Southern Deanery prison ministry coordinator honored

Warden Hector Joyner presents Pamela Guess with the 2018 Volunteer of the Year award on April 4 at the Estill Federal Correctional Institution in Estill, South Carolina.
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Pamela Guess, a member of Christ Church Denmark and coordinator of the Changing Hearts and Minds Ministry of the Southern Deanery, was honored as Volunteer of the Year at the Estill Federal Correctional Institution on April 4, 2018.

Estill FCI is a medium security federal correctional institution with an adjacent minimum security satellite campus, with a total of more than 1,200 residents. The Southern Deanery began a ministry there in 2014 with four volunteers and 25 inmate residents attending a Good Friday service.

Since then, it has grown to include Bible studies offered by volunteers, and new opportunities for worship. This year’s Good Friday service saw 60 residents participating. On April 8, the Very Rev. Richard Lindsey of All Saints, Hilton Head, celebrated the ministry’s first Holy Eucharist at Estill with 95 residents and lay leaders Carol Grish, Barney Forsythe, and Ken Kraft. The ministry hopes to offer Eucharist more regularly in the coming year.

According to Pam, the Changing Hearts and Minds Ministry is responding to the spiritual call for the transforming power of Jesus Christ to enter the lives of the imprisoned Christian residents.   

In addition to Pam and the team who went to Estill on April 8, the ministry team includes Bishop Skip Adams, the Rev. George Moyser, the Rev. Jonathan Coffey, the Rev. Patricia Turk, and the Rev. Dr. James Yarsiah, Mike Seymour, Scott Bester, Linda Jones, and Susan Meehan. They represent churches in the deanery in the southern part of our diocese.

The ministry began in 2014 when Pam and Bishop Charles vonRosenberg joined the Rev. Sandy Grant and Artie Tison from the deanery to conduct the first Good Friday service. In 2016 a volunteer team began a scripture study based on the African Bible Study Method and Centering Prayer, with 20 residents receiving certificates of completion. A 2017 study of Mark for Everyone by N.T. Wright resulted in 17 residents receiving certificates.

This year, volunteers will offer The Gospel of Matthew: God With Us by the Kerygma Program, presented to the residents during two 8-week sessions beginning this month and ending in December. 

To learn more about Changing Hearts and Minds Ministry, contact Pam at [email protected].

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