This year we are very excited about what God is doing in the area of our initiative Incarceration to Incorporation (I2I). Personally, and as a ministry, we believe that God is bringing about a revival in our nation’s jails and prisons, and that He is raising up leaders for the church from behind bars!
In October of last year, we held an I2I Roundtable where we gathered together several key ministry leaders, who do work in jail and prison ministry in the St. Louis area. We invited Matthew Thomas, a ministry partner from Kansas City, Kansas, (and author of The Overlooked) to facilitate the roundtable discussion about having a unified approach in ministry to the incarcerated and to reentering citizens.
It was so encouraging to see men and women come around the table with a spirit of collaboration—all with the goal of serving the same men and women. We truly believe that we will be able to make a bigger impact if our ministries can link arms, each doing what God has uniquely gifted and resourced us to do. We will be able to create a pipeline of ministry resources to evangelize, equip, and empower the incarcerated and reentering citizens of St. Louis to be who God created them to be in their communities.
Before the event, Andrew sat down with some of the brothers from a local jail discipleship class and asked them what they would like shared at the I2I Roundtable. They said, “Tell them that all we really want is compassion, to be treated like anyone else, and to have a seat at the table.”
This month we will have our 4th collaborative meeting as we continue to connect and mobilize a strong network of ministries. Our prayer is that as more of these men and women reenter our community and embrace the callings God has given each of them, that they will bring their invaluable experience and gifts to the table to help lead others.
Thank you for your continued prayers for our family and for what God is doing in and through the jails and prisons in the St. Louis area!