Download or read book Doing Time with God Stories of Healing and Hope in Our Prisons written by MR Bill Dyer and published by . This book was released on 2013-09-30 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: True crime stories provide the foundation of this prison memoir. Bill Dyer was robbed and shot at an ATM. In Doing Time with God, you go into prison with him and other victims of violence to meet with convicted felons who will be facing their worst and greatest realizations, before they are released. Nothing is predictable when victims and offenders come together and share their stories of the true crimes that have devastated their lives...and reshaped them. Victim-survivors remember their losses and feel their pain; Offenders come face-to-face with the hurt they have caused, and open wounds from their own past. Walls of defensiveness and fear are knocked down by empathy and compassion, vulnerability and tears. Raw emotions flow. The way to peace is often intense, turbulent, and heartbreaking. Even when it's not pretty, the journey is beautiful in its honesty... miraculous in the way it unfolds...divine in how it transforms lives. This Amazing Process Opens the Heart, Touches the Soul, and Renews the Mind

Download or read book Prisoners in the Bible written by Zach Sewell and published by WestBow Press. This book was released on 2013-01-03 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Each chapter in this book explores the story of a different person in the Bible who was imprisoned, and considers the unique way that God was at work in their situation. The purpose of this book is to encourage people who are currently incarcerated by showing them how God has worked through the difcult situation of imprisonment many times before.

Download or read book When Prisoners Return written by Pat Nolan and published by Xulon Press. This book was released on 2004-05 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Having completed their sentences, what kind of neighbors will these returning inmates be? What has been done to prepare them to live healthy, productive, law-abiding lives? The author demonstrates why we should care and how you and your church can help.

Download or read book Prayers by a Prisoner written by Aubrey Lee Price and published by . This book was released on 2017-05-08 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As disappointing and difficult as your incarceration may be, there is always hope and a spiritual solution. In your desperation, take time to be still, put your anxieties to rest and draw close to God. He is very near and will meet you at your point of need. This book will help you discover that the God of all comfort is near to the brokenhearted and discouraged. God will turn your despair into hope, your darkness into light, and your doubts into faith.What other prisoners have written about Prayers by a Prisoner:"Price puts our deepest questions about walking with God through this darkness into perspective. Every prisoner must read this book." Jason Chapman, federal prisoner"I've been arrested forty nine times and have read many books in jail and prison. I've read this book three times already, and I feel like I need to read it again and again. This book on prayer helped me understand that God loves me no matter what I've done." Terry Buck, federal prisoner"After struggling with years of depression, bad decisions and lots of prison time, chapter twelve has changed my entire thought process. If you read nothing else, read chapter twelve. Chapters fourteen and fifteen are very powerful too!" David McNutt"After over thirty arrests and being in and out of jail sice I was thirteen, this book helped me finally understand why I am making so many impulsive and irrational decisions. I did not understand that God loved me this way. My life is now being transformed." Johnny Hill, federal prisonerFrom the Introduction:I want to explain that I am a fellow struggler in Christ. I am not infallible, and thankfully, I have abandoned the God complex. My flaws and mistakes are obvious, and I say along with the apostle Paul that I am the chief of all sinners. This book is not about any extra ordinary knowledge or insight that I have attained. It is simply about the practices and habits that God has led me to develop to make the most of my time in prison and the remainder of my life. I am a learner, an avid reader, and a lifelong student of contemplative prayer. I am always asking God to make the necessary changes that He knows I need to implement in order for me to conform to the image of Christ.Just because I am a Christian does not mean I am without troubles, pain and suffering. We all know the affliction and darkness we experience in prison. We have been through the inhumane, harsh and brutal process of eternal condemnation. We are alienated, isolated and despised by society. Our names have become a reproach. The odds of any kind of comeback are stacked against us. The world looks upon us as pariah and with contempt. Many of us are rejected and forsaken, and we wrestle with feelings of deep loneliness, abandonment and overwhelming regret. We wonder if there is any hope.The good news is that Jesus repeatedly gave dignity back to the despised. Others may look at us with scorn, but Jesus makes us human again. Here is the bottom line: God knows every thought we have ever had, every step we've ever taken, and every word we've ever spoken. He knows the intentions of our hearts. He knows all the things we've seen and done that make us want to run, hide, and even die. And yet, He still loves us. Jesus is a friend and lover of sinners like you and me, and there is nothing we can do to make Him stop loving us. He meets us where we are. He disciplines and corrects us when necessary. He forgives our past. He overwhelms us with His love, and He gives us an eternal home in Heaven. Nothing can separate us from His infinite love. Because of this, we can say along with the Psalmist, "I will not die, but live, and tell of the works of the Lord. The Lord has didciplined me severely, but He has not given me over to death (Psalm 118:17-19)."Included as a supplement is a five chapter preview of my memoir, Hope Is Not My Enemy, which details my life story and the failure of my securities business and MBT Bank.

