UPDATED! Summer 2013 Newsletter 
It continues to be a year of surprises... you won't believe what's happening!
IN THIS ISSUE
HOTF 3rd Annual Banquet & Fundraiser
Rotary Clubs in Houston Embrace HOTF
"Day with Dad" event scheduled at Darrington Prison in November
A Visit to Women's Death Row on Easter Morning
Book Deliveries to Darrington's Theological Library
Monthly trips to Angola Prison Continue to Bless and Inspire Many
Focus on the Family Intervews Grove for Worldwide Broadcast
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September 15, 2013
 

Dear Heart of Texas Friend,

It's hard to believe:  2013 is our third year of prison service to Texas children, families, inmates, and victims.  People tell me only God could make so much happen in such a short time. And new surprises show up almost daily.  Please take a few moments to read the following short articles about what's happening with HOTF, and call me (Grove) at 281-850-8103 if you'd like to talk. I pray that YOU will be led to become more involved with us than ever before.  We need your help.  While our God is helping us, He does seem to require that we have to work, work, work--- for every square foot of ground He gives us.  What a blessing!!  

Thank you for subscribing to our Newsletter, for your encouragement, support, AND FOR PRAYING FOR US IN OUR WORK. And thanks to the prayer groups that have continued to lift our work up to God. If you'd like to receive a complimentary copy of "The Heart of Texas" movie, for a donation of any amount, click here.  WELCOME TO THE SUMMER 2013 NEWSLETTER!!!

Grove Norwood, Founder & CEO
The Heart of Texas Foundation


Our 3rd Annual Banquet & Fundraiser
October 18, 2013, 6:00 - 9:00 PM
Sugar Creek Baptist Church
13333 Southwest Freeway, Sugar Land, TX 77478 ph. 281-242-2858
Mark your calendars and come join us for a really fantastic event!!!

NEWS 
"DEEP IN THE HEART" Radio Show Completes First Year of Broadcasting-- Now Syndicated in 3 States and Angola's Radio Station

RAINBOW CABIN, TEXAS.  The remote studio is nestled on the North bank of "Deepershallow Creek," where The Heart of Texas Foundation records its weekly radio show.  Supporters provide this syndicated radio program entitled, "Deep in the Heart."  The program is hosted by HOTF founder Grove Norwood, and is targeted at the incarcerated man, woman, or teenager in prison.  Grove does a "devotional" each week for the men and women as they turn in for the night.  As of June 8, 2013, the Deep in the Heart radio series finished its first year.

The show is sponsored by MTFequipment.com, Ralph & Mary Clinard, Papa Murphy's Pizza in Sugarland, RoyalDisposal.com, and Mrs. Saundra Montgomery.  We are heard in at least 5 states, and dozens of prisons, where men, women, and teens, and folks in at least 8 countries, are listening to our broadcasts.  You can hear all of them, or any one of them, at
www.heartoftexasfoundation.org/radio.  They are all archived in our web site for your listening convenience.  You can listen to Deep in the Heart at any time even by using your earbuds with your cell phone!  Just use your cell phone's browser and dial up "heartoftexasfoundation.org" and click on "Radio" on the menu. 
  • You can hear each and very program "live" by going to www.kkht.com each Sunday night at 8:00 pm, click on "Listen Live." 
  • You can also hear ALL of the programs ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, by going to www.heartoftexasfoundation.org/radio

 


Rotary Wheel
NEWS 
Rotary Clubs in Houston Area Embrace HOTF 
 
Houston is home to some of the longest standing and most active Rotary Clubs in the United States, and some of the local chapters have taken notice of the important work being done by the Heart of Texas Foundation and are getting involved.
 
A number of local Rotary Clubs have asked Grove Norwood, Founder of The Heart of Texas, to speak at their monthly luncheons and to "tell the story" of our work.  As a result, a number of men and women in leadership positions have traveled to the Angola penitentiary in Louisiana with Grove.  Back in January, Grove spoke to the Sugar Land, TX Rotary Club; then the Pasadena, TX Rotary Club; then the Deer Park, TX Rotary Club.  Grove has been asked to speak at the Rotary Club District Conference in 2014.  We look forward to joining with Rotary Clubs in Texas and elsewhere to bring a paradigm shift in the penal system in America.
 
Recently, Sugar Land Rotary Club, Pasadena Rotary Club, Deer Park Rotary Club, and North Shore Rotary Club have come around us to help in our work.  We look forward to linking up the Rotary around the world!  We have asked Rotary if we can be "your Prison Project."  
 Thank you, Rotary!  We can't wait to see what God is going to do with our alliance!  

