InmateMentors.com is an outreach of Hope Prison Ministries, Inc., a non-profit organization.
From Its Founder:
I became a Christian while incarcerated between 1992 and 1996 in Oklahoma prisons. By the grace of God alone, today, I am a husband, a father, a grandfather, an author, teacher of the same truth that continues to change my life, a licensed life and health insurance agent, a professional, over-the-road truck driver, and the founder of Hope Prison Ministries. How did this happen?
Chapel Library inundated me with literature from the Reformation, all of which pointed to my own depravity and the sufficiency of Jesus to save me! Its then director of correspondence consistently wrote me. Steven Casselli, then director of admissions at Westminster Theological Seminary, now a PCA pastor, sent me any book I requested from the best in Christian scholarship; and a prison librarian taught me how to use the interlibrary loan system so I could read the classics. From these I received the best in Christian literature, past and present! I devoured literature from men like Eusebius, Justin Martyr, Saint Augustine, John Bunyan, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Charles Spurgeon, Dr. Robert Morey, Dr. Jay Adamns, J. Gresham Machen, Greg Bahnsen, and many, many more!
Once a month, Pastor Richard Shaw, then from a small-town, Orthodox Presbyterian Church, drove 200 miles to visit me in prison. Pastor Bruce Parnell of the Stillwater Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America and its congregation received me after my release, told me to find an apartment or a house, paid all of my expenses until I could pay my own, received me into their homes and modeled Christ for me! I saw Godly, covenant families for the first time in my life.Barbara, my hippie on steroids, married me in July 2001! Her son became my own and I raised him in the faith. Fort Worth Presbyterian Church and its elders and congregation are now home to my family and our ministry. Although our ministry is separate from the church, many of its members and elders give to it and help us in different ways.
It would be hard to say which of these different types of ministry played the most significant role in my transformation from a sinful, selfish, habitual user and abuser into a loving husband, father and giver. But there can be no question that it began with the reading of so many letters, and so many books, from so many people.
John wrote, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God, (I John 5:13). This is who we are, and this is what we do. We write, we send books that others have written, that those in prison may believe in the Son of God, and that they will continue to do so after they are released.
The national recidivism rate—the rate at which those incarcerated return to prison—is estimated to be 67%! This means that 6 out of 10 of those released will return to prison within 3 years. Since 2008, Hope Prison Ministries has been mentoring those incarcerated. The recidivism rate among those mentored by us is less than 5%! But mentoring, even by mail, has a price tag associated with it. Time, postage, books, phone calls, all cost money. We are asking you to help us, help your loved one.
Just as you might help the SPCA take care of a stray dog–once someone’s beloved pet–or sponsor a child in Africa and pin their picture to your refrigerator, we are pleading with you to help us help your loved one by sponsoring them.
If you see the value of what we do, please Give HOPE by helping us, help them. Choose a membership level you can afford and maintain throughout their incarceration. If you’re still unable to decide, CLICK HERE to return to the homepage where you can compare the memberships or CLICK HERE to read What We Do next.