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Our Lord willing, this will be the most impactful year in our history. So many new and unprecedented events are occurring because YOU have chosen to become a donor or supporter or volunteer! Thank you!
- You will see impact in our seven "Field Ministry prisons" (where seminary graduates have been transferred as "Field Ministers").
- You will see Baylor University release its first book on its research at Darrington and Angola seminaries.
- You will see historic new inroads our Field Ministers are making in the Field Ministry Prisons to which they have been transferred after graduation.
- You will see another graduating class (May 9, 2016) at the Southwestern Seminary at Darrington Penitentiary.
- You will see another group of over 35 Field Ministers be transferred to 6-7 new Field Ministry Prisons in Texas.
- You will see the Grand Opening of the newly remodeled building at Darrington, where we will locate the "campus" of the Southwestern Seminary at Darrington Penitentiary, where all classes-- freshman, sophomores, juniors, seniors-- will study during their four years of Seminary training.
- You will see the systematic installation of "Field Ministry Starter Kits" in each of the Field Ministry Prisons in Texas. These starter kits have been approved by TDCJ for us to install to equip the Field Ministers with the tools they need for their work--- computers, printers, theological library books, and counseling resources.
- And there's more!!!!
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NEWS
SUSTAINING DONORS LIST GROWING... Will you consider it?
Did you know that if all of the people who receive this newsletter were to donate just $15 per month, we'd have enough to meet our budget for this year?
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NEWS
ARTICLES AND VIDEOS RECENTLY PUBLISHED ABOUT OUR WORK
- Grove Norwood's Message Delivered at the Main Chapel Service, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, February 25, 2016
- Article by Mike Ward in the Houston Chronicle titled, "Inmates Baptized in State's Toughest Lockup" featuring our Field Ministers at Estelle Penitentiary, Houston Chronicle February 28, 2016
- Article written by Dr. Byron Johnson et al, Baylor University, "Bible College Participation"
- Video of the First Graduation at Darrington, May 7, 2015
- Article in the Texas Baptist Press About Darrington Graduation
- Houston's KKHT 100.7 Interview with Dr. Byron Johnson, Baylor University Research Institute, on their studies of the Prison Seminaries at Angola and Darrington
- Houston's KKHT 100.7 Interview with Dr. Ben Phillips, Director of the Southwestern Seminary at Darrington penitentiary, as he discusses the Seminary at Darrington
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NEWS
OLDHAM LITTLE CHURCH FOUNDATION GIVES TO HEART OF TEXAS FOUNDATION'S "FIELD MINISTRY PROGRAM"
Houston's Oldham Little Church Foundation recently made a gift to The Heart of Texas Foundation to help purchase "Field Ministry Starter Kits" for our Field Ministry Prisons.
What are "Field Ministry Starter Kits"? They are some fundamental tools that the Field Ministers in each of our Field Ministry prisons need to help them move forward in their ministerial duties. The Field Ministers, graduates of our Southwestern Seminary at Darrington penitentiary, work in their Field Ministry Prisons to plant Christian Fellowships, Bible Studies, and to preach, counsel, exhort, and mentor the thousands of imprisoned men in each of their Field Ministry Prisons. These Starter Kits have been approved by Texas Department of Criminal Justice for installation in each Field Ministry prison, and we are now coordinating to begin those installations-- one Field Ministry Team at a time. Here is a simple list of the components of a Field Ministry Starter Kit as approved by TDCJ: We are grateful to Dr. Paul H. Sanders, President / CEO of the Oldham Little Church Foundation in Houston, and its distinguished Board of Directors for this generous gift. Each year, we plan to install one Starter Kit in each new Field Ministry Prison, as the graduates are transferred to more and more prisons to begin their ministerial duties.
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UNLOADING 1,000 POUNDS OF STARTER KIT BROCHURES!
This week we unloaded 28 boxes of Counseling Brochures for the Field Ministry Starter Kits, a total of 8,750 brochures for the 7 Field Ministry Prisons-- a total of 1,250 for each! Published by P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg, NJ, with a substantial special discount for The Heart of Texas Foundation. UPS was happy to help us make a direct transfer to the pickup!
Next will come the computers, printers, etc. Then the 100 theological resource books. Then the Field Ministry prison installations begin!
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NEWS
SAVE THE DATES! BANQUET AND "DAY WITH DAD" 2016
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| | We are so grateful to Sugar Creek Baptist Church, a Sustaining Donor, for the use of their wonderful facility each year! |
---------- 6TH ANNUAL "HEART OF TEXAS FUNDRAISER BANQUET"-- OCTOBER 21, 2016 Location: Sugar Creek Baptist Church, Sugar Land, Texas, 6 pm, with one-of-a-kind "Inmate Handicrafts Silent Auction"!
