Loving Those in Prison

In this episode OPC minister, Lowell Ivey, joins host David Nakhla, to talk about the importance of ministry to those in prison, specifically to the surprisingly large number who are in the family of God. Lowell talks about the importance of a Reformed approach to prison ministry, and points out the profound void that mature believers in prison often feel when they are not enjoying regular interaction with fellow believers, receiving the sacraments and necessary pastoral care.

Lowell shares from his experience how vital it is for inmates to have regular contact with Christ's church and how deacons can be a vital resource in leading their churches in this ministry. Lowell reflects on his life changing time in prison; from his conversion, subsequent call to ministry and the path on which the Lord has led him from inmate to preacher of the Gospel.

Learn about the profound impact of family visits and letters on inmates' lives as Lowell shares his personal experiences of spiritual growth through correspondence with a mentor pastor.  Lowell highlights the importance of viewing inmates as our neighbors, affirming their worth in Jesus' name and how the church community can collectively support incarcerated individuals and their families through diaconal ministry.

This episode is essential listening for anyone interested in finding out more about the powerful impact of loving those behind bars.

Referenced in this episode:
Metanoia Prison Ministry

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Transcript

Lowell Ivey: 0:00

I was in prison as a Christian for nine years without any connection whatsoever to the visible church, but longing for that connection and writing letters and seeking that connection, and so I think we need to do a better job of thinking about that important reality.

David Nakhla: 0:18

Welcome to the Reformed Deacon, a casual conversation with topics specifically designed to help local Reformed Deacons. There are nearly a thousand Deacons in the OPC alone, so let's take this opportunity to learn from and encourage one another. We're so glad you could join us. Let's jump into our next episode. My name is David Nakhla. I serve as the Administrator for the OPC's Committee on Diacon Ministries and today, on the Reformed Deacon Podcast, I'll be talking with OPC Minister Lowell.

David Nakhla: 0:49

Ivey Lowell has a unique story to share in that he came to know Christ while serving 15 years in prison for armed robbery, 10 of those years in solitary confinement. He has described it as the best thing that could have happened to him. Solitary confinement he has described it as the best thing that could have happened to him. After his release in 2009, he was warmly welcomed into the fellowship of a small OP congregation in Longview, texas. There he met his wife, may. He went on to attend Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary with the dream of serving in full-time prison ministry as an ordained minister. After graduating from seminary in 2015, he served a year-long internship and felt the Lord was calling him into pastoral ministry. He went on to serve as pastor of Reformation OPC in Virginia Beach for over seven years and is now the director of Metanoia Prison Ministries, where he works to engage, educate and equip the church for the discipleship, mentoring and reintegration of prisoners. Lowell and his wife have five children. So, lowell, thank you for taking the time to be here, brother.

Lowell Ivey: 1:56

Thank you, David. It's a great privilege to be with you.

David Nakhla: 1:58

Lowell. In Matthew 25, when Christ is separating the sheep and goats on judgment day, he identifies the sheep as those who ministered mercy to him by ministering mercy to his brothers. Among those various ministries of mercy listed is the one I was in prison and you came to me, lowell. You were that one in prison and you're now outside of prison overseeing that ministry to those behind bars. I'm hoping to learn from you what diaconal ministry looks like to those behind bars, but before we get there, can we begin by you telling us a bit about yourself from solitary confinement to minister of the gospel?

Lowell Ivey: 2:40

Well, as you mentioned, I was incarcerated at the age of 19 for the crime of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon.

Lowell Ivey: 2:47

I was 20 when I was sentenced for that crime and at 20 years old, hearing the sentence come down, it felt like my life was over. While I was in prison, I joined a white supremacist prison gang and spent 10 years in solitary confinement for my gang affiliation, beginning in 1997 when I was put into solitary. I didn't have a window in my cell. I could go out for an hour a day for recreation with a few other prisoners, but I couldn't see grass, I couldn't see trees, I couldn't see the sun setting. All I could see was the wall of another part of the prison for those 10 years. But the Lord used that time powerfully in my life and in 2000, I was set free in Christ while listening to a radio program called here Comes the Light. The Lord used that radio program to shine the light of the gospel into my heart, to help me to see my sin, my need for Christ, and I cried out to him asking to be made a new creature in Christ.