Download or read book Waiting Together written by Carol Kent and published by Our Daily Bread Publishing. This book was released on 2016-04-15 with total page 439 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Due to events beyond your control, you find yourself with a loved one in prison. What now? Carol Kent has been there and knows what it’s like to have life flipped upside down. She writes Waiting Together from a heart that understands what it’s like to navigate a new normal, offering hope and healing from a Biblical perspective. This 90-day guide, filled with devotions, prayers, and Scripture, comforts hurting hearts and shows how God can bless families in similar situations.

Download or read book Serving Productive Time written by Tom Lagana and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the coauthor of Chicken Soup for the Prisoner's Soul—a program that develops positive change for inmates and their loved ones With their books Chicken Soup for the Prisoner's Soul and Chicken Soup for the Volunteer's Soul, Tom and Laura Lagana have shown readers how to make positive use of their time—whether they are serving others or serving time. In Serving Productive Time they go one step further, using powerful stories, poems, and cartoons created by inmates and others to address the realities of penal existence. They build on these voices of experience with essays and advice that show inmates how to truly make their time count, and give meaning to their lives right now, while making amends for their crimes and working toward release. Inspires inmates to use programs and resources, perform positive deeds, and acquire skills Empowers correctional staff, counselors, families, and volunteers to help inmates who want to make positive changes in their lives

Download or read book Chicken Soup for the Prisoner s Soul written by Jack Canfield and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-08-07 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Previously available only through free distribution to prisons, this life-changing book is the result of charitable donations from sales of Chicken Soup for the Christian Family Soul and gifts from thousands of individuals.

Download or read book Down in the Chapel written by Joshua Dubler and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2013-08-13 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A bold and provocative interpretation of one of the most religiously vibrant places in America—a state penitentiary Baraka, Al, Teddy, and Sayyid—four black men from South Philadelphia, two Christian and two Muslim—are serving life sentences at Pennsylvania's maximum-security Graterford Prison. All of them work in Graterford's chapel, a place that is at once a sanctuary for religious contemplation and an arena for disputing the workings of God and man. Day in, day out, everything is, in its twisted way, rather ordinary. And then one of them disappears. Down in the Chapel tells the story of one week at Graterford Prison. We learn how the men at Graterford pass their time, care for themselves, and commune with their makers. We observe a variety of Muslims, Protestants, Catholics, and others, at prayer and in study and song. And we listen in as an interloping scholar of religion tries to make sense of it all. When prisoners turn to God, they are often scorned as con artists who fake their piety, or pitied as wretches who cling to faith because faith is all they have left. Joshua Dubler goes beyond these stereotypes to show the religious life of a prison in all its complexity. One part prison procedural, one part philosophical investigation, Down in the Chapel explores the many uses prisoners make of their religions and weighs the circumstances that make these uses possible. Gritty and visceral, meditative and searching, it is an essential study of American religion in the age of mass incarceration.

Download or read book Ministry to the Incarcerated written by Dr. Henry G. Covert and published by Masthof Press & Bookstore. This book was released on 1992 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dr. Covert uses his experiences as both police officer and state prison chaplain to examine the environment of the incarcerated—people who are often forgotten by society. He emphasizes particular areas of inmate stress and how they impact upon the inmate's spiritual formation and the role of the Church in offering encouragement, healing, and transformation. He calls for staff education, environmental improvement, and a pastoral presence that facilitates rehabilitation and hope, rather than discouragement and punishment. (197pp. Masthof Press, 2022.)

