By SHERRY DIGMON
News Publisher
We Care Spring Tour ended Saturday night, March 30, with the Prison Ministry Banquet held at Grace Fellowship in Atmore. (The event had been rescheduled from March 15 due to inclement weather.)
We Care President Don Metzler said the team on this year’s tour traveled 17 nights and visited eight states.
Giving an overview of We Care, Metzler said the ministry has 26 full-and part-time chaplains (mostly in Alabama) and three thrift stores with 26 employees. A new thrift store on Highway 21, Atmore, is under construction.
We Care Chaplaincy Director David S. Landis introduced the speaker Oman Redmon. However, Redmon didn’t give the traditional speech, rather he and Landis held a conversation on stage, and everyone was allowed to listen in.
“One of the greatest rewards [of working with We Care] is seeing men and women get out of prison and do well,” Landis said. “I’ve been watching this man for about a year and a half.”
When Landis asked Redmon, who would have thought they’d be there at the banquet and having this conversation, Redmon responded, “I wouldn’t have thought it, but God knew.”
David had a conversation with Omar Redmon (not a speech)
Raised by his grandmother, Redmon grew up without a father figure.
“I idolized dudes on the streets,” he said. “The street guys became my role models.”
Beer was his gateway, always leading to a stronger substance until he was addicted to crack cocaine. That landed him in prison. But, he said, prison saved his life. During his time in prison, he was clean. And prison is where he met the Lord.
“Prison is where God touched my heart in a jail cell,” he said. “I told God, ‘If you deliver me, I’ll serve you.’ And I do.”
Redmon’s grandmother was a godly woman. They went to church, so Redmon had an earlier foundation. He said the Bible says raise up a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it.
“The Scripture says he will not depart,” Redmon said. “It doesn’t say he won’t stray.”
Landis asked Redmon what he would tell men in prison.
“I would tell them God is faithful,” he said.
And what would he say to the people attending the We Care banquet that evening?
“I would tell then there are a lot of people in prison who have been forgotten about,” Redmon said.
The program continued with prison stories and testimonies by Chaplain Daniel Earley, Gulf Breeze, Fla. and Assistant Chaplain Eddie Miller Jr., Mobile.
We Care Vice President Kevin Kennell said people sometimes ask him what keeps him going into prisons. His answer was simple – “I still believe in redemption.”
Sponsors for the evening were Gather Restaurant; Mattress Depot; Perdido River Meats; PHD Realty; Calvin and Mary Jane Schrock; Servant Construction; Southern Computer; Triptek Construction LLC; Abram Roofing; Baldwin Gulf Coast Pest Control; Ellis and Mary Beachy; David’s Catfish House; Davis, Bell, & Amerson LLC; Edward Jones (Keith Castleberry); Iglesia El Buen Pastor; Johnson Ford; Keystone Masonry; Landis Design Co.; Jonah and Kelly McIntyre; Miller Cabinets; Gaylan and Angie Shelly; Suds-n-Duds Laundry; Warehouse Market & Bakery; Waves Car Wash; The Yellow Garden; Brent and Janice Yoder; and friends.
About We Care
The We Care Program vision is “To see the redemptive power of Christ become evident in the lives of inmates as they grow and make disciples in prison and beyond.””
The mission is “To fulfill the Great Commission of Christ through chaplaincy in the correctional setting.”