Each month at the City Jail we minister to an average of 1400 prisoners and of these, approximately 480 are women. We conduct three one-hour services each week. We call our services, Happy Hour, because we want the prisoners to associate loving God with Joy. We bring two to six volunteers with us. Some share a short message and others pray with prisoners who have special needs. We make certain we save time for the prisoners to share a song, praise, testimony or scripture reading.

One night a prisoner came to the front of the group and said, “I wasn’t arrested, I was rescued! If I hadn’t been arrested I would probably be dead of a drug overdose or shot by an enemy. I came here with bitterness in my heart--and I found Jesus Christ. Jesus loves me and He loves you too!”

Last month we met two beautiful young sisters in the women’s unit of the city jail. They were huddled together in the front row as they prepared to attend their first Happy Hour service with us. We learned that Crystal is 20 and Jaynee is 18. They were raised by their homeless, drug addicted, prostitute-mother. The young sisters were also prostitutes and addicted to crack cocaine, and for them this was the only way of life they had ever known. During that one precious hour they met Jesus Christ and found out that He loves them.

That night both sisters stood before the group, tears on their cheeks and made a public confession and invited Him to come into their hearts and be their Lord and Savior.

As soon as Happy Hour was over, Jaynee’s name was called and a correction’s officer informed her that she was being released from custody. Crystal and Jaynee hugged, cried and said goodbye to each other and pledged to change their lives and live for the Lord. One more teary hug and Jaynee was set free into the night.

Five days later the headlines in the news paper read: “Black Prostitute Found Dead in a Dumpster!” Jaynee was murdered.

Her former “pimp” was arrested, made a plea bargain, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Crystal believes that he murdered Jaynee because she told him she couldn’t work for him any longer because she belonged to the Lord.

Satan is the trash man, he trashes lives and throws them into a dumpster and says:

“No value! No worth! The good news is Jesus Christ is the re-cycler who scoops His hands into the filth of the dumpster and finds precious treasures. Prisons and jails are the devil’s trashcans, but Crystal and Jaynee are two treasures Jesus found and rescued! Once the two sisters made Christ their Lord and Savior, and repented of their sins, from that moment on God saw them as virgin girls--pure as new babies.

Jail and prison ministry is not for everyone! Jesus defined “ministry” in five words: “Love your neighbor as yourself!” This ministry is loving the neighbors that no one else wants to love! We may not be filling church pews, but we are showing the wayfaring strangers who are lost the way home to heaven.

If you ever wonder if One Hour of your life could possibly make a difference in the grand-scheme of things, remember Jaynee. We only had one hour with her, but that one-hour has eternal ramifications. This is one soul Satan cannot torment for time and eternity. Jesus lovingly scooped his hands in the muck of the dumpster and transported this pearl of great price to the mansion He prepared for her.

How can the Church help?

This is a minefield issue and we need your help!

When the women are released from jail they are put on a street corner in a bad part of town at 3:00 am. Many have no money and no place to go. They are programmed to fail. They can go sleep under a culvert, and make a cardboard will-work-for-food sign, or they can prostitute their bodies for a bed and food.

There is nothing available to help them make a transition into a healthy environment and life style. Many are new Christians and want to live for Christ, but the waiting list for rehab centers is at least six weeks long and by then they are back in jail.

We are developing a yearlong live-in rehab program for these women. One local group has pledged to build a GED high school in conjunction with the women’s center when we have a location. We need prayer, a building, money, food, clothing, furnishings and committed volunteers. We are calling this fresh start center, The SonRise Academy for Women.

Until the center is a reality, we covet your prayers for the women as they leave jail. On any night there are five women released without a place to go or a soul to care. Their situation is so desperate that they are in tears and begging us for help as they are escorted from the jail to the street corner. Can you imagine the despair written on a young woman’s face who is near full term pregnant and about to be placed on a corner? We have never been placed in such a helpless situation.

Alone, Ralph and I can’t do a thing to turn this crisis around, but as a church family, we can make a difference because we are the family of God living the love of Jesus Christ and we can make a difference--one heart at a time.