STATE PRISON MINISTRY
Two thousand years ago a man writing from a Roman prison made a truly remarkable statement. His name was Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. As he neared the end of his ministry and indeed the end of his life he summarized the meaning of living a life of service to others and service to God when he said,
“...for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.”
(Philippians 4:11)
I have been a student of the Bible for over 40 years. I must have read this statement by Paul numerous times, but It was only when a man named Ron Wilkins called it to my attention that I began to understand its full implication. When my self-esteem was at an all-time low, our song leader put the name and address of his brother, who was in prison, on the bulletin boardand asked anyone who was willing to write him. I had never considered a prison ministry to be anything that would interest me. But, I decided that since I wasn’t feeling any appreciation at that time I might as well try to help someone else. The reply came back in a matter of days. It had been a long time since anything had lifted my sprits as much as that prisoner’s letter. I saw true humility and appreciation in every line that he wrote. One statement in particular jumped out at me. “Thank you,” he said, “letters are like gold in here.” That began a correspondence that has lasted over a year.
It was not long before I received a letter asking if I could find anyone willing to become a pen pal with his cell mate. The result was my starting to correspond with a second prisoner which in turn led to a third. I soon found myself looking forward to their letters and the boost to self-esteem which came with each one. I truly began to feel that I was getting more out of our correspondence than they were.
It was about this time that Ron Wilkins published his book, Removing Emotional Pain. I sent a copy to my good friend, John Clayton. He was so impressed with the book he decided to review it in his bi-monthly publication, Does God Exist? The publication goes in a number of prisons and it was not long before request for the book began to arrive. Since I was enjoying my correspondence with prisoners so much, Ron asked if I would like to respond to their letters and send them a book. Before I knew it I was corresponding with nineteen prisoners in three states.
It was at this time that the thought occurred to me, "If a man in a Roman dungeon would find contentment was it possible to teach men and women in prison today to find the same contentment."
With Ron’s help I began developing a series of correspondence courses teaching prisoners the same material I was learning from Ron. I found them jumping for the opportunity to study and learn more. However, a problem arose as I attempted to send the material into Texas prisons. It seemed that Texas had a rule that prisoners could only receive religious study materials from “religious organizations.” When I explained that I was just an individual I was told that I would have to use a “religious sounding name.” I asked if “Wayne Leeper Ministries” would suffice and was told that it would. At that moment Wayne Leeper Ministries was born.
Today material on dealing with emotional pain and the “Every State Contentment” correspondence courses are going into prisons in four different states.
"Then the King will say to those on His right hand, "Come, you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:...I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to me...inasmuch as you did it for one of the least of these My bretheren, you did it to me." (Matthew 25:34, 36, 40)