Saturday, June 28, 1997

East Texas ministry helps youths in juvenile detention

By CINDY POLK / Palestine Herald-Press

PALESTINE, Texas - Chuck Shaffer said the Lord revealed to him the need for a ministry to help kids detained in juvenile detention after visiting a child at the local center in January.

"I just felt the Lord guided me to come here and start a ministry," Shaffer said. "The Lord opened every door and brought the right people to help. That's why I knew the Lord was working because I didn't have to do anything."

Shaffer founded Greatest Love Ministries Inc. this year to serve the Anderson County Juvenile Detention Center. It takes its name from 1 Corinthians 13:13, "But the greatest of these is love."

Shaffer and his wife, Vickie, have been involved in youth ministry since 1991, but he wasn't on staff at a church when the ministry was formed. In fact, he felt he was being led in a different direction.

But the Shaffers and the Greatest Love Ministries held their first service at the juvenile center on Feb. 2. Services are provided every Sunday afternoon at the facility.

They were joined in the ministry by fellow Trinity Valley Community Church members.

"We tell the kids that no matter what they've done wrong, no matter why they're here, there is hope and they can find peace. And that hope and peace is through a relationship with Jesus Christ," Shaffer said.

Each of the ministry's volunteers has a testimony to share with the kids about how having a relationship with Jesus has turned their life around. That shows the kids that no matter what they've done to end up in a juvenile detention center, they can turn their lives around into something positive, Shaffer said.

Of the hundreds of kids they have talked with, Shaffer said, only a few have had attitude problems. But after a service, they are among the first to ask to talk with volunteers.

"Most of these kids want someone to listen to them, talk to them and care for them, and that's what they get from us," he said.

"You have to look into a kid's face and say, 'I don't care what you've done. I love you and Jesus loves you."

They provide the young people with Bibles, devotional books and gospel tracts, and have provided shoes and shared birthday cake and pizza.

Shaffer, who works in the maintenance department at Dogwood Garden Apartments in Palestine, spends his lunch hour three to four times a week at the detention center visiting. And the detention center's officers often call him to arrange meetings with him and the kids.

After hearing many of their stories and seeing their pain, Shaffer said he often sits in his truck and cries before leaving the parking lot.

"Then there are days when a kid comes up and shakes your hand or hugs you and says, 'thanks for coming to see me.' That's our pay," he said.

The ministry has established a prayer line from the detention center for the kids to call and talk to someone and pray with them. They also tell kids released from the facility to call if they need someone.

For those who aren't released to go home but are transferred to another juvenile facility, the ministry follows up with them, making visits to the Marlin Assessment and Orientation Unit in Marlin and the Crockett State School in Crockett.

"We let them know once you leave here we still care," he said.

With Anderson County contracting with other Texas counties to house their juvenile offenders, Greatest Love Ministries is helping not only local children. Shaffer said a goal is to establish chapters in other communities to help those young people when they return home.

They also plan to help the detention center provide for a teacher and supplies to meet the education needs of the youths.

The goal is to involve other churches to minister to the kids in the facility and following their release. Shaffer and his group plan to visit with other congregations to talk about their program and seek prayer and other support.

"We don't want to be a Lone Ranger here," he said. "We want to involve other churches in the community."

Anderson County Chief Juvenile Probation Officer Charlotte Moore said she has talked with officials in Austin who say the ministry is a unique program in Texas. "We may have one of the first in the state," she said.

She said the caring shown by the volunteers is needed by the facility's kids, many of whom don't have the support of their family.

"Chuck and his gang have given them someone to talk to and to listen. Probably more than anything just someone to listen," she said.

"They've not only been an inspiration to the kids, they've been an inspiration for the workers in this department. It's almost like Chuck knows when he needs to show up."

Ms. Moore said people have to ask themselves when they can make the most difference - when the kids are 10 to 16 years old in the juvenile detention center, or 18 and older in the state prison system. Plenty of people talk about helping the kids, but don't follow through, she said.

"So when you have a program knock on your front door and offer to help, that's wonderful," she said. "We didn't have to go out and find it, it found us."

Shaffer said they appreciate the freedom that Ms. Moore and her staff have allowed them in visiting the young people.

"We're here to stay until we come up here and there's no one to visit," he said.

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For more information about Greatest Love Ministries, write to P.O. Box 836, Palestine TX 75802-836.

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