Category Archives: ministry

In the Prisons

Chain link fences. Razor wire. Officers.

Prison.

We were incredibly blessed to be here.

Last week we were involved with prison ministry for the first time as a family. The organization we served with is called We Care, and each year they organize a huge prison outreach in Alabama. With over 400 volunteers this year, 27 prisons were reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ during this four-day crusade called ReNew Hope. We heard about this outreach from our friends, the Wissmanns.

We arrived Saturday, registered, and enjoyed a great evening of fellowship with long-time-no-see friends, and also some new ones. Sunday morning found us bright and early at the worship service to start off the week. During the day we went through training, fellowshipped over lunch, watched our brothers play football, regrouped for another worship service, and later that night played volleyball.

Durocher family sang in the morning

Michael Randle gave the message

enjoying the “spring” weather

football on green grass in January… must be in Alabama

we enjoyed meeting Lynda Randle

Monday…it was finally time to enter the prison! The officers were very friendly, which definitely helped to put us at ease. Monday night we were in a women’s facility, a different one on Tuesday, and a mens facility on Thursday. Wednesday we were scheduled to go into a mens facility, but the service was canceled because the prison was on lock down. Each day volunteers would go into the prisons to witness, visit, and invite the inmates to come out to the service that night. The same volunteers would go into the same prison every day, but the music groups and speakers went to different prisons each night. Each speaker we had was a blessing to us. Being able to share Jesus in the prisons was another blessing.

A lot of prayer went into this week of ministry, and it was evident that God was working. Quick story: Photo ID is absolutely required in order to get into the prison. Well, Sunday evening we noticed that we couldn’t find my ID. We weren’t too concerned, since it shouldn’t be hard to find, right? Monday morning it became more concerning…and Abigail’s passport was nowhere to be found as well. We began to pray and asked others to pray. After the morning worship service, we went back to the hotel and tore our room apart, rather confused and concerned and hoping and praying they hadn’t been stolen. We had looked just about everywhere we could think of when Mom unzipped a pocket on a duffel bag and there they were! Thank you God! Thank you to all who prayed about this!

Being in the prisons was different. Different than normal life, definitely, but also different than how we probably imagined. The people in there have life. They are real people. Some are trusting Jesus. Some have joy, some have smiles, and they were so grateful that we came. They clapped to the music, smiled, cheered for Jonathan’s “I’ve Never Been This Homesick Before.” They “Amen!”ed the preachers, raised their hands to praise God, let tears flow from their eyes. During our team’s worship service on Tuesday morning we were challenged by the speaker, Troy Walker, who was saved in prison. He implored us on behalf of the prisoners, “I am worth it! I have a soul too!” Everyone needs the Savior… no matter who we are or what we’ve done.

thanks to WeCare and photographer Miss Abbie for these in-prison photos

what a privilege to do this!

they were trying to entertain us during practice

We had such an amazing time with them. God was obviously working in people’s hearts as many came forward in response to God. And singing Amazing Grace with them…they sang it how I imagine the persecuted church would. At the top of their voices, from the bottom of their hearts. One song we did ends with the line “Lord I need You all the time.” The second women’s prison we were in they were following along with us on the song, and by the second chorus or so Dad pointed at them to sing that line. They almost just exploded into it! “LORD I NEED YOU ALL THE TIME!” We were also touched by things people said…one song we do asks, “Where will you be one hundred years from now?” Someone came up to us after and said, “I will see you one hundred years from now.” A lady stood up to give a testimony before one of the services, and she said, “I didn’t make parole, but God’s got me.” Pray for the saved in the prisons, for strength and joy. And pray for the ones whom God still has yet to get.

Thank you for standing with us in prayer. We saw God so some amazing things… and not just in the prison system, but also in our hearts. There is more to the trip but that will have to wait. We arrived home Saturday and are preparing to leave today for Canada for a week of ministry there. Maybe we’ll keep you posted, if time and internet permits…?

so many people came to be a part of this

may many inmates find hope in Jesus

Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Psalm 103:1

And We’re Off

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Well, I didn’t give you any warning, but we are currently on the road again. Our three-week trip started in Illinois and will conclude in Alabama…and of course, we will be going home to Minnesota.

Last weekend we were at Lombard Gospel Chapel, our sending church, to give an update on our work. Saturday night was Missionary Study Class, so Dad gave an update to the adults while the rest of us shared with the children about one aspect of our ministry, kids club on the reservation.

showing the kids a pictures

singing

Sunday we were excited to fellowship again at Lombard, seeing so many people that we haven’t seen in almost two years. At Awana it was missionary night so we had fun teaching the kids to sing “Oh How I Love Jesus” in the Cree language. We also did a little skit about a Native man whose life was transformed by Jesus, and the boys sang.

happy to see friends

our skit…”Joe” being arrested

singing “I Would”

Our friends (more like family) the Carricks are always so hospitable in opening their home to us. We also enjoyed visiting with other friends.

jamming with friends after dinner

Wednesday we went to Believer’s Bible Chapel in Rockford to give an update and sing there. It was nice to see friends again and get to know some of them a little more. Saturday we skipped over to Wisconsin to visit some friends and fellowship at a chapel there. We are currently staying with a couple from the Rockford chapel. They were planning to host us just Wednesday night, but Dad’s grandmother ended up in a nearby hospital and this morning passed away, so we are staying in the area longer than planned. We are so grateful for their graciousness and willingness…and wonderful breakfasts they have made!

our wonderful Rockford hosts

Mom has some family down here so we were able to visit with some of them this week. It was nice to see them all again and also meet some cousins from her side of the family.