Day with Dad newsletter
NEWS 
Special "Returning Hearts: A Day with Dad at Darrington" Children's Event Scheduled in November, Sponsored by HOTF 
 
ROSHARON, TEXAS.  The Heart of Texas Foundation will be sponsoring a very special "Returning Hearts:  A Day with Dad at Darrington" at the Darrington Prison on November 8 & 9, 2013. Planning is now under way, with pastors and volunteers from many churches in the "Darrington Corridor" as we call it:  Sienna Ranch Baptist Church, Sugar Creek Sienna, Sugar Creek Baptist Church, The Freedom Center Church, Simonton Community Church, and others.
 
Selected inmates and free-world mentors will spend the first day together in a special conference designed to prepare the inmates for fresh interaction with their children. The inmate fathers will be taught the biblical principles of forgiveness and reconciliation, encouraged to forgive the past and to assume a Godly role in the rearing of their children.  Many of the inmates will be surprised to learn that they can still be fathers to their children even from behind bars.  On the second day, Saturday, their children will arrive for an entire day of games, quiet time, educational activities, and just plain fun with their dads. In the meantime, the children's care-givers will be hosted at one of the sponsoring churches where they'll receive special treatment and have their own fun with volunteers.
 
We're still recruiting volunteers for one or both days, although space is limited and our volunteer list is almost at capacity. If you're interested in serving at this truly memorable event, please email Pastor Mickey Ary, at [email protected].

Death Row NEWS 
The Heart of Texas Invited to Women's Death Row On Easter Morning 
 
GATESVILLE, TEXAS--MOUNTAIN VIEW PENITENTIARY.  On Easter morning, March 31, 2013, Grove and his wife Brenna were invited to visit the 8 female inmates on Death Row in the Mountain View Prison in Gatesville, Texas. It was particularly special for them to have the opportunity to share on the very day that Christians world-wide celebrate the eternal hope that mankind has in Jesus because of Easter.
 
During the discussions, one of the women asked Grove, "How can a loving God allow sin and suffering?  How can God be a God of love and then create sin in the world?"  The question so haunted Grove that after the meeting he began a multi-part series on his weekly radio show, "Deep in the Heart."  You can hear that series anytime by going to our web site, www.heartoftexasfoundation.org, and clicking on "Radio."  Grove and Brenna were the only free-world people to be invited into the women's Death Row on Easter day.  They spent about 2 hours with the women in much fellowship, sharing, and prayer.  This was our 3rd visit by invitation.  We are grateful to our friends in women's prison ministry, Linda Strom and her "Discipleship Unlimited" organization.  

NEWS 
NEW SEMINARY EDUCATION BUILDING PROJECT-- World's Largest Prison Seminary:  1.5 Million Needed for Darrington Seminary Building

HOUSTON, TEXAS.  We are out of space for the growing Darrington Seminary!  We now have 116 long-term and full-time student inmates, and we plan to bring in another 40 in 2014.  We have been given an historic approval to BUILD a Seminary Education Building perhaps the first of its kind in the world, inside a penitentiary.  We plan to have a new space for the Theological Library, a special chapel for the men to practice their sermons and studies, computer labs, conference rooms and classrooms.  With our Building Committee consulting on the project, and with our God's blessing, it will be an amazing thing to watch happen.  We hope most of the planning phase will be completed by the end of August. We have opened a special account for the DARRINGTON SEMINARY BUILDING PROJECT, AND INVITE YOU TO email me at [email protected]

 


NEWS
BUILDING COMMITTEE FORMED TO PLAN NEW DARRINGTON PRISON SEMINARY BUILDING

ROSHARON, TEXAS-- "With this third new class of 40 men, who entered our student body in mid-January, we're out of space in the current Seminary wing," says Dr. Ben Phillips, Director of the Darrington Penitentiary Seminary, an extension campus of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Approval to proceed with planning has been obtained from TDCJ and other Texas officials, and Houston professionals are stepping up to help us begin the process. R. West Development's owner Renee McGuire, Phil Packer of Hale-Mills Construction, and Frank Graham of Dallas,  are just a few of those who are weighing in as volunteers to help us design and then begin the fund-raising for the new building.  The new building will house additional classrooms, media center, Chapel, and will be built on a space still vacant within the grounds of the Darrington maximum security prison.

