The Berean Banquet.

This annual event is the main fund raiser for Berean Prison Ministry and was well attended.

Below was the Glory Land Band. They entertained us as we were visiting and dining. What was very interesting was the story behind the band. The leader of the band stood up and told us his story, He had been in the Peoria county jail and told us that Paul Meister Sr. had given him his first Bible. He had to go to prison but has been out for 14 years and is now a chaplain and helps out at different jails and prisons. All of that PLUS he had a beautiful voice and the music was toe tapping great. 

 Tim Martin played the video he made of the different jails, the Berean office and Romania. I really hope this video will be posted on the Berean Website, it was very interesting, informative and also touching. 

 Below Ken Helmuth is introducing Fedi. Fedi was the interpreter for the speaker for the banquet, Leventa. 

Below Leventa is giving his talk about the impact Berean has on the many jails and prisons in Romania. So many touching stories. 

We left the banquet enthused about the ministry, almost everyone that attended help out in one way or other. Berean Prison Ministry is run completely by volunteers. There is NO paid staff, every penny sent in goes to help people out in many different ways. We left there humbled. 

On the way home mom mentioned wouldn't dad have been amazed at how big this ministry has grown. 

Thursday's Work

As Monday was the Labor day holiday, Tuesday the Berean office was closed, no mail could be picked up. That also meant the Wednesday volunteers would not be able to work as that group enters all the Bible requests. All of the work fell on the Thursday volunteers. Thankfully we had a good group and got done with almost everything. Joyce came in when she heard we needed help. Chuck, Edie, Anna, Roma and Robin are regulars on Thursday.  They all went right to work processing the studies.

 We had our special guests from Romania arrive and they were put right to work opening mail. Leventa and his wife Edith came all the way from Romania to speak at the banquet which was going to be held later Thursday night. 

With such good help we were able to finish the studies before noon. That gave us plenty of time to get home and get ready for the annual Berean Banquet which was held at Five Points in Washington, IL.

We Wrapped

This morning at the Berean office Cindy and I entered the Bible requests while Mary and Mary Jane wrapped.

As soon as the last label was printed we joined these two to help finish wrapping.

We had everything done well before noon. Thankful all the supplies were on hand and very thankful these ladies are willing to come help.

Amazing Amount Amazing Volunteers

We got an amazing amount of work done today with these amazing hard working volunteers.  We got a pallet of Bibles delivered, all of the mail opened and processed, envelopes prepared for next week and the next set of studies sent out to all the prisoners waiting. Below are a few pictures of our morning at the Berean office.

 We finished before noon and enjoyed our meal. The fellowship is even better than the food. 

Don't forget the Berean Banquet is Sept 7th at 5 Points in Washington, IL. The meal starts at 6:30 pm. If you would like to come there is still room. Please contact Ellen at 309-637-7746 for YOUR reservation. Hope to see you all there.

A Privilege

We didn't have a lot of mail this week, around 300 studies came in but only 58 Bible requests. It's funny, when we were getting hit with 600 requests a week we didn't have the amount of volunteers needed to process everything. Now that we have wonderful volunteers all knowing exactly what needs to be done the work isn't there. Oh well we always say this is God's work, if he wants it to grow it will. It IS growing just not bouncing back as fast as I thought it would. Today it was such a privilege to be at that office working with this group of volunteers.

 Above Shirley and Ron are opening studies while below Jeanette and Chuck are applying labels. Mom and Vonnie joined Shirley and Ron and went right to work opening the studies. Bill is now at the main computer. He is taking over the entering and printing of labels. 

Below Bill is printing off the certificates for this week. 

Kathy and David were the main readers today. Marvin helped too on reading when he wasn't working on the computer. He is just not pictured. He was probably ducking each time the camera came out. 

It didn't take long to get all the studies processed and the letters read. The next step was to start filling envelopes with the next set of lessons. Below Shirley is working on separating one envelope off each study. Each study gets 2 envelopes, one is left with the study for the grader so once the study is graded they can just stick it in the envelope and mail it. The other envelope we stuff with the next 4 lessons. This system usually works well. 

 Below Jeanette is making her escape, her job was finished so off she went to her 'real' job. 

 Below Chuck is supervising. He was actually getting up to get another box of studies to stuff. Those little blue and clear bottles on the table is our 'likkers' Those are wearing out and will need to be pitched. I think Diane ordered us a new box a while back, it's about time to break out the new ones. 

 

 Above David,  mom and Ron are filling envelopes and sealing them. In the picture below Robin is actually working on the copy machine. She has been running hundreds of copies each time she comes. 

 Mom got the lunch all ready and we were able to finish before noon.  Lunch is a good time to break bread and fellowship together. What an absolute privilege it is to serve at this facility. Berean is so very thankful Wayne and Lucille are letting us use the building.

Tuesday's Volunteers

We sure have the volunteers in place now to be able to easily finish the mail by noon. We had another productive wonderful day at the Berean office. Bill is now working on the main computer and did a good job keeping up with  printing out all the labels for the volunteers. We were pretty much able to keep everyone busy from the first opening of the mail until the last study was stuffed and sealed. Below are a few pictures of our busy morning.

 Above Ron, Shirley, Glenna, Vonnie and Joyce are working at the middle table while below Marvin L, Chuck and mom are opening mail and applying labels. 

 Above our the 3 letter readers today Jan, David and Kathy. At the other table opening the mail was Glenna, Vonnie, Joyce, Ron and Shirley. Below Marvin and Megan are trying to read a number backward and are using the mirror to do it. If a Bible has been returned the post office sticks a label on top of our address label. We need to post on the computer who the Bible was sent to and that it came back just in case that prisoner asks for another. Sometimes the only way to read the number is by using the mirror and reading it off the back of the label the post office applied after we have pulled it off of the Bible. 

 Below George and Ron are waiting for another batch of labels. 

 The volunteers then moved into the other room to stuff another set of lessons for those anxiously waiting for their next set. Marie kept the copy machine running and taught Robin how to also run the machine. Now that school is starting we needed another person to keep the copier running. We go through thousands of sheets a paper per week.

 In the two pictures below Bill is loading the Bibles into his van to take to the post office. The rest are finishing up the sealing of the envelopes. 

 Marie, Vonnie and Robin had to fold studies today as we ran out of some of the numbers. 

We will be working tomorrow morning folding studies and entering Bible requests.

Busy Place Happy Place

We really do have a great time when volunteering at the Berean office. One of the reasons why we have such a good time is the volunteers but that isn't the main reason. The main reason this place is so happy is everyone here doing God's work. Today was amazing. Everything and everyone just seemed to work like a well oiled machine. Below are a few pictures of our morning.

We weren't quite done by the time lunch was served. Bill and Marvin stayed late to finish. A big thanks to all who came. It is just amazing to me how much work gets done all before lunch!