Lowell Ivey: 3:55

I began listening to RC Sproul on the radio, the Renewing your Mind broadcast, and through him began to get a hold of some reformed books and was reading those reading the scriptures, learning to pray, learning how to understand and to interpret God's word. I was finally put back into general population in 2007 after going through a program called the grad program, the gang Renunciation and Disassociation program, and then I was able to take college classes with the hope of going to seminary one day and serving as an ordained minister in full-time reformed prison ministry. I was already seeing the need for distinctively reformed prison ministry before I got out. I was released on parole in 2009 from the Huntsville unit in Huntsville, Texas, and then made my way to Tyler, Texas, where I was in a non-Reformed Bible program for those being released, but eventually was able to meet an OPC pastor in Longview, Texas.

Lowell Ivey: 5:06

His name was Phil Hodson and was brought into his home, lived with him, his wife and his two children, and got to see things like family worship for the first time. I met my wife there, at Christ the King OPC in Longview in 2010, and I also began seminary that same year and then graduated. We were married in 2011, and I graduated from seminary in 2015, and then did a year-long internship at Covenant Community OPC in Taylor, south Carolina. By that time I was already beginning to think that the Lord might be calling me into pastoral ministry rather than an exclusive focus on prison ministry, that maybe one aspect of my work would be prison ministry as a pastor and even in presbytery settings. I was thinking I might be able to speak about prison-related issues in the presbytery setting. And now, as I look back on it, as I've been called to this new ministry with Metanoia Prison Ministries, I see how the Lord was preparing me through my time in prison, but also my time serving as a pastor. I really see that as a valuable experience for what I'm doing now.

David Nakhla: 6:20

You told me a story about, I think, you had been stabbed or cut in the prison and there was a nurse who was patching you up and she noticed the tattoos on your arms. Would you be willing to share that story?

Lowell Ivey: 6:34

Yeah, I appreciate you mentioning that my cellmate had gotten into trouble with another inmate. They were doing stuff they shouldn't be doing and he was actually on parole and he was out arguing with the guy on the called it the run. It was just the balcony outside of our second floor prison cells and he came in. He thought things were over, but I had a feeling things weren't over and I was looking out the door and the guy that he was arguing with came at us with a blade. I looked down and saw right away that he had a blade, so I slammed the door shut, put my arm through it so he couldn't open the door. It was bars on the prison door and he tried to cut me. I was able to get just far enough out of the way that he didn't cut my throat, but he was able to cut me on my arms and then he went back to his cell and cut himself to make it look like we had been fighting rather than him just attacking me.

Lowell Ivey: 7:33

I was taken to the infirmary after everything got under control and a black nurse was treating me. Nurse was treating me and I was really feeling pretty bad about my tattoos, because one of my tattoos is a Ku Klux Klansman, and she was having to look at that as she was treating me, and I said you know, that's not who I am anymore. Just want you to know that. And she said, oh really, Well, who are you? And I said, well, I'm a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. And she said, well, so am I. And then she said, don't ever get your tattoos removed.

Lowell Ivey: 8:09

That's part of your testimony. I didn't take her counsel on that. I did start trying to get them removed. They're a lot more faded now than they were then, but it was just such a blessing for me to see how she responded in such a way, despite what she was seeing, what she was being confronted with with those tattoos.

David Nakhla: 8:30

Very powerful story. So, lowell, I've heard I don't remember where I heard it, but they say one of the biggest fears in life is the fear of being forgotten. How important do you think is visitation for prisoners, particularly for brothers and sisters in Christ who are behind bars, and what does that look like?

Lowell Ivey: 8:51

That's a great question. Maybe I could touch on that by asking you imagine living 24 hours a day with a few hundred convicted criminals all around. Those are your neighbors. You're constantly with people who are scrutinizing your every move. You're constantly aware of your need to measure up to their expectations of you. In a very brutal and unforgiving prison culture, you cannot show even the slightest indication of fear or weakness or vulnerability, or you will be taken advantage of. Every other human being around you reinforces those unwritten rules of prison life. And then now, imagining all that, imagine how desperate you would be for just some glimpse of warmth, some human affection, some indication of care or concern, some genuine expression of love and compassion. These are all the very things that the prison culture dismisses as weak.

