My Easter Weekend Highlight

I had a wonderful Easter Weekend! Good Friday was awesome at Ridge Point’s main campus. We worshipped, joined in Communion and celebrated the end of shame. Easter services were filled with worship, celebration, and joy! Our kids were home (huge highlight)! We had a wonderful Easter dinner together and enjoyed each other’s company; laughing, praying, and eating way too much. However, there was one event that stood out and was life changing for me this Easter.

                                                                              

At 5pm several Pointers departed from our Moran Park Campus in downtown Holland for the Brookes Correction Facility in Muskegon. Brookes houses inmates convicted of crimes in the state of Michigan. The men there range from A to D felons serving anywhere from 18 months to several decades for their crimes. On that site there are 4 levels of incarceration; level 1 is minimum security and level 4 maximum. We drove up, cleared security, and began to share the love of Jesus.

Some of us were able to go into level 4 and share Communion with 20 inmates at a time serving 3 groups. These men will be “down” for years. Some are in wheel chairs because of a serious injury related to their crime. There has been a rash of stabbings on level 4 lately and the effect was palpable. Men, young and old gathered with us as we shared how Jesus removes our shame. We then ate together as brothers in Jesus. Tears flowed down the cheeks of these men as they were affirmed in the reality that even though their crimes insist they be prisoners, they are free and forgiven for eternity.

We then gathered in the gymnasium to worship with about 250 inmates and share the Lord’s Supper there. The worship had already started and the men were singing and clapping when we got there. One of our ex-felons who leads in our re-entry program shared his story and how Jesus was the source of his true freedom. I talked about Jesus’ last words on the cross and challenged the men to serve “inside the walls” and to be Jesus in that dark place; to bring light. We met with the “Church” at Brookes and celebrated Easter with them!

We all have a prison cell. None of us can claim innocence before God. Jesus’ death and resurrection bring forgiveness, hope, joy, peace and passion for His Kingdom to all of us inside and outside the walls. We are free to love as Jesus did right from where we are in life, no matter what our address is or how much time we will spend here. Serve, and fix what’s broken right where you are at!

Love you all,

Jim