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VISION
REPORT 2002
Steve & Jan Lowe
Dear Friend of Troubled Youth,
I turned 55 last December and began my 33rd year with the incarcerated
this January. Needless to say, I am very mindful of the importance of
the significance of this sweet season of my life. As you can see, I
would like this communication to be personal. It is my desire to share
with you what the Lord is impressing on me regarding His plan for me to
finish well that which began so long ago. Personal sharing does not make
for easy communication. I will do my best to encourage you because of
the grace of a Heavenly Father who delights in the service of His son by
adoption. I am that son. This communication will be the longest one you
have ever received from me, but I trust you will be excited as you
journey with me from the past, to present, and into the future.
Life and ministry is built one brick at a time. There is no substitute
for the "daily-ness" of growing, learning, failing, getting
back up again, succeeding, handling success graciously, and finally
rejoicing in the labor produced by our good friend, Mr. Daily Grind. My
years of higher education (majoring in criminology, sociology,
psychology, theology, and intercultural studies) have yielded a
wonderful academic foundation for the service I am called to perform. My
years in the institutions of San Bernardino County (Juvenile Hall,
Verdemont Boys Ranch, and Youth Justice Center), Riverside County
(Banning Jail), and Orange County (an entire complex of seven
facilities) have provided a wealth of invaluable experience. God has for
decades been intentionally equipping me for the task of correctional
ministry, especially with troubled youth. God has also been
intentionally preparing me for the work to come. It is wonderful to be
alive and in correctional ministry, right now, and right here. I simply
would not trade places with any other gospel worker at any other time in
history!
I am also excited about the future. Perspective, as well as breadth of
vision and burden, changes over time. In 1970 I was concerned for my 20
adolescent boys in juvenile hall unit 3. In the early 70s as a probation
therapist and later as a chaplain, it was the 60 boys at Verdemont. Then
it was a group of men behind the walls of a minimum-security jail. Now
and for the last 21 years, it has been the 1000 youth incarcerated each
year in Orange County. In 1985 when I founded Pacific Youth Correctional
Ministries, it was over a concern for youth housed in the juvenile
facilities of 58 California counties. My thinking was simple: if we
could reach those youth at the county level in California we could
impact almost 1/3 of all youth incarcerated in America. Hence the word
"Pacific" in Pacific Youth. But the burden has grown. Time has
lifted up my eyes and I now see more. I now care more. I am now being
asked to do more.
There are approximately 1100 public juvenile facilities in America.
Close to a million youth will be remanded inside their walls during the
course of this year. Most facilities at the county level have no
assigned chaplain. Some do not have any ministry at all. The body of
Christ largely neglects incarcerated youth, a reality I cannot live
with. I carry that burden daily and stand ready to do my part in
providing remedy. But what can one man or even one ministry do? The task
is too large and complex for my team and me. Prayerfully seeking God's
wisdom in the past year, I believe I have heard from Him regarding His
direction for reaching more youth with the claims of Christ. The PYCM
board of directors has joined me in prayerful confirmation of this
course of action and is enthusiastically committed to leading PYCM into
increased fruitfulness.
But before I plot a direction for the future, let me share what we are
currently doing to impact and lay groundwork for correctional ministry:
* In the last 21 years we have produced a model ministry in Orange
County. Chaplains and potential correctional ministers are coming to us
to see and gain from our years of mistakes and successes. We are
streamlining this site-learning process to maximize the effectiveness of
helping others learn. The Protestant Chaplaincy Ministry of the Orange
County Juvenile Justice Complex is becoming a foundational training
center for the nation.
* We are putting 21 years of hard work on CD-ROM to distribute to
others. Policies, procedures, reviewed tract and material lists,
discipleship curriculum, volunteer training packets, needed volunteer
and staff forms, implementation strategy and evaluation processes, etc.,
is being compiled. Why? So hundreds of correctional ministers we will
probably never meet will not have to spend thousands of hours recreating
what already exists.
* We are reproducing ourselves in new staff persons who plant additional
correctional ministries worldwide. Former California staff are now in
England and Texas training new volunteers and staff for sites in
desperate need of care. Former Southern California staff are now in
Central and Northern California impacting juvenile facilities, jails,
and prisons.
* Christian colleges, universities, and seminaries are referring
students to PYCM for Christian service, independent studies, chaplaincy
internships, and intercultural ministry opportunities. We are impacting
a generation of young students, as they become sensitive to the needs of
the incarcerated.
* In the past year I have been asked to write two journal articles to be
published in an encyclopedia of juvenile justice and an urban ministry
handbook. These publications will have a broad distribution and will
increase awareness for the needs of the incarcerated.
In my next season of life (and the next growth phase of PYCM) this is
how I see God positioning the ministry:
* I have begun, with the direct help of my sister Jacque, to write a
book on correctional ministry. We have been compiling years of notes
from my part-time teaching days at Biola University and other training,
and I have been writing as time permits. Jan is working beside me to
assist with professional editing and PYCM staff member Sheri Snyder is
helping with formatting. There are no current textbooks on correctional
ministry to help train today's chaplains and volunteers. This book will
be the culmination of a lifetime of correctional ministry and will
hopefully become a contribution to the cause of Christ.
