One Prisoner's Story: How UMC Prison Ministries Changed Her Life

A recently paroled inmate was kind enough to share her story of how United Methodist prison resources and ministries helped her through an arduous time in her life. She currently attends Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids, where she says people have helped her with clothes, money and urgent needs following her release from prison. She is willing to share her story about the positive influence of UMC prison ministries, if transportation can be provided. If interested please contact editor RJ Walters at editor@miareaumc.org for more information.

My name is Marie.

I am 44 years old and I would like to share my story with you.

I recently paroled from prison — Jan. 26, 2010 to be exact. It has been a very interesting eight- and-a-half months.

At the time of my parole Kent County did not have a place for women without drug problems to parole to. So they paroled me to the Guiding Light Mission, but being from Grand Rapids, I knew they only took men.

So, I lived at the Mel Trotter Ministries Facility for seven months. Through this process God has been carrying me.

Men have several places to parole to and go through to obtain work. The major one is the Exodus program run through Hope Network. They actually help place the men in jobs and pay the employer half of the felon’s pay for 60-90 days.

The women are sent to the Women’s Resource Center, which is a very nice place, but does not have the same ability to help us as the men are afforded through Hope Network.

One of my biggest obstacles at first was obtaining my birth certificate. I was adopted at six years old.

Due to this my birth certificate had to be obtained from Lansing.

This process took eight weeks.

Without this you cannot get your driver’s license or social security card, which makes getting anything else impossible. There are organizations that help you with the costs and paperwork associated with getting your birth certificate. Inmates really need to be hooked up with these organizations while still in, so the waiting period is over upon their release.

Read More

New United Methodist camp relishes history, explores Christianity in new ways

By RJ Walters, Editor

“It is no longer good enough to cry peace — we must act peace, live peace and live in peace.”

Such a saying might evoke thoughts of the Golden Rule or seem like a short summary of a lesson Jesus taught during his ministry, but it is actually a quote attributed to Leon Shenandoah, a 20th century Native American leader of the Onondaga Indians.

Many Michigan Area United Methodists might not realize there are nine Native American UMCs in the state or that many old Native American “grandfather teachings” have strong parallels with Christianity.

But in August Camp Kinawind in Boyne Falls made a splash with hopes of future ripples by offering a four-day/three-night Native American Connections camp for the first time.

Geared toward third- to eighth-graders, the camp strived to educate non-Native and Native youth alike about the history and lifestyle of their Native American ancestors, while providing plenty of time for hikes, boat trips, singing, cookouts and more.

The camp format focused on small groups, where the 21 total campers were divvied up with counselors into small groups where they learned to compromise and come to a consensus about what their daily schedule would be.

Camp Kinawind Director Fred Elmore said he had considered the possibility of a Native American camp for quite sometime, but it was a conversation with Amy Alberts of Mt. Pleasant that took imagination to innovation.

“In a phone conversation with her probably a good year-and-a-half ago she said, ‘I noticed you had a Hispanic camp (in the Detroit Conference), can we do something that is Native American?’” Elmore said. “I said well, sure, because I had been interested in that but wasn’t real sure how to get that off the ground or who to turn to.”

Not long after, Elmore attended the Indian Workers Conference, which is a meeting Native American committee from both Michigan Area conferences. There he found the perfect Native American United Methodist couple to be camp deans for this inaugural celebration of the culture.

“(The idea) was well received and (people at the conference) said to me, ‘What do you need?’ I said, ‘I need a leader, someone who knows the people, knows the culture, solid United Methodists,’” he said. “Everybody looked around the room and ended up pointing to Judy Johnson and she said, ‘As long as my husband (Daugherty) helps me!’ They were wonderful — they both are active members of the Greensky Hill Indian (Mission) United Methodist Church, only about 25 miles from camp.”

Read More