More than a decade ago a mentor at World Impact encouraged me to choose a single theme for each year as a focus for study. In 2016 the word has been “gratitude.” It is amazing how much depth such a little word can possess (see Peter Leithart’s Gratitude: An Intellectual History).
This picture is a great illustration of something I am grateful for this year—God is raising up workers for his harvest field (Matthew 9:38). There are currently some 800 men and women preparing for Christian service in California State Prisons through satellite campuses of The Urban Ministry Institute (TUMI).
This year, 47 men who had begun their TUMI studies while incarcerated gathered at our West Coast Siafu Men's Retreat for fellowship and encouragement. At one point, 17 of the men who had once worshipped and studied together inside of one Southern California prison yard gathered on the stage to lead the 300 men present in worship.
As they sang, it was clear these formerly incarcerated TUMI students were deeply grateful for the freedom and forgiveness they had found in Jesus Christ. It was abundantly evident that the Lord is raising up workers for the harvest fields, and hundreds of them are emerging from the unlikely fields of California State Prisons.
This weekend I attended a conference where the worship team consisted of two men who had been saved and then received their leadership training through TUMI while in prison. These two men, Paul and Robert, led others in worship from a deeply personal understanding of God’s undeserved and unearned grace. At the final service of the conference, Robert shared an original worship song. As he sang, I was reminded of how God used a redeemed murderer, John Newton, to write the song, “Amazing Grace” some 300 years ago.
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now I'm found,
Was blind, but now I see.
'Twas Grace that taught,
my heart to fear.
And grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear,
the hour I first believed.
Surely it is a wonderful thing to watch God raise up men and women who understand the amazing grace of God. May God make all of us more thankful for his great grace as we finish off 2016.
Read more from our giving and thankfulness series:
To Those Who Cannot Repay You by Rev. Dr. Don Davis.
Giving and Receiving by Lisa Entz