Chaplain Impacts Prison Units With Self-Worth Training
By Jerry McNabb, Assistant Director, Chaplains Commission
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Inmates, staff and Chaplain Yancey (right front.) |
Being a chaplain in a pluralistic society is tough enough, but how do you minister in this setting when the individuals you are ministering too are convinced that even if they have a second chance, they cannot succeed? Chaplain Don Yancey, North Central Unit Prison, Calico Rock, Arkansas, has instituted training that he believes will provide his inmates with a new self image, the “hope” of the Gospel and a relationship with Jesus Christ. An effective tool that he has been using to get this message across to everyone at his prison is a training program made available by the Christian based “Institute For Self Worth.” Chaplain Yancy states that “this training, that is open to everyone in the prison, is one of the most useful tools he has ever used to change attitudes and hopefully hearts in the process. If these men can grasp the reality of their self worth and how special they are to God, then they probably will not return to incarceration.”
Chaplain Yancey gives this personal report of how God is turning lives around with the new training:
“On March 24, 2008 the Chapel at the North Central Unit in Calico Rock, Arkansas graduated 36 students from the Institute of Self-Worth (ISW) class. This was a culmination of nine months of weekly group study and individual and small group studies. We began the class with 96 enrolled, but due to parole, transfers and some just dropping out, we finished with 36 students. Already with some of those men we can see a drastic change in their lives. The change has come from a lack of these inmates having to be disciplined, not having their classification changed or going up the scale to a better classification, getting better jobs in the prison and an overall general calm in the Units where these men are housed. The ISW curriculum has been used by the Lord to produce a sense of well being and Revival in our Unit. We will begin our next ISW class in May and are looking forward to more good results as we see these men grow in the Lord.”
God is moving through dedicated men like Prison Chaplain Don Yancy to bring about change in the hearts of men “outside the gates” of our churches and behind the walls of a every growing prison population.
If you would like to help our Prison Chaplains with these ministries or learn more about the Church of God Chaplains Commission chaplaincy programs, visit the Chaplains Commission website at: www.cogchaplains.com
