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GETTING TO KNOW PRISON FELLOWSHIP'S NEW PRESIDENT AND CEO
Heather Rice-Minus opens up about past dreams and future hopes—along with her idea of the perfect weekend
Flag football champ and Moose Tracks aficionado, President and CEO Heather Rice-Minus is no stranger to the all-nighter. We sat down to hear about her dreams for Prison Fellowship—and the faith that undergirds all she does.
Prison Fellowship: What is your favorite part of your new role so far?
Heather Rice-Minus: My favorite part of my new role is having more opportunity to be proximate to the participants in our intensive prison programs. Having spent more than a decade focused on what we do in the community, from justice reform to mobilizing churches to serve families, it's refreshing to spend time seeing the transformation of incarcerated men and women. I’m also always so struck by how believers inside lead focused lives of purpose. It deepens my own faith.
What is the name of God that you find most meaningful and why?
El Roi: “the God who sees.” It reminds me how our God is not distant or impersonal. There’s nothing more beautiful and surprising about the Gospel than realizing there is a God who wants to intimately know you and care for you.
What were some things you loved to do as a kid?
As a little kid, I loved playing school with my dolls. I played basketball and lacrosse in high school, and I loved a good prank.
Describe a moment in your life that deepened your faith in Jesus.
Watching my dad fight cancer has deepened my walk. He endured so much in the past 12 years, but he was always so positive and focused on Jesus. He never questioned God. He was always taking care to learn the names of the children of his nurses and to ask how they were doing each time he saw them. I learned so much from watching how he focused on letting other people know they are seen even when he could have been wallowing in his situation. While taking “the next step toward heaven,” he was most concerned with boldly sharing Christ. Watching him convicted me to be focused on loving my neighbors and on that which has eternal significance.
When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A veterinarian. I had a little vet kit, and we had so many different pets growing up—turtles, fish, guinea pigs, rabbits, and our dog, Buttons.
What were the best and hardest things about law school?
The best thing was how you learn to think and analyze information to make a case. A highlight was being part of Jessup International Moot Court team where we prepared oral arguments for both the applicant and respondent sides of a case. It taught me to look at both sides of an argument from an objective perspective and see holes and strengths in each side. That experience has come in handy in my work as a lobbyist for justice. The hardest part was the intensity of it—I pulled a lot of all-nighters!
What do you appreciate most about your home church?
I love our church, National Community Church. We have been there for more than a decade. I love how we not only seek to serve and care about the vulnerable in our city but to embrace them and their gifts as part of the beloved community that is the Church.
Describe the perfect weekend.
I love Saturday mornings when our girls come to snuggle in bed, and then cooking a good breakfast with them. An ideal Saturday would include me getting in a CrossFit workout or Paul and me playing flag football on the fields near the MLK memorial in a church flag football league. We trade off offense and defense, taking turns watching the girls on the sidelines. Sunday morning is spent at church, worshipping Jesus corporately with our church family. I love enjoying an oat milk latte at one of the many coffee shops in the city. Afternoons are usually spent running errands with my little helpers, napping (mom included!), or visiting friends or family in the area. On an ideal weekend, Paul and I might sneak in a date night to take a walk on the Anacostia River, try a new restaurant, or watch a stand-up comedy show downtown.
What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?
Moose Tracks. My grandmother used to have this flavor and scoop it for us when we were playing pinochle with her.
What’s your favorite TV series or movie?
Paul and I enjoyed watching the Parenthood series together which follows the lives of a family who live relatively close together—the grandparents, four adult children, and their families. There are so many issues that come up in the lives of the characters—raising a child with autism, fighting cancer, building a family through adoption, and starting a family business. It has both humor and drama, but it’s not over the top—you can see yourself in the characters.
Who in your life has had the greatest impact on your faith?
Watching my parents live out their faith was formative. They were missionaries in the Middle East when I was born and always modeled spiritual disciplines and loving God and neighbor. I have also had incredible mentors in life, including a woman named Christin Soni who was on staff with the Navigators while I was attending Colorado State University. She discipled me for several years and challenged me to do the same for other women on campus. I was also impacted by Rachel Jones’ prayer life and commitment to Christ; we worked alongside each other in the horn of Africa when I taught English there for a year. She spent decades there living out her faith and raising her kids in a vastly different culture.
What is something that has surprised you while working in the prison ministry space?
The Church inside. It’s alive and well. Christians behind bars often have a profound understanding of grace and have completely surrendered to Jesus. The tightknit community I see in our Academy programs is incredible—the transparency and affirmation among the members is something that is very hard to find outside the walls.
What is one of your greatest hopes for Prison Fellowship as you look to the future?
That the Church inside would inspire revival of the local church, and as a result, we would see renewal of justice, mercy, and hope in our culture.
Which Scripture is especially helpful or inspiring to you right now and why?
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). I try to meditate on “apart from Me you can do nothing.” It’s easy to feel like I need to have all the answers in this role, but in fact, I need to abide in God and submit this work to Him. When I do, He is so faithful.
How can we pray for you in your new role?
You can pray for discernment: that the Lord would show me the next right thing to lead the ministry into this next era and that His glory would manifest in ways that make it clear that it must be God at work.