Supporting the Kairos Prison MInistry

In about a month, a team of men will join together to reach out and minister to several men incarcerated in Huttonsville Correctional Center. The four-day program seeks to share God's love with several of these men, hoping that they will be willing to join a small group ministry within the prison.

There are several things you can do to support this very worthwhile effort that will change lives by sharing the love of Christ.

First, you can pray. Pray for the men who are in jail. Pray for their families. Pray for the prison staff. Pray for the Fairmont area men who will travel inside the prison walls to serve. And, if you are willing to commit an hour, you can join the official pray vigil which will occur during the 72 hours of the program. You can view the vigil and sign up here.

Second, you can bake or make cookies. The team will take over 2500 dozen cookies inside the prison as a sign of God's overflowing love. There are no strings attached to the cookies -- in fact, there is not even literature that accompanies them. They are given simply as a gesture of doing something nice without expecting anything in return.

Cookies must be homemade. They should be sorted into 1 quart zip-top plastic bags -- one dozen per bag. (Cookies should be cooled before bagging.) There can be no powder, coating, or icing on the cookies, and they cannot contain fruit or nuts (normal chocolate chips are okay). Cookies should be about 2" to 2 1/2" in size. Oatmeal, peanut butter, chocolate chip, no-bake, and sugar cookies are all popular. If you bake in advance, you may freeze cookies, until you bring them to church to place in the bright pink tubs by September 19.

Third, you may offer financial gifts to offset the costs of offering this ministry. Checks may be made out to "Kairos of West Virginia," and are tax deductible. I will be happy to pass along your contribution.

The men in prison have made mistakes, sometimes terrible mistakes. But they still do not fall outside of God's love or care. Sometimes, though, they may feel like they are outside of everyone's love and care, given that they are separated and isolated from their families and friends. It is important for us (who have also made mistakes, who also have felt isolated and alone) to reach out to them with compassion and love -- to serve them as some of God's earthly hands and feet, offering a reminder of God's love.