The Angel Tree program sounded too good to be true to Lisa. Would people in the free world really give Christmas presents to her son and daughter while she was incarcerated?
She signed Coleby and Cortnie up for Angel Tree with a small hope that her children would receive a gift that let them know she still loved them so much.
Daniel is enrolled in the Prisoners to Pastors program (also known as The Urban Ministry Institute) at his prison. That means he is a committed, engaged follower of Jesus. He spends hours every week in the classroom, going through rigorous, seminary-level classes.
If there is someone who knows the criminal justice system – from both ends – it is Bernard Kerik. A one-time beat cop in New York City’s 14th Division, Kerik rose through the ranks to serve on Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s security detail in the early 1990s.
The following post originally aired as a BreakPoint radio commentary on October 31, 2013. To learn more about BreakPoint, to hear previous broadcasts, or to find a radio station in your area.
It was back in 1998, when I was practically a kid writer here at BreakPoint, that I first heard about Prison Fellowship’s amazing Angel Tree program.
Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree program connects families of prisoners with local churches. At Christmastime, church members deliver gifts and a presentation of the Gospel to prisoner’s children, and Prison Fellowship’s hope is that these children and their families will be enveloped into the church’s community through a year-round relationship.
A mother of four in Oklahoma recently showed America the difference forgiveness can make in someone’s life.
Jessica Eaves noticed her wallet was missing while shopping at the grocery store. She saw a man in one of the aisles who had it, but before approaching him, she took some time to think about the best way to handle the situation.
A version of the following article originally appeared on the BreakPoint website.
When a parent is sentenced to prison, he or she is not the only one being punished. The children suffer too. How especially tough it is for them at Christmas time.
“It seems like all the happy people are the ones inside the prison,” observed a member of our board on a recent trip to Michigan correctional facilities, where we attended seminary-level classes with inmate students and later shared a meal in their cafeteria.
Rikers Island – one of the most expensive addresses in all of New York City.
Park Avenue. Soho. Chelsea. Midtown.
Rikers Island?
When one thinks of exclusive addresses in New York City, the first thing that likely comes to mind is a penthouse overlooking Central Park, or perhaps an historic brownstone in a trendy part of town.
That was our first Angel Tree Christmas and we are looking forward to our second one this year.
A version of the following article originally appeared on the website of the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview. To learn more about the work and the mission of the Colson Center, visit their website at www.colsoncenter.org.
“The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.”
In the first days of the government shutdown, four young soldiers – barely older than my own kids – were killed in action in Afghanistan. At first it seemed that the Department of Defense would not pay out death benefits or funeral expenses to the soldiers’ families; the Pentagon had no authority to make the payments, a spokesman said.
One Sunday morning just a few weeks ago, a 15-year-old boy stood in front of the congregation at St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church in Florida (which happens to have been the home church of Chuck Colson) and asked for someone to adopt him.
PF Racing provides runners with an opportunity to support the work of Prison Fellowship by doing what they love—running and competing. Here are two examples of how runners (and walkers) are making a difference in the lives of prisoners and their families.
Burning lungs. Leaden legs. Pouring sweat. Why is anyone crazy enough to be drawn to running a race? Why is it such a timeless pursuit?
There’s an excellent quote from the book Born to Run that’s hard for any runner to forget: “The reason we race isn’t so much to beat each other… but to be with each other.”