Reform

By the year 2000, Judge John Phillips had long since lost count of the number of minors he had sent through the California penitentiary system for crimes committed during a violent and hopeless adolescence. He said on one occasion, “You send these young people to prison, and they learn to become harder criminals.”

In 2003, he set out to find a better way—to get kids in an environment of support where they could pass through these difficult years with a hand on their shoulder. Phillips started Rancho Cielo in the town of Salinas, ironically using an old juvenile detention center.

Rancho Cielo has a wide variety of programs, much of which is hands-on and kinetic, from the carpentry and construction program and vintage car repair, to beekeeping and equestrian care. Experts and industry professionals frequent Rancho Cielo to share their knowledge; like Tom Forgette who teaches the auto and diesel repair shop, and Laura Nicola, co-manager of the ranch restaurant, whose other job is at the James Beard Award-winning La Bicyclette.

“Upstairs,” traditional high school level classes are held for academic topics like writing and mathematics, usually to prepare students for a GED or community college admission. This is paired with additional preparatory courses like resume and cover letter writing and interview skills.

17-year-old Omar Amezola said, “In my other school, it was all reading and writing. Here the teachers are more chill, you don’t have to stay in your seat all day, you can do things that are hands-on—it’s cool.”

Each year, 220 students attend Rancho Cielo. While some don’t make it, 84.8% of first-time offenders who enroll at Rancho Cielo never re-offend, compared to the 40% recidivism rate in the county. Even with all the tutoring, diversity, and infrastructure, it costs just $25,000 to put a kid through Rancho Cielo, compared to the $110,000 it costs to house them in prison.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Grace; Judgement; Justice; Mercy – There is only endless punishment when God judges the guilty for their sins. But through his redemptive grace, he offers hope, a new life, and a new beginning to those who come to him in faith in Christ.

When people like Maria Garza are released from the Logan Correctional Center in central Illinois, the staffers there don’t usually want to see them return. But in Garza’s case, they were willing to make an exception.

During her time there, Garza was enrolled in the Northwestern Prison Education Program, earning a bachelor’s degree. But since they didn’t want her release to interfere with her education, she was allowed to return to the classroom via Zoom. In her chemistry class, she’s the only one doing the experiments from home.

According to NPEP program director Jennifer Lackey, Maria was their first student to earn early release while in the program. The Illinois Department of Corrections says that most prison education programs like NPEP are so new that the directors have yet to figure out protocols for re-entry because so few of the inmates qualify for it.

One of the few other prison education programs that address re-entry is North Park University and Theological Seminary, which offers a master’s in Christian ministry through the Stateville Correctional Center. Program director Vickie Reddy says of the four students who have made re-entry during the program.

Garza is grateful to maintain the connection with her classmate. She said, “To me, it’s kind of like a comfort. There are people who would say that once they leave [prison] they detach themselves from everything. But it’s hard to detach yourself from the people that understand what you’re going through.”

Possible Preaching Angles:

1) Loving others; Loving the Unlovely - When we do our best to care for incarcerated people, we are demonstrating God's love for the lost and broken. 2) Perseverance; Overcoming – Through perseverance it is possible to overcome failure and achieve goals.

According to a report in the Washington Post, the most influential voices in police reform aren’t necessarily politicians or even other police officers. Instead, those most likely to create behavioral changes in policing are municipal insurance agents. As in many other situations, the thing that often ends up getting people’s attention is money. That was the case in St. Ann, Missouri.

After a series of high-profile police chases that resulted in property damage and/or bystander injury, St. Ann was targeted by activists and sued by civilians for how their officers conducted traffic pursuits. But when police chief Aaron Jimenez was unwilling to change his department’s procedures, he faced an ultimatum from insurer which provided liability coverage for the city and its police department. If the department didn’t restrict its officers use of dangerous traffic pursuits, their insurance coverage was going to get canceled. And when city officials looked for other coverage options, it became clear that doing so would double their insurance costs.

Jimenez said in an interview, “I didn’t really have a choice, If I didn’t do it, the insurance rates were going to go way up. I was going to have to lose 10 officers to pay for it.”

