March 27, 2000
THE NEW Skyview-Hodges Family Center will minister to families of inmates at the correctional facility in Rusk.
New center for Baptist prison
ministry going up in Rusk
___By Orville Scott
___Texas Baptist Communications
___RUSK--Across the rolling hills surrounding the East Texas town of Rusk, pure-white cross-shaped blooms of dogwood, silhouetted against the tender green offorest and field, contrast sharply with the barbed-wire barricades of a state prison.
___But just outside the gates of the Texas Department of Corrections' Skyview-Hodge Unit, a musical medley by winged nest builders is punctuated by the sounds of saws and hammers in the hands of some of the world's most joyous volunteers.
SKYVIEW-HODGE chaplains Bob Huddleston and Bernadette Bezner, with Kay Martin (center).
___Members of Texas Baptist Men Builders, who have constructed new facilities for more than 400 needy churches since 1979, are erecting the Skyview-Hodge Family Center with assistance from area volunteers.
___It is a dream come true for criminal justice ministry pioneers such as Everett and Kay Martin of First Baptist Church of Rusk, who have prayed and put feet to their faith.
___Financed by churches and individuals in Dogwood Trails Baptist Area, the center will be staffed by volunteers from churches in Cherokee County Southern Baptist Association, said Mike Smith, area director of missions.
___Unlike Texas Baptists' first Hospitality House built near state penitentiaries at Huntsville in 24 hours by Texas Baptist Men Builders and other volunteers, the family center at Rusk will not have overnight lodging.
___But it will be a warm and friendly place for families to wait to visit their loved ones in the prison, said Mrs. Martin, chairwoman of the task force guiding the effort.
___"Now, they won't have to wait in the hot sun and cold rain, and sometimes their hearts will be softened and touched to find new life in Christ," she said.
___The center also will serve as a place to hold marriage enrichment and parenting classes and other seminars for guards and their families. Like police officers, prison guards live and work under great stress due to the rigors of their jobs.
___A former guard, Bob Wick of Reklaw Baptist Church, serves on the task team along with Beth Sheridan and Barbara Whiteman of First Baptist Church of Alto, John and Helen Lilly of Reklaw Baptist Church and Dolores Bongard and Bill Traweek of First Baptist Church of Rusk.
___Alma Walles, whose husband, Jerry, is pastor of Reklaw Baptist Church, will be supervisor of the center.
___Members of the task team all took chaplains' training and have become Mission Service Corps volunteers.
___"Satan put many rocks in the way of establishing the family center," the Martins said, "but members of the churches prayed, and things just came together in the Lord's hands."
___The 15 members of one of Texas' oldest churches, Old Palestine Baptist Church, gave $4,000 to help build the center. Gifts rolled in from other churches and from the Christian Mission Concerns Foundation of Waco.
___More volunteers are needed for this and other projects. For information about volunteering, contact Texas Baptist Men at the Baptist General Convention of Texas, 333 N. Washington, Dallas 75246-1798 or call (214) 828-5357.
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