"We will need lots of help on this one," says Grove Norwood, Founder of The Heart of Texas Foundation, which funds the Seminary's operation.  "It will be an exciting project, with something in it for anyone who wants to roll up sleeves and join us.  It will be one of the most historic events ever to occur in a penal system in the United States.  Think of it:  A Seminary campus inside a penitentiary, with lifers as students preparing for the mission fields in other Texas prisons after they graduate.  How more robust a project can you find?  We are so blessed," says Norwood.  "We are so blessed."
 

Darrington Seminary Class of 2015, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Heart of Texas Foundation
NEWS  
Why Have a Prison Seminary for Men Serving Life Sentences?  
 
To help create a new culture of safety forgiveness, and reconciliation... from the inside out.

Men serving life sentences are the best ones to teach other inmates about living a moral life in prison.  Free-world volunteers do not have the credibility among prisoners that their own kind has-- and they don't live with the inmates 24-hours a day, 7-days a week, with no privacy to be had anywhere.  Thus, the imprisoned men who are spiritually transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ are lights on a hill-- pearls of great price.  And when they are given 4 years of advanced training in the content and application of the Bible, and then sent out to other prisons, they become a formidable force for the transformation of a prison system.  In that one statement is the power that will transform a prison system's culture.
 
Our Seminary graduates will be transferred into other Texas Prisons as "Field Ministers".  Imagine that. Men serving life sentences going out with Seminary Degrees, into other Texas Prisons, to join the Prison Chaplains in their ministries.  Beginning in 2015, our graduates will have Bachelor of Science degrees in Biblical Studies.  They will have taken courses in Counseling, Hermeneutics, Exegetical Bible Exposition, Teaching.  They will know how to counsel, comfort, and teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to hurting men in Texas prisons.

The very first year of Angola's Bible Seminary (Angola, Louisiana), the violence rate in the prison began to shrink. Today 18 years later, Angola's violence rate has plummeted more than 70%, and now it is known as "America's Safest Prison."  Louisiana has 8 prisons. Texas has over 112 prisons.  We need a large prison seminary sending men out into our huge prison system, to help reduce violence, reduce victims, teach moral change, help lead men to a new life of Spiritual Transformation through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Men serving life sentences will be around a long time to help influence the new culture.    The longer we wait, the more victims.  Help us provide the long range funding to keep pumping out our graduates into the huge populations within our Texas prisons.

NEWS 
Angola Penitentiary Trips 2013.  We go to Angola Penitentiary in Louisiana each month. 

ANGOLA, LA-- LOUISIANA STATE PENITENTIARY.  Our goal is to help Texas see the vision of what will happen in Texas' penal system as a result of a faithful implementation of the Angola Model, which we are pioneering.  If you are a Christian pastor, lay-leader, or a business person who has a heart for reforming the prison system, I personally invite you to join me on one of my trips to Angola Penitentiary, where we enjoy the hospitality of the State of Louisiana and the Senior Warden of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, LA: 
  • July 24-26
  • August 14-16
  • September 18-20
  • October-- no trip
  • November 20-22
  • If you have any special guests who could help us in our work if they knew the big picture, please feel free to invite them.  The door continues to remain open for us to receive favored hospitality from the State of Louisiana and Warden Burl Cain, as they support our efforts.
  • contact us at [email protected]


Donated Bookshelves
NEWS 
600 Units of Needed Library Shelving Donated by Denver Friend
 
DENVER, COLORADO. A donor in Denver has given us 600 free-standing pro-quality bookshelf units by a friend of our ministry.  But the units are... in Denver! We need some financial help to get them loaded onto 3 tractor trailers for shipping to Houston, where we will use many of them in the new Darrington Seminary building we are hoping to build next year; and we will give some to the Louisiana State Penitentiary Seminary at Angola, and share some with some local ministries as well.  While a donor has provided the funds to ship them to Houston, we still need two things:
  • 3 Tractor Trailer loads back-hauling them to Houston, at a cost of about $1500 per load.  Could you provide a load?  DONATED!  THANK YOU! 
  • NEEDED:  FUNDS TO PAY the labor force to load them into the trailers in Denver would run about $200 per load, and unloading would be about the same in Houston. Total need: $1200 for loading and unloading the trucks. 
  • NEEDED:  A WAREHOUSE to temporarily store the units.  For your info, they are currently stored in a 40'x60' warehouse, stacked 3 high.  So anything bigger than that would be wonderful!!
  • The picture at the right of this section is the exact bookshelf, minus the books, that we have been given--- and all are brand new!  It's a gift with a retail value of over $80,000.
  • Email us at [email protected].
  

