Lawrence Welk Meets MTV?

Older volunteers rivet prisoners' attention to Christ

Tamela Baker

"Every week, thousands of Prison Fellowship volunteers make their way to jails and prisons to conduct Bible studies. Or sit down at their kitchen tables to write a letter to an inmate. Or take a teddy bear to a child whose family has been victimized. Or answer phones at a ministry office.

 

Without volunteers, Prison Fellowship’s ministry couldn’t go forward.

Prison Fellowship volunteers come in all shapes and sizes, and from a variety of backgrounds. Some are ex-offenders themselves; some have never even gotten a parking ticket. But when awards for regional Volunteers of the Year were distributed last year, we noticed an interesting phenomenon: Many of those honored were at or beyond retirement age.

There’s Lueida Arnold in Cleveland, whose volunteer work through St. Paul’s United Methodist Church includes PF Bible studies inside the prisons, Angel Tree and other ministries to prisoners’ families, education and job training for ex-prisoners, and aid to crime victims through Neighbors Who Care.

And Don and Nancy Jones in Pearl, Texas, who have served five years as volunteer leaders and trainers, coordinate Angel Tree for two counties, and help with PF program development in their area. Altogether, they put in 50 hours a week for Prison Fellowship.

Then there’s Earl Peace, who conducts in-prison Bible studies in Montana and continues to look after the prisoners once they’re released--even providing housing for several.

And Dot and Mark Barber of Ely, Nevada, whose PF volunteer work since 1984 has included Bible studies, in-prison seminars, Angel Tree, family ministries, and aftercare for ex-offenders.

At first glance, the number of retirees serving as volunteers should not seem so surprising. Declines in the birth rate after the post-war baby boom--only recently beginning to reverse--mean higher percentages of the population are at retirement age. Forty-three percent of all senior citizens 75 and over do volunteer work, and, as people stay healthier longer, that number is expected to climb.

But in a prison? Full of prisoners? Full of young prisoners? Is that any place for a senior citizen? Lawrence Welk meets MTV?

Jubilee recently caught up with two of our most faithful volunteers and found that when the issue is spreading the love of Jesus Christ, age is no barrier.