Of course, insurance costs for any policy will rise after a series of claims against the policy. When citizens of a jurisdiction are successful in suing their police department for wrongful death, excessive use of force, or other similar claims, the money awarded to the plaintiffs is usually paid by such an insurer. So, ultimatums like this are often the only effective way to hold police agencies accountable for their misbehavior. In such agencies, it’s literally too expensive not to change.

Possible Preaching Angle:

1) Change; Discipline – When we do not respond to God’s warnings by changing our behavior, God will strongly motivate us through his discipline, which can include consequences; 2) Accountability; Finances - As members of society, we should exercise accountability with one another, especially with how we apportion our funds. Finances can speak when other avenues are closed.

For well over three decades, Patrick Vacarella has been a fixture at a local Christmas tree lot, helping local families get into the holiday spirit. He says, “It’s kind of fun to see everybody every year, and they remember you from year to year because you’ve been there for so long.”

The lot is run by the Mountain Scouts Tree Sale Association, and serves as a fundraiser for several local Boy Scout troops. Ironically, the inciting incident that launched Vacarella into his annual tradition of service was not exactly Boy Scout behavior.

Back in 1987, Vacarella was a headstrong teenager who loved to show off his 1979 Pontiac Trans Am. So he made a habit of pulling up to stop signs and burning his tires’ rubber on the asphalt, leaving a trail of smoke in his wake. As he’d done many times before, Vacarella approached the intersection on Highway 31 next to the Christmas tree lot, where there were sure to be plenty of onlookers.

However, Bo Young, who ran the lot at the time, wanted to teach Vacarella a lesson. So he’d previously called police, who were waiting just around the corner. Immediately after his big burnout, police appeared and pulled the teen over. They gave him two choices – either pay a hefty fine for a traffic ticket, or instead, volunteer at the Christmas tree lot for a few weeks. He chose the second option.

But it wasn’t long before what seemed like a punishment became a privilege. He quickly became friends with Young’s two sons Matt and Paul, and together they helped families pick out trees and tie them onto their cars. Vacarella enjoyed it so much, he agreed to do it again the following year, and then the year after.

Vacarella says, “It got to a point where it was fun. It seems like every year I was up there, I got to do something else until it evolved into me being lot manager. Sometimes, I ask myself, due to how long I’ve been in this, if I just shouldn’t have paid the ticket and went on.”

But his answer is obvious. “You see the same people every year, and they’re like, ‘Well, I knew you would be here when I came; good to see you again.’”

Possible Preaching Angle:

God often uses the repercussions of our misbehavior to invite us into newer, healthier ways of living. In God's kingdom, discipline is less punishment and more an invitation into wholeness.

Some people might say that having a face tattoo would make you look like a criminal. But in the case of Tyrone Lamont Allen, it was his tattoos that helped pave the way for his freedom. Allen had previously pleaded guilty to a string of 2018 bank robberies in the Portland area. However, his plea deals with prosecutors came under intense scrutiny once it became clear that police had altered his photo in a police lineup. In order to make his photo match the description of the suspect in the robberies, a police forensic artist used digital image editing tools to paint over several of Allen’s facial tattoos. The police artist likened it to “electronic makeup.”

The outcry over this image manipulation wasn’t enough to convince U.S. District Court judge Marco Hernandez to suppress the photo lineup as evidence. However, Allen had spent the last three years working to rehabilitate his life, working to steer youth away from the same crime and violence that previously ensnared him. Judge Hernandez was impressed by this effort, and by the advocacy coming not only from his attorney, but also from the local prosecutor, US Attorney Natalie Wight.

Wight testified, “This case has the possibility of becoming extraordinary. [Allen] can lead the community and show our community that … the criminal justice system actually recognizes you for your value.

In the end, the judge gave Allen a sentence of time served and three years of supervised release. Hernandez addressed Allen directly, "I believe in redemption. I believe in giving you an opportunity to show your changes are deep and lasting."

Allen said, “I'm here to accept responsibility for my actions. I come from a really hard background and am trying to change." Pointing to supporters in the courtroom, he continued. "People who never gave up on me when I gave up on myself. They pushed me to be a better person. And today, I know I'm a better person."

