Reentry that Works!
"If the devil can take your faith he can take your future."
—Billy Graham
"If we don't defend what's important to us, what's important to us will disappear."— AnonymousSo, what's important to you? Your family? Would you defend them? Or, your money or house? Maybe your possessions? What about your rights? Where do they come in your list of "Top Ten Things You'd Defend"?Under the heading "Rights," would you have subheadings? Like: privacy, speech, or parental rights? Do you have a right to safety? Much of this is debatable and is being debated in the public square. But one thing is certain, if we don't defend what's important to us, what is important will disappear.In everything we do we have a choice: Are we victims or are we "more than conquerors"? Can we fight the good fight of faith, or do we wait to see which way the wind blows? Too much of the talk we hear is cheap. Actions speak louder than words (I didn't make that up.).One of the newer words in our lexicon is "slacktivist." A slacktivist will promote c...
If you carry the bricks from your past, you will end up building the same house."—AnonymousFor many of the people coming out of long term incarceration, there is no blueprint to follow with which to build a better life. A majority of reentrants carry with them scars of a difficult youth. They have witnessed violence many times as they grew up, and there was often no one in the family who worked and supported them at a level that would allow them to focus on school work or provide standards of behavior and a loving home. When none of that ever happens, the normalcy of life is all but impossible to embrace.The bricks of their lives are bricks of want and dissatisfaction, of anger and disappointment, of little faith in themselves and others. These bricks were fired in the heat of a prison sentence, and just because they have been released, doesn't mean they have a working plan with which to build a new life.Unless we provide the solid mate...
I'll do whatever you need."—Doug EvansTo all those working in the mission field, a statement like Doug's is a dream come true. An unqualified sentence like that is so rarely heard, when he said it, it stopped me in my tracks. For a split second I had to pause as I considered the gift he could be to our work at UNITE INDY.Doug is retired. For more than 40 years he worked as a teacher inside prisons as an employee of the Indiana Department of Correction. With our work to help reentrants find employment, reconnect positively with family, and reduce recidivism, his experience is more valuable than gold. He knows how to relate to incarcerated people. He knows the program. He knows the possibilities and recognizes limitations, and although he loved working with these men, he always felt something important was missing…something we could provide.In his years teaching as an employee of the State, he always felt the need to bring a faith perspec...
We were given the Scriptures to humble us into realizing that God is right, and the rest of us are just guessing." -Rich Mullins You know Rich Mullins as the writer/performer of Christian songs like "Our God Is An Awesome God," Step By Step," "Winds Of Heaven," and so many more. He was born in 1955 in a small town in eastern Indiana. He acquired a gift of music and love for God at a young age attending a Quaker church and graduated from Cincinnati Bible College. In the early '70s he got involved in the Jesus movement, though his thinking never quite fit well in that world. He was uncomfortable in "a faith that told you what you had to believe or reduced God to a set of rules." Faith, for him, was much more than that. He said "Christianity is not about building a secure little niche in the world where you can live with your perfect little wife and your perfect little children in your beautiful little house where you have no gays or min...
I'd rather work in reentry anywhere in Indiana but Marion County." -Anonymous My wife Nancy was asked to be the moderator for a panel discussion on faith-based reentry for the Marion County Reentry Coalition's very popular annual conference. In preparation, she met with a number of folks who work in reentry for the state. Since we don't have private offices at UNITE INDY and work at shared-workspace tables, I overheard one state employee tell her he'd rather work on reentry anywhere in the state but Marion County. I stopped what I was doing and started to listen. "Why?" She asked. He remarked that reentry organizations in Indianapolis "do not play well with others." He said, "Unlike other counties, they don't join with other organizations that work in reentry to tackle the larger problems we have. Take Fort Wayne, for example. There is a monthly luncheon where all the secular and faith-based groups get together. They share their succe...
How long will it take?I come to say that however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long because no lie can live forever."-Martin Luther King Jr., at the Alabama capitol in Montgomery, March 25, 1965Watch Clarence Moore, Northside New Era Baptist Church recounting King's speech at St. Lukes United Methodist Church, January 20, 2019That day in March of 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr. was speaking before a group of supporters in Montgomery, Alabama, having just finished a 5-day, 54-mile march from Selma, at the head of a group of thousands of nonviolent demonstrators.King told the assembled crowd: "There never was a moment in American history more honorable and more inspiring than the pilgrimage of clergymen and laymen of every race and faith pouring into Selma to face danger at the side of its embattled Negroes."He asks, how long will it take? in an eloquent treatise on the inevitable victory of truth. In ma...
A place where Jews are not safe is a place where no one is safe."-Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-BurrowsEpiscopal Diocese of IndianapolisThe people streamed in. Traffic on Meridian Street was at a standstill at 5:30 Monday night. Standing room only was augmented by another great room where the proceedings were televised for all to see. It was The Greater Indianapolis Community Memorial Gathering To Honor Jews Killed in Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue where an attacker murdered 11 people and wounded six in the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history.Held at the Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation, it seemed like half the city was there and certainly there were clergy from every faith and politicians of every stripe.But closing statements by Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows said it all best. If all of us do not stand together, if we do not fight hatred at every turn, then every one of us is at risk. We cannot allow ourselves to be divid...
I gave my life to Christ in the County jail, was baptized in that orange jump suit..."-Kurt MooreKurt Moore is now a successful businessman, but years ago after college he came back to his neighborhood in Indianapolis and decided to make money the easy way. He was arrested and charged with selling drugs and in possession of a firearm in the commission of a crime. Kurt went to Federal prison for 13 years.But the baptism stuck, and according to Kurt he would not have become the person he is today without the trouble that broke him and brought him to his knees. Today, he runs his business and takes teens who have never been out of the neighborhood to camp where they canoe and swim and just get to be kids. He hires ex-offenders because without that first job he got after prison, he might have slipped back.He'll tell you, his jail-house conversion never left him...it is his faith that drives him, and he'll always be grateful for that.Blessin...
"We are in a State of EMERGENCY!!17 BODIES DROPPED IN JANUARY 2018 VERSUS 9 IN JANUARY 2017.Including: A woman shot and pushed from a car Sunday afternoon in the parking lot of an east side store."-Anthony BeverlyAnthony Beverly is a soft-spoken man. You'll recognize him as the tall guy with three or four young men he is shepherding around, being the strong Christian male role model he truly is.He heads Stop the Violence Indianapolis, an organization that empowers people to take action to overcome poverty and violence.The reality is that guns have replaced gangs and the impact is tragic.Today we celebrate all those who are already actively working in our city to end gun violence including: Faith in Indiana, Live Free, The Fathers Foundation, Circle Up Indy, Pastor Denell Howard, Ten Point Coalition, Stop The Violence, and many many more. Email me. Work with us to UNITE INDY. I'd love to hear from you.God Bless,Jim"...With God, all things are possible" - Matthew 19:26
