Soul Food & Travelling Music

What does it take to get an unsaved person to come out to hear about Jesus?  For inmates food seems to be a great icebreaker!   Due to the great administrators we have here at the jail, we have been able to offer snacks to the inmates when they attend our events and they are just thrilled to have "real food."  Attendance is slowly growing!

Larry has popcorn and Pepsi periodically for his movie nights.  Once every three months, Susan sets up the large classroom to look like a little ladies' tea and offers punch and fresh fruit with dip, cheese and crackers.  Words cannot express how excited the people are to have these special little tastes of home.  Cookies have also been known to break down barriers that people have to hearing the Word.  Chocolate chips and raisins seem to soften hearts and melt objections to coming out of the pod for Christian programming.

Larry also eats lunch with the men taking a turn each day in a different pod.  This has really helped his relationship grow with the men as they all suffer through the soggy rice and hard pinto beans together.  Nothing like breaking a little hard bread together to bond in brotherhood, and with a little traveling music.

Susan bought some "Walk Away the Pounds" videos at Sam's Club in which you can either march, sidestep, or kick your way through one, two, or three miles of aerobic exercise.  One video is 18 minutes, one is 30, and the other is 47.   Anywhere from 5 to 15 women come out to do these "walks" with Susan on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.  We are all getting in shape and the women are working off stress and feeling good about themselves.  (Of course, Susan is too.)   

The really neat thing about this new "ministry" is that it crosses the boundary to women who would never want to come out to a Bible study.   Since beginning this in late August,  about five of the women have come to Susan's Bible studies or asked to speak with her personally about God.  Isn't that just fantastic?  That was the specific prayer request of our September receipt letters that go out to our supporters for that month....they must have prayed, because God has been moving some pretty tough hearts.