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Three Perspectives: The Softball Outreach 2016
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From the Director:
The 2016 Softball Outreach is a thing of the past.
The volunteers came, the prisons accommodated us, and
the games were played. We could say that it is all over for
another year…but is it?
One of the things volunteers quickly realize is that
it is not just another ball game. It is so much more than
that. It is a day that is a break from the normal life. It is
an opportunity to loosen up and smile and laugh in an
otherwise tense atmosphere. It is a time to feel like part
of a team, and it is an opportunity to use and demonstrate
God-given abilities.
While that is all great and a lot of fun, the impact of
the day does not end on the field. The opportunity to play a
game of softball in the Spirit of God has long-lasting effects
on both the volunteers and those left behind the fences.
As I continue to go into the prisons, I get to see just a little
Volume XLVIII • Issue 4
of the impression left behind from that day. In addition,
I know from speaking to the volunteers that their lives will
never be the same.
Although the softball games are over for another year,
I challenge us to remember that every encounter we have
with another individual carries the possibility of leaving a
significant impression. Are we using every opportunity to
impact others for good and for God? Whatever our talents,
let it not be said that we haven’t used them to fulfill the
ministry Christ has for us. This year the games are past…but
LIFE is not over and other ministry opportunities will come.
The next Softball Outreach is only nine months away!
– Kevin Kennell, Business & Outreach Director
(Cover Photo: Nathan Hunsberger & Inmate)
From a Volunteer:
“Play ball!” When you hear
those words, what comes to your
mind? Does your heart rate speed
up just a little? Does your mind
begin to imagine how many hits or
spectacular plays you will make?
Or maybe you struggle and wonder
how many errors you will make.
For me, “play ball” has taken on a
new meaning.
Five years ago, several guys
from Meigs, Georgia, headed to
Atmore, Alabama, for a weekend of softball behind razor
wire fences. Were we nervous? Yes. Excited? Absolutely!
At the time, there were no sore muscles…but that changed
after the weekend was over! Despite the sore muscles, I
have been participating in the We Care Softball Outreach
every year since that first trip.
As I reflect back over the years of playing ball and
becoming friends with some of the inmates, it has quickly
become a much anticipated weekend for me and my
teammates. It becomes more than a ballgame when we see
the inmates’ eyes light up when we remember their names
and reminisce about great hits and catches. It becomes a
matter of someone caring about them…how they’ve been
and where they are headed. Before we leave each prison,
we have a chance to share Jesus with those that may have
never heard about Him.
If you want to be a blessing by sharing Christ and
playing a lot of softball, I challenge you to come down next
spring and join us! Be prepared to be blessed...and maybe a
little sore! – Brian Miller
From the Inmates:
n It was a blessing and honor to play softball with the
guys from We Care. I want to thank them for their time,
effort, and fellowship. They shared God’s Word with us
even while playing softball!
be about winning or losing. As long as you’re glorifying
God’s name, we’re all winners. It was a blessing to
encounter guys like them. – Charles, AWC
n Playing softball is a passion
– Jeremy, Ventress
of mine, and being able to
play with fellow Christian
brothers is a blessing from
God. I am so thankful for the
experience We Care brought
to AWC. I look forward to this
opportunity every year. God
bless you for what you do.
n I was blessed to be allowed
to participate in the softball
games against the We Care
team. I had a great time
playing and was blessed by the
conversations and fellowship
we all shared. It took my mind
totally away from my situation
and made me feel like a brother
rather than a convicted felon.
That is a memory I will always have, and one that I will
cherish forever. God bless you all, and thank you!
– Aaron, Ventress
n I truly enjoyed every second of fellowshipping with
the softball teams from We Care. Those guys taught me,
through words and action, that competition doesn’t have to
– Randall, AWC
n Over the years, I have
enjoyed competing against We Care Program in their
Softball Outreach. These guys come from all over
the United States to share the Word of God and play
a friendly game of softball. The ball games are fun,
but what a great God we serve…total strangers show
up to let the guys in prison know they are loved.
– Oscar, JO Davis
Sabbatical
Reflections
Two years ago, I was handed a gift. I could hardly
believe my ears when the chairman of the Board of
Directors told me the Board had voted to grant me a
sabbatical. A sabbatical was something I’d never even
dreamed about. After 12½ years at We Care, I was
overwhelmed when that gift was placed in my lap. My
mind was whirling, and I began dreaming.
Due to various circumstances, that gift was unable
to be fulfilled for nearly two years. During that period of
anticipation, I considered various options regarding what
exactly I should do with eight weeks off
work. Regardless of the specific activities,
I knew I wanted the time to be a balance of
mental and physical refreshment, spiritual
enrichment, and productivity.