Angola entrance
NEWS 
Texas Now Has The Largest Prison Seminary in the World. And YOU have funded it!
 
We continue taking Texans each month to Angola, Louisiana. They want to see how the Angola Seminary has caused "Bloody Angola" to become "America's Safest Prison."
 
We can continue to grow if the private funding continues to grow. If you are a person who could help Texas continue to fund the work of The Heart of Texas Foundation, a major part of which includes funding the Darrington Penitentiary Seminary, please contact us! We need your help to bring in another 40 inmates in 2014; and to build a free-standing building to house the large student body of nearly 160 students; and then to furnish the new building. Would you, your firm or your Foundation like to talk with us about building the building that will help change the penal system in America? Email us at [email protected].

 
 FOCUS studio 1 
 
NEWS
Focus on the Family interviews Grove Norwood for worldwide broadcast
 
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO.  In February, Focus on the Family�, one of the world's most influential Christian ministries, invited Grove Norwood to their headquarters in Colorado Springs, CO as their featured guest on two of their internationally syndicated radio programs. Grove was welcomed into the Focus studios and interviewed by Radio Host John Fuller and the President of Focus on the Family, Jim Daly. The Heart of Texas Foundation caught the attention of Focus on the Family during a trip president Jim Daly made to Texas in mid-2012 when he met Grove.  The two shows will air in September, 2013. 

 

Focus studio 3  
In addition to the radio programs, Grove was asked by Focus to talk with the current class of students in the Focus on the Family Leadership Institute�. Grove led a 2-hour session with students who were competitively selected from colleges and universities around the country. The Leadership Institute is in its 17th year and strives to prepare Christian young people for leadership roles in government, business, and churches.

 

"Grove, these radio shows will be heard around the world and in America by millions of people. We hope many will rally to help The Heart of Texas Foundation in this cutting-edge work," commented the Focus staff. The program air dates will be announced shortly.
 

NEWS
Houston Chronicle Publishes 2nd Article About Darrington Seminary

HOUSTON, TEXAS.  The Houston Chronicle recently published two very favorable articles about the Darrington Seminary.  Writer Ken Chitwood is the Lifestyle writer for the Chronicle's Chron.com online newspaper outlet.  We are grateful to Mr. Chitwood for his coverage of the Darrington Seminary, a voluntary program privately funded by friends and supporters of The Heart of Texas Foundation.

Governor's Day at Darrington Seminary, Darrington Penitentiary, Texas
NEWS
GOVERNOR PERRY SENDS PERSONAL FILMED GREETING TO THE HEART OF TEXAS FOUNDATION SUPPORTERS

AUSTIN, TEXAS-- THE CAPITOL.  In a gesture of support and encouragement, Governor Rick Perry commissioned a personal video message to be taped in his Capitol building offices.  This message was sent to Grove Norwood, Founder and Executive Director of The Heart of Texas Foundation.  All who are praying for, and encouraging, our work have been greatly encouraged by his kind words.  We invite you to see the video by clicking on the image below!
Governor Rick Perry Endorses The Heart of Texas Foundation
GOVERNOR PERRY ENDORSES
THE HEART OF TEXAS FOUNDATION


A Word From The Founder

Dear Friend of THE HEART OF TEXAS FOUNDATION, 
 
It is truly amazing to be a part of something that began as, and still is, a "grass-roots" effort.  Words can't convey what we all see happening. I know many of you feel exactly the same way.  It began on a country road in a little cow-town, with a 4-year old girl named Joy... and today, we're seeing a movement of God unlike we Texans have ever seen.  To help encourage us with our work,  We are actively working with supporters and encouragers like Governor Rick Perry, Senator John Whitmire, Senator Dan Patrick, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Angola State Penitentiary, Southwestern Seminary, Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, Focus on the Family, Prison Fellowship, Baylor University Institute for Studies of Religion, AWANA, Radio stations KKHT FM Houston; WSKY AM Asheville,NC; WYYC AM in York PA; and Angola's KLSP FM.  And now other states are beginning to call us to inquire about how Texas has managed to replicate the Angola Model:  West Virginia, California, New Mexico, Tennessee.  
 
And the momentum continues to grow!  All in a little over 3 years!  
 
Would that not stop anyone in their tracks?  And would they not say, "Only God could do this!"
 
