Prison minister learns through his outreach

For more information: To learn more about volunteering with the Regional Criminal Justice Ministry Center of South Texas, call Gene Woodard at (361)-358-9699. Or e-mail him at gwoodard@interconnect.net or rcjmcst@awesomenet.net

After becoming a certified volunteer chaplain, Cecil B. Burgess was asked by a friend to consider a prison ministry.
   Burgess accepted the challenge with one condition - he would go to any prison in the state of Texas to offer spiritual counsel except the William McConnell Prison in Beeville.
   "I'd heard things about McConnell, about the violent nature of the prisoners there," Burgess said of the maximum-security prison. "I was real concerned because that is where they keep some of the real hardened criminals."
   When Burgess' friend called back, however, it was to tell him how badly Christian ministry volunteers were needed at that very unit.
   And at that moment, Burgess knew exactly where he was meant to be and that was at McConnell.
   "A great deal of this was guidance by the Lord. He opens doors for you to be able to help someone," said Burgess, who for the past three years has been offering spiritual counsel to inmates, crime victims, and to the families of victims and prisoners.
   More volunteers like Burgess, however, are urgently needed, said Gene Woodard, president of the Regional Criminal Justice Ministry Center of South Texas. The center is a nonprofit corporation providing Christian ministry to inmates, victims and their families and to criminal justice professionals.
   "The more volunteers we have, the more we're able to work to rehabilitate prisoners through Christian discipleship," Woodard said. "We need mentors to work with inmates, but we're really struggling to find people who can reach out and minister to victims of crime."
   Burgess' volunteer calling requires him to commute once a week from Portland to Beeville. At McConnell, he teaches two spiritual courses. Volunteers with the Regional Criminal Justice Ministry Center of South Texas teach a variety of courses on such topics as conquering chemical dependency to making peace with the past.
   "Just last week, a man who took three of my courses and now is out of jail called me," Burgess said. "We got together for lunch one day and I prayed with him."
   A few days later, the man called Burgess, ecstatic about news he wanted to share - he'd just gotten a job, his first in 10 years.
   Moments like that inspire Burgess, yet humble him when he recalls how he started out his prison ministry. He thought he simply would be the giver behind the prison walls, but found he was as much the receiver.
   "I've learned that every person has something to contribute, to themselves, to me and to others around them," Burgess said. "My work at McConnell has definitely kept me in the Bible a lot more.
   "And so to a certain extent, I'm the one being taught at the prison."