When possible we offer support to the students we have discipled or established relationships with while they were incarcerated. We offer friendship and discipleship and help in the ex-inmate's transition, assistance with resumes, interview skills and job coaching and we offer a save, healthy social outlet through various ministry and recreational activities, as well as some transportation needs. Through networking, we also refer participants to other ministries and agencies. On occasion we also provide clothing, food and other immediate needs. We also provide some aftercare support to students beyond our region. Some of the support includes transportation from prison to transition and fellowship during that time. Visits for fellowship when possible and availability for phone support. We make ourselves available to pray for ex-inmate's requests or to pray and support them in times of crisis or struggles.

Modeled after and inspired by the Barnabus Ministry at Shiloh Baptist Church in Elizabeth NJ. The purpose of this ministry is to provide a "Barnabus" to ex-inmates. Barnabus means "Son of Encouragement" (Acts 4:36). Barnabus not only encouraged the Apostle Paul, but when Paul became converted, the original apostles were afraid of Paul and were skeptical of him because of his past. So God provided Barnabus to testify of Paul's conversion and what God was doing through him. God was glorified, the churches were encouraged and Paul was accepted by the apostles and used mightily by God! (Acts 9:26-31). Just as Barnabus gave Paul encouragement, accountability, teaching and conciliation with the church, we endeavor to do the same for ex-inmates who are authentic disciples of the Lord--those who have demonstrated to us a true conversion, repentance and desire to love and serve the Lord. We provide a safe place for sharing the struggles of transition and the opportunity for everyone to bear one another's burdens. We also integrate Barnabus members into our friendship circle, providing a "family" to them, especially those who have no current family.

We have been able to compile spreadsheet resources of places for ex-inmates to find housing in various states. Currently we have resources for the states of PA, CA, TX, NY, MD and FL.

March of 2009

Editor’s Note: Malcolm wrote this testimony for me to share with others, and he shared his testimony at our ministry celebration in the spring of 2009. Now at February of 2021, Malcolm is the founder and director since 2015 of a Christian drug and alcohol rehab in South Carolina.

          My name is Malcolm. I am 41 years old. Growing up, physical violence, emotional and verbal abuse were normal. I looked for approval outside the home. I found it with the kids who smoked pot, drank beer and went to dance clubs. I was very foolish and weak-minded. This led to a life with more physical and emotional abuse than I ever dreamed possible.

          By 22, after I had left college, I was a full-blown addict. I had experimented with several different drugs, sexual relationships and homosexuality. I was infected with HIV and hepatitis and became very sick. But this didn't stop me. When friends introduced me to crack cocaine, my life spiraled down into the pit of hell before I knew what was happening.

           Things got really bad when my mother died while I was in a local county jail in New Jersey. I could not even attend her funeral because my family had no way of keeping track of which jail I was in (at the time). Shortly after my release, I struggled with depression and attempted suicide a few times. I became estranged from my family, homeless and despaired of living. Life was miserable! I went in and out of jail and secular rehab programs seeking help and as a means of staying out of shelters.

           I didn't think life could get any worse. I didn't think life would ever get any better. I had walked into the tomb of addiction. And I didn't expect to ever be free from the chains that bound me.

           It was during this time in my life that a good friend of mine died suddenly. At his funeral, I met his landlady and her pastor, Chuck Wilson of New Hope Community Church. Within a month, I began to visit their church and met many wonderful friends, including Mel Everson.

          Through the church and Friendship Ministries I began to experience the strangest kind of love. People loved me just the way I was…not when I got cleaned up or freed from my homosexual lifestyle and behavior. Nevertheless, I had become callous, selfish and self-centered. This was the only attitude and image that survived in the dark world that I lived in. But as I attempted to adapt to this new friendship that was being introduced to me, there was a force that seemed to want to take me even deeper into degradation than I already was. I continued to struggle with drugs and homosexuality.

          My new church friends helped me to get real help for the first time in my life. I was sent to Pure Life Ministries in Kentucky. After 5 ½ months in the program, I left prematurely because I was not willing to surrender all my heart and life to God. It was too drastic of a change for me, so I left and found myself returning to my sin again. And for the next 11 months I experienced the most painful and difficult season of my life. I no longer found fulfillment in drugs or homosexual behavior. I tried and tried with all my heart, but something had changed in me. I had come to know Jesus like I have never known before, and the Truth was birthed in my heart. My inner world had become exposed to me while I was in the program and I couldn't deny or ignore the love of God and the fact that He had a plan and purpose for my life.

