Monday, January 14, 2013

[Matthew 25 Ministries' Grapevine Newsletter] January 2013 Grapevine Newsletter

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Pat's Corner
What is Matthew 25 Ministries and Miracle Village, anyway, and what do they do? When I give my donation, what happens to it? I would like to answer those questions by telling a story that just happened here with a guy named Herb.
Herb came to us July 15, 2010; he had no place else to go. When Herb got here he had no money and no family to help him out. I did the intake with Herb and when it came to who to contact in case of emergency, he put down Pat Powers and Jan TenBarge. I asked, “Don’t you have any family?” He said, “Nope, just you and Jan.”
Herb was a very quiet person that didn’t talk much. It was your donations that paid Herb’s rent and bought him his essentials until a little over a year later. Finally his Social Security kicked in, a whole $610 a month.
I found out Herb was a Vietnam Vet who had fallen through the cracks and was not quite the person he used to be. He was sort of lost, but as time went by, Herb started talking a little more. We tried to get Herb to go to the VA but he really didn’t want anything to do with them.
He was especially fond of Jan and started helping her get the apartments ready for the new guys coming in. Soon Herb had taken over the whole operation himself and did a great job. Anything we ever asked Herb to do, he did, and did well.
Herb did a Bible study every morning and never missed a church service or any activity we held here in the Village. Herb trusted in God and told me a few weeks back that this is the happiest he has been since he got back from ‘Nam, and that he finally found a place that he can call his home with a family that cares about him.
Herb passed on to be with the Lord about a week ago. He was in the hospital for three days and during that time we were there with him in the hospital. The nursing staff, along with Hospice, commented that they never saw such a large loving family as Herb had.
This was a very hard time for me as I was the one who had to make the decision to remove the life support system. I had the support of the whole community out here, along with Pastor Mike Henderson, and the great support and help from Pastor Patti Aupperlee from The First United Methodist Church of Pahokee.
I would like to thank the entire team at Lakeside Medical Center in Belle Glade; no one could have received any better care than what they provided for Herb. I can’t say enough about how helpful Hospice was.
To finish up, Herb was always trying to grow an avocado tree but he had the worst luck; his trees never seemed to make it. Herb told me, “Some day, I am going to get one of those trees to grow.” We have decided to bury Herb’s ashes out here on the property and plant an avocado tree over the ashes in memory of Herb the forgotten Veteran, who will always be remembered in our hearts.
This epitomizes what Matthew 25 Ministries and Miracle Village is all about. Because of your generous donations, a lost Veteran was able to find a Godly place he could call home. I would like to thank all of you for your continued support and help for the Herbs of this world.
 Maggie's Message

In the 1980’s Dick and I had an alcohol and drug program called, “The Regeneration Center”. It was located on 9th St. and Sapadilla in downtown West Palm. We became acquainted with the manager of the Harvey building on Datura St. and he generously donated a couple rooms on the 13th floor to use as our offices. You see, no one wanted to rent on that floor, but we knew God was with us on the 13th just as any other. Some tall buildings do not post a 13th floor in the elevators. I feel sorry for the number 13. It has gotten a bad rap from folks that have FEAR. I’m sure that doesn’t apply to any of you! The reason we needed an office downtown was that some people had FEAR of coming to our place on 9th St. We had an old two story rooming house well equipped with rats, mice, scorpions, but no A/C, heat, etc. It was home to 16 men that were in the program; they didn’t seem to mind as it meant freedom from their addiction and an introduction to a relationship with Jesus.
We still have precious friends that have supported this ministry since the 80’s. We are truly blessed.
This month we have been at Miracle Village 4 years. The Lord has brought us a long way as we can now minister to 100 plus. In Job 8:7 it says, “Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end should greatly increase.” And in Matt.25:21 “His Lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things: enter into the joy of your Lord.” I can hardly wait to see what God has in store for Matthew 25. It just keeps getting better and better. This year is going to be the best yet – thank you for coming in agreement with us. We love and appreciate all of you. Have an anointed and exciting 2013.
Holiday Events A Success
The Christmas season has come and gone and with it, a series of successful events here at Miracle Village. On December 8, residents sang and danced along with the Rockettes as our Way, Way, Way Off Broadway Series presented the Music City Christmas Spectacular of 2008.
December 15 brought to the stage our first annual Christmas in the Village holiday production. With standing-room-only, people packed into our church for the music, comedy, poetry and song presented by a cast of Miracle Village and Pahokee residents. People stayed to enjoy the assorted desserts, coffee and egg-nog. Everyone shook our hands, clapped us on the back, and said they are looking forward to our next show.
On Christmas Eve, we held our Cookie Bash and Christmas Caroling event. Residents baked hundreds of cookies that were packed up and distributed to all the families in the village. That evening, our residents sang carols and knocked on doors, spreading Christmas cheer and calories to everyone! After the event, our own Maggie Witherow was waiting in the Dick Witherow Hall with hot cider and home-made doughnuts.
Christmas is the season to celebrate the gift of life through our savior, Jesus Christ. We rejoiced in sharing that spirit with our community.
~ Jerry Youmans
 Community Outreach Needs
Readers of this publication know that Matthew 25 ministers to all of the residents of Miracle Village at Pelican Lake. And, through the efforts of the staff, residents, and Jacob’s Destiny Church, there is an active outreach to the Glades community.
The holiday events in Jerry’s article are an exciting part of our efforts. We hold live events that anyone is welcome to attend, and we record most of them. Right now, we are finally finishing up production of the Christmas In The Village DVD. We will make copies available to churches, ministries, and prison chaplains.
Our next step is to make audio and video recordings of our services and events available through the Internet.
We have a vision to share God’s word & love in today’s high-speed world. We do not have the technology to get us there.
We need new equipment. We need computers less than a year old to process the audio and video into the formats for the Internet, DVD, and Blu-Ray standards. We need new audio equipment for our voices to carry God’s message.
We will gladly accept any donations of working equipment to enhance our ministry, but we are specifically asking for funding of three wireless microphone systems costing about $190 each. Once that goal is reached, we will work on getting a computer or second video camera.
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"When an American says that he loves his country, he means not only that he loves the New England hills, the prairies glistening in the sun, the wide and rising plains, the great mountains, and the sea. He means that he loves an inner air, an inner light in which freedom lives and in which a man can draw the breath of self-respect."
~Adlia Stevenson U.S. Vice President (1893–1897) and Congressman (1879–1881)