Lowell Ivey: 10:03

These are all the very things that the prison culture dismisses as weak, it's all weakness, and now just to bring that a little more into focus.

Lowell Ivey: 10:19

Visits from family members in prison are really the very high points of life. That and getting a piece of mail are really just the two highest points of life that can be imagined. And if you're there waiting for mail to go around at mail call, the officer goes around cell by cell and he's coming around and then he walks on by, Get a piece of mail that day or visitation is being called and you don't get called out.

Lowell Ivey: 10:53

I never received a visit the whole time I was in prison, because the bridges with family had been burned and they lived pretty far away too.

Lowell Ivey: 11:02

So a visit from a Christian or even just a letter and I did have those who wrote letters to me, or even just a letter.

Lowell Ivey: 11:05

And I did have those who wrote letters to me. I had one mentor who wrote me for years, a pastor on the outside who was instrumental in my Christian growth and development. I'm Presbyterian today because of his ministry to me.

Lowell Ivey: 11:25

So a visit from a fellow believer or a letter it has the effect of reminding you that you're not just a number, and I was number 702233. I'll never forget that number. That's who I was. If you looked at my ID card, at one point it said inmate. And then I guess that wasn't enough and so the Texas prison system, in red letters, put offender on everybody's ID cards, and so it was a constant reminder that you which in a sense is not a bad thing there's this constant reminder.

Lowell Ivey: 11:57

If I'm thinking about it rightly, I've offended God, offended the state of Texas, and I've offended the victims of my crime, but as a Christian, you're still looking at that, the big red letters and it says offender, and you struggle at times with the guilt that you feel and the need for some affirmation from another believer that your life matters, that you have intrinsic value because you're made in the image of God, and then for a believer I would say, a visit or a letter is a tangible reminder that you're actually part of the body of Christ, you're actually welcomed, even though you're in prison, as belonging to Jesus Christ. That's great as belonging to Jesus.

David Nakhla: 12:44

Christ. That's great. Can you talk about how you heard this radio message? How did you get in touch with Christians' ministry? What did that path look like for you as an inmate?

Lowell Ivey: 12:58

There were various ways that you could get in touch with people. For example, if you knew another Christian who knew, some people on the outside could be put in touch that way. There were ministries that made themselves available. For example, the ministry that I'm director of now, metanoia Prison Ministries, has a correspondence program where volunteers from the outside can grade lessons and write letters of encouragement. There are many ministries like that, especially Christian ministries, and so you can find out about them in various ways. Also, there were people who would come in and who would know about various ministries and would connect you that way.

David Nakhla: 13:38

If you had the ability to suddenly make every church interested in open to ministry to inmates in prisons, every deacon? If you could just snap your fingers, what would that look like?

Lowell Ivey: 13:52

Well, thank you for that. The reality is is that not every church is near a prison, but every church has an incarcerated population nearby. I just looked at the statistics there are 1.3 million people who are incarcerated in various forms of incarceration.

Lowell Ivey: 14:17

Many of those are in county jails awaiting their sentencing and those county jails are at the local level. And those county jails are at the local level. So local churches usually will have some incarcerated population nearby, either jails, juvenile detention facilities or what have you county detention centers. Who said that? He mentioned outreach to neighbors around the church, to folks in the church, and he was told that well, we really don't have any neighbors around the church. You know, some churches are not really in residential neighborhoods and so forth. So he pointed to a towering building that was able to be seen by members of the church as they went to the church and it was the jail.

Lowell Ivey: 15:12

And he said well, you actually do have a lot of neighbors. They're just incarcerated neighbors and they're a little harder to get to know and to meet. But they're there and the pastor of his church began praying regularly for their incarcerated neighbors. He became more cognizant of it through the ministry of this man and then the members became increasingly aware and became more and more excited about ministering to people in that jail nearby. I would say that diaconal ministry is not about doing everything in the church that nobody else is doing.

