Sunday's Readings

Philippians 2:13

Matthew 21:28-32

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News & Events                     September 23, 2011

Two years ago the Holy Spirit launched me into a renewed study of grace and works. For months I read about and talked about what the Spirit was teaching me. My prayer and Bible study group heard me ask question after question and asked many of their own. Over a period of several months my thinking became increasingly clear about grace and works. It wasn't until months later during the first evening of Kairos #30 at Lee Correctional that the Holy Spirit revealed that my study was not for me. I was assigned to host and help acclimate a Muslim resident I'll call Tim who was attending Kairos. My study was for Tim. I answered his first question with "Allah has no grace, Tim." Every question that followed my prayer group at All Saints and I had already wrestled with. Tim became a Christian shortly after Kairos. I encouraged him to find a way to share God's kindness in the prison. He chose to have a family member buy everyone in his pod of 160 men a cup of ice cream. The purchase, however, technically violated prison rules and Tim was removed from the "honor dorm" and placed in the cellblock with the "worst of the worst" that is usually locked down 23 of every 24 hours. I sought the help of the prison chaplain who cautioned me that maybe God meant it for good because now we had "a man on the inside". On Kairos #32 in May of 2011, six men from the worst cellblock at the prison came to Kairos and all named Tim as the reason.

"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners..." - Isaiah 61:1 NIV