Volunteers: Email your desire to serve on the Banquet Staging Team to
Volunteers: Email your interest to serve on the Silent Inmate Hobbycraft Auction, to Kristy at kristymaniscalco@gmail.com
------------ 5TH ANNUAL "DAY WITH DAD AT DARRINGTON"--NOVEMBER 4-5, 2016 Locations: Darrington Penitentiary and Sienna Baptist Church, Vicksburg Campus in Sugar Land, TX. Volunteers needed, limited spaces for volunteers, please sign up early!
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NEWS
Exiles, a Prisoner's Daily Devotional, Written By Seminary Students
Published by Heart of Texas Foundation Press
"Written by Inmates for Inmates."
The authors receive their first copies of the newly published book they spent two years writing. It has already sold over 1,000 copies. It is available on Amazon.com. |
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EXILES authors Karch, Blevins, and Solley-- Seniors in the Southwestern Seminary at Darrington
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Exiles, a Prisoner's Daily Devotional -- Published by The Heart of Texas Foundation Press. A gift of the Gospel to the outside world, by inmates on the inside. "A totally captivating book."
When they were Sophomores, three students in our Southwestern Seminary at Darrington decided to collaborate and write a book together. But it was not to be just any kind of book. It was to be a "devotional, written by inmates for inmates." Now they are Seniors. They brought the finished manuscript to us, and Brenna Norwood offered to do the editing. Our friend Nan Donohoe, graphics artist, designed the powerful cover. After months of editing, layout, and design, we recently published the book through Amazon's Publishing service. Exiles is for sale around the world on Amazon.com, click here to purchase a copy for yourself: Purchase Exiles on Amazon.
It's a gift of the Gospel, and its centerpiece is Jesus Christ. Free-world people find it "captivating reading." Other prison ministries are ordering copies to give to the prison inmates they serve. The international children's ministry, AWANA, is putting Exiles into its online catalog.
The Heart of Texas Foundation elected to not receive any of the royalties from the sale of the book. Rather, we have directed all of the royalties to a small non-profit organization that the Authors selected--- and that organization will be offering scholarships to the caregivers of children who have an incarcerated parent. They also want to put Exiles free of charge into the hands of every prisoner who'd wish to have one. We are delighted to partner in this with the Authors. The non-profit organization can be found at www.fetwministries.org.
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NEWS
SECOND GRADUATION DAY SET AT DARRINGTON SEMINARY FOR MAY 9, 2016.
DARRINGTON PRISON, ROSHARON, TEXAS-- Mark your calendars to pray for the second Graduation at the Southwestern Seminary at Darrington.
Many of our subscribers are "Sustaining Contributors"-- and they make it possible for our private funding to pay all the bills associated with running the 4-year Seminary inside this large state penitentiary.
Nearly forty Seniors will walk across the stage in the Darrington Penitentiary "Chapel of the Resurrection", and there receive their fully-accredited (SACS) Bachelor of Science degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Forth Worth. The President, Dr. Paige Patterson will be on hand to congratulate the men!
Why would we be going to all this trouble? Because the men in this particular seminary are all doing extremely LONG prison sentences, and when they graduate they are appointed as "Field Ministers" and are sent out to other prisons in Texas to continue service those long sentences. In those "field ministry prisons" they work with Chaplains and Wardens to help bring greater levels of peace, forgiveness, reconciliation, and spiritual rehabilitation to America's largest prison system: ours. No one has greater influence over a prison inmate than.... another inmate with a longer sentence! These men will be able to share the spiritual and moral transformations they have undergone, and do it with their own peer group-- other inmates! Read more about our support of the Southwestern Seminary at Darrington Penitentiary
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The Fred and Mabel Parks Foundation Donates Second Gift to the
Southwestern Seminary at Darrington Building Fund
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In 2015 Jim McCellan (right), President of the Fred and Mabel Parks Foundation, presented to Dave Hanna, Chairman of The Heart of Texas Foundation, the first of two checks for $500k to help renovate the building which will be used to house the full student body of the Southwestern Seminary at Darrington Penitentiary
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In 2016, Jim McClellan (left) gives the second $500k check to Dave Hanna. Total given by The Parks Foundation: $1 million for the Seminary building renovation at Darrington Penitentiary, to begin in summer, 2016.
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Jim McClellan, President of The Fred and Mabel Parks Foundation, presented a second check in the amount of $500,000 to be applied toward the refurbishing of a building in the Darrington Penitentiary (Rosharon, TX). The building will be used to house the entire student body of the historic Southwestern Seminary at Darrington, where long-term inmates study to earn a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biblical Studies. We hope to begin construction of the renovated building in early summer, 2016.