Possible Preaching Angle:

1) If we take shortcuts in the way we assess someone's guilt or innocence, we might end up dishonoring God and the community surrounding that person. 2) Repentance can lead to a new beginning and support, even from those who were formerly opposed.

When an envoy visited the White House to advocate for an inmate serving a life sentence, most of the headlines went toward fashion model and lifestyle icon Kim Kardashian West. However, accompanying her was former federal judge Kevin Sharp. Sharp carried an authoritative tone because of his years on the federal bench. But Sharp also had a specific opinion on the inmate in question because he was the one who sentenced him to prison.

Back in 2013, Christopher Young was sentenced to life in prison under a federal “three strikes” law, even though his drug charges were nonviolent. Sharp says Young should never have received such a harsh sentence, but that during the trial, his hands were tied because of the sentencing statutes.

Sharp vividly remembered that day in court, listening to Young give his formal statement:

If anyone is getting a mandatory sentence, you have to remember these are still people. You need to give them a chance to talk. It was the worst time I've ever had on the bench. I knew it was a mandatory life sentence. He knew it was a mandatory life sentence …

Sharp is notable for having left a lifetime judicial position to advocate for change:

Our criminal justice system is a mess. It's still the best there is, but there is so much we could do to make it better. And one of those things has got to be get rid of mandatory minimums. Let the judges do what you ask them to do. I got to the point where I'm thinking: “Is my role in society better on the bench or off the bench? Am I better off the bench working and advocating for a more fair criminal justice system?"

Possible Preaching Angle:

Those in authority have a responsibility to wield that authority justly. If we find we can make a difference for those without influence, we are obligated to do so. This will result in the honor and glory of Christ.

The Indigenous Arts In Prisons & Community program, also known as The Torch, has become an incredible boon for inmates in Victoria, Australia. It allows inmates to sell their artwork to the public, helping them manage the stress of their incarceration as well as assisting in their post-prison rehabilitation. The proceeds from the art sales are placed into a trust, which then reimburses the artists upon their release from prison. Last year alone, The Torch provided $280,000 for prisoners and ex-prisoners.

Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass founded The Torch in 2015 during her research into prisoner rehabilitation, when it was only a program that allowed inmates to express themselves through art. She saw the success of the program but was bothered by the fact that the prisoners weren't allowed to make money from their work, so she set out to change that.

According to Glass, The Torch is not only a great place to purchase art (she's got several pieces in her newest office space) and help inmates change their lives for the better, but it's also a great investment.

"When you think about what it costs society when somebody comes out of prison without support, commits crime, and goes back in again—[it's] over a billion dollars a year," Glass said. "If we can invest some portion of that into the sort of programs that prevent reoffending how much better off are we?"

Potential Preaching Angles: Hardship can often sensitize us toward God's beauty and wonder. God's blueprint for justice includes restoration. Godly correction is not condemnation, but an opportunity for repentance.

In the early 1980s the city of Philadelphia had a huge problem with graffiti. The mayor established the Anti-Graffiti Network, committed to combatting the vandalism, which morphed into the Mural Arts Program, led by the artist Jane Golden. Golden said, "I spent the first five years of my life in Philly being told that graffiti is never going away and the kids you're working with are going to end up in jail." But she didn't give up. When police caught kids painting graffiti, program officials first asked them to sign an amnesty statement, pledging to refrain from graffiti writing, then assigned them scrub time, cleaning spray paint from walls.

Then without warning one Friday night, about a dozen guys showed up at Golden's door. As they introduced themselves, she recognized most from their graffiti tag names, like "Rock" and "Cat." Golden invited them inside. "They came in and went right for my art books, pulling out all the books on abstract expressionism," she said.

Many of them had dropped out before high school, but they had learned about art from books they had checked out or stolen from the library. Most had brought Golden their sketch books, so she could see the type of work they were doing. "They'd learned about drawing from comic books; they had an intuitive sense of color and design," Golden said. After talking with the young artists about their work, Golden explained the anti-graffiti program, and before they left her house, all had agreed to sign the pledge and commit themselves to scrub time.

Golden connected with the young graffiti writers not as "criminals," but as artists. She offered them a lifeline, a way they could be paid money to paint murals legally. The organization is now the largest public art program in the U.S, with a collection of over 4,000 murals.