Lowell Ivey: 15:54

You drilled that into my head, david. Diaconal ministry is really not trying to do it all. You'll wear your deacons out that way, but diaconal ministry is about organizing and encouraging the church to be the body of Christ, and so you've already alluded to Matthew 25.

Lowell Ivey: 16:12

And I think the interesting thing about the judgment passage in Matthew 25 is number one the saints really were just going about the business of being saints, they weren't thinking too much about it. But number two, and they weren't really looking for any earthly reward at all. But the second thing is that the work that they were doing in ministering to vulnerable populations of people is regarded as ministry to Jesus Christ himself. I think that's a remarkable thing, and so we can think of prison ministry as not only service to prisoners, but service to prisoners in the name of and for the sake of Jesus Christ. I would just say you start small.

Lowell Ivey: 17:04

You make sure the needs of those in prison are brought up in prayer meetings. You reach out to those directly impacted in your congregation by incarceration or those with family members in prison. You find out what other groups are doing. You know what other groups are doing jail and prison ministry around you in your area Contact local homeless shelters, rescue missions. They usually have good leads on people who are getting out or have just gotten out. And you partner with ministries ministries like the ministry that I serve, metanoia Prison Ministries especially if you don't have a prison nearby, because it is true there are going to be a lot of churches that don't have a prison nearby, but that doesn't mean there's nothing that you can do in ministry to prisoners. There are many ways to do prison ministry, even right from our own home, you know. You can think of it as the remote work version of prison ministry. Writing letters of encouragement.

David Nakhla: 18:04

Right, and when you were saying a lot of churches have a you know some sort of incarcerated population nearby, but some don't, I was thinking, yeah, but I think every church and every individual actually does have a mailbox nearby.

Lowell Ivey: 18:22

Well, it's even getting easier than that, because a lot of people don't know that prisoners are being granted, throughout the United States, access to digital devices. They're being given tablets and that means that it's usually through a secure network, so they don't have free access to the Internet and so forth. But there are ways in which they can communicate through text messaging, through phone calls and even video calling. Our ministry is really right on the threshold of trying to take advantage of this and moving from a solely snail mail correspondence-based ministry to taking advantage of some of these other opportunities. But that makes it tremendously easy, far easier than it's been in the past.

David Nakhla: 19:09

Oh yeah, yes, Particularly when most of us have forgotten how to write a letter and even where to put the stamp right. I mean, let's be honest. And you didn't mention email. Is there an ability to have an email correspondence?

Lowell Ivey: 19:24

Yes, and a lot of prison systems that is becoming correspondence. Yes, in a lot of prison systems that is becoming increasingly possible. Sometimes there's a cost associated with it for the inmate, Sometimes there's a cost associated for the person on the outside. It varies from state to state. The cost typically is not very high, so that shouldn't be too much of a hindrance, especially when we're talking about diaconal ministry church.

David Nakhla: 19:50

Can you talk to us a little bit, maybe, about Metanoia? Share with us what is Metanoia prison ministry and how are you organized? And if somebody wanted to participate in the ministry that you're overseeing, how would they do that?

Lowell Ivey: 20:07

Well, metanoia is a distinctively reformed prison ministry. It's been around since 1996 in various forms. It's now fully under the oversight of Mission to North America of the PCA. And the word Metanoia simply means repentance. It's a Greek word. It's repentance, a change of mind, but really the idea is a change of heart that leads to a change of life.

Lowell Ivey: 20:33

So we basically try to do three things we seek to proclaim Christ, we seek to make disciples of prisoners and we seek to equip the church to do the same. So our ministry focuses on the work of our regional directors in various locations, preaching the word, teaching Bible studies, in-person Bible studies, and then our correspondence ministry. This is where volunteers all throughout the United States we're in 48 of 50 states that way are grading lessons and writing letters of encouragement. In some places we have a mentoring ministry where there's face-to-face in-person visitation taking place with Christian volunteers. And then we also seek to be as involved as we can with the reintegration of prisoners, especially working together with local Reformed churches to receive prisoners into their communities in a wise and safe, but also gracious way.