A suitable time frame finally arrived,
and my sabbatical is now history. Those
eight weeks were truly a blessing for me!
Within the gift of the sabbatical itself were
several additional gifts.
I loved being able to nurture a number
of relationships that are important to
me. I was blessed to spend a lot of time
with my mom as we traveled and worked
together. Conversations and connections
with family and friends, both out of state
and in my home area, added much joy.
Travel on a relaxing vacation never fails to thrill
me. After a week and a half of visiting relatives and
friends in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, Mom
and I spent another week and a half moseying home
along the east coast. Lighthouses, sand dunes, Atlantic
beaches, wildlife refuges, ferry rides, marshes, museums,
gardens, a sea turtle center, a trolley tour, a swamp, etc.
are some of the interesting places we saw and activities
we experienced. Later, an overnight trip within Florida
enabled me to connect with additional family members
and enjoy a boat ride to an offshore island where we
walked the beach picking up seashells and starfish.
Since my job at We Care is mainly mental work, the
shift to physical labor for a few weeks was a nice change.
by Noreen Horst
Working with Mom by harvesting and preserving garden
produce filled many hours. I also spent some time doing
yard work. My big work project was thoroughly cleaning
my house. In addition to the walls, woodwork, and
floors of the rooms themselves, the job included curtains,
blinds, light fixtures, cabinets, bookshelves, drawers,
and closets. Although I do not like to clean, the projects
which weren’t fun in themselves gave satisfaction simply
by getting them accomplished.
I enjoyed reading two books during my time
off work. The Question That Never
Goes Away—Why, by Philip Yancey,
discusses the issue of human suffering
and how God’s goodness and love fit into
the picture. Gray Matter, by Dr. David
Levy, a Christian neurosurgeon, is the
fascinating true story of his experiences
since he initiated the policy of praying
with his patients. Both books encouraged
and challenged me.
I was grateful for the opportunity to
enjoy some longer than usual quiet times
with God. In addition, for one full day
at home I set aside housework and spent
the hours in retreat. The extra times of
quietness with God provided peace and
refreshment to my soul.
During the weeks at home, I was asked at one point
if I was getting bored. Not a chance! I loved the time
off, greatly enjoying the gifts of freedom and flexibility
of schedule within the workday hours.
A final and ongoing gift of my sabbatical is a greater
awareness of the value of and need for a better balance
of work and rest. As a result, I have taken a step to
incorporate regular breaks from routine into my schedule.
I am humbled and honored to have been blessed
in this particular way—from God, from the Board of
Directors, and from the office staff who covered my
responsibilities while I was away. With gratefulness
I treasure the memories of my sabbatical, a gift upon
gift upon gift.
ew Baby!
Blaine and Sheila Copenhaver
welcomed Noah Warren to their
family on August 3rd, 2016.
Blaine serves as a chaplain at J.O.
Davis Correctional in Atmore. Big
brothers Eli and Wil are happy to
have another playmate!
ead-A-Thon
ew Baby!
ost Couple
Sanford and Sheila Helmuth have
joined our staff at Headquarters as
the new host couple. The Helmuth’s
are from Bridgewater, Virginia, and
are members at Dayton Mennonite
Church. Pray for them as they
embrace their new role.
Roseana Joy was born to Steve
and Tiana Stoltzfus on July 7th,
2016. Steve serves as a chaplain
at Staton Correctional in Elmore.
Roseana is also welcomed by
brother, Ja’Meire, who thinks she’s
pretty special.
iscover Interns
This summer’s Read-A-Thon
was once again a great success. We
had 130 readers! Thank you to all
who participated. Without your
diligent reading, fundraising, and
giving, the annual Read-A-Thon
would not be possible!
We are happy to introduce
our 2016-2017 Discover Interns.
Tristan Hershey, from Manheim,
PA, and Andrew Wengerd, from
Due West, SC, will be with us for the
next 8 months while they complete
the Discover Program.
January 22 - 26
Volunteers Needed!
After a day of worship and orientation in
Montgomery, Alabama, teams of ReNew
Hope volunteers spend the next four days
sharing Christ with inmates in over twenty
prisons statewide. The gospel message is also
presented through an evening chapel service in
each location. Come willingly and boldly; be
changed and be blessed!
For more information and an application,visit our website at
www.wecareprogram.org
or call our office at 251-368-8818
Registration deadline is November 25
From the Field
Joe Kolb
Mobile Metro Jail
Mobile, AL
Joe has recently reached his five-year
anniversary of serving with We Care.
