Monroe WSR Concert July 11th

 

I could not have had a more beautiful day to drive to Monroe if I'd placed an order for it.  Blue skies and no traffic.  The road to WSR is on the right and before I drove up the road I had to stop and take a few pictures.

I'm not sure but according to the sign it appears the Washington State Reformatory (WSR) was built in 1910.

From out side the Visitors building I would take a guess that it was built in 1910.  To me it's a beautiful building.  The Visitors building, the one on the right is where we go to check in before entering the main area to the right of the picture.

Once inside no pictures are allowed.  It took about 15 minutes to pass through all the gates, about 5 of them, to reach the Chapel.  Steve Clines, the Prisoners For Christ Team Leader, arrived with 3 other men about 20 minutes after I'd gotten there and the last one showed up about 10 minutes before we went through the security check desk.  This was the largest Prisoners for Christ team I'd entered with and it was a good thing too.  When we entered the Chapel I was surprised to see 65 inmates getting ready for that evening. Interesting thing I noticed this trip. Every institution I've gone to has the same smell.  We always seem to go through areas where inmates are meeting with their loved ones on the outside, and the always ever present smell is popcorn.

As I got my mic and guitar equipment set up the PFC volunteers, along with some inmates, were prayer over an inmate who is to be released within the next week.  As I set everything up I was praying too.  Praying that he would have support on the outside and have the strength to decide not to go down the same road that brought him to WSR.

There has never been a time when I've left an institution less blessed than when I went in to minister in song.  The inmates always seem to take the moment I'm there and fill it up with as much richness and blessing as they can.  The Holy Spirit filled the Chapel Sunday and once again I felt blessed to be there.  I ministered in song for about 50 minutes and every song I picked for the evening seemed to be the right songs everyone needed to hear.

After my music two inmates got up and gave their testimony with both of them making reference to my newest song, "I'm Not Dead Yet".  They spoke of how, even though they are in prison, they're not Dead yet and have more to do in their lives.  That, for now, proclaiming the Gospel to other inmates is their mission and WSR is their mission field.  I often sing not knowing if what I sing is touching the hearts of those listening but Sunday I was blessed to hear from those who approached me afterward that my music spoke to their hearts.

I often sing at venues where I have someone come up afterward and I recognize them from another venue I sang at.  This time I had an inmate, James, who came up and I recognized him from a different unit I had ministered to earlier this year.  He shared with me that his mother recently accepted Christ and that his brother voluntarily is going through drug treatment.  He shared with me that something he did caused him to land in WSR from a different unit and that it pushed out his parole by a year.  But he shared that because he found the strength, through Christ, to be open and honest about what he did the consequences were less than minimal.  Again I was amazed by his attitude.  So many of us on the outside complain about the most trivial things in our life and how hard things are.  We rarely stop to admit that the way things are in our lives may be because it's our fault. 

Here's a picture as you drive down the road to leave WSR.  I rarely see the building like this because most of the times I've ministered there it's been dark when I leave.