David Nakhla: 21:38

Would you be willing to share a little bit about your reintegration? How did you find Phil Hodson Pastor Phil Hodson, I know he's a good friend. How did that come about and how did the reintegration happen for you?

Lowell Ivey: 21:50

Well, the short answer is only by the grace of God. I mean, that's really the short answer. It was in God's providence. But my mentor in prison, who had written to me informally it wasn't part of any particular prison ministry that he was involved with, but he had his own ministry to men in jail and I found out about it and I wrote to him and he started writing back to me and wrote to me for years, sent me books to read, was instrumental in my growth as a Christian, as a reformed believer as well, and when I got out he met me in Texas. He lived in Grand Rapids and he came down to Texas with one of his sons and we spent some time together.

Lowell Ivey: 22:32

I was still in a residential Bible college at the time and he wanted to find a church for me because the Bible college that I was in was a charismatic Bible college.

Lowell Ivey: 22:44

It was good in many respects, but he was looking for a Reformed church to lead me into. He happened to be Dutch Reformed and so as far as he was concerned, you know he couldn't find a Dutch Reformed church. So the OPC was the next best thing, and so he found Phil Hodgson and we met with Phil for lunch, and it was through that encounter that I got to know about Phil and we had some conversations and eventually, during the season, when I was having trouble finding work, phil invited me out and said hey, I've got plenty of work for you to do. You just come, you work for me, I'll find stuff for you to do. And he invited me into his home. Later on and I will say this For me, that was what the Lord had for me. That's not going to be possible in every situation, but I'm so thankful that he took such an interest in my life and in my spiritual growth and even encouraged me to go on to seminary.

David Nakhla: 23:45

Hmm, you mentioned mentor. To go on to seminary you mentioned mentor. If there were those who were listening to this and said I'd be open to being a mentor, I'd be open to being paired up with somebody. Is that a part of your ministry? Do you look for those who are willing to mentor and you say, great, we'll pair you up with somebody, maybe even maybe in your area, or not in your area? Grand Rapids to Texas, that's a long ways. Is that a way for folks to start?

Lowell Ivey: 24:14

It certainly is. Of course, a mentoring ministry depends on when we're talking about mentoring. I'm thinking of face to face, in person mentoring, because you can do mentorings via correspondence as well, and in California we're experimenting right now with what we call tablet fellowship, which is mentoring through electronic engagement. But when we're talking about face-to-face, in-person mentoring, which is obviously the very best, there's nothing better than face-to-face, and you see that even in Paul's letters.

Lowell Ivey: 24:47

Paul's writing from prison, but he's aspiring to be face to face with those that he writes to. And so in areas where we've established a ministry presence, our goal is to have a mentoring program where that's possible. Sometimes the rules of various institutions make it more difficult than in certain areas. We have one whole prison that's a faith and character-based prison in Georgia and we have a wonderful mentoring program there. We even have a seminary in prison there at that location and we have people going in literally every week face-to-face mentoring relationships. We can't have that everywhere. We'd love to, but it just depends on the particular location, depends on whether or not we have a ministry presence established, which is the first thing that we try to do and we really. Our ministry is still in expansion phase, especially when it comes to in-person mentoring. We'd like to be all over the United States. We are through our correspondence ministry, but we'd like to be all over the United States with in-person mentoring as well If you have a mentoring ministry in your location, for example.

David Nakhla: 26:15

There might be conversations that we could have about how to begin moving in that direction. And does it begin with an inmate reaches out to you and is looking for that, or how does that even develop from the inmate side?

Lowell Ivey: 26:23

It's a lot of times word of mouth Inmates telling other inmates. It can be through the chaplaincy, it can be also through our in-person ministry either preaching and teaching ministry or some other way that we're already in the prisons and they come to one of our classes, they find out about the mentoring and they enroll in that and get matched up with a mentor. A lot of times there's a waiting list for those who would like to have a mentor and we have more who would want a mentor than we have mentors to give them.

Lowell Ivey: 27:01

So that's a significant prayer need is that we would have more volunteers who would be willing to go in and to do this.