Editor’s Note: The program is still going strong in 2024, you can read the latest here

Few people have written about the real-life 19th-century missionary John Mackenzie. When white settlers in South Africa threatened to take over the natives' land, Mackenzie helped his friend and political ally Khama III travel to Britain. There, Mackenzie and his colleagues held petition drives, and even arranged a meeting with Queen Victoria. Ultimately their efforts convinced Britain to enact a land protection agreement. Without it, the nation of Botswana would likely not exist today.

And no one has told the story of Alice Seeley Harris and her husband John. They were Baptists who were among the first people to use photography to promote human rights. In the early 1900s, colonialists used forced labor to extract rubber from the Congo's jungles—and villagers who resisted were castrated, burned, or had limbs cut off. The Harrises traveled throughout the United States and Britain disseminating photos and giving lectures detailing the abuses.

You probably haven't heard the story of Ida Sophia Scudder who addressed the plight of Indian women and the fight against bubonic plague, cholera, and leprosy. Or the story of Timothy Richard, a Welsh Baptist in China, who helped lead one of the first major humanitarian relief efforts in modern history, campaigning against the cruel practice of foot binding. The annals of Western Protestant missions include many more John Mackenzies, Alice Seeley Harrises, and Ida Sophia Scudders.

History seems to confirm at least a few key details from the life of Nicholas of Myra, the real early church leader we know today as Santa Claus. One of the most gripping stories occurred between 330 and 332 AD. Nicholas, now 70 years old, was serving as the Bishop of Myra (or modern day Turkey). One day Nicholas received an urgent report that Eustathius, the governor of the region, was about to execute three innocent men.

Nicholas set off at a brisk pace for the Praetorium, or palace, to speak with Eustathius. Nicholas suspected foul play as Eustathius was known to be corrupt and easily bribed. While en route, Nicholas was stopped and informed that the convicts had already been moved to "the place of the beheading" known as Byrra. The concerned bishop wheeled around and took off at dead run in the opposite direction.

He burst into the plaza of Byrra to find the condemned men on their knees, hands tied behind their backs, and faces covered with linen cloths. The men had given themselves up for dead. Nicholas forced his way through the crowd of wide-eyed gawkers, yanked the sword from the executioner, and threw it to the ground. Dramatically, he untied the prisoners' hands and set them free. Then he marched off to find the governor, Eustathius, in order to chastise him for his miscarriage of justice—condemning innocent citizens without a proper trial. (At the time, as a local bishop of the church, Nicholas had the constitutional right to intervene in legal matters like this.)

Back at the Praetorium, Nicholas "broke down the door." He burst inside, and a sentinel hurried off to inform the governor of his arrival. Eustathius, trying to maintain his composure, greeted Nicholas with deference and compliments. Bishop Nicholas was not amused; he stopped the governor in mid-sentence and accused him of being a "thief" and an "enemy of God," calling him "sacrilegious and bloodthirsty and unjust." According to one historical account, Nicholas told Eustathius:

And you even dare to come before me, you who do not fear God! You who had the cruel intention to kill innocent people! Since you committed this kind of wickedness I cannot have any respect for you. God is reserving for the unjust a tortured life …. He knows how your government works and how this province allows looting and killing men against the law and without trial for deadly greed and gain.

Eustathius wilted under the assault. He fell to his knees and begged for forgiveness. After Eustathius admitted his guilt, in the end, Nicholas prayed a long prayer and pardoned the guilty governor.

Sarah Ferguson is an English ex-royal. Commonly called "Fergie" and well known to readers of tabloids, the red-haired former Duchess of York was married to Prince Andrew, the second son of Queen Elizabeth, from 1986 till their divorce in 1996.

Sarah found her place in the tabloids through missteps and scandals. Her Wikipedia biography says,

By 1991, the marriage was in trouble, and the couple had drifted apart. While her husband was away on naval or royal duties, the Duchess was frequently seen in the company of other men …. Prince Andrew and the Duchess of York finally announced their separation in 1992 ….

The Duchess endured widespread public ridicule contributing to her further estrangement from the British Royal Family. After four years of official separation, the Duke and Duchess announced the mutual decision to divorce in 1996.

