Basically, the purpose of this conference was to prepare ourselves for leadership, whether we were intending to start small groups of our own or step up in ministry, but in reality, a majority of our time was dedicated to listening to people talk, Seconds in particular. In case you don't know what a Second is, it's a person who has a powerful (and often miraculous) testimony about their faith in Christ that they shared as a video with I Am Second. Although that's what made them a Second, the ones at the conference didn't necessarily share their testimonies, but rather parts of it plus information about their lives today. Sounds boring to some of you, I know, but here's where the fun part was: during our conference breaks, we'd get to have our "I Am Second" books (that they'd given us in our "swag bags") signed, and we'd have a few moments to talk with the people who were signing. At one point, I was talking with Karen Green, a woman who had her first child at the age of thirteen and turned to prostitution to support herself and her child; after she turned herself in to be arrested, she eventually gave her life to God and started Haven of Hope in Dallas, a nonprofit rehab for prostitutes. I told her I considered myself to be a testimony in progress, because even though I'm a far better Christian now than I ever was, I'm not one hundred percent where I want to be. And do you know what that sweet woman said to me? She said, "Let me hug you," and by golly, that was the best dang hug I've ever had.
Even before I'd met Karen Green, I had heard Bailee Madison speak. Keep in mind that Bailee is currently twelve years old, and she became a Second when she was eight. She is incredibly poised for her age, and that is possibly a result of her acting career. According to Wikipedia, she's most famous for her role as May Belle Aarons in Bridge to Terabithia, but she had her first (unless I read the chart wrong) lead role in Don't Be Afraid of the Dark. I have banned myself from horror films due to their lasting effects on me (seriously, The Ring traumatized me for months), but I'm considering lifting the ban for this one movie. Or maybe I'll just watch the trailer...we'll see. Anyway, I got to meet Bailee, get her autograph, and take a picture with her, and despite how many people had already seen and were still in line to see her, she was humble enough to talk with me and all of us other "average people".
There were other celebrities at the conference as well such as Brian Sumner (pro skateboarder), Michelle Aguilar (winner of The Biggest Loser in 2008 and author of Be Fearless), the Newsboys (a Christian band; Duncan Phillips fist-bumped me because he thought my handshake was awesome), and Brian Welch (former guitarist and co-founder of Korn). Sadly I did not get to meet Brian Welch, but I did get to hear his full testimony, which is pretty incredible. Also I saw some familiar faces, namely Duche Bradley, a big teddy bear of a guy who used to be a bodyguard for Jennifer Lopez. He gives amazing hugs, and he has the most beautiful, legible signature I've ever seen. Seriously, the "D" in his name makes the Disney "D" jealous. Just look at it!
Anyway, Duche had something interesting happen in his life a year ago, and I think Chris Plekenpol (it took me the whole weekend to learn how to pronounce his last name) was the one telling the story; he was involved, after all. Long story short, a girl whose mom heard Duche speak in the Dawson State Jail told her daughter to contact him, Duche invited her to an I Am Second event that just so happened to be in Lubbock, TX (where the girl lived), and the girl accepted Christ. It's really an awesome story, and you can read it here.
When the conference concluded Saturday night, I was exhausted and still had to get up early the next morning to go do prison ministry at Dawson (yes, the same one). Several factors seemed to push against me to keep me from going. My friends from my small group, Krysta and Ambrel, had accidentally missed the sign-up, the girl who was going to take me, Katie, had a family emergency come up that night, Jenny, the other girl who knew how to get to Dawson, was too exhausted to go (my small group leader Ashley was, too, but I didn't find that out until later), and the one girl left who could've ridden with me, Rand, woke up feeling sick. Battling a strong desire to crawl back into bed, I got myself ready to go to Dawson anyway (I had my own truck with me), and by the grace of God I made it there with enough time to eat a Poptart before we had to go in. I found people I recognized and stuck with them through security and the debriefing process, quickly recognizing that Karen Green was with us and learning that she just so happened to be the first speaker on the floor I was going to (there are ten floors in Dawson).
