February 10, 1999
Baptist volunteers
unlock God's love
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___"My whole life, never once have I picked up a Bible until four months ago. I have read it and reread it. I love what it says, but I have no one to talk to about it."
___It was that desperate plea to the Exodus Prison Ministry that started a church on a whole new ministry.
___Inmate Doug Cox had been doing Bible studies through a correspondence course with Exodus, but he needed additional answers to questions that could only come face-to-face.
___The ministry turned Cox's note over to Oakwood Baptist Church in Lubbock, which was in the fledgling stages ofbeginning a prison ministry called Hands On Prison Ministry. John White, coordinator of the ministry, turned the note over to one of his friends in the choir, Mark Richardson.
A NEW LIFE is symbolized as Doug Cox rises from the waters of a makeshift baptistry at the Lubbock County Jail. Cox, who was baptized by Bob Highley of Oakwood Baptist Church in Lubbock, sparked an intense interest in prison ministry among Oakwood members when he wrote a searching letter that made its way to a church leader.
___"When John turned that note over to me, it was like a burning bush," Richardson recalled. "I thought of how many times I had wanted to share the love of Jesus with someone and the door was shut. Here was someone practically begging for someone to come and tell them how to meet Jesus. There was no hesitation on my part."
___Richardson met with Cox and shared the Roman Road to salvation with him, and Cox prayed to commit his life to Christ in that first meeting. Richardson gave him a "Survival Kit for New Christians" to work through, and Cox awaited his baptism.
___Bob Highley, youth minister at Oakwood, performed the baptism.
___"It was exciting to be in that environment and to do what God has called us all to do," Highley said. "It was enlightening to think of how many of our Christian forefathers, like the apostles, ministered either in jails or while in jail themselves."
___Highley has become more deeply involved in the jail ministry and said the work has been invigorating. "It is exciting to see lives changed in an environment that is much less than positive and to see them in turn affecting others," he said.
___A group of men from Oak-wood now spend two hours each week in the jail--the first hour spent in helping the inmates study for the General Equivalency Diploma and the second hour spent in Bible study. Each night the group has gone back to the jail, their class has grown larger.
___"The Lord is just doing a marvelous work," Richardson said. "There is an indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and God is at work."
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