A 2011 article about Sarah in The Week reported on her more recent troubles. She was caught trying to sell access to her former husband for $40,000. She nearly went bankrupt. And she received a painful royal snub: she was not among the 1,900 people invited to the 2011 royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Sarah did watch the wedding, however, and she says,

With Catherine going up the aisle, you know what went through my head? I feel like I've handed her the baton and said, "Well done. And you'll do it right." I didn't do it right, and now I am going to go get Sarah right."

In that pursuit, we can all identify with Sarah Ferguson. Sooner or later, we come to the point where we realize we've botched things up royally, and we need to fix not just a situation—we need to fix ourselves. And that raises one of the most important questions you'll ever try to answer: What do you do when you decide you're going to go get yourself right? How do you go about that? The world and our own sense of morality tells us one thing; the gospel tells us quite another.

In a moving tribute to Fred Rogers, Jonathon Merritt recounts how Rogers chose to reform society through his gentle and persistent influence on a children's television show.

In 1965, a thin, soft-spoken man sauntered into Pittsburgh's WQED, the nation's first public television station, to pitch a show targeting young children. The concept was simple enough: convey life lessons to young children with the help of puppets, songs and frank conversations. It doesn't sound like much. That is, until you realize that the man was Fred Rogers, and the program was Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

But Rogers was more than a great neighbor or good host; he was a restorer. According to Gabe Lyons in The Next Christians, a "restorer" is someone who views the world as it "ought to be." Faced with the world's brokenness, restorers are "provoked, not offended." They work to make the world a better place by "creating, not criticizing" and by "being countercultural, not relevant." Using this definition, Rogers may be one of the greatest American restorers of the 20th century.

Rogers got into television because he "hated" the medium. During spring break of his senior year in seminary, he encountered television for the first time and what he witnessed repulsed him. "I got into television," he recounted, "because I saw people throwing pies at each other's faces, and that to me was such demeaning behavior. And if there's anything that bothers me, it's one person demeaning another. That really makes me mad!"

In the wake of WWII …., [Fred Rogers] worried that the type of programming that was becoming normative would create a generation of emotionally-bankrupt Americans. Faced with the decision to either sour on television itself or work to restore the medium, he chose the latter. He dropped out of seminary and began pursuing a career in broadcasting. Fourteen years later, he would create one of the most beloved American television shows of all time, and one that would shape entire generations of children.

Rogers was a devout Christian that almost never explicitly talked about his faith on the air, but the way his show infused society with beauty and grace was near-biblical …. "You've made this day a special day by just your being you," he'd famously sign off. "There is no person in the whole world like you, and I like you just the way you are."

In many ways, the lasting legacy of Fred Rogers will not be the greater emotional stability of generations of children or even a reinvigoration of imagination. It will be his example of how to restore the world through impassioned creativity and craftsmanship. For nearly four decades, Rogers entered our homes and entered our hearts. And each day without fail, he left our collective neighborhoods better and made our days a little bit more beautiful.

As followers of Christ, we can freely admit there have been many bad things done in the name of Christ. But for the sake of fairness and honesty, we should also list the following positive achievements done in the name of Christ:

• Eradicating slavery: As the Christian faith spread after the fall of Rome, the practice of slavery dwindled. Centuries later, when slavery reemerged, Christian advocates (like the Mennonites, the Quakers, and individuals like William Wilberforce) strongly opposed it.
• Opposing infanticide and infant exposure: Abandoning infants was a common Greco-Roman practice until Christians led reforms to outlaw it in the fourth century.
• Eliminating gladiatorial games: This brutal sport, which used the death of slaves to entertain the masses, was condemned by Christian activists.
• Building hospitals and hospices: Unlike most Greeks and Romans, the early Christians organized resources to care for the sick and dying.
• Elevating women's status/rights: Although women have been mistreated in nearly every culture, Jesus treated women with profound respect. Early Christians routinely protected women and children from neglect and abuse.
• Promoting higher education: Europe's and North America's great universities (The Sorbonne, Oxford, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton) were founded on Christian principles and trained pastors and missionaries.
• Producing great works of literature and philosophy: some of the most profound and beautiful written works have been authored by followers of Christ—Augustine, Dante, John Milton, J.R.R. Tolkien, Thomas Aquinas, Blaise Pascal, and Soren Kierkegaard, to name a few.
• Creating beautiful works of art, sculpture, and architecture.
• Establishing modern science: Modern science is rooted in a biblical worldview that assumes an orderly and predictable universe. Many early scientists were also devout believers—Newton, Galileo, Copernicus, Kepler, Boyle, and many others.
• Composing brilliant music: Think of Bach, Handel, Mendelssohn, and Hayden.
• Advocating human rights and concern for the poor: these themes are deeply woven into the biblical idea that each person, made in the image of God, has inherent dignity and worth.
• Creating a worldwide, multi-ethnic community: most of the achievements listed above flowed from the Western world. But throughout history, lives and cultures around the globe have been transformed by the power of Christ. Today the Christian faith has grown into a beautiful mosaic of cultures, especially in the global south.