          Facing the prospect of jail again and imminent death, I broke down and cried for help. The opportunity to come to Long Island Teen Challenge came on July 25, 2005. New Hope Community Church provided a bus ticket and so I took a 30 hour bus ride from Kentucky to Long Island, NY.

When I entered Teen Challenge, fear, insecurity and anger still smoldered in me. Then in church services I became “arrested” by the life saving messages of hope, destiny and purpose. In the program, many of the things I ignored in Pure Life Ministries were being taught again, and they would always point me to the cross of Jesus Christ as a reminder that I had to die to my old nature. I learned from mistakes and grew through each challenge and adversity. For the first time in my life, being a Christian became relevant to me because I could identify with everyone around me. I would hear the testimonies and see lives being transformed before my eyes daily. I finally understood all that Jesus had suffered for my sake and the calling He had for my life. 

        At this time I had a realization that being tired and worn out by sin, and even going back to prison was not enough to turn me to God. It was when God gave me a hatred for my sin that true repentance was birthed and deliverance gained.

        From that moment, God began to peel away the protective shell I had put on during the years of abuse and addiction. Miracles began to occur in my life. For instance, my doctors told me that I am in good health and HIV is now undetectable in my body! I have renounced homosexuality and no longer desire that lifestyle. Damaged and repressed emotions are being healed. Relationships with my family are restored! I talk with my brothers and sisters every day! There is a genuine change occurring in my heart that is not only evident to me but also to those that have known me all my life!

After graduation, I became an intern with Long Island Teen Challenge and went on to become a full-time staff member. I am now making plans to go back to school to become a licensed counselor and therapist.

         It's amazing…beyond words…what it's like to have a real sense of worth in my life today. I got a peace I've never known in life before—a fulfillment and joy. I was hopeless before I came to Teen Challenge. Now, there is substance and value to my life that I never imagined possible. I am a mentor and counselor to young men that are entering our program. I am pouring into people's lives! I am being trusted once again... a former "Crack Head"! Looking back on my former life, this is all so incredible and I thank God for the work He has started in my life! My life is truly a testimony of what God can do in a life.

        One scripture I would close with is Isaiah 43:18-21. It says: "Do not remember the former things, or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new... it will spring forth; ...I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert... to give drink to MY chosen people. The people whom I have formed for Myself will declare My praise."

        Once I was heading home, I had mixed emotions. I was extremely excited to be going home and away from the torment of prison. However, I did not know how it was all going to be. How would my mom act, how would the people of the community that I grew up in act. Would I be able to get employment? I was released on July 1, 2013. However my P.O. did not want me to attend church, but God has something great in all of that. It made me appreciate church more. I was able to attend the 4th of July cookout and fireworks at our church, which was great. God had it all worked out, and as I look back I can see His mighty hand in it all. My P.O. changed and this one was very nice and helpful. 

          God (through His Son Jesus Christ) has blessed me more than I deserve. My mom has been excellently supportive. The church (where I grew up) has showed nothing but love and acceptance. I have stayed really overloaded busy with work at my church and here at home with maintenance work. 

          I started my first job since being out in May 2014 and that lasted till July 2014. So I do not have a “regular” job, however I am comfortable and do not have a need. God has blessed me with employment with a ministry of my pastor’s and we perform the load in and load out for different Christian Concerts. I have been blessed to operate the spotlight during one of the concerts. We have worked with Casting Crowns, Mathew West, Colton Dixon, Mr. Talkbox, Michael W. Smith, and Amy Grant. All these artists have been sweet and caring people even off stage. I have been face to face with them. It was an experience that money cannot buy. 

          I stay in contact with some of the ministries since I have been out. They are quite supportive and I pray that something I say can help them help others. I have drawn closer to God so much, but I have also seen times where I was missing the times when I was in prison and I took the time to really study God’s word. So this I do want to tell everyone who is in there;

Please, when you get out and you get settled (which will take a little while) never get too busy in whatever you are doing, to not spend time with God. Make time for the One who created time. Seek Him with your whole heart (Jeremiah. 29:13).

          I will continue to seek Jesus Christ and learn Him more. There is so much to learn and He is willing to teach and help you in all you do. I have decided that when God is ready for me to have a paying employment then He will give it to me. I stay so busy now I don’t know if I have time for a job, HA! HA!

These are some brief testimonies of friends who had graduated our Bible Discipleship Program while in prison. They have since gotten out of prison and are applying the Bible in their lives on the outside today.