* Several staff and I have been invited to lecture at Christian and
secular colleges and seminaries on urban ministry, Christianity and
culture, and correctional counseling. Christian colleges and seminaries
are focusing on urban and correctional ministry in growing numbers.
There are increasing opportunities to teach and impact curriculum
development. Youth ministers are asking for help in dealing with the
marginal youth in their community and youth in their churches who find
themselves arrested and detained. If every Christian church in America
developed a youth ministry strategy that included reaching out to
marginal youth, youth crime could be greatly impacted. PYCM is eager to
assist in this strategy.
* Many churches have become burdened for the M-I-A's of society: the
marginalized, incarcerated, and alienated. This requires a new approach
to the concept of home missions. I have been assisting PYCM staff member
Steve Matten in his curriculum development of a home missions strategy
called "The Samaritan Mission." This curriculum aids churches
in a theology of home missions and gives practical guidelines for
calling and equipping church members in correctional ministry. There is
a genuine need for the "Samaritan Mission" to be presented
nationally as opportunities present themselves. If every Christian
church in America had a correctional ministry that included juvenile
ministry, the gospel would change thousands of lives in crisis.
* Discipleship curriculum specifically designed for use with adolescents
with learning and emotional limitations is a front burner issue with
PYCM. Because incarcerated youth read and comprehend at a third or
fourth grade literacy level, materials must be developed to address this
need that are graphically appropriate as well as age specific. I began
creating curriculum in 1977, and PYCM is continuing to pioneer solid
evangelical discipleship materials for our unique population. Several
PYCM staff members including Rick Johnson are contributing to the
project headed by key developer Sheri Snyder. We want to make this
curriculum available and put into the hands of incarcerated youth in all
1100 juvenile facilities nationwide. Chaplains are in desperate need of
effective discipleship materials for use in daily ministry.
* Mentoring has become a chosen gateway for Christians to aid youthful
offenders into increased maturity. I supervised an initial mentoring
project with Prison Fellowship and Youth for Christ in the late 1980s.
In the mid 90s I created a pilot mentoring project for San Bernardino
County Probation. My thesis for my master's degree in Criminal Justice
was an implementation evaluation of this program. PYCM is constantly
asked to provide guidance for newly created mentor programs. Our ongoing
MatchPoint(r) mentoring project and Parole Youth Fellowship continuity
of care program have become models for others seeking to provide
aftercare for released youth and adults.
To effect God's current calling for PYCM the following transition plans
have been initiated:
* As recommended by PYCM's board, two executive committees have been
created: one for the leadership of PYCM, and the other for the
Protestant Chaplaincy Ministry. I am asking for key staff support in the
operations of an international ministry and a local juvenile ministry. I
must be freed from a myriad of daily operational demands; demands
created from two ministries requiring me to simultaneously wear two
hats. The intensity of working 60 hours a week for two decades must
lessen. Helping to assist me in this crucial goal, vice
president-operations, Leona Ross, is establishing, codifying, and
overseeing all corporate legal and ministry staff processes.
* I am using my reconfigured time-savings to become more adequately
academically trained. Prayerfully deciding to finish my
seminary/Christian education begun in 1978, I am taking one class a
semester at Biola University working toward a master's degree in
Intercultural Studies. I have six classes to go. Biola administration
has graciously agreed to allow me to tailor all class assignments with
the incarcerated as my target missions population. Every assignment and
term paper will become a potential contribution to my correctional
ministry book and training curriculum for the body of Christ.
I began this communication talking about vision for the future. The goal
is to finish well with the time and energy I have left. I know the
biblical principle that teaches that "man plans, and God directs
his steps," and that we must preface all our plans with "...if
the Lord wills." But I also know the biblical principle that God is
pleased when we give Him our life and then move forward abounding in
faith and good works. I am not afraid of hard work. I am, however,
afraid of running out of time.
My future (and the future of PYCM) is integrally tied to others joining
me in this work. Without your prayers I will not succeed. Without your
encouragement I will be prone to faint with battle fatigue in the middle
of hardship and labor. Without your financial giving I could not
continue to pursue God's given mandate for PYCM. I am a homeland
missionary completely dependent on the Lord touching the hearts of His
children to stand with Steve and Jan Lowe in this rather unpopular
ministry with the unlovely of society. Therefore, my finishing well is
wholly dependent on your giving a shared "amen" to this work
in progress.
As I close, thank you for reading this lengthy communication. Thank you
for caring (some of you from the very beginning) in the midst of a
tumultuous economy. May God richly bless you for your heart of mercy.
In His service,
R. Steve Lowe
Ps-There are pressing financial needs as I write.
PO Box 8333 (San Bernardino, CA( 92412 ((909) 886-8613
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