Prison Ministry
Blue Ridge Ministries conducts Great Dads, Malachi Dads, and Holistic Hardware programs within correctional institutions.
Great Dads teaches parenting skills enhanced with praise and worship music. Counselors are available to share God’s love and forgiveness. A camp is held on-site the following day allowing children to spend all day with their fathers. These camps have been instrumental in establishing relationships with fathers and their children.
Malachi Dads is a father development program based on five areas of development: parenting, Christian character, education, moral rehabilitation, and vocational training. All five components together provide the inmate with the skills needed to be a responsible parent. These fathers can look forward with renewed commitment to return to their families and to be the dads their kids need them to be.
Hannah’s Gift Classes -Two Classes Offered 3 times a year in various prisons. A ministry of Awana Lifeline offering hope to mothers in prison, reminding them of their God-given responsibility as mothers. At the completion of these classes a “Returning Hearts Celebration” is held on a Saturday, bringing their children in to the prisons to be with their mothers for the day.
Holistic Hardware teaches a combination of spiritual and practical tools and principles that enable men and women to overcome addiction, poverty, and incarceration. It is presented as a component of the Department of Corrections S.P.I.C.E. program for inmates scheduled to be released within the next 12 months. The S.P.I.C.E. program goals are to provide offenders with a meaningful educational and spiritual based training program, to provide offenders with the basic tools to enhance their ability to return to society as productive law abiding citizens, and to prepare offenders for the workplace while reconnecting them to their families and communities. The recidivism rate for S.P.I.C.E. graduates in 2011 was 4.2% compared to 32% for all releases.
Please see our seminars page for a list of available seminars for correctional institutions.
How Can You Help this Prison Ministry?
Dear Friend,
In 2015, 320 souls prayed to receive Christ behind prison walls, which impacted the lives of over 2,700 children and family members. These were men who were bound by so much more than prison walls and shackles. Before their conversion, they had little hope or future. They were ostracized from the outside world, separated from their loved ones, living for themselves...and most importantly, separated from their Creator by their sins.
This is a sobering thought for me, because there was once a time when I was separated from God before that liberating moment when I accepted Christ as my Savior. My sins isolated me from God even as much as a man placed in solitary confinement. What a picture of God's tender mercey and saving Grace the day He opens the cell of a sinner's heart and sets him free from the chains of his past.
Friends, this is a mission field with an endless supply ripe for harvest, but sadly, there are not enough workers to handle the great numbers of those incarcerated. Many correctional institutions would be willing to open their doors to us to share our programs and God's hope, but there is a cost involved. It would be simple if the prisoner or his family could pay for this program. Unfortunately, we both know they are not in a position to do so.
Our Holistic Hardware program allows us to reach men with a Gospel message and teach life skills prior to their release back into society. We are able to teach parenting seminars like Great Dads to reconnect the father with the lives of their children and hopefully break the generational curse of incarceration that will affect 83% of those kids.
When God brings freedom - true freedom - to the hearts of these captives, they are free indeed. Their Christian walk will spill over into the prison population; it will uplift the hearts of their children and family. And ultimately it will result in releasing a Christian believer back into our communities to share their testimonies of The Gospel and God's Grace with others. This is a ministry that is well worth your investment.
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. Isaiah 61:1-3
I need your help. The demand to reach those lost behind prison walls is greater than ever. We are committed to more seminars this year than ever before. The opportunities are there. Please prayerfully consider your involvement.
If you'd like to help Blue Ridge Ministries even more but are unable to make a large gift at one time, we offer the convenient and time-saving option of monthly automatic giving. For just pennies a day, you can make an important contribution toward helping change men's lives for God's Kingdom. Your monthly donation can be either deducted from your checking account or charged to your credit card. Should you decide to cease making monthly donations, all you need to do is send a written notice to Blue Ridge Ministries. If you would like to make a donation from your checking account, give me a call and we'll work out the details.
Thank you for helping to proclaim liberty to the captives.
Jim Williams
CEO, Founder and President
864-630-4950
Each $100 gift will provide a Bible, a lesson manual, a 10 week Life Skills course, and take The Gospel to one inmate in prison.