Our groups were separated, and the room cleared rapidly as I waited for my floor (the tenth and last) to be called. Then everyone in my group was given five small New Testaments to hand out to the prisoners, and we were split into pairs of one I Am Second person each. I didn't like having to separate from the people I knew, but that later resulted in a big personal step for me.
As we branched off to our pods, my ministry partner and I gave an introduction, and I struggled to start conversation with the prisoners on my side of the room. In the nick of time, Ms. Green walked in to give her speech. Her testimony rang true with most, if not all, the women in the room, and there was much excitement. Before she left, she said we volunteers were there to help them and that they should talk to us, and when that door closed to announce her departure, a single woman beckoned me over to her, and a crowd gathered there. I handed out the pamphlets we'd been given to lead discussion groups, and we all went through the questions that covered what everyone believed faith-wise. I soon discovered I was in a faith-based pod, and my confidence grew. I continued to read through the verses and eventually reached the prayer of salvation. At that point, the pod door opened, and my partner and I were beckoned out and told we were going to make sandwiches for lunch. Neither of us wanted to go, nor did anyone else on our floor. We all felt something amazing was going to happen with our groups. Our floor leader graciously told us if we were compelled to go back to our pods, we should, and they'd find someone else to make our lunch.
Upon returning, my group reassembled, and I wasn't sure what to do since we'd reached the prayer of salvation...in a faith-based pod. But I asked if there was anyone who wanted to rededicate their lives to Jesus, and Zeeri, the most spunky of all of them, piped up, "Sure, I'll rededicate my life to Jesus. I need to, anyway." Nine other women followed her. We prayed the prayer, and all the women set their ID cards down on the table so that I could copy their names and prison numbers for reference. Up until lunch time, I chatted with a few of the women and learned of their shocking life stories which were practically verbatim of Karen Green's story.
When we were finally called to lunch, I felt drowsiness seep into me yet again, and I relished in a few moments of familiarity as I sat and ate quietly with people I knew. Then I heard someone say something about switching pods, and I woke up. I hadn't said a proper goodbye to the women I'd just met, and I wasn't going to leave that way. I wanted to go back. I talked to my leader and requested to stay in my pod, and she said of course I could and that she was quite sure no one on our floor wanted to switch anyway. I headed back with renewed strength, and I realized that I had two options: I could converse for the next three hours, or I could *gasp* lead a small group. On Saturday, I'd had a little practice with that, but since I was with familiar friends (the alliteration is for emphasis) who knew the small group drill already, I didn't feel like I'd accomplished anything. As it turned out, that practice spilled over into my final three hours at Dawson, and I learned that I actually did have leadership qualities. When it came down to leading a group of people I didn't know, I really felt like we were making some sort of progress, because I was teaching them something, even if it was as simple as how to lead a small group on their own. In conclusion, I led two small groups in those three hours, and I'm now considering leading my own I Am Second small group someday.
I don't know if you got this impression, but I feel like I've just written a letter to Princess Celestia from My Little Pony. Anyway, I'd like to end this blog post with a little inspirational conversation I had with Amber, one of the inmates. While I was doing a small group with her, she seemed hesitant to give her answers, because she felt that her answers would be wrong. So after our group, I pulled her aside and told her that she doesn't have to be a "professional" Christian. God is still going to love you no matter what. And I asked her, "Did I look like I knew what I was doing when I first walked in here?" She responded, "You looked nervous." Exactly. So I urge all of you Christians, whether you're new in the belief or you've grown up with faith, don't feel like God's judging you if you don't have all the answers. Search the Bible or talk to a mentor if you want, but personally I believe God wants some things to be a mystery so that we never run out of opportunities to learn or have faith. For example, I didn't know what the purpose of attending a leadership conference with friends was until I led a small group with strangers.
No comments:
Post a Comment