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Concord church reaches out to Stanly inmates
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Published: November 14, 2008
A local church is reaching out to men and women in the Stanly County Jail in hopes of helping them choose a different path when they are released.
New Life Church of Jesus Christ, located at 4160 Zion Church Road in Concord, started the Operation Hope ministry about two years ago. A group of about four volunteers visit the jail once a week to counsel inmates and bring them the word of the Lord, said Rev. Tommy Fincher, the program founder.
"There are folks in there who have lost their way," Fincher said. "They don't know which direction to go."
Sometimes the volunteers will minister to 30 or 40 inmates at a time. Other times, they will go to individual cells to meet with inmates who need to talk or who need help making decisions about their lives.
The church also hands out packets that include a ministering CD, a Bible and the church business cards with the volunteers' contact information.
Fincher and the other volunteer counselors from his church tell the inmates that it doesn't matter where you have been; it only matters where you are headed. The message has a double meaning, Fincher said. If the inmates choose a path to Christ and the afterlife, they also choose a better life on earth, he said.
And the church is trying to help not only by spreading the gospel, but also by helping inmates who are released to get clothing, food, a place to live and a job.
"We have a food pantry and a clothing closet," Fincher said. "We'll go to the homeless shelters and bring them to the service and take them to the pantry after."
An important tenet of Operation Hope's mission is spreading hope to the inmates, Fincher said.
"We want them to feel like they have some hope and that there's something more than where they're at."
The message has been life changing for at least two church members.
One former inmate called Fincher when he got out of jail.
"He said, "I don't know where to go. I don't have a car or a license,'" Fincher said.
Church members found him a place to stay. Some members gave him some odd jobs.
"He ended up coming to church every time the doors opened," Fincher said. "He got baptized. Now he's a prominent member of the church community. This is someone who was a convicted felon. Now he's a model working in the community in the system."
Another member of the congregation who came to the church through Operation Hope is a woman who had been convicted for habitual drug violations. She is sober now and staying out of trouble, Fincher said.
"She's ended up staying off the drugs and putting her family back together," Fincher said. "There are a lot of times like that where God moves and touches a life and they move forward. People need to know that God's still in the miracle business and he's still changing lives and making things happen."
Operation Hope volunteers must be church members, but the ministry needs help finding work and places for the former inmates to stay once they are released from jail.
If you would like to help, call Rev. Tommy Fincher at 704-796-2412.
New Life Church of Christ has services at 10 a.m. every Sunday at its Concord address and again at 2 p.m. at its satellite campus at 1941A E. Main St., Albemarle. The church also broadcasts its service over the Internet.
Editor's Note: If you have a story about your church that you would like to share, contact Karen Cimino Wilson at cimino.karen@gmail.com
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