Christians Disguised As Prisoners

Prisons are an institutional altar God has placed in communities all around us. In this book, the author is giving an invitation for the outside churches to minister in such a way that Jesus can say: I was in prison and you came to me. Prisons are mission fields in which God has brought the world to our back yards. Any given prison in America houses inmates from all nations around the world. This book is also a call to the Church to answer Jesus Christ's Great Commission: to go into all the world and make disciples. After thirty years as a prison chaplain and assistant program director, the author has a keen insight into this rewarding ministry. He draws that knowledge from personal experiences, writing policies, and training staff and volunteers. He has ministered with and to the inmates on every level of the system, including Death Row. This book is essential for serious readers who are seeking to improve relationships with wardens, correctional officers, chaplains and inmates, their family, and the victims. Leonard M. Payne, Jr. was just a country preacher with a PhD (Praying Hard Daily) when he applied for the chaplain position at the West Virginia State Penitentiary, Moundsville, WV. He was the only staff member allowed to go with Governor Arch Moore to the negotiations during the 1986 riots at the West Virginia State Penitentiary. He has authored two books: Un-redeemer Son and Daughters and My People Yesterday, Today and Forever, a history of the Glorious Churches of God in Christ, in which he presently serves as National Director of Chaplaincy. He holds a Doctoral degree from the United Theological Seminary, a Master of Divinity and a Master of Arts from the Methodist Theological School in Delaware, Ohio. Leonard lives in St. Clairsville, Ohio with his wife, Charlotte

Prisons are an institutional altar God has placed in communities all around us. In this book, the author is giving an invitation for the outside churches to minister in such a way that Jesus can say: I was in prison and you came to me. Prisons are mission fields in which God has brought the world to our back yards. Any given prison in America houses inmates from all nations around the world. This book is also a call to the Church to answer Jesus Christ's Great Commission: to go into all the world and make disciples. After thirty years as a prison chaplain and assistant program director, the author has a keen insight into this rewarding ministry. He draws that knowledge from personal experiences, writing policies, and training staff and volunteers. He has ministered with and to the inmates on every level of the system, including Death Row. This book is essential for serious readers who are seeking to improve relationships with wardens, correctional officers, chaplains and inmates, their family, and the victims. Leonard M. Payne, Jr. was just a country preacher with a PhD (Praying Hard Daily) when he applied for the chaplain position at the West Virginia State Penitentiary, Moundsville, WV. He was the only staff member allowed to go with Governor Arch Moore to the negotiations during the 1986 riots at the West Virginia State Penitentiary. He has authored two books: Un-redeemer Son and Daughters and My People Yesterday, Today and Forever, a history of the Glorious Churches of God in Christ, in which he presently serves as National Director of Chaplaincy. He holds a Doctoral degree from the United Theological Seminary, a Master of Divinity and a Master of Arts from the Methodist Theological School in Delaware, Ohio. Leonard lives in St. Clairsville, Ohio with his wife, Charlotte

Dr. Covert uses his experiences as both police officer and state prison chaplain to examine the environment of the incarcerated—people who are often forgotten by society. He emphasizes particular areas of inmate stress and how they impact upon the inmate's spiritual formation and the role of the Church in offering encouragement, healing, and transformation. He calls for staff education, environmental improvement, and a pastoral presence that facilitates rehabilitation and hope, rather than discouragement and punishment. (197pp. Masthof Press, 2022.)

Unknowingly to me, the writing of this book commenced decades ago while traveling my thirty-five state territories as a tractor trailer driver. Listening to volumes of the Bible on cassette tapes, I often felt compelled to pull over and write on various issues as they occurred to me. Across the years, I improved, but not until I became a serious reader did I develop my present style through the influence of various prolific authors: GK Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, John MacArthur, and others. This book is a collection of theological essays, poetry, and short stories, some of which are true stories of my road trips and life experiences. In a backsliding state, however, some old bad habits revisited, landing me in prison. As I entered my first jail cell, it was vacant except for a beautiful leather-bound NKJ version of the Bible and a copy of a Strong's Concise Concordance of the Bible still sealed in cellophane wrap. That, my friends, I needn't say but I will anyway is an unheard of incident in 10 million vacant jail cells. So now I had just what I would need to polish my previous work, the time, pardon the pun, and the equipment. For my familiarity with the Bible was exhaustive, but only on tape so the concordance was what I would need to find my way around. This was to me a sign from God clearer than words. In addition to reading and writing, I lead Bible study in county jail, and eventually in state prison I shared my work from the pulpit at our chapel. It was then that I felt lead to compose this book; however, it was the Holy Spirit's help and energy who made it happen. I pray that it produces the ends to which it is sent multiplying the faithful among men in Christ Jesus. Remember to pray for the men and women who have lost their way.

"This is an important collection and starting point for the worthy goal of promoting a better understanding of the past that makes it less able to be manipulated for contemporary political and religious aims...Compiled out of the European past, its aim of a better understanding of traditional values ought to be useful for contemporary cultures and for the work of scholars of all cultures and continents." - Renaissance Quarterly In the last decade or so, many books have been devoted to the history of Europe.Two conceptual axes predominate in a large number of these accounts: a discourse focusing on Europe's values, and another discourse, fashioned largely in opposition to the first, which emphasizes the process of European "construction." The first conceives of Europe's past teleologically, as a process by which certain values (Christian ethics, individualism, capitalism, tolerance, republicanism, due process, etc.) were affirmed and came to define European culture. The second approach rejects the discourse on values emphasizes the post-Enlightenment emergence of the concept of Europe, and the political and ideological implications in its continuous redefinitions (and re elaborations) during the past two or more centuries. This volume offers new approaches that integrate the long temporal dimension of the values-based approach, albeit devoid of its teleological element, with the "constructivist" interpretation.

Dr.Henry G.Covert uses his experiences as both a police officer and state prison chaplain to examine the environment of the incarcerated - people who are often forgotten by society. He emphasizes particular areas of inmate stress and how they impact upon the inmate's spiritual formation and the role of the Church in offering encouragement, healing and transformation. He calls for staff education, environmental improvements, and a pastoral presence that facilitates rehabilitation and hope, rather than discouragement and punishment. According to Dr.Covert, many inmates truly desire to change. The presence of the Church can be their strongest form of encouragement and support. He provides examples of biblical themes that can promote healing and regeneration among prisoners, drawing specifically on the teachings of Jesus.