Water plays a key role in many parts of God’s story. Noah and the flood. Moses and the Red Sea. And then there’s baptism. We can take a hint so we decided – upon prayerful consideration – to use water as a key part of the next phase of our ministry. A ministry called Freedom Lake.

A common misconception about people released from incarceration is that they pick up their lives at the point they were imprisoned – as though life has a pause button. The reality is that a former prisoner’s daily life in prison looks nothing like life on the outside. Inmates are subject to a daily routine – not of their choosing but a routine nonetheless – with structure and the knowledge that they have a definitive expectation of what each day holds.

That’s not true on the outside.

People on the outside may stigmatize them, making it difficult to find work, housing, and supportive social circles. Those who have never been in prison have no appreciation to have choice and decisions taken away from them and how that skews a person’s thinking. Now on the outside, a parolee can feel overwhelmed, lost, and alone in the face of a “new normal” that has nothing in common with their life on the inside.

The best-case scenario is that they manage to encounter someone who does take time to help them (doesn’t happen very often). The worst-case scenario is that they give up and return to their old pre-prison patterns and go back to the old life that led them to being in prison and perhaps does so again.

Which then leads to higher recidivism rates and families are broken up again.

That’s when freedom becomes a prison because these individuals now feel trapped in a life or a way of life that seems to have no escape, no path to a life they truly desire, and seemingly no one who will help, with no support system. It is an awful feeling.

We see this pattern over and over again. We have talked with many former inmates who have struggled in trying to adjust to life on the outside and not having any support system for their re-entry into society. That got us to thinking.

“What if there were a place where those who have been released from prison could go that offered the support and structure they have been used to that allows them to adjust to living outside prison walls while continuing to be mentored on their walk with God?”

And then God directed us to Freedom Lake. 

Our vision is to acquire property (a refuge) to mobilize, train and coach qualified released ex-offenders we have worked with in the prison system (and their families) helping them to continue their spiritual growth. We will journey together, do life together, and build a disciple-making community that is actively connected to God.

Freedom Lake will work on the foundational principles of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) – using the blueprint Jesus gave us to build up people in the Word and the manner in which we are to be disciples who make disciples who make disciples. Or, as we affectionately have dubbed it – “Wash. Rinse. Repeat.” (Hey, you didn’t think we were going to let that water metaphor just sit there, did you?)

The reason that second part of the foundational principles is so important to us is that we are striving to build a ministry that can survive without us. 

We want to see our disciple-making ministries to be replicable so that others who want to disciple others using the processes we learned during our training with Team Expansion can take and plant those seeds wherever he or she may be. This is part of the mission for Freedom Lake is that what we do here others could use as a blueprint for similar efforts elsewhere – building up others in the Truth. We are excited about what Freedom Lake will bring.

Last month’s featured article ended on a cliffhanger so we didn’t want to leave you hanging any longer about the next phase of our ministry where God is leading us. 

Freedom Lake is far from being launched as we are in the planning and preparation phase. We are excited about how Freedom Lake will help serve as a transition to a new normal in a way that is smoother and with less anxiety than most now experience.

Stay tuned for more details as Freedom Lake continues to take form and how you can be part of this new phase of our ministry.