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August - 2023

Well, as I suggested in the last newsletter, a lot of water has passed under the bridge in terms of getting a Seminary satellite planted into a prison here in California. First of all, we’ve established the 501c3 that will be the State driver of the project, financially, technically and administratively.

                                             Paid in Full – California

This makes us now a sister company to Paid in Full – Oregon.

It’s new so we don’t have a website yet, but it’s under development. If you take a look at Paid in Full – Oregon’s website you’ll get an idea about where we’re headed with this.  Me and a couple of other guys are the initial officers of this corporation, but as soon as we can, we will be passing these batons off to much younger, more qualified people to run this program. I’ll be just as happy settling back into a minor, ‘gofer’ position, just making myself available as needed.

The second wrung on the ladder of success here is gaining full endorsement of the California Dept. of Corrections. Two weeks ago we got that buy-in from Secretary Jeff Macomber, so we’ve sent him the MOU he requested and his people are finalizing what this might look like in the future.

The third step is establishing the partnership with a Seminary/University. Next week we go into negotiations with the President and a few of his Deans at William Jessup University in Rocklin, California. The West coast Director of “Prison Seminary Foundation”, Judge Tom Kohl and Dr. J.D Autry the National Operations Director for the Foundation will be joining us at this meeting on the 9th.

We will probably be setting up meetings at a couple of other schools just to make sure we’ve looked at all our best options, but Jessup seems to be our front-runner for now.

Obviously, a lot more water will need to run under this bridge before this project finds footing, but we are very excited about how quickly God is putting all of the pieces of this puzzle together, so quickly.

We’ll keep you posted here!

We recently graduated our 4th C.A.M.P. class at Folsom prison and we’re in week 4 of our second class at Mule Creek. Once again, I have to say how truly blessed I am to work with these guys on their anger issues. Every class seems to get better and better at opening up and being honest with themselves and with each other. Every class has emphatically said that one of the most important aspects of this class has been the format of us sitting in a circle with everyone participating and opening up about their emotions. I’ve come to understand that this is among the most difficult things for incarcerated people to do – to make themselves vulnerable to others. 

I start the next class in Folsom on 8/22, if the Good Lord’s willing and the creek don’t rise!

Thanks yet again to all of you so very faithful supporters over the years. As always, we couldn’t do this work without you!

God bless and please keep all of this work in your prayers– 

Bob

 May 2023 - Newsletter

Sharon and I just got back from what we called a working vacation. We spent 3 days in Baton Rouge, Louisiana at Angola Prison as I described in my last newsletter. We spent 2 days before the event in the French Quarter in New Orleans. We spent 2 days after the event in Natchez Miss, and then drove down through the center of Mississippi, across the bridge over the Pontchartrain back to New Orleans. We had some really enjoyable vacation days just doing some Bucket-list things.

It was a wonderful time witnessing all of the work that Burl Cain’s organization is doing there, as well as in Mississippi. We were also able to plant the seeds of getting our Christian Anger Management course and our Written in Red curriculum started in both Louisiana and in Mississippi. A couple of years ago Mr. Cain left Angola to become the Commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, but his home is still in Louisiana, so he’s still active there.

Angola has had a beautiful Seminary complex built right in the middle of the prison, attached to their historic main chapel. It is a very impressive operation and they are in the process of graduating a full class every year now thanks to the added capacity this affords.

This trip has re-ignited my interest in working on getting a Seminary in a prison here in California. As some of you may know, when I first heard about Brother Cain’s successes in Louisiana several years ago, I worked some on getting the concept going in California but I met with very tepid interest in the CDCR who, at the time labeled it as nearly impossible, so I backed away from it. But now, my friend Randy Haskins with New Beginnings in Placerville and I have begun to tag-team the process here. We’ve been encouraged, not only by Burl Cain’s organization, but also because we believe the climate for the possibility of this in California is changing. The CDCR has announced, and begun funding, a complete ‘change-of-mission’ for San Quintin prison here in the North to what they call a ‘Rehabilitation Facility’. We believe this aligns itself to what we are trying to do here.  

All of this is really exciting to me! In fact, Mr. Cain’s ministry ‘Prison Seminary Foundation’ is having their annual conference in Memphis, Tn. at the end of this month and Randy and I are set to attend (5/31 – 6/2).

So – a lot of water has to go under the bridge, but it’s exciting to be a part of this process – more to come!

There are new developments in Texas as well. The first is that both of our courses are receiving great reviews from both the facilitators and the inmates. This is very exciting to us, especially since we can’t be there in person to watch over how they are conducted. God has really blessed us with this endeavor.

And second, Brother Anderson’s ministry (Epiphany Life Change) has now taken over the rest of Texas. He has begun making contact with all of the prison Chaplains to his north explaining their mission and scope of their work. He said they’ve specifically listed CAMP and WIR as a part of their curriculum so we need to be prepared for a big increase in demand for our courses. God has always told us that he will provide what we need, when we need it, so we will trust in that!

For the record, it’s important that all of you, our donors, understand that our philosophy remains the same regarding spending B4C funds – it’s always weighed against how many Bibles it costs us to do something and these trips are no different. Since we have not yet made this Seminary in Prisons a formal part of our ministry, we only paid for our rental car for the New Orleans trip. Our flights, hotel rooms and meals we covered ourselves. The Memphis trip is the same – we’re not spending B4C money on any of it.

If any of you want more information on Burl Cains foundation – look up “Prison Seminary Foundation”. You’ll be guided to other websites from there. And as always, for more information on our ministry – Bibles4change.org

Thank you and God bless you all for your continued and ever-faithful support.

Bob