Joe has also worked in various state
chaplain capacities including a time
as the chaplain at Holman Corr. Facility.
orking at Mobile Metro Jail has been a joy. I have
W been with We Care for five years now, and it has
gone by so fast. God has given me great grace to be able
to fit in with the staff and to share the love of the Lord with
both the employees and the inmates. One of the things I
enjoy about my job is making phone calls for the inmates
who receive no money on their accounts. This gives me
the opportunity to share with them how much the Father
loves them. I ask them, “What is the one thing God wants
from you?” I give them a hint by telling them the answer is
one word. Most don’t have the answer. Then I share with
them the greatest commandment: “You shall LOVE the
Lord your God…” and we all know the rest. This opens
the door for me to share the Gospel and His love for them.
Some of them use up my tissues, causing me to use some
too. Please pray that I stay the course in doing His will and
giving Him all the glory. God bless!
P.S. Every so often I get visits from former inmates
who served time in Holman back in the 1980’s. We laugh
as we reminisce and share what God is doing in our lives!
Bob Depew
Holman Corr. Facility
Atmore, AL
am regularly reminded of how
many times Jesus stopped to
minister to people while on His
way to different places. He could
have looked at these encounters as interruptions, but He
seemed to look at them as opportunities. Recently, while
walking out to the Faith Dorm, I saw a man I had known
for a long time. That particular day he seemed troubled
and discouraged. My first thought was, “I’m too busy to
stop and talk,” but I felt the Holy Spirit nudging me to go
talk with him. I sat down beside him and he began to tell
me some of the struggles going on in his life. He talked
I
about the many years he had been in prison and how he
had given up all hope of ever getting out. He wondered
what could be the purpose of his life. I listened and prayed
for Holy Spirit to give me words to say to encourage
him. I told him that God sees him and knows him by
name. We talked about the story of Joseph and how God
used him while he was in prison going through difficult
times. Joseph never lost hope in the fact that God was
still faithful to him in spite of his prison circumstances.
As we talked, the burden began to lift, and a smile began
to appear. Before I left, we prayed together and asked
God to give him purpose in life and strength to live out
his faith in the days ahead. There is power in viewing an
“interruption” as an opportunity!
Dave Bucher
Donaldson Corr. Facility
Bessemer, AL
ur beautiful day by the Atlantic
wound down, and we decided
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to allow our children to ride some
of the amusement park rides by the
beach. As inevitably happens, my three older children
needed the restroom. While we took several children
to find the facilities, my brother in law, Victor, offered
to take his daughter and my son Bennie on some rides.
After restrooms, we met Victor. I noticed his vexed face,
saw only one child with him, and heard him utter, “I
lost Bennie!” Few words can send a daddy’s mind into
a more panicked frenzy! For a split-second I thought of
our Bennie in some stranger’s grasp and being taken who
knows where. I clutched two of my children’s hands,
Cheney and Sean, and said, “Let’s go look where Victor
saw him last.” We walked hurriedly in that direction when,
suddenly, Cheney joyfully shouted, “There he is!” There
was Bennie, enjoying a maze ending with a spiral slide.
Our first glimpse of Bennie revealed he was having the
time of his life. He had no clue he was lost. Relieved, we
waited for him at the bottom of the slide. Bennie came out
and eagerly said, “Go again?!” I said, “No, Bennie, let’s
go to Mommy!” Thoughts flooded my mind. There are
lost people who our Good Shepherd is looking for with as
ardent a desire as I looked for my son that night. Do we,
the found, want to find the lost as much as He does? Some
of these people don’t know they’re lost; life is going well.
Some don’t want to be found. Others know they have
hopelessly lost their way, or never even knew the Way.
May we be used by Him to bring them to the fold!
Director’s Corner
James Smoker, Recruitment Director
Most of the prison facilities
here in the state of Alabama have
a population of over a thousand
inmates. The state will usually
assign just one chaplain to
oversee the religious programs
for each facility. In this role, he
or she is required to listen to the
requests coming from numerous
religious groups and allow them
to receive what their faith practice
requires. From an administrative side of things, the work load
can be quite cumbersome for one individual. Their job also
involves counselling someone through a death in the family,
offering encouragement for spiritual needs, taking many
prayer requests, reaching out to the lost, encouraging the
depressed, teaching, performing baptisms, and the list could
go on. Again, we are talking about just one individual making
an effort to meet the needs of a thousand or more inmates.
We Care has been blessed with the opportunity to assist
the state chaplains and is given the freedom to enter these
facilities with a message of hope: the Gospel. The request
for assistance continues to come our way. Currently, there
are state chaplains in the Birmingham, Montgomery, Troy,
and Atmore areas that would be delighted for someone to
come beside them as they make an effort to meet the spiritual
needs of those in their facility.