We are so grateful to the Fred and Mabel Parks Foundation, to President Jim McClellan and his Board of Directors, and to Pat King, Chairman of our Capital Campaign Committee!
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NEWS
NEW SEMINARY "Old Gym Renovation Project"-- Funds have been raised!
ROSHARON, TEXAS. Texas Now Has the Largest Prison Seminary, perhaps in the world. And we're out of space! The Texas Department of Criminal Justice offered The Heart of Texas Foundation an unused, free-standing building inside the penitentiary--- but it needs major renovation to turn it into a four-year Seminary! With the help of Pat King as our Capital Campaign Chairman, the Fred and Mabel Parks Foundation, the George Foundation, and a number of private donors including Rotary Clubs, the needed funds for renovation was raised within a year's time.
There will be no building like it anywhere in the world-- a full Seminary, with its own building, inside a maximum-security penitentiary. Think of it! Our Building Committee is working now with architects, our contractor, and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice engineers to finalize plans and agreements to move forward with the renovation. We hope to break ground in early summer of 2016.
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NEWS
UPDATE: BAYLOR UNIVERSITY RESEARCHES DARRINGTON & ANGOLA SEMINARIES
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Southwestern Seminary at Darrington
(Chapel of the Resurrection)
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New Orleans Seminary at Angola
(Main Gate)
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BAYLOR UNIVERSITY'S INSTITUTE FOR STUDIES OF RELIGION SOON TO RELEASE ITS NEW BOOK: THE ANGOLA PRISON SEMINARY.
Three years ago Baylor University's internationally-known Institute for Studies of Religion began a 5-year study of the two American prison seminaries at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, Louisiana, and the Southwestern Seminary at Darrington Penitentiary, Rosharon, Texas. After three years of work at both locations, Baylor is about to release its first book, entitled, The Angola Prison Seminary. Here is a brief overview of the project and its findings:
Drawing upon three years of on-site research, The Angola Prison Seminary utilizes survey responses from over 2,200 inmates and over 100 life-history interviews of inmates and staff to explore the history, purpose, and functioning of the Christian seminary program at Louisiana State Penitentiary (a.k.a. "Angola").
Drawing upon the unique history of Angola, inmates lead their own congregations, serve in lay-ministry capacities in hospice, cell block visitation, and delivery of familial death notifications to fellow inmates, offer "sidewalk counseling" and tier ministry, officiate inmate funerals, and tithe with "care packages" delivered to indigent prisoners. Upon graduation from the seminary, inmates become practitioners in the "Angola Church" deployed through Angola's unique Inmate Minister program, serving in bi-vocational pastoral service roles throughout America's largest maximum-security prison.
"This is an outstanding and vivid study of identity transformation and the search for meaning among prisoners serving life and near-life sentences in America's largest maximum-security prison, in a State with the highest imprisonment rate. Through the development and support of an 'inmate ministry', a whole prison is 'morally rehabilitated', in so far as this is possible in the context outlined. The book is meticulously researched and powerfully as well as critically written. Its messages are resoundingly clear. I will be recommending it to students of the prison, colleagues, and especially to prison governors."
Dr. Alison Liebling, Director, Prisons Research Centre University of Cambridge
***************************** Hallett, M., J. Hays, B. Johnson, SJ Jang, G Duwe (2016 In press). The Angola Prison Seminary: Effects of Faith-based Ministry on Identity Transformation, Desistance, and Rehabilitation.
We look forward to the release of this historic book in the fall of 2016. Their next book will be about the Southwestern Seminary at Darrington!
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NEWS
A WORD FROM THE FOUNDER
- Want Grove to come to your church or club and tell the amazing story of the Heart of Texas Foundation and the Texas prisons? Just email us at info@heartoftexasfoundation.org indicating your interest.
- Let us come to your church, association, prayer group, Sunday School, or university-- and let us tell our story.
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How You Can Help...
- Could you help us with a $15 dollar per month gift-- or something more? Please help us continue our efforts, and become a regular contributor! You do NOT need a PayPal Account to do this.
Or, use a Credit Card to donate over the phone. Just call Michelle at 832-449-8126, at our corporate office.
If you wish to be a major donor, please allow us to properly recognize, memorialize and direct your gift by calling Grove Norwood at 281-850-8103, or Dave Hanna, Chairman, (713) 594-2858.
Standing alongside you under the waterfall of God's grace, with thanksgiving for you,
The Heart of Texas Foundation, Inc.
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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.
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