seen have a transformative experience through Christ while they were in prison? Course. If we were to write something, we could say it starts with one, whether it's one me, whether it's one you, it's one some other person. But this one started with a man that the one I mentioned earlier that wrote to me in 2014 asking if the Salvation Army would continue its ministry to the men on death row. It started with one letter.
It started with one visit in July of 2015. And I visited this one. one man that had written to me. And he asks, he says, you know, well, there's some other men here that have been receiving visits from Major Catherine Cox, who was the lady of Dundas for many, many years. This man asked me, he says, you know, there's others that like to have visits, may not get very many visits.
Would you be willing to visit them? I said, well, let me do this. I'm not going to. Invite myself into their life. If they want to visit, they can write to me and ask for a visit, and I'll do my best to schedule a visit with them.
So I started with one man, and I won't share with the number of men that have written over the last. 10, 11 years to receive visits. But it starts with one. And there's one change. One real quick story, there's one more.
And I asked. Asked Jiaom if I could share his story. He sits on Texas death row. And the man I just shared with you that invited me to start visiting. actually read the Bible with Jim.
Day after day, they read the Bible together. I read through the Bible. When the man that first visited me, he was executed. Jim kept reading the Bible. He started reading the Bible with other men.
And he just told me a few weeks ago that him and his 80-year-old mother had finished reading the New Testament together.
So what one man started in the visits that I still lead and conduct and pastoral visits. And what Jim had continued to do in reading the Bible, even in the absence of this one man that started this. My first visit. He read the Bible. the New Testament with his mom.
And say, well, that's not such a big thing, but here's how they did it. They did it over the phone. Hmm. They did it over the phone. So Is there an impact?
Is there a reason? Is there support for this area of ministry and reaching into people's lives to see the changes. Absolutely. I wrote something many years ago and it says this, it's not for me to know. It's only for me to sew.
And I'm pleased and fulfilled by sowing the seed. I may never see how it grows. But that's what it, you know, I would say to anyone, sow the seed.
Okay. If you could encourage other Christians. in a way that we could Come alongside correctional ministries or support what you're doing. What would you tell us?
Well first of all I would say Ask the Lord what he would want you to do. And in what way? Because after doing this for, I guess, going on close to three decades. I've seen a few things, shook a lot of hands. Seeing a lot of people, seeing volunteers come and go.
Some people come in for the right reasons, some people don't stay. But I say, Make sure that it's not from something just to being excited to go into and say, hey, I'm going to do this. I'm going to be part of this ministry. I'm going to make this difference. And then we go in and then we flame out.
A lot of people get excited, but it drifts off. But if it's real, then it'll continue. And so I say, first of all, if anybody's excited or feels called to reach into the lives of people that are incarcerated, then do that. But make sure that you first say the Lord to prepare your heart in the right way and doing it for the right reasons. But as you go in, then there's other ways.
When I started sitting down with chaplains, I realized that they had needs as well. And the Lord put it on my heart when I took two Savish Army officers with me to this one unit. And we sat there with the chaplain visiting. And I asked them, I said, you know, the Lord put it on my heart, I said, what are your needs? And I could tell that she was.
She had not been asked that before. And so that started something for us to be able to reach into and support the... The staff support the chaplains. through a variety of resources. Hygiene items for the indigent population that have less than $5.
In Texas, it's $5 or less for a period of 60 plus days.
So you can imagine not having more than $5 to your name for. for 60 plus days. I've even known in situations where they have nothing or a few cents. Maybe families. died.
Maybe family doesn't want anything to do with them. but they're still individuals. And the salvation army is still the salvation army. And so, you know.
soup soap salvation So here's an opportunity. And we are doing, we haven't done the soaps just yet. We do a few other things. We do this. We do the soaps, but maybe not the soups, but definitely the other ones.
And so I think there's an aspect, I get to this, is that, you know, if you know of a facility, a correctional facility in your area, there's youth. There's adult facilities, there's females, there are individuals that are incarcerated. Yeah. Call and ask if there's a chaplain, if there's a religious program coordinator or something, ask what their needs are. Ask what their needs are.
And maybe it's asking what's in, how can we help with your staff? I have leadership of correction facilities. Contact us. Even right now, I'm working on some things that are coming up the first full week of May. is a national most people don't know this it's a national a week.
dedicated to correctional officer appreciation. First full week of May. Usually, about that Wednesday or somewhere in the middle of the week, they have a memorial service at many facilities for fallen officers, those who either died in the facility as a result of an assault. Or For other reasons, they hold a memorial for these fallen officers. And so we support those events.
And, you know, so there's opportunities, but ask what the needs are. Assess them and see how you can assist. And so approach it that way instead of going in with agenda and then. do a Bible study and walk past the staff that would like a Bible or has some problems at home, there may be an opportunity to sit down and talk with them. But those are just a few things.
Sergeant Brown, we are grateful for what you're doing on the front lines of ministry, particularly for those in the correctional facilities. And those associated with correctional facilities. I want to say God bless you and assure you of our prayers for your continued ministry. Thank you. The Salvation Army's mission, doing the most good, means helping people with material and spiritual needs.
You become a part of this mission every time you give to the Salvation Army. Visit salvationarmyusa.org to offer your support. You can subscribe to Words of Life on your favorite podcast store or visit salvationarmysoundcast.org. Join us next time for the Salvation Army's Words of Life. These are the These are the words of life.
These are the words. These are the words. These are the words of life. Thanks so much for listening to Words of Life. We want to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the show.
Visit lifeaudio.com, where you'll find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network. They have shows about prayer, Bible studying, parenting, and more. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time. Hi, I'm Becca Cook, host of The Becca Cook Show.
I lived as a gay man in Hollywood for many, many years until I had a radical encounter with Jesus 13 years ago. Since then, I've gotten my master's degree in seminary and published a book called A Change of Affection. On my podcast, The Becca Cook Show, I sit down with fascinating Christian scholars and thinkers to address the lies of the culture and bring the biblical truth to bear on those lies. To start listening now, go to lifeaudio.com or search for The Becca Cook Show on your favorite podcasting platform. I'm Mark Vinette, host of the Historical Jesus Podcast, which presents the new series, Miracles, focusing on biblical miracles from the Old and New Testament.
Join me on the Historical Jesus podcast as I explore the interesting, compelling, intriguing, and wonderful miracle stories of the Bible and the many great miraculous events inspired by the words and deeds of Jesus Christ.