        Brother Ed lives in Oregon. In just a few years of being out of prison he became a manager at a Denny’s and making over $40K a year! He told me that he makes the most money he has ever made. He has found a good church too. He had to go to treatment as part of his parole and he told me that the treatment program was good, which is rare. He told me that the therapist had asked him if he wanted to facilitate a faith-based support group! Brother Ed also found a wife and they bought a home on the river together. Here’s a testimony Brother Ed wrote:

        Big Daddy Weave, has a song that goes “…to tell you my story is to tell you of Him.” God had His hand in my life, way before I got out of prison. I spent 8.5 years in federal prison. During my time in, my family stopped speaking to me. I spent my first 3 years blaming God for how my life was going, unwilling to except responsibility for my actions. I always had an excuse!  

        But even in prison God had His hand on my life. He started putting people in my life; who were able to share the Truth. My hatred was replaced by a hunger to understand God more. This was when I became connected with Friendship Ministry. I took five correspondence courses, the crazy thing was the more I learned about my Savior and Lord, the more I learned about myself, and without God I can do nothing (John 15:5.).  

         It took me until I was in my fifties to understand I don't get more of God, rather He gets more of me. When it was getting closer for me to get out, I was afraid, as I had nothing and no one on the outside. And starting over at 54 seemed impossible for my flesh. The Holy Spirit gave me a verse, Matthew 6:33, “…but seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” Not just physical things, but that which is required by your entire being.   

         After I got to a halfway house, God started putting people in my life whom in the past I would have never socialized with. Out of fear of rejection everyone was better than me, as I had a very low opinion of myself. He opened doors that quite frankly should have never been opened for a person with my past! And now 6 years out and 3 years off paper, that is my past! 

My advice, be a doer of God's word, and not a hearer only ... James 1:22-25.

          Brother Bob wrote to me from prison in 2009. He requested all of the literature that we provided, became a pen pal/friend and completed the Bible Discipleship Program. He also made parole around that time and was looking for a “home plan” to be paroled to. After years of searching and waiting, a friend had helped him to get an apartment in Philadelphia and in January of 2012 he was finally paroled! 

          I remember when Bob was writing to me and how frustrated he was that he could not find a home plan. He also shared how he had serious anger issues. But around that time, God helped him overcome those issues. Bob praises God for that and the many other ways that the Lord has delivered him.

         Almost immediately after being paroled, Bob found a supportive church, which, ironically, is across the street from the historic (now closed) Eastern State Penitentiary! He has become an active member, has made friends and volunteers with the bus/transportation ministry. 

It was a struggle to find gainful employment, but Bob thanks God for how He provided for him in various ways. He was finally able to get a job detailing cars until the Lord blessed him recently with construction employment, which is in Bob’s field of expertise. 

          Bob began a home construction business and a few years later bought a home from auction to renovate and use for a halfway house. Around that time Bob also found a wife in the church he was attending. He married around 2016. Bob has stayed in touch with me all these years and has been staying faithful to the Lord and his freedom.

I was blessed to meet Brother Charles in the summer of 2020. He was released in October, 2019 after ten years of incarceration in the federal prison system. Charles began writing to me at the beginning of his incarceration and completed the Bible Discipleship program and Overcomer’s Discipleship Program during that time. Even at age 64, Charles was able to find employment rather quickly. He gained a good rapport with his employer and the employer even asked if there were other ex-inmates like him that needed a job. Charles lives with his mom and helps her out. She is in her nineties.

Brother Mike began writing to me in February of 2016. The New Person Ministries in Reading PA had given him our address. Mike had been a faithful pen pal since that time and he completed the Bible Discipleship Program. Early in 2020, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Mike was paroled to the New Person Center in Reading, where he entered into their long-term program. Mike was able to quickly find employment with Reading Truck Bodies, a company that is supportive to ex-inmates. Three months later, Mike was able to find a job in his field of most experience, as a machinist, with competitive pay and benefits.

           These are just a few testimonies of the hundreds of ex-inmates that I have known through the years. There is also my own testimony too, “Chief Sinner Transformed”, which is a booklet that can be requested from us. All of these testimonies reveal the power of God to transform a person from any criminal or addictive lifestyle, to a lifestyle that is pleasing to God and a blessing to society.

           More than a testimony, when one surrenders their life to the Lord, they are given eternal life. That is most important, and it is our prayer that you and each reader obtain this salvation.

           To obtain this salvation, the Bible says that we must confess that we are a sinner, repent, believe on the Lord Jesus and His death and Resurrection and to then be born again. (1 John 1:8-9; Acts 2:38; Acts 16:31; John 3:3). It is our prayer that you have obtained this salvation. If you have, or if you have any questions about it, please do write to us.