Scholar-Mentors

The Texas Field Minister will always wear white, maybe even to the grave, but as a new man and a new woman—a different kind of incarcerated man and woman—learned, humanized, stable, pensive, able to think and reason, and allowed to influence others toward a responsible and productive life. The Texas Field Minister is a scholar-mentor. The Texas Field Ministers as scholar-mentors are able to listen and provide an answer, in their view, to life’s big questions beyond their upbringing, their crime, their life experience, and their prison experience. The Texas Field Ministers exemplify and exceed the goals of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

            It would be insane to have rehabilitation goals that no one can actually achieve and display that they have achieved, especially if they will never live anywhere else but prison. The Texas Field Ministers Program is an opportunity for someone with a life sentence to live a corrected life and show others that they can.

            Christian history has always included education. Christian history reveals, throughout the centuries, the establishment of educational institutions—the call to love and care for people through the reverent pursuit of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. Deep theological reflection is not something to be avoided, but is part of the human experience, even if one comes to the conclusion that there is no God. To deny that this is part of the human experience is to avoid reality and irresponsibly leave the most basic human questions without a compass offered by the millions of lives that have gone before us, not to mention history itself. Field Ministers lived life fast before they came to prison and have lived life long since the beginning of their incarceration. Before prison, they hardly had time to ponder life’s big questions; in prison, life’s big questions stare them in the face with all of the time a life sentence brings to ponder these questions. To deny this as a reality would be cruel. More than 2,000 years of church history exists, and it is good to study it. The Field Minister as scholar-mentor can be a help to others who have the same life questions they once did.  

The Four Pillars

of a Successful Field Minister

INTEGRITY

  • The Field Minister maintains a visible, unashamed, humble, accountable, and incorruptible personal integrity in a place where inmate integrity is often defined by the dark network of the prison’s inmate culture. “Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.” (Titus 2:7-8, ESV)

PERSEVERANCE

  • The Field Minister does not quit; he or she perseveres with joyful patience and hope-filled endurance in the midst of harsh circumstances, threats, temptations, and intimidations. “To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador inchains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.” (Ephesians 6:18-20, ESV)

FAITH

  • The Field Minister lives out his or her faith with gentleness and consistency, and without hypocrisy—in full view of his or her peers. “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:5-8, ESV)

HEART

  • The Field Minister proactively offers his or her heart to those in the prison’s deepest places of need, where the most isolated, forlorn, and lost inmates live—an environment which is often hostile and threatening. “But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,” (1 Peter 3:14-15, ESV)

The Hobby Unit for Women

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The Heart of Texas Foundation | College of Ministry begins at the Hobby Unit for Women in 2021!

We are now developing a Field Ministers Program for the women in Texas prisons.  The Hobby Unit for Women, in Marlin (30 minutes south of Waco) will be the location of The Heart of Texas Foundation | College of Ministry for women where the Class of 2025 will begin their studies pursuant to the Bachelor of Arts in Applied Ministry.  

We look forward to releasing updates as we go. Please pray for the women students and faculty as we move forward together to equip women to serve skillfully and with joy under the cross of Christ anywhere a woman lives in the prison.

Texas Field Ministers

Description of the Work of the Field Ministers

Working under the supervision of the Unit Warden and Chaplain, listed below are duties in policy for Field Ministers.

1. Community Service Ministry
Field Ministers may be assigned to unit-community, service-oriented ministries:

  • Intake/Orientation at Unit of Assignment
  • Mentoring
  • Personal Improvement
  • Re-Entry/Pre-Release
  • Tutoring
  • Become a Certified Field Minister Trainer in a Field Ministers Reading Acceleration Center (The Heart of Texas Foundation provides this training)

2. Crisis Ministry
Field Ministers may be assigned to crisis ministries for their peers:

  • Funeral/Memorial Services
  • Geriatric
  • Grief Counseling
  • Hospice
  • Hospital

3. Counseling Ministry
Field Ministers may be assigned to counseling ministries:

  • Family Reconciliation
  • Forgiveness
  • Tier-Walking (General Population, Medium Custody, Close Custody, Administrative Segregation)                                                                                            

4. Faith-Based Ministry
Field Ministers may be assigned to faith-based ministries in Chaplaincy religious programming and/or Field Minister-led ministries:

  • Discipleship Classes
  • Prayer Leaders
  • Preaching
  • Worship Service Planning and Conducting

Additional Ministry Proposals

  • Unit Senior Wardens and Chaplains may propose other ways of using Field Ministers to the Field Ministers Advisory Council.
  • Once assigned to a unit, Field Ministers shall be allowed to propose new ministry activities to the Unit Chaplain and Warden for initial approval. The Field Minister Coordinator will submit the request to the Field Ministers Advisory Council for final approval.
https://vimeo.com/845766372/791a3400c6?share=copy

Fellowship and Continued Growth

The Heart of Texas Foundation supports the mission and goals of TDCJ and the Rehabilitation Programs Division. As the service providers of the Field Ministers Program, we want to take the next step in preparing men and women who earn the Bachelor of Arts in Applied Ministry to be effective once they reach their outlying units to begin their work as Field Ministers.

The Field Ministers Academy will be annually sponsored and hosted by The Heart of Texas Foundation, in partnership with TDCJ.

Program

With the help of TDCJ and RPD, we are creating The Field Ministers Academy.

  • The Field Ministers Academy will be held periodically via regional phone conferencing and one in-person gathering of all Field Ministers.
  • Upon graduation from The Heart of Texas Foundation College of Ministry at the Memorial Unit, the newly commissioned Field Ministers are transferred to their field assigned units.
  • The Field Ministers Academy will be a gathering of all Field Ministers across the state.
  • The Heart of Texas Foundation will bring in special guests who are leaders in Government, Corrections, and Pastoral Ministry.
  • The Field Ministers Academy will be coordinated with TDCJ in all respects.

We want to give the men the opportunity to be strengthend and refreshed as Field Ministers. We want them to have the added confidence that comes with extended training based on the years of experience we have all gained since the first Field Ministers went on the field in 2015. We want them to continue to minister to men like Karl who you can hear from in the following video.

The Field Ministers of the John B. Connally Unit faithfully visited the men in restricted housing. Karl Harris was one of those men. Karl is now a leader for the good on his unit and has received a reduced sentence with the opportunity to be released from prison. Without the Field Ministers being able to visit Karl, he might still be lost in a cell alone.