A Caring Guide, A Wise Advisor, A Trusted Friend, A Partner on the Journey

Mentoring ex-offenders is a unique calling that requires patience, discernment and a heart for hurting men. Corner Men Ministries recruits and trains men to journey with ex-offenders as they learn to become the men God called them to be.

WHAT IS MENTORING?

"Mentoring is a relational experience in which one person empower's another by sharing God-given resources" (Connecting, Paul Stanley and J. Robert Clinton). Mentoring can also be described as the process of developing a person to his maximum potential in Christ Jesus.

Mentoring is making the mentor's personal strengths, resources, and networks available to help a mentoree reach his goals. The resources shared in a mentoring partnership could include:

• Wisdom and discernment
• Life experience
• Timely advice
• Skills and principles

Mentoring is also not a "one-size" fits all partnership.

Discipler - A more experienced Christ follower who imparts to a new or newer believer the knowledge and skills to grow in Christ

Spiritual Guide - A mature Christ follower who shares knowkedge and skills related to greater spirituality.

Coach - This mentor knows how to do something well and and can communicate the skill.

Counselor - Provides counsel and advice at crucial times such as decision making and transition.

Teacher - Provides knowledge and the ability to communicate that knowledge.

PAUL AND BARNABAS

Barnabas serves as a major mentoring example in scripture. As you know, Barnabas never wrote scripture like Paul or Luke, but neither could have made their impact without him.

In Acts 9:27 Barnabas championed Paul's cause with the Apostles at Jerusalem. A mentor has the insight to see potential in a leader even though the person may have had a bad reputation or abrasive personality traits. A mentor is somebody willing to take a risk like Barnabas did for Paul.

Where would we be without Barnabas? Where will ex-offenders and their families be without modern day risk-takers?

To learn more about mentoring ex-offenders email us at info@CornerMen.Org.

The Epidemic of Recidivism

Like statistics? I hope so because I'm about to really lay them on you. Some 2.2 million people (one in every 136 U.S. residents) are doing time in prison, according to the FBI. Another 4 million or more are on probation, parole, or are awaiting trial in local jails. This past year, prison population grew 4.7 percent - the largest annual growth in ten years.

This uptrend has been developing for decades, though. Since the late 1970's, the population in U.S. prisons has quadrupled. No other nation, relative to it's size and population density, incarcerates more individuals than the United States. With tens of thousands of new prison beds added in recent years, one might expect crime to go down. The truth is, by 2011, the male prison population will grow by at least 12 percent.

HOW CAN THIS BE?

Recidivism: re·cid·i·vism [ri-sid-uh-viz-uhm] –noun
1. repeated or habitual relapse, as into crime.

Now that we have a pretty good idea of how many people are in prison, let's talk about these individuals being released; because 97 percent will be released. In fact, prisons free at least 600,000 each year. But in the end, many ex-offenders have few job skills, minimal education and return to the same neighborhoods and acquaintances. These are major risk factors for an ex-offender to commit a new crime. The national recidivism rate hovers around 60 percent within the first three years of being released.

The Church is responding. There are some 3,500 organizations now doing prison outreach. Prison Fellowship (PF) alone has more than 24,000 volunteers worldwide. Unfortunately, demand is outstripping supply. Mark Early, President of PF said in a recent interview "I don't think that the need is met."

In a recent Christianity Today interview, Early said new approaches are required to attack the the chronic problem of repeat offenders. Worship services and bible study in prisons are not enough. "What is increasingly needed today," he said, is one-on-one relationships and helping them with their life."

A friend once told me "A man can go to church 7 days a week in prison." I found that to be true. In fact, many prisons have had to reduce the number of faith-based meetings and studies because there are just too many. In some prisons, a Chaplains role is more of a ministry coordinator than anything else.

Pre-release preparation and one-on-one mentoring relationships have shown to reduce the re-arrest rate by 50 percent in some studies. Corner Men Ministries recruits, trains and matches ex-offenders to volunteer mentors. Learn more about our mentor training by emailing us at info@CornerMen.Org.

Come back and check out next blog as we explore mentoring. What is it? What is it not? Is it for me?

Welcome to the Corner Men Ministries Blog!

Corner Men Ministries is a prison after-care and re-entry ministry. We serve ex-offenders in the metro Nashville area with a primary focus on one-on-one mentoring. Prior to a man's release, we offer faith-based curriculum such as Men's Fraternity, Wild at Heart and Purpose Driven to name a few. We believe discipleship programs and authentic friendships and partnerships can and does have a serious impact on the current 68% recidivism rate in Tennessee. Our ministry is based on our core beliefs and mission:


EMPOWER
Men can sometimes spend far too much time in their brokenness and failures. This time blinds us to our God-given strengths and gifts. Corner Men Ministries empowers men to identify these strengths and gifts and learn to have victory over the things that once kept us all in bondage.

EQUIP
It is difficult for a man to give to his children something he has never received. Corner Men Ministries equips men with the tools necessary to become loving, nurturing role-models for their children and break the cycle of absentee fatherhood.

RESTORE
The breakdown of family in our society breeds many of our community struggles and pains. Furthermore, a family deserves the model of a servant-leader man going before them and walking beside them. Corner Men Ministries is committed to the restoration of a man and his family; this is considered our primary mission.

TRANSFORM
Transforming the hearts and attitudes of men will ultimately build strong families, birth strong communities and produce productive individuals that contribute positively to our society. Corner Men Ministries is committed to transforming communities through one man and one family at a time.

Corner Men Ministries is always looking for men who have a heart for serving other brother's. To learn more about re-entry mentoring, or to learn more about serving in prison ministry, email us at info@CornerMen.org. Join us in the corner!