South Carolina Ping
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Posted on 09/26/2007 6:44:56 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
(Columbia) - On Tuesday, 24,000 copies of Rick Warren's best-selling book, "The Purpose Driven Life," were made available to every inmate in the state's 29 prisons.
St. Andrews Baptist Church in Columbia, in coordination with several other ministries statewide, raised money to pay for price-reduced, paperback versions of the book, which addresses mankind's spiritual journey.
St. Andrews started its fund-raising in March with help from the South Carolina Baptist Convention, Columbia Metro Association and Lexington Baptist Association.
Purpose Driven Ministries prints a $1 paperback version of the book for use in prisons.
"Obviously, purchasing 24,000 books is a daunting task, but with God's help and the assistance of a lot of churches throughout the state of South Carolina, this dream is being realized," said Dr. Greg Barr, senior pastor at St. Andrews.
"We are praying that God will use this book to change lives, to heal old hurts, to restore marriages, to strengthen families, and to reduce the recidivism rate in our state.
"If men and women could find their God-given purpose, their lives would never be the same again."
Volunteers with Prison Fellowship and Changing the Way, which have people working in most of the state's prisons, plan to conduct study groups with interested inmates, said the Rev. Lloyd Roberts, an SCDC chaplain who heads the agency's pastoral care programs.
State Prison Director Jon Ozmint says he has the book in his library. He wants inmates to understand, "Regardless of circumstances, regardless of where you find your self in good or bad circumstances, inside or outside prison God isn't wringing his hands wondering how you wound up there. He's got a purpose for you today with the people he's bringing into your life and he wants you to fulfill that purpose."
Ozmint says this is the first time something on this scale has ever been done in South Carolina.
A Columbia church and several Baptist organizations are donating more than 24,000 copies of the Christian self-help book "The Purpose Driven Life" to prisons across the state.St. Andrews Baptist Church began raising money earlier this year to buy as many copies of the $1 special prison edition as possible, said the Rev. Greg Barr, senior pastor.
"This is a book that God seems to be using to touch people's lives," Barr said. "If men and women could find their God-given purpose, their lives would never be the same again."
The book by the Rev. Rick Warren teaches that God's love is unconditional and every life has a purpose.
In prison, it can be used to send a message to inmates that God has not abandoned them and past sins can be forgiven, religious leaders said.
The books will arrive at South Carolina's 29 prisons this week, officials said.
The South Carolina Baptist Convention, the Columbia Metro Baptist Association and the Lexington Baptist Association helped the church buy the books.
SC ping?
He must mean just in SC prisons and not in the state of SC. The Jesus Film Project mailed out over 1.8 million videos in SC a few years back. One to every home in SC.
South Carolina Ping
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