In a sermon entitled The Beauty of Biblical Justice, pastor Timothy Keller defines the biblical concept of shalom as universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight. Keller states, "God created the world to be a fabric, for everything to be woven together and interdependent."

Keller illustrates his point with the following picture of biblical shalom: "If I threw a thousand threads onto the table, they wouldn't be a fabric. They'd just be threads lying on top of each other. Threads become a fabric when each one has been woven over, under, around, and through every other one. The more interdependent they are, the more beautiful they are. The more interwoven they are, the stronger and warmer they are. God made the world with billions of entities, but he didn't make them to be an aggregation. Rather, he made them to be in a beautiful, harmonious, knitted, webbed, interdependent relationship with one another."

Then he offers a concrete example for the need to practice the Bible's call to shalom. In large cities around the world, children are growing up as functional illiterates—largely due to school and family situations. By the time they become teenagers, they can't read or write. According to Keller, at that point, they're often locked into poverty for the rest of their lives. Some people pin this problem on unjust social structures; others blame the breakdown of the family. But nobody says it's the kids' fault.

So Keller concludes, "Nobody says that 7-year-olds need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. And yet, a child born into my family has a 300 to 400 times greater chance for economic or social flourishing than the kids in those neighborhoods. That's just one example of the way in which the fabric of the world—the shalom of this world—has been broken … . It's not enough to do individual charity; you have to address [larger social issues]."

The film Amazing Grace chronicles William Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffedd) as he endeavors to end the British transatlantic slave trade in the nineteenth century.

Wilberforce has made an earlier visit to his old pastor and friend John Newton (Albert Finney). Newton himself was a former captain of a slave ship prior to his conversion to Christ and Wilberforce was hopeful that Newton would give an account of his slave-ship days. Newton, however, refused to do so, because the experience and the "20,000 ghosts" haunted him too greatly.

Now, near success in ending the slave trade, Wilberforce visits Newton and discovers that he has recorded his account. His eyesight now gone, Newton says to Wilberforce, "You must use it. Names, records, ship records, ports, people—everything I remember is in here. Although my memory is fading, I remember two things very clearly: I'm a great sinner, and Christ is a great Savior."

Rated: PG

Elapsed time: Chapter 19; this scene begins at 1:27:50, and ends at 1:28:20.

The film Amazing Grace chronicles the efforts of William Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffedd) to end the British Transatlantic slave trade in the 19th century. In this scene, Wilberforce attempts to awaken the consciousness of the public to the horrible practice of the slave trade by arranging for a ship carrying members of Parliament and their wives to stop alongside a slave ship.

As Wilberforce appears, one man asks, "What's he doing up there?"

"Ladies and gentlemen," Wilberforce greets them, "this is a slave ship—the Madagascar. It has just returned from the Indies, were it delivered 200 men, women, and children to Jamaica. When it left Africa, there were 600 on board. The rest died of disease and despair."

By now, some people are raising handkerchiefs to their noses to block the stench.

Wilberforce continues, "That smell is the smell of death—slow painful death." A few people begin to cry. "Breathe it in; breathe it deeply. Take those handkerchiefs away from your noses. There now, remember that smell. Remember the Madagascar. Remember that God made man equal."

Rated - PG

Elapsed time: Chapter 12; this scene begins at 00:55:42 and ends at 00:56:52