David Nakhla: 27:09

So this is the Reformed Deacon Podcast. Can you help us think about how this is in your mind, how this is significantly diaconal?

Lowell Ivey: 27:20

Sure Well, diaconal ministry is really putting skin on our calling to love the lost and to love one another in the body of Christ, and so I can think of no other ministry that is more diaconal than this ministry to prisoners, and especially to those being released to prisoners and especially to those being released.

Lowell Ivey: 27:47

Prisoners, those who are currently confined, need to know in a tangible way that the love of Christ is real, and certainly they know that through the Word. That's the main way that we know the love of Christ is through the ministry of the Word and, as the Holy Spirit works in our hearts through the ministry of the word. But we also know by the ministry of his people, and we're told in the scriptures that they'll know the love of Christ through the love of Christ's people. And so I think when we're thinking about prison ministry, we are certainly on the front lines of diaconal ministry.

David Nakhla: 28:28

I think when a lot of people think about ministry to those in prisons, there's a lot of fear. Can you maybe speak to that a little bit. Help us to get our arms around. What are legitimate fears? What are precautions that are appropriate, that make prison ministry doable?

Lowell Ivey: 28:45

That's a great question. I think fear is certainly a huge part of life in prison, and even when prisoners seek to hide that fear from other prisoners, that fear is real. I don't know, there may be some who don't experience fear in prison, but the vast majority of prisoners live in a context of fear, and so you live in a context of fear, and that in and of itself leads to all kinds of things, because people respond out of that fear. So prison is a very dangerous place. It's a very brutal place. But on the other hand.

Lowell Ivey: 29:31

It's not dangerous to write a letter to someone. There's no danger in that. And then for those who actually go minister, in prison, the danger is minuscule in comparison to the danger that those in prison face.

Lowell Ivey: 29:47

Because, in many ways it's like being in a large city. I lived in a large city, city of Norfolk, and we lived in an area that some people might have thought was a relatively dangerous area, but I wasn't doing the kinds of things I wasn't involved in with the kinds of people that usually it's those kinds of activities that put you in danger.

Lowell Ivey: 30:13

So, you're really not constantly in any kind of real danger. I was talking to my one of my regional directors, tim McCracken in California, when I visited with him and he said you know, I've been doing this for 17 years and nobody has so much as threatened me the whole time 17 years. So there's a danger, just like there's a danger to prison guards, but the reality is that the vast majority of prison volunteers never experience even so much as a threat, much less being physically harmed. There is a threshold that you have to get past the first time or two of going into prison, but that threshold disappears very quickly because you come away. As I always do. When I leave, I'm saying to myself you know, I really want to go home. I do, but I want to keep ministering to these guys. That's usually how I come away. I feel so blessed by being with them and oftentimes by their ministry to me and by seeing the way that the Lord is growing them. You come away not fearful, but just feeling tremendously blessed.

David Nakhla: 31:33

That's good. As you're describing that, I was thinking about maybe ministry into a nursing facility type of thing, where if you're not accustomed to going into a facility like that, it's like kind of maybe overwhelming, it's just unfamiliar, but once you've done it a few times, you walk in like this is where I minister. These are my friends, you know that type of thing. So I don't know if that's a fair comparison, but that's where my mind went as you were describing that.

Lowell Ivey: 31:59

Yeah, the only time I've ever been afraid in prison as a volunteer happened just a couple of weeks ago when I was in California and I lost my security visitors badge. I was afraid at that point that we weren't going to find it. That was that's the only time I've ever felt any fear going back in and we did find it, thankfully.

David Nakhla: 32:20

That's great, Lowell. For those who are in prison, being part of the church is important. What, what does that look like? Can you help us a little bit?

Lowell Ivey: 32:33

yeah, I think the thing that we need to keep in mind is that evangelism is very, very important, but it's only a part of what prisoners need. There are many, many mature believers in prison throughout the united states, and so we need to think of them too. There's a body of Christ in prison, as is elect in prison who have not yet come to the saving knowledge of Christ, and then Christ has those in prison who already have come to the knowledge of Christ and they're growing, and some of them are mature believers thinking and reading on a seminary level. So we need to think in a reformed way about prison ministry.

