2019 ISSUE 2
E V I AL
When you turn off Highway 77 onto Slaughterville Road you’re almost alone.
Miles of farms and ranches, rolling hills greened by late spring rains and a two-lane road whose lines have been bleached by a relentless summer sun make you feel alone. After a few miles you turn south and eventually head east. Suddenly, the palette shifts: white stucco dusted in red dirt, indiscriminate browns, and illustrious and jagged silver. This is Joseph Harp Correctional Center, the largest medium security prison in Oklahoma. Harp is home to more than 1,000 inmates, convicted of crimes such as murder, sexual assault and armed robbery. Each month, a team of McFarlin servants – Jane Anderson, Eric Scroggins, Janet McClure and Larry Anderson – make the 40-minute drive from Norman, pass through metal detectors, wind through hallways and
common areas, and are ushered into another building and then into the staff cafeteria. They come to spend time with the eight to 15 inmates who have chosen to meet up with them.
“For I was hungry and you gave me food ... I was sick and you took care of me ... I was in prison and you visited me ... ” Matthew 25 McFarlin’s prison ministry began almost 30 years ago when a handful of McFarlin members had a brainstorming meeting motivated by the words of Matthew 25. “We were doing hospital visitation, we were running a food pantry, but we weren’t doing anything in the prisons,” Jane said. Today, other churches offer worship services where inmates form an “audience” and volunteer visitors preach and lead. But McFarlin’s team focuses on interacting and building relationships with the men, or as the team calls them, “our guys.” The ministry team also participates in Kairos weekends at Mabel Bassett Correctional Center in McCloud, a facility for females, and site of Oklahoma’s death row. Kairos, a three-day weekend event, is filled with talks, discussion, meditation and meals. “Our purpose is to influence the yard, not just the prisoners who are there,” Janet said. “We’re there to help transform the prison itself.” Janet’s perception of the prison and inmates has changed in the years that she’s been involved. “I had no sympathy towards them. They deserved to be in there. Now, I understand that some do, and some don’t,” she said. “I just have a lot more compassion for them.” Larry spent years around local and county law enforcement as a part-time investigator for the Noble County Sherriff’s office, and he, too, has noticed a shift in his thinking. “I have been in and around correction facilities, but not from a ministry perspective,” Larry said. “I think there is a common misperception: I was expecting to minister to the inmates, and I leave (here) having been ministered to by the often-forgotten among us,” he explained. “I’ve found that the ones that come to our Bible study are repentant, compassionate,
resourceful people of faith who are looking for redemption and the salvation offered through Jesus. “The worst offenders tend to be the most genuine in expressing their views and their appreciation to us,” Larry said. “It’s the opposite of what you’d expect! They’re being transformed, and that’s such a fulfilling reward for our entire group.” Eric and his wife Amber were first drawn to McFarlin because of the church’s commitment to service, and still he was surprised when Jane and Janet urged him to consider prison ministry. “Jane and Janet saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself,” Eric said. “It took them approaching me for me to realize what God was doing ... it’s changed my heart, it’s changed everything.” He met Jane and Janet a few years ago while participating in ALPHA, a course focused on the basics of Christianity and community. Toward the end of the class they asked him about joining them in prison ministry. He had never thought about it or considered it – this would be a big step out of his comfort zone.
connection. Our presence provides them with that type of connection, a personal connection that they don’t have otherwise. What is interesting is that those serving life sentences have no hope or purpose but to be a positive influence on other inmates, to share the Gospel and the message of salvation with others who will be released,” said Larry. “The ones who are going to be released are released with a Christian foundation that will change their lives on the outside.” “I’ve been doing this for 27 years!” Jane recounts. “It’s a calling, there’s no other way to explain it.” One of the inmates whom Jane ministered to had been serving an 80-year sentence on drug charges. She helped Jason Brady complete some college correspondence courses and get access to textbooks on heating and air conditioning. Once he was released from prison, he passed his journeyman’s test and found a job. Today he runs his own company out of Edmond. “My life started out with rough circumstances, made worse by choices of alcohol and drug use,” said Jason a few years ago when he shared his testimony during worship at McFarlin.
He prayed to God, “Is this the right thing for me to do? Will I experience peace?” Pretty soon, Eric said yes and began the process of getting “badged in” or trained so that he would be authorized to serve. Changing hearts and shifting perceptions became a theme in conversation with the team. “One of the biggest misconceptions that people have about prisoners is that they’re different than us. They’re not,” said Janet. “They’re people like us who have made bad choices and mistakes. They think of church women as perfect little ladies that have never had any problems, and they’re shocked to learn that we’re people just like them.” When asked whether people were as real outside the prison as they were inside, her response was an emphatic “No!” She smiled and said, “I can tell you that I’ve shared things in there that I have never shared outside the walls. There is no judgment, it’s just about Christ.” She paused, “It’s about a personal relationship.” Larry added, “Even in prison they still have that need – that human need – for
“(This) ultimately landed me in prison ... I spent 17 years, 10 months and eight days incarcerated due to my choices and actions, and, honestly, I would still be in prison today if not for God’s grace and favor and the people who make up the McFarlin prison ministry team,” he said. “For me their presence became a priceless part of my life and journey. Their love and the example of faith that they shared through their words and actions became life altering,” said Jason. “While it certainly didn’t lead to my being released immediately, it did give me faith in God, a relationship with his son Jesus Christ and a hope for a better life.” When inmates like Jason are released from Harp, they’re handed their belongings, heavy metal doors swing wide open and they walk across the asphalt to step into a waiting car. Now free, they turn away from the dust-caked stucco and razor wire fencing and see the trees and rolling hills of the southern plains. These men, the ones who’ve met Jesus through McFarlin’s prison ministry, will be surrounded by the ever-present Creator, the one who offers new life. As the wheels turn and they begin their journey home, they’ll know that they are not alone.
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“I would beipiet in prison today not for God’s grace and favor and Borio maio. Volut dolore,still is in est imaximilla audis if everundest, num fugiatur? the people who make up the McFarlin prison ministry team.”
Jason Brady