Download or read book The Man I Was Destined to Be written by Michael Tandoi and published by WestBow Press. This book was released on 2013-08 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Michael was twenty-seven years old, his lengthy battle with drug addiction resulted in a seven-year prison sentence. It would take three years and the death of his father before he realized that his former life prevented him from becoming the man his father hoped he would be. Walking the road to recovery enabled him to change his life and become the man he was destined to be.

Download or read book Let My People Go written by Stan Moody and published by WestBow Press. This book was released on 2013-04-12 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The judgment scene in Matthew 25 is a call for believers in Jesus Christ to get out of our clubhouses and onto the streets, where the “least of these my brothers” (v.40) may be found. Let My People Go is a twelve-step invitation to our American church culture to examine what we are supposed to be doing as Christians, what we are doing, and whether what we are doing is standing in the way of what we are supposed to be doing. The man who deeply affected author Stan Moody as a Christian was a brilliant, sixty-four-year-old convicted sex offender by the name of Sheldon Weinstein. On April 24, 2009, Shelly died in solitary confinement at Maine State Prison of a ruptured spleen about an hour after Moody requested toilet paper for him. Moody has chronicled his death in a narrative titled “Death in B117.” With America now boasting 25 percent of the world’s prisoners, the last vestige of hope for these discarded citizens in our jails and prisons and on our streets is a faith community now facing declining membership and shrinking revenues. Poverty and homelessness has at last come home; how we respond to it is a reflection of the seriousness of our faith.

Download or read book Seeking God While Serving Time written by Gail McKenna and published by Pleasant Word. This book was released on 2008 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Your faith will be renewed by reading this book. Author Gail McKenna weaves her personal experiences in ministry to inmates with the testimonies of those same inmates, to create a beautiful tapestry of faith in the life-changing grace of God. Your heart will be uplifted as you read these stories of Gods love conquering addiction and abuse, enabling these women to restart their lives with purpose and conviction. But be careful . . . you may be so inspired that youll find yourself signing up to volunteer at your local detention center. Jesus told us to visit the imprisoned. Sixty years ago one of my first assignments was to serve the incarcerated in a federal prison near Washington, D.C. Gail McKennas book would have been helpful to me then. Her message is timeless. Read this book and answer Jesus call. Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., President Emeritus, University of Notre Dame We must extend our love to people who are alone and have hit rock bottom. These stories are about the women Gail McKenna visits at the county jail each week. She gives them hope and shows how we can all live the gospel message today. Sister Helen Prejean, Author of Dead Man Walking If you have ever wondered if there is hope for the hopeless, then this is the book for you. Here is a book so well-written and well-documented that it proves there is spiritual rehabilitation taking place behind bars. You will laugh and cry as you read some of the heartfelt stories the author weaves into her book. Rev. Calvin Bogaard, Baptist Chaplain, Volunteer in Prison Visitation Program, Houston, Texas. Gail Thomas McKenna is an author, lecturer, and a volunteer in the church program at the local womens jail. She is well-knownfor her books in the field of religious education. In 1998, she moved from full-time parish work into a new ministry: a faith-based program in the county jail. Over the last ten years, she has gathered the stories of how these women have found God in their lives while being incarcerated. She lives in the Texas Hill Country with her husband, Jerry.

