Blogger David Lundquist has written a great story about Steven Gunning, a participant of the InnerChange Freedom Initiative program at the Lino Lakes Correctional Facility.  Steven is currently living in a work release house in Minneapolis.  The blog entry includes a video interview with Steven, who talks about how Prison Fellowship and IFI helped to bring about a profound change in his life.

The InnerChange Freedom Initiative is doing great things in prisons in Minnesota and Texas. To learn more about the IFI program, visit www.www.www.prisonfellowship.org/innerchange.

Sociologists have been reporting for years now about extended adolescence, a decades old trend where young people refuse to grow up and take on the responsibilities of adulthood. We’ve been seeing it in our culture since the ’90s with television shows like Friends and movies like Singles and Reality Bites.

But these benign depictions of a “slacker generation” are far from reality.

In a recent Breakpoint commentary, Chuck Colson talked about how this new reality has affected manhood.

Sad to say, if we look around, we see far too many young men who do little besides play video games and hang out with their friends. They are soaked in music and media that convince them that manhood is best achieved by seducing as many women as possible.

And sadly, many have no interest in the responsibilities of marriage and supporting a family.

One of the reasons for this, of course, is the continuing break-down of the family itself. So many young men are growing up without a dad — without a male role model. I can’t tell you how many young men I’ve met in prison who never knew their fathers. So to find male leadership, they turn to the gangs. It’s tragic.

Have Americans forgotten how to raise boys into men? Do boys even know what it means to be a man?

Colson continues by quoting Bill Bennett’s new book, The Book of Man: Readings on the Path to Manhood: “There is no simple instruction manual or formula on how to be a man, but there is experience and wisdom to be consulted.”

Colson ends by exhorting uncles and grandfathers to get involved with the young men in their life to give them their “experience and wisdom.”

Here at Prison Fellowship, we have opportunities to get involved with some of the men Colson referenced in his article. Please consider if God would want to use your experience and wisdom in the life of a prisoner.

The birth of Jesus of Nazareth came as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies that God would send a Saviour to establish justice on earth. The prophets who foretold the birth of Jesus served as God’s appointed messengers in opposing the oppression of God’s people and at the same time confronting the collective unrighteousness (injustice) of those in positions of power and authority. From the midst of that oppression and injustice they pointed to the Messiah, who would be sent from God bringing freedom and justice to a suffering people; the Prince of Peace who would establish justice and righteousness forever.

Jesus however, did not live up to the expectations of the masses of people who longed to see him overthrow the yoke of Roman imperialism. Instead Jesus taught them to love their enemies and even go the second mile in responding to the abusive demands of their oppressors. Even the religious leaders didn’t get Jesus for he certainly did not meet their expectations of righteousness before God. On one occasion when they criticized him for not properly observing a religious ritual Jesus responded to their hypocrisy by admonishing them not only to care about the letter of the law but to concern themselves with the core demands of their faith – justice and the love of God.

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At a recent event in support of The Urban Ministry Institute (TUMI), Cary White, one of the first ex-prisoners to graduate from TUMI, shared his powerful testimony about finding Christ, becoming a pastor behind bars, and ministering to others inside and outside the walls.

“The gift of The Urban Ministry Institute does not stop here,” says Cary. “I don’t want to diminish (other gifts) but The Urban Ministry Institute continues to give ten or twenty years from here.”

Cary is now fully employed, and has applied for a master’s degree in theological studies. He also serves as a TUMI mentor to other men beginning the program in prison.