Lowell Ivey: 33:20

We need to be distinctively reformed, and I think what distinguishes reformed prison ministry from regular prison ministry there's a lot of prison ministry and a lot of it's very, very good, but I think what distinguishes us is that we are thinking, or we ought to be thinking, in terms of our ecclesiology. And so if someone has a credible profession of faith, then what does that mean? Church? That means they ought to be baptized, because baptism is the admission of someone who is outside of the covenant community into the covenant community.

David Nakhla: 34:00

Now we're thinking about baptism.

Lowell Ivey: 34:03

And if we're thinking about baptism, of course we need to be thinking about church membership. And see, a lot of churches are not thinking about it in these ways. Reformed churches, I find they do think in these terms, and one of the ways they'll think about it is well, we can't just go in and administer the Lord's Supper to everybody, can we? And the answer is no, we absolutely can't do that.

Lowell Ivey: 34:26

But what if there are those who ought to be baptized? Are we going to hold off and not baptize them? Are we going to leave them out of the church? I was in prison as a Christian for nine years without any connection whatsoever to the visible church, but longing for that connection and writing letters and seeking that connection, and so I think we need to do a better job of thinking about that important reality. If someone has a credible profession of faith, then we need to do a better job of thinking about that important reality. If someone has a credible profession of faith, then we need to be thinking in terms of church membership and that means fellowship and pastoral care. And so this is what moves us from doing prison ministry to doing distinctively Reformed prison ministry.

Lowell Ivey: 35:09

I think that whole line of thought, if we think it this way, I believe the reformed churches especially will get excited and will be that much more easy to mobilize.

David Nakhla: 35:21

Yeah, that's great. Yeah, oftentimes people will think in terms of prison ministry as evangelism and a lot of it, as you say is, but that's the beginning as soon as somebody has proclaimed faith. Now it's a ministry of the church to its members and now they need the sacraments and they need that ministry, the diaconal ministry as well. So that's really great.

Lowell Ivey: 35:47

Exactly right, and I was just this past weekend. I was with a good friend who's the pastor of a church in Orland Park and that church has received 10 or more members into its membership.

Lowell Ivey: 36:02

And even for a time had a man called specifically to be the pastor to those men in prison. So it's something that can be done to those men in prison. So it's something that can be done. It just takes a little creativity and a little desire on the part of the elders and, yes, the deacons too, and, of course, the congregation as well.

David Nakhla: 36:23

So, lowell, if people have questions about ministering to those in prison, are you able to be a resource for those who may have follow-up questions?

Lowell Ivey: 36:33

I'd be happy to. I think the easiest way to get a hold of me would be to go on our website, metanoiaprisonministriesorg. My contact information is there and Metanoia is M-E-T-A-N-O-I-A.

David Nakhla: 36:49

Lowell, your statements have really stimulated thinking on this. We have deacons who are listening that like to begin what are maybe some first three baby steps to begin moving in the direction of becoming a participant in this ministry to those who are in prison.

Lowell Ivey: 37:09

Well, I think the first step, as it should be, is prayer. First and most important step. We can't do anything apart from the grace that the Lord communicates to us through his Holy Spirit, and so this is where the deacons, I would think, could be instrumental. The diaconate is involved in a word and deed ministry and I know you've talked a lot about that and so the deacons can exercise leadership. What I mean by that is, in some sense, it's the thought that this is a direction that we'd like to go in, and committing to that. You know, somebody needs to really begin to take some sort of action in a particular direction. That's what leadership is, and so you can maybe pinpoint a possible ministry location, a jail or a prison. This is where we want to start, and then you have to make contact with whoever you need to make contact with. It might be the chaplain or someone in charge of programming or volunteer services.

Lowell Ivey: 38:25

You need to determine what's possible, and so you ask what's already happening there? What other area churches and organizations are already involved? Is it possible for us to do worship services, just like we do with disaster response? What's the first thing we want to do? We want to establish reformed worship, if at all possible in that prison. Are there Bible studies happening, is there mentoring? And so you commit to some particular activity and then here's the key you stay committed. That's absolutely vital because so much prison ministry is drive-by ministry and there are times where a chaplain is going to want to see how committed a church is before even allowing them to take any significant steps in the direction of ministering to that population. So you need leadership, you need someone who's wanting to take things in a particular direction. You need to identify where to go and who to talk to.