On a Personal Note

Thanks for the opportunity to express my thoughts regarding the issue of citizens’ rights, particularly addressing certain sex offenders’ crimes that do not fit the devastating, inequitable and endless punishment given.


As you know, many young men and women lives across the nation are being destroyed by incarceration, life-time registry and restrictive laws that do more harm than good. For those individuals, there is no second chance.

Below is a personal letter to President Obama:
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“Dear President Obama,

I truly agree with your sentiments that individuals, such as ex-felons, should be able to receive a second chance at life. Since we all know that one can veer off that path of life and travel along rough, rocky terrain, sometimes running off and ending up in some ditch. We all have made our fill of mistakes and sometimes those held a costly consequence that changed life forever. So we lived through it, trying harder to make things right with family, friends and those around us, but what about those who aren’t able to make things right even if they tried…because they’re labeled as too dirty, a leper, a person who is rejected from society and home.

But what if they’re a seventeen year old and had sex with a fifteen year old, consensual at that? Or they’re a teen that had gotten so enraged after a breakup that he sent out naked pictures of his girlfriend on his cell phone or email? Or an individual urinates where someone just happens to see them?

All are wrong and a travesty but do they deserve the life of no second chance with a registry that ends all. They are labeled, no jobs, no where to live…they have been deemed a menace to society, a plague. These certain circumstances, and many other situations similar to these, I believe still deserve a second change.

Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

After my son’s early release and two years of prison, I thought I had handled that fact graciously knowing after serving his time he would be able to get that fresh start, that second chance. He was an exemplary inmate, GED, college courses and vocational classes. Little did I know that a second chance on the outside was the farthest from the truth? He now struggles and lives in a trailer park sharing a trailer with another and surrounded by others in the same rocking boat, one to float endlessly in shark infested waters. I see him little because of probation requirements (he couldn’t live with us because we were 800 feet near a school). My family is afraid of what would happen to them if he lived with them…vigilantism. My son has no other place to stay since others condemn him of his crime that is screamed from the highest rooftop. Sex offender, sex offender!

Not all sex offenders are pedophiles or predators but some are simply young kids that make one stupid and rash decision that eventually changes everything, and they have no idea what they’ve done until their life is never their own. Exactly, where is that second chance for those sex-offenders who are lumped together with pedophiles and predators? Now, it makes me sick to think of my son’s future and many like him that are on the registry and many with no second chance…ever. I am asking you as a mother and as another concerned citizen of the United States that these laws are looked at again and taken into serious consideration in what they are doing to the Constitution of the United States, not for sex offenders in general but the future rights of every citizen, before anymore are put into effect. They unjustly strip an offender of their rights and place them in a guillotine that can be easily set off by anyone and at anytime. Where is the second chance for ex-sex offenders in the present, pending and future laws?”
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What truly saddens me is the weakness and deterioration of what the sex offense issue is doing to our once, great nation. Across Europe, others are seeing the injustice and disregard of rights, but we ignore this problem and it makes me wonder where humanity is heading….

We have become a hysterical society in which our latest witch-hunt is a sex offender--no matter his/her crime.

Below is a email sent from a foreign advocate to a father of a sex offender:
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“The tragic story of your son's death is just so sad that it's difficult to explain how. It was very hard to read your letters. It seems almost unbelievable that this can take place in a democracy! From our point of view, there is no justice in this. Not in any way: not for you, your son, the former girl friend – or even the state.

It is an abusive legal system. It seems barbaric. And we are so very sorry that this takes place. That's why it's so important for us to try to neutralize the debate with this…, hopefully making some changes. ….. to show the every day life of the sex offenders, trying to show how they keep on being punished, even after served prison time…..But we will for sure tell the story of the injustice that your son has been exposed to.”
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I appreciate everyone's commitment and backing to protect everyone's civil rights, plainly as noted in the Constitution of the United States and is presupposed, giving ALL men are “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.”