City Reaching and City Transformation result in Changed Lives at Marion Correctional Institution
By Dr. D. Vincent Ford Twenty years’ efforts at city reaching and city transformation have produced meager results in transforming cities in America. Now there is a place in America, in a prison for men, where we can see city reaching and city transformation that is resulting in changed lives. Marion Correctional Institution (MCI) is that prison where there is effective city reaching and city transformation. It is a mens prison located in north central Ohio. MCI is a small city with 1800 inmates and 500 staff members, and it has been radically changed from a dark and dangerous place to a place to a place that has become known as the Christian prison. The changed lives of many of the men have resulted in a drastically transformed prison. The transformational change at MCI has been documented in my book Transformation: The Missing Piece. I spent three years ministering at MCI and much of that time was spent mentoring the leader of the violent Arian Brotherhood prison gang whom I had the honor of leading to the Lord. Nine years ago MCI had an average of 1,200 violent incident reports a month. Today there is an average of less than a dozen such violent incident reports. Today MCI is a place where many of the inmates are at various stages of being personally transformed by God. There is no question that God is moving in a very special and powerful way at this prison. What has happened there is nothing short of miraculous and something only God could do. Christine Money, the past warden of the Marion Correctional Institution, says that the environment of the prison changes when incarcerated men find hope, forgiveness and healing, and that the impact of men finding those things at MCI is seen through a very low rate of rule violations, inmate grievances and other serious incidents. Many of those incarcerated in Ohio prisons today know of MCI as the Christian prison and as the place where many Christian faith-based programs are taking place. If we seek an answer to the question Why does spiritual darkness linger where it does?, we find the answer to be that spiritual darkness lingers in a place because there is little or no spiritual light. Darkness disappears when light becomes present. This is an easy concept to put into words, but implementing the concept is much more difficult. In the book Transformation: The Missing Piece, I explore what the light of more peace and more righteousness looks like in the difficult prison environment of MCI. It has been found that the principles of city reaching and city transformation learned from MCI are transferable to cities. The Transformation of Marion Correctional Institution (MCI) can be seen in the fact that nine years ago, the violent Aryan Brotherhood gang involved itself deeply in criminal activity and was one of the predominate gangs in the prison. Today the Aryan Brotherhood gang at MCI has been essentially dismantled as a result of the gang leader, John Beason, receiving Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Transformation is also seen in the fact that nine years ago, it was hardly safe to walk down the halls at MCI. Today you will see men carrying their Bibles with them as they move through the halls, greeting one another with heartfelt greetings, and most astounding of all, you will see men on their knees praying in their dorms and cell locks. Several other examples of transformation of MCI are that nine years ago, it was not macho, or safe, to cry, hug or show emotion - these all happen today on a regular basis; nine years ago, it was unheard of for people to accept the Lord as their personal Savior - today it happens on a regular basis. Also, nine years ago, it was difficult to find a Bible study. Today, Bible studies are abundant. Learning lessons from MCI, we find that city reaching and city transformation involves each of us on a personal level; it involves transforming our own lives, our workplaces, and our churches, as well as transforming our cities. If we want the light of more peace and of more righteousness to exist in our own lives, in our homes, in our churches, and in our cities - if we really want to see transformation - then we must have less sin and evil in each of these places. The missing piece, may be summed up as learning to be in, and to walk in, the presence of the Lord. Again, the concept is simple; the more peace and righteousness we have, the less self, sin and evil predominate. The inverse is also true; the more self, sin and evil exists in a place, the less peace and righteousness exist there. The above principles, and many more, have been identified and gleaned from the first hand observations of the team going into MCI for ministry. The team ministering at MCI has been able to draw out these principles for city reaching and city transformation, and has been able to identify what city reachers need to do to avoid past errors in our city reaching and city transformation efforts in America. I have been involved in city transformation efforts for the past twelve years and some of my qualifications include the following: PhD, public high school teacher, public high school principal, school superintendent, ordained clergy, Ministry founder and president of the 501-C-3 non-profit corporation Mission Miami Valley, which is dedicated to transforming America, city by city in this generation. In my role as president of Mission Miami Valley, I have facilitated pastors’ groups, led outreach, organized pastors’ summits, led community wide task forces, chaired community committees and participated in numerous city-reachers schools and seminars. For more information about Transformation: The Missing Piece, visit http://www.drbudford.com/store.asp and for more information about Dr. Bud Ford and the ministry, Mission Miami Valley, visit http://www.MissionMiamiValley.com Dr. Bud Ford at http://www.DrBudFord.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._D._Vincent_Ford http://EzineArticles.com/?City-Reaching-and-City-Transformation-result-in-Changed-Lives-at-Marion-Correctional-Institution&id=208311 free like webcam that broadcasting all software came webcams can adult too chat such free he gay your live who streaming came video way webcam an private got webcam another personal also webcam would