David Nakhla: 39:25

Good, I was thinking as you're talking about that. Step two leading. It could be Deacon. It could be as simple as get it on the docket as a topic for your whole diaconate to discuss at your next meeting, and then you get the wisdom and blessing of the other deacons to begin some of these next steps. That's really great. So, lowell, this has been a super helpful conversation. So thankful for you for your friendship, for your example, so thankful for you for your friendship, for your example. And as we move towards close here, I wonder those listening to this maybe they're on their way home, they're going to sit around the dinner table tonight. What are maybe one, two, three ways that we can be praying for, those, even brothers and sisters, who are in prison, who can be praying for even tonight?

Lowell Ivey: 40:13

Well, thank you for that, David. We have hundreds of students around the country who are in prison, and I would ask you to pray for them. Pray for our students, pray that the Lord would keep them from discouragement and from loneliness and remind them that even when they are totally alone, they are not alone if they are in Christ, because Christ is there with them. And for me that was a huge encouragement. Just to remind myself I am not alone. The Lord is with me, and isn't that what he says to us all throughout the scriptures? I am with you to be a God to you, and I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Lowell Ivey: 40:53

So, just that reminder to pray, especially about discouragement and loneliness. Depression is very real. Pray for the work of our regional directors and for our volunteers. They're doing just a wonderful work in various parts of the country. Again, hundreds of volunteers, but not enough volunteers to meet the need, and so we need more volunteers and would ask you to pray that God would raise up volunteers. Pray that God would raise up men who are committed to this as a mission field. This is the forgotten mission field, and we need men, just like we need men to go to China, we need men to go into the prisons, and they need to be well-trained, equipped men, and so pray for that. And then you know, as families are sitting around together at dinner, read together the many passages that refer to prisoners or the stories of those who have been in prison for their faith.

Lowell Ivey: 41:50

It referred to prisoners or the stories of those who have been in prison for their faith, and remind your children that we are all worthy of far worse than prison, and that the Lord has his elect, even in prison cells.

David Nakhla: 42:04

Great. Well, I don't typically end this way, but I'd like to ask you to lead us in prayer, Lowell, as you are best equipped to pray thoughtfully for these things. Would you mind doing that?

Lowell Ivey: 42:17

I'd be glad to let's pray Our gracious God and Father. We lift our hearts up to you and we give you thanks, lord, that you have delivered us by the salvation that is in Jesus Christ, that you have granted to us redemption in him, freedom from the guilt of our sin, freedom from the dominion of sin over us and freedom to speak now of you and all that you have done for us.

Lowell Ivey: 42:47

We thank you that the same power that raised up Jesus from the dead is at work in us and is also at work in many who are currently confined by walls and wire but who are free in Christ. Them up, that you would strengthen them, that you would use even many who might hear this program and become encouraged in thinking about these things, especially deacons. Lord, we pray that you would raise up an army of deacons who would consider the needs of those in prison, who would be filled with the compassion of Jesus Christ and who would long to stir up your people in churches throughout this country to seek to meet that need wherever they are. We pray, lord, that you would build up your church even in prison. We pray.

Lowell Ivey: 43:53

Lord, that you would build up your church even in prison, and that you would use us in ways that we have not even yet thought of or considered for your glory. We pray these things in Jesus' name, Amen.

David Nakhla: 44:08

Well, thank you, Lowell, for joining us and for leading us in prayer. We rejoice in what the Lord has done in and is even now doing through you prayer rejoice in what the Lord has done in and is even now doing through you, and I pray that the Lord uses this conversation to open up this important area of ministry in our churches. Thank you, brother.

Lowell Ivey: 44:20

Thank you, david, it's been a blessing.

David Nakhla: 44:22

Thanks for joining us. Go to our website thereformedeaconorg. There you will find all our episodes, program notes and other helpful resources, and please make plans to join us again for another episode of the Reformed Deacon Podcast.