As I wind down my last few months at Prison Fellowship, I’d like to close out this series of emails sharing with you one of the most rewarding accomplishments of my time at Prison Fellowship: improving the culture of the organization.
As I’ve been sharing over the past two months, the Prison Fellowship leadership team and I took on four major initiatives during our transition from being a founder-led to a mission-led organization under my leadership:
growing the footprint of the Prison Fellowship Academy,
ensuring that all our programs are operating at peak efficiency and meeting their primary goals,
rebuilding the network of churches engaged in serving the incarcerated and their families, and
improving the culture of the organization.
Coming into a Christian ministry from a career in the corporate world, I was surprised at the state of the culture when I arrived. Prison Fellowship was doing good work, but I found teams that were siloed and not collaborating well. Much of our staff felt disconnected from the mission and were making decisions based on fear of failure rather than faith. We lacked a cohesive program plan.
It was troubling, but as always, the Lord had a plan. It took some time, but by the Lord’s leading, we became a well-functioning and collaborative team working to support the mission. We became known for our work as well as our founder. Our programs started to grow again. We made decisions out of wisdom and faith instead of fear. And we witnessed the Lord do incredible things on every front.
One of the most exciting works of the Lord happened in Oklahoma, and just last week we took our board to see firsthand the amazing things happening in that state.
When I joined Prison Fellowship in 2016, there was very little ministry happening in Oklahoma. During my time at Prison Fellowship, there have been many occasions when the Lord said of one place or another, “Go there.” And Oklahoma is a great example of that. Expanding ministry in that state was intended for year eight of our 10-year strategic plan, but the Lord determined to make it a year-one initiative.
Today, every team at Prison Fellowship is working in Oklahoma, and we have a robust network of volunteers and
churches working with us to support the individuals and families impacted by incarceration. Nine of Oklahoma’s 15 prisons host a
Prison Fellowship Academy site. We’ve held Hope Events, provided Bibles, and have thousands of parents signing up their children to be a part of Prison Fellowship Angel Tree. Several wardens have completed our Warden Exchange program. And our advocacy team has built strong relationships with legislators and has raised up a team of justice ambassadors working on the ground to advance justice that restores.
I could not be more proud of the entire Prison Fellowship team for the work they’ve done over these past seven years, or more grateful to the Lord for how He has shown up each day to advance the work He has called us to do.
In two weeks, you will be hearing from my successor, Heather Rice-Minus, as she begins to share her vision for the future of Prison Fellowship. When it became clear to me that my time at Prison Fellowship was coming to a close, I had a definite sense that the Lord would raise up the next CEO from inside the ministry. I have been working with Heather over the past several years to prepare her for this next step, and I have full confidence that she has been chosen by the Lord to lead Prison Fellowship, and that He will continue to be faithful to guide her in all wisdom as she seeks Him day by day.
I am so confident that this will be Prison Fellowship’s most fruitful season yet, my wife, Martha, and I are offering a special $50,000 challenge to ministry supporters to help usher the ministry into this next chapter. Our goal is to challenge supporters like you to join us in increasing our impact and making this next chapter our best yet. You can give a gift that will help provide the foundation necessary for even greater ministry and transformation.
Would you join us in praying that the Lord’s hand would continue to be with Heather and all those served by the ministry? Leading Prison Fellowship has been one of my life’s greatest joys, and I’m grateful for your prayers and continuing support as Heather leads us into this next chapter of faithful ministry.
Joyfully,
JAMES J. ACKERMAN Chief Executive Officer
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