You can become a Champion
for God's work in your church
Because you receive messages from us, you are aware of our presence. Some of our collaborating friends
may not know the many facets of this ministry. We began doing just one thing. That was attempting to network people who were doing jail and prison ministry. It was 15 years ago that we began just after I retired from my role as Director of Chaplains for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Now RJMN orchestrates a symphony of
care and encouragement by serving as the network hub for over 60,000
individuals, ministries, and churches in North America. We work in
concert to assist victims of crime, prisoners, former prisoners,
corrections professionals, and their associated families.
Our Mission Statement is: "Networking
with individuals and organizations to collaborate in creating and
implementing Biblical solutions to the Criminal Justice field."
1. First Contact Family
Ministry: Teams of Volunteers minister to families who come to
pick up their loved ones during the time they are waiting for the
release to occur. They distribute printed materials designed to
assist families during their loved one's transition period and
furnish friendly conversation as well as general information.
2. Welcome Back Prison
Ministry: Volunteer Teams enter Texas Prisons and State Jails
and do a "Welcom
e
Back" Program where they distribute to releasing prisoners written
material regarding the upcoming transition and contact information for
social service agencies and churches back home. They also obtain
contact information from the prisoners who wish to give it and email it
to a church back home.
e
Back" Program where they distribute to releasing prisoners written
material regarding the upcoming transition and contact information for
social service agencies and churches back home. They also obtain
contact information from the prisoners who wish to give it and email it
to a church back home.
3. Welcome Back Neighborhood
Ministry: The information regarding a prisoner who is
requesting assistance is sent to an individual or organization of
volunteers back home so that they may welcome back this Previously
Incarcerated Person. This impacts the PIP's world view.
When they are leaving prison most feel they are not appreciated by
anyone in their neighborhood and return with overriding negative
feelings. This welcome by a church person begins the process of
changing that negative view.
4. First Contact Bus Station
Ministry: Bill Kleiber coordinates with volunteers, local
business owners and correctional professionals to greet and assist the
PIPs as they attempt to negotiate the issues that arise in public
transportation. He is often the first civilian to have conversation
with the released prisoners. Many have been locked up so long that they
cannot use the telephone nor accurately read a bus ticket.
5. RJMN TeleCare Network:
Dozens of calls each day come from PIPs. Before release from
prison, each was given the toll-free telephone number to our office in
Huntsville. "I Got a Job!" Ninety percent of
incoming calls to our TeleCare Network involve request for food,
clothes, and jobs. We love to share the thrill of victory when one of
our callers contacts us to exclaim "I got a job!" A study by The Urban
Institute revealed that 64% of PIPs are unemployed one year after their
release. What kind of life would you and your family experience after
one year of unemployment?
Despite barriers to reentry, we
network with thousands of individuals from all faiths and nationalities
to help people heal and become productive citizens. If you know any
individual or family who has been touched by incarceration, please have
them call our TeleCare Network Center at 1-800-998-3004.
6. Life Groups and Special
Needs Ministries: Pretty much on a daily basis RJMN is
contacted by individuals seeking to connect with God's people. RJMN
initiates and supports connecting people of Faith to other people of
Faith. This includes coordinating one-on-one ministries to
"lock-ins." These are individuals who are on parole, on electronic-leg
monitors, or registered as former sex-offenders and are prohibited from
attending organized worship services on weekends.
7. Conferencing Volunteers:
For 15 years RJMN has provided conferences for volunteers who are
interested in working in the justice arena. Each year we sponsor 6 or 7
city wide Restorative Justice Ministry Conferences. If you are
interested in one coming to your area, Anita will be glad to start
planning with you for one in 2009.
This is a high energy, low cost ministry. It is
volunteer driven. Last year our expenditures were just under
$75,000. We have two employees. I am retired and draw no money
from this organization. Part time Ministry Assistant Anita
Parrish is the office manager and keeps up our data bases
which contain more than 70,000 names and addresses of interested
citizens, most of whom have done hands-on ministry. She also
develops and manages the RJM Conferences each year. Ministry
Assistant Bill Kleiber is himself a Previously
Incarcerated Person. He manages the bus station ministry and is a
master telephone counselor.
During the five year start up period
of our expanded ministries, much of the funding has been picked up by
grants from private foundations in New York. Finally, those grants have
been depleted and now we need very badly for the churches of Texas to
step up and help us at a greater level. It is out of character for us
to ask for financial help. We try to provide service to others at
little or no cost to them. We asked for help once before when our
office burned down. Our friends where so very generous in our time of
need. They put us back into business right away. This is a little
different kind of request.
Now that you have an overview
of our ministry: I want to ask your assistance. We are in
need of churches to include us in their Missions Budget. We also
know that is not likely to happen without a person of that congregation
who will become a Champion for us. My request to you
is that if possible please become that person for us in your church.
Budget planning is beginning soon in most churches. This is Kingdom
Ministry. If we are to continue it, we need support from churches which
are interested in ministering to the hurting and disenfranchised. We
minister to such people everyday on behalf of Christ's Church. We will
furnish a full report to any church who becomes a contributing sponsor,
so that they know how we spent God's money which they sent our way.
Thank you for reading this far and
for your assistance in this matter. I assure you that your help will
indeed make a difference to some hurting person in your community. If
you have any questions, please call me.
Grace and Peace,
Emmett Solomon, Ex. Director
Restorative Justice Ministries
Network
1229 Avenue J
Huntsville TX 77340
(936)291-2156