And we continue to make our relentless trips taking Texans to see the Louisiana State Penitentiary, and the effects of its own Seminary on that prison's culture.  We make those trips to gather support for our work in Texas.  Would you like to join us in some way?  There is something here for everyone, because there are prisons all over our precious state.  And there is a hunger for the Gospel like you wouldn't believe in the places that house the most broken human beings within our society. 

You can help us today by simply forwarding this newsletter to a friend-- we need your help in letting Texas and other states know what we're doing. Can you come alongside us and help us?  Will your church consider putting us in your missions budget so that our work can continue to have impact in Texas?  We believe other states are beginning to see what we are doing, and want to know more.  This is not just about Texas, this is about all of America's penal systems--- they need spiritual transformation from the inside out, and the bottom up.  We believe there is no more effective way to add to the work of volunteers, Kairos, and other efforts, than to add an accredited Prison Seminary in every state in America, and enroll only lifers and inmates with very long sentences.  We focus on TEXAS, but we are ready to be a good neighbor to any other state who wants to do what we are doing!  We really do need your help.
  • Pray for The Heart of Texas Foundation, its volunteers, supporters, and donors, their families, their businesses
  • Pray for our work, and all of our events--- speaking engagements, Day With Dad event in November 2013
  • Provide funding for me to hire an hourly webmaster to work on our website-- I do all of it myself and need to be freed up 
  • Form a "Friends of Darrington Theological Library" group in your church-- we'll give you a tour of the Library
  • Form a "Friends of Darrington Seminary" group in your church-- we'll give you a tour of the Seminary
  • Put The Heart of Texas Foundation into your church's missions budget each month
  • Consider a bequest to the Foundation, that will insure we will continue to graduate inmate ministers and create fewer victims
  • Provide 20 additional Dell Computer thin-client workstations for the expanding computer lab -  EMAIL US FOR DETAILS
  • DONATED: additional free-standing metal library shelving for the growing Darrington SeminaryTheological Library
  • Provide 35 new classroom tables for the Seminary:  $3,309, including shipping to Darrington
  • Provide 40 new welded steel classroom chairs for the new students, on factory closeout, $3,000  
  • Provide 2 wide-screen TV monitors for use in the second Seminary classroom, Sam's Club $2,000
  • Provide a commercial ceiling mount projector for the Professors' use in the classroom, $800 
  • Pray God will bring the funds to hire a full-time Operations Manager to help Grove Norwood & The Heart of Texas Foundation
  • Help us build and equip the new Darrington Seminary Educational Building, now in early planning stages
  • Pastors and Church Leaders:  you are invited to join me for a trip to Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, LA this year.  The dates for my orientation trips ("How a Prison Seminary Changes Prisons") are posted on our 2013 Calendar.  Just email us at [email protected] indicating your interest.
  • Let us come to your church, association, prayer group, Sunday School, or university-- and let us tell our story.    
"And now, you see, I am going to Jerusalem, bound by the Holy Spirit and obligated and compelled by the convictions of my own spirit, not knowing what will befall me there-- 
except that the Holy Spirit clearly and  emphatically affirms to me in city after city that imprisonment and suffering await me.  But none of these things move me;
neither do I esteem my life dear to myself, if only I may finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have obtained from and which was entrusted to me by the Lord Jesus, faithfully to attest to the good news, the Gospel, of God's grace-- His unmerited favor, spiritual blessing, and mercy. "  -- the Apostle Paul

Acts 20:22-25 (Amplified) 

 

Join us-- walk with us, we will not quit.

 
Standing alongside you under the waterfall of God's grace, with thanksgiving for you,

 

Grove's Signature
The Heart of Texas Foundation, Inc. 

                                  Connally Dads
The Heart of Texas Foundation is a public charitable, educational, and religious tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and is qualified to receive tax deductible contributions. Financial information may be obtained by request, and our IRS Tax exempt number EIN is 20-4007150 and as such may receive tax deductible contributions under Section 170 of the Code.  We are also qualified to receive tax deductible bequests, devises, and transfers of gifts under Sections 2055, 2106, and 2522 of the Internal Revenue Service Tax Code.  Our Annual IRS Tax Return Form 990 is available upon request.  Our CPA Firm is Keller & Denman, of Katy, Texas. Our mailing address is The Heart of Texas Foundation,  POB 991, Fulshear, Texas 77441.  Our phone is 281-850-8103, and FAX is 281-346-8902..