Download or read book Seeking God While Serving Time written by Gail Thomas McKenna and published by TrustedBooks. This book was released on 2014-04-15 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Your faith will be renewed by reading this book. Author Gail McKenna weaves her personal experiences in ministry to inmates with the testimonies of those same inmates, to create a beautiful tapestry of faith in the life-changing grace of God. Your heart will be uplifted as you read these stories of God's love conquering addiction and abuse, enabling these women to restart their lives with purpose and conviction. But be careful . . . you may be so inspired that you'll find yourself signing up to volunteer at your local detention center. "Jesus told us to visit the imprisoned. Sixty years ago one of my first assignments was to serve the incarcerated in a federal prison near Washington, D.C. Gail McKenna's book would have been helpful to me then. Her message is timeless. Read this book and answer Jesus' call." -Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., President Emeritus, University of Notre Dame "We must extend our love to people who are alone and have hit rock bottom. These stories are about the women Gail McKenna visits at the county jail each week. She gives them hope and shows how we can all live the gospel message today." -Sister Helen Prejean, Author of Dead Man Walking "If you have ever wondered if there is hope for the hopeless, then this is the book for you. Here is a book so well-written and well-documented that it proves there is spiritual rehabilitation taking place behind bars. You will laugh and cry as you read some of the heartfelt stories the author weaves into her book." -Rev. Calvin Bogaard, Baptist Chaplain, Volunteer in Prison Visitation Program, Houston, Texas.

Download or read book Stories of Faith and Courage from Prison written by Jeffrey Peck and published by Battlefields & Blessings. This book was released on 2012-11-09 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are many battlefields upon which faith and courage are summoned-- hospital rooms, WWII beachheads, crime-infested neighborhoods, overseas missionary fields, and more. But the peculiar darkness of prison sends fear through almost everyone. This book uncovers the power of God's light to penetrate "Satan's playground," through the faith and courage of His people.

Download or read book God s Law and Order written by Aaron Griffith and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2020-11-10 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An incisive look at how evangelical Christians shaped—and were shaped by—the American criminal justice system. America incarcerates on a massive scale. Despite recent reforms, the United States locks up large numbers of people—disproportionately poor and nonwhite—for long periods and offers little opportunity for restoration. Aaron Griffith reveals a key component in the origins of American mass incarceration: evangelical Christianity. Evangelicals in the postwar era made crime concern a major religious issue and found new platforms for shaping public life through punitive politics. Religious leaders like Billy Graham and David Wilkerson mobilized fears of lawbreaking and concern for offenders to sharpen appeals for Christian conversion, setting the stage for evangelicals who began advocating tough-on-crime politics in the 1960s. Building on religious campaigns for public safety earlier in the twentieth century, some preachers and politicians pushed for “law and order,” urging support for harsh sentences and expanded policing. Other evangelicals saw crime as a missionary opportunity, launching innovative ministries that reshaped the practice of religion in prisons. From the 1980s on, evangelicals were instrumental in popularizing criminal justice reform, making it a central cause in the compassionate conservative movement. At every stage in their work, evangelicals framed their efforts as colorblind, which only masked racial inequality in incarceration and delayed real change. Today evangelicals play an ambiguous role in reform, pressing for reduced imprisonment while backing law-and-order politicians. God’s Law and Order shows that we cannot understand the criminal justice system without accounting for evangelicalism’s impact on its historical development.

Download or read book 40 Stories of Hope written by and published by Cwr. This book was released on 2017-09-25 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'There is no one, no life, no story that is beyond God's power to love and transform' Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury This extraordinary book speaks loudly of hope and reconciliation, of transformation and journeys. Forty prisoners, prison chaplains and ex-offenders tell their stories of the hope that they have found, how forgiveness can be found in the most unlikely places, and how knowing Jesus changes lives forever. Each faith-inspiring story is accompanied by verses from the Bible and a thought for the day, and can be read at any time by individuals or groups, inside and outside prison. Weekly discussion notes to inspire personal reflection and facilitate group discussion are also included, making them ideal for reading during Lent. Find fresh hope as you use this book and allow it to help you come closer to the source of all hope - Jesus, the central character in all the stories you will read. Created in partnership with Prison HOPE and compiled by Catherine Butcher.

Download or read book Rethinking Incarceration written by Dominique DuBois Gilliard and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2018-03-02 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States has more people locked up in jails, prisons, and detention centers than any other country in the history of the world. Exploring the history and foundations of mass incarceration, Dominique Gilliard examines Christianity’s role in its evolution and expansion, assessing justice in light of Scripture, and showing how Christians can pursue justice that restores and reconciles.