From my own experience as a missionary chaplain, it
is amazing to see how God calls and also qualifies me for
the task at hand. It is not about being the most eloquent in
speech or most educated in theology, but being a willing
and obedient servant. I invite you to join us here at We
Care in the work that God is doing inside the prisons. Sign
up for one of our short term events and get a glimpse of
the needs inside the prisons, or pray about making a long
term commitment and joining our staff. Prison ministry
introduces you to real people with real needs and proves that
we serve an awesome God Who is doing an awesome work.
Mike Strehlow
Anna Miller
Fountain Corr. Facility
Atmore, AL
Mont. Women’s Facility
Montgomery, AL
sister
at
Lovelady
was
sharing about her struggles
A
with worry. Wow, could I relate! I
was a worrier for years. We talked
for about an hour and connected on our experiences and
journey of faith. When people have been wounded, it can
take longer for them to turn their fears into faith because
they feel like it’s a risk to trust God. She and I both grew
from our time of sharing, and she concluded with, “I
so needed to hear that!” The Bible exposes our lack of
trust and inspires us to allow God to lead and guide us.
Trusting doesn’t always come easily, but we all know that
it has great rewards. Worry comes when we look at our
circumstances as being bigger than our God. At times,
we need to remind ourselves how big our God is and to
keep our eyes on Him. Later that week, I had a nudge
to go to the thrift store after my time at Lovelady. I was
not in need of anything so I wandered around for a while.
Just as I was about to leave, a former inmate came over
and said, “Miss Anna, I just want to let you know that
you were such an encouragement and blessing when you
taught the class I attended.” Only God knew that I needed
to be encouraged at that time. Then I too could say, “I so
needed to hear that!”
rison ministry is unlike other
callings,
because
prison
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inmates are unlike other people. A
prison inmate is a person who has
been put in a cage by his fellow citizens. His world
is not your world. No matter how many people he has
victimized, he feels he is the victim, the one who has
been treated unfairly. He can be friendly and likeable,
but is always on the lookout for any advantage, and if
that means taking advantage of you, he will do it. As
much as he dislikes prison, when he is freed there is
a 70% chance he will be locked up again within three
years. Yet Jesus Christ loves him. Jesus loves you, Jesus
loves me. He also loved prostitutes and tax collectors.
Jesus loved the Romans who beat and crucified Him,
the thieves crucified with Him, and prison inmates. We
can’t grasp a love like God’s. It is too high, wide, and
deep. From our point of view, He loves almost without
reason. For none of us are holy, and none of us deserve
God’s love. Yet He loves us so much that He emptied
Himself, became a servant, and died for us- ALL of us.
Inmates are changed by His love, and we can show them
His love because He loves us!
Blessed by Generosity
A MESSAGE FROM DON METZLER, PRESIDENT
[email protected]
mower to We Care. We feel extremely blessed, and I
We Care Program is able
extend a great big “THANK YOU” to everyone from
to share the life changing
Middle Creek COB for the generous gift.
message of the Gospel because
On a slightly different yet similar note, I also say a
of the generosity of many
individuals,
huge “THANK YOU” to everyone in
our local area who supports our Thrift
businesses and churches. As a nonprofit
Generosity:
Stores, either through donations or
prison ministry, we are very grateful
the quality of being kind,
by shopping at any one of the store
for and dependent upon the giving of
understanding, and not selfish;
locations. Just as financial gifts are
others. Over the years, We Care has
the quality of being generous;
been blessed by much generosity, and
vital to this work of sharing the love of
especially, willingness to give
Jesus with men and women in prison, so
not just through monetary gifts. We
money and other valuable
have received numerous donations of
also are these stores. We are so grateful
things to others.
for each person connected with them,
vehicles, furniture and other items.
Source:
Merriam-Webster’s
Learner’s
whether donor, shopper, staff member,
Just recently we were the recipient of
Dictionary
or volunteer.
a very nice ZTR lawn mower from a
Our hearts overflow with thankfulgenerous body of believers.
ness to God as we experience the generosity of so many
Several individuals at Middle Creek Church of the
people. Every single one who supports this ministry in
Brethren found out about our need to replace the mower
any way is a partner with our chaplains as they enter
that is used to cut the grass around the headquarters.
the prisons, being “Jesus with skin on” to incarcerated
Through what I believe was the prompting of the Holy
men and women.
Spirit, the church was led to donate their slightly used
3493 Highway 21
Atmore, AL 36502-4669
Phone: 251-368-8818
Email: [email protected]
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