2022
Good and bad, heartache and joy…
Off the Chain / 0 Comments /Dear Supporters, Brethren and Friends,
It was 16 years ago, 2006, that I wrote my first report to the supporters of the ministry and those that were interested in this new work with men in prison. Thirteen of those that originally gave to support this fledgling work are still supporters today! Several more on that list continued to give until they moved on to hope. So many have come along beside to help since then. Several congregations have supported me directly from the start. I thank all of you that saw within me the opportunity and desire to serve God despite my lack of experience and wisdom.
I had so much optimism then, but too much faith in myself and not enough faith in our King. We baptized 33 men that first quarter. Those early months remind me of the early days of the kingdom and the spread of the gospel that we read about in the beginning chapters of Acts. This juggernaut could not be stopped! Then later in Acts we see things come back into reality. Two of the Apostles are arrested and threatened if they continue their preaching (Acts 4). Two of their number are struck dead because of their sin (Acts 5). All the Apostles are arrested and beaten because of their continued preaching (Acts 5). There is complaining and disunity because some were being neglected (Acts 6). One of their number is murdered because of his preaching (Acts 7). The whole church is persecuted because of their faith (Acts 8). One of the 12 Apostles is murdered (Acts 12). There is a major doctrinal dispute that threatens the church (Acts 15). You get the idea.
At the end of 2006 here is how I described the work…
The transition house is up and running. We closed in early December and Berkeley moved in on December 9… Two more men will be moving in at the end of January…We are now having between 10 to 15 men attend the church service in Middleburg from the two work release centers in Jacksonville and another five men who are out of prison. These numbers will continue to grow as more of the brothers we have worked with are released… As I look forward to 2007, I am excited about the growth of this work.
This first house saw about 14 men come over the next 30 months. Two of those men remain faithful today. We opened our second transition house in August of 2009. Here is a portion of my report right after we opened the second house…
The classes in the prisons are all going well. We had 14 baptisms and generally are seeing good growth in many of the men who are already Christians. The prison work generally has an ebb and flow to it and we are certainly on an ebb right now… Working with men in transition continues to be the most challenging part of this work. To illustrate this point, Missy and I had a chance to visit with the brethren in Chillicothe, Ohio recently. We spent the weekend with them and talked about the prison work and how they could get started effectively. It was nice to get away for two days and share the work with everyone there. However, while there I got a call about midnight on Saturday night from one of the men at the transition house saying one of the men left unexpectedly. Jamie relapsed on crack cocaine. He is the first brother that we have had relapse with drugs while in our program. The next few hours and the next morning before services we were busy trying to locate Jamie and get him and our vehicle back to the house.
The reality of the work was beginning to sink in. Then in my second quarter 2017 report I wrote this…
Unfortunately, we had a brother at the house die of a drug overdose. He was 42 years old. I had worked with him for eight years in prison and for eight months while he was in the transition program. We have never had something like this happen in the 12 years of working with men after release from prison… I had to call his parents the night he died and let them know, help them gather his belongings a few days later, and try to answer their “why” questions. Six weeks later the autopsy results revealed he had died from a Fentanyl overdose. It was quite a blow to me, the other men in the program and the congregation at Middleburg.
Since 2010, about 90 men have come into the transition program including the men that are there now. Some men more than one time. Some have stayed a few days and others a few years. To the best of my knowledge, about 22 of those men remain faithful today. I know of at least five of all the men who we have tried to help have left this life. Three from drug overdoses, one from drowning and one from COVID. Only one of them was faithful.
In a similar manner that Acts looks back to give an honest account of the early church, I have tried to do that here in a brief form – good and bad, heartache and joy. Despite the loses and difficulties the gospel continues to spread. Lives have been changed with the message of the gospel. My efforts in this ministry have not been anything like I imagined, but it is my constant prayer that it has been and will continue to be to the glory of God. Thank you for sharing in these efforts with me.
Daryl Townsend
