Honoring

“For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit” (New International Version 1984, 1 Peter 3:18).

Spring is here, we just celebrated Easter and April 15th (though Tax Day looks like it has been postponed until May 17th) is fast approaching.

Whether you do your own taxes or pay someone to do it for you we all are a bit anxious to hear if we get a refund or have taxes due.

Spiritually, we all have a debt that we cannot pay.  As we hopefully heard during an Easter message, “Jesus paid it all!”

That is the reason we go into county jails to share with inmates the good news that Jesus Christ has paid the debt that none of us could pay. 

Every inmate wants prayer for an upcoming court date. We gladly pray with them about that concern. Then we are equally concerned about the date that each of us has with God, the Holy and just Judge of every person’s heart.

You really cannot tell someone else about our Advocate, Jesus Christ, unless you personally know the peace and joy of experiencing the lifting of the heavy debt from your own heart and shoulders.

Paul express it this way, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:17–19).

We will be celebrating cancelled debts and our ministry of reconciliation at our Spring Luncheon is Tuesday, May 11th from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at The Petroleum Club, 100 N. Broadway, Oklahoma City.  Individual tickets are $25.00. Tables of four can be purchased for $100.00.  For more information and tickets visit our website at ojpm.org, email ojpm@ojpm.org or call 405-917-2242.

“Jesus paid it all,

All to Him I owe;

Sin had left a crimson stain,

He washed it white as snow.”

– Elvina M. Hall

 

Unleashing the captives,

Tim Gentry

Executive Chaplain

 

“When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ he said, ‘you know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Feed my lambs.’” (New International Version 1984, John 21:15).

Why do the OJPM site chaplains and volunteer chaplains take the gospel to inmates in our county jails?

There are many answers to this question but let me share four with you here.

First, it is Jesus’ command.  There are many instances in the Bible but Acts 1:8 is one of the most direct.

Second, it transforms lives.  Men, women and youth are reconciled with God, with their families, with victims and with society.

Third, there are seeking hearts in jail.  Men, women and youth are waiting and wanting to hear about the claims of Christ and His offer of forgiveness.

Fourth, it is a stewardship of our gifts.  Many of our volunteer chaplains are retired men and women who could be taking it easy.  They have learned that God has not designed us to do nothing.

Let me introduce you to two people who know the great question of life and have answered, yes!

Keitha Hall and Tom Pace will be honored as the 2021 OJPM Sower Award and Spirit Award recipients at the Spring Luncheon on Tuesday, May 11th at The Petroleum Club, downtown Oklahoma City.

Corporal Hall has served in the OJPM Female Chaplain’s Office on the sixth floor of the Oklahoma County Jail since June of 2002.  Hall is a detention officer with the Oklahoma County Jail Trust who sees her responsibilities going beyond the normal job description to minister to the incarcerated ladies.

Pace is a mentor, author and founder and CEO of Oklahoma City based PaceButler.  Pace is a sought-after motivational speaker that is as comfortable sharing with students, inmates and civic leaders as well as fellow CEOs.  Pace’s book, Mentor: The Kid & The CEO, is especially popular with inmates.  Pace has donated thousands of copies of Mentor as well as The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren to OJPM that have been distributed throughout the 18 jails in which we minister.

Previous recipients for the Sower Award have been Jay Tompkins, Joe Williams, Argyl & Janel Dick and George Rennix.  Previous recipients for the Spirit Award have been Steve Trice, Anthony Jordan, Tom & Kay Hill and Jason Trice.

OJPM uses these awards to acknowledge servants who put their faith into action and have had a significant impact on God’s kingdom through its ministry.  The Sower Award is for a ministry volunteer who has served directly to touch the inmates and the Spirit Award is for a financial supporter that has undergirded its outreach and discipleship with the inmates.

The Spring Luncheon is Tuesday, May 11th from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at The Petroleum Club, 100 N. Broadway, Oklahoma City.  Individual tickets are $25.00. Tables of four can be purchased for $100.00.  For more information and tickets visit our website at ojpm.org, email ojpm@ojpm.org or call 405-917-2242.

Keitha and Tom challenge me to sow the gospel each day in the power of the Spirit.  Join with me at our Spring Luncheon to thank the Lord for these two precious servants!

We have such hopeful answers!

Unleashing the captives,

Tim Gentry

Executive Chaplain