Mom and family

And on Dad’s side of the family, we have a brand new cousin we have been able to see! Such a beautiful sweetie!

adorable

This week is the funeral for Dad’s grandma, so we would appreciate prayer for unsaved who will hear the gospel. Last week we had no idea this was going to happen while we were down here, but God obviously has a reason. Next week we will be in Alabama ministering with We Care prison ministry. Please keep us in your prayers. Specific requests:

that we would be prepared spiritually and musically
hearts of the inmates and guards to be softened to the gospel
Jesus Christ would be glorified and Satan would have no power during this ministry
we would pour ourselves out for Jesus
that God would do exceedingly abundantly above all we could ask or think (Eph. 4:20)

Thank you so much for your prayers!

Tahlequah

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I’m starting this post off with an apology for not doing a better job with keeping our blog up to date. Some of you may be waiting to see the last part of our trip…and while we don’t have quite as many pictures from our second weekend in Oklahoma, here’s a little taste of it.

So a quick retracing of our footsteps so far…the first weekend of our trip was in the area of Ada, Oklahoma, where we sang a couple times at Blue Baptist Church; the next week was spent in San Antonio, Texas, where Dad did some recording for The Storyteller and our van was stolen and, miraculously, found (go back and read the story if you haven’t already!); that weekend we drove back to Oklahoma, which brings us to this part of the story.

Tahlequah, Oklahoma. We arrived on Friday at our friends the French’s house, where we would be staying for the next week.

Here you are supposed to imagine pictures of our concert.

Sometimes afterward we let any children who want to come up and play the instruments. It’s fun watching some of them, many of whom have never played anything like a banjo before. (Actually, it’s also fun for the adults who can’t help themselves either.)The church was holding a revival, which Dad preached for and we sang. It was nice to meet other brothers and sisters in Christ and to see some again whom we had met last year at the camp in South Dakota.Revival…we like to think of that as something that sweeps across a church, or multiple churches, or a nation…and God can do that. But what about ourselves? Revival begins with individuals who are humble and broken before their Creator. If you are praying for revival, remember the words of Isaiah 57:15– “For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.'”

After the revival was over, we settled in a little more at the French’s house. It would be a few more days before we left because there were some testimonies for Dad to record, and he had to drive back to San Antonio to get our van!

Dad always enjoys meeting Native believers and recording their testimonies. In Tahlequah he was able to record three men who are following Jesus Christ.

Mr. Holcomb (right) and Mr. French (left), who led him to the Lord

Mr. and Mrs. French were so hospitable, making us tasty meals and providing us beds, fellowship, and many laughs! Some of our family especially enjoyed the two-wheeled vehicles…Some of us girls enjoyed being enthusiastically given rides, and Abby and the boys had too much fun on the moped.

On Monday, Dad and Daniel drove down to San Antonio to get our van back from the shop it was being fixed at. That was a long two days of driving round trip! The night they were down there Dad made use of the opportunity to do some more recording for The Storyteller.

Jonathan was lonely for his brother, but found a job to keep him occupied for a while.

scraping paint…

…and blowing it away (the fun part!)

The morning we left, Mrs. French made us homemade biscuits and gravy. And bacon. We had such a good time with them while we were there. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. French!

loading our van, in the rain

We drove to Missouri to spend the night with our good friends the Fesslers, who not only put us up but made a feast for dinner and breakfast. It was so good to see them again. (We love you!)

Upon arriving home we were greeted by something we were expecting but at a larger degree than we had imagined. A broken window. And glass. Everywhere.

dining room window

Our neighbor who was watching the house for us saw that our window had, as you can see, a hole it in. We called our friend and co-laborer Tom and he came and boarded up the window for us. In the process he saw the culprit: a dead grouse under our dining room table. Thankfully our neighbor came and took care of that for us!

Imagine if we had been home…and the boys had been sitting at the table doing their schoolwork…We are so thankful God allowed it to happen while we were gone! Glass was everywhere, and had gone farther into the house than we would have expected. It took a while to get it all cleaned up.We can so clearly see God’s hand in various ways on this trip. Thank you for all your prayers and for everyone who was a part of this story, both on the road and here at home.

Now we are wishing you a (late) Merry Christmas…because of Christ!

Who is like the LORD our God, who dwells on high, who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in the heavens and in the earth? Psalm 113:5-6