It would be our first time working with the new Field Director for Illinois & Wisconsin. We spent 12 years going to Illinois every February with Mary Johnson, who retired this past summer. We talked back and forth via email…

It had been since 2019 since the Annual Christmas concert at Huron Valley Women's Prison in Michigan. It is the only women's prison in the State of Michigan. It was the team returning together after 3 years. Rufus Harris, Anointed…

Again, the lobby call was 6:45am, it's a good thing we are less than 10 minutes from the prison. I was sleeping good in the hotel room, with the heat at the right temperature. We arrived at the prison at…

The team comes in a day early to set up and prepare for the programs. It's been 3 years since Forgiven Ministry has been inside Michigan prisons. Since 2010, Forgiven Ministry has held their "One Day with God Camp" inside…

First Time at The Women's Prison

It was my first time going inside Michigan's Women's prison since Covid. I knew there were some changes, I just didn't know what they were. I went inside with Prison Fellowship for "Angel Tree…

Today was the day we go back inside the prisons for the first time in Illinois. The guidelines had changed a lot than before. They were only going to allow a certain number of ladies to attend. We were going…

Mother's Day in Illinois Department of Corrections

I hadn't been inside of an Illinois prison since the February 2020. It was a month before the pandemic hit and the world started shutting down. We had just done our annual black…

It had been 2 years since I had been inside a prison, and that's unusual. For the last 12 years, I have been inside a prison at least once a month. I never imagined a worldwide virus would be the…

Well it's the last day of the tour, I can't believe how fast it went. 3 Prisons,so we will get back to the hotel late. Lobby call again was at 7:15am, our first event was at 8:30am. We arrived at…

Our lobby call was at 7:30am, and we had 3 prisons to do. We began at Vandalia Correctional in Vandalia, Illinois. We had a smooth time getting through security. The Chaplain was a nice cool young lady, her brother lives…

We kicked off the day with lobby call at 7:30am. This means I got to get up at least by 6:15am. Because I have to do my blog, get dressed, make-up, breakfast and chill. Today we have 2 prisons to…

It is the 8th Annual Black History Prison Tour in Illinois. I can't believe we've been doing these for this long. This years tour is the "2020 Vision Tour". We will hit 9 prisons in 4 days. We loaded the…

The weather was absolutely beautiful, we couldn't ask for more perfect weather. The men had the equipment already set up on the basketball area of the yard and were just as excited as we were for the event. Prison Fellowship…

I realized I have not written a blog post about the camps when I go. Every year I blog about the Black History Prison Tour, and I thought why don't I do this for the camps. Well, this will be…

The week goes by so fast, our last day at the prison was bittersweet. The inmates always look forward to this time of the year, as we do. We had 2 prisons to go to, Robinson & Sheridan. One was…

Three prisons today, and it's Day 5 of the tour. We will stop at SWICC (drug treatment prison), Graham, and Robinson Correctional. First Lady Ella met up with us again at SWICC & Graham. She was with us the other…

I can't believe the prison tour is almost to an end. Day 4, we went to Big Muddy, Pinkneyville, and Centralia. We arrived at the first prison early, 7:30am...the Chaplain moved the time up and he wasn't even there. We…

A dance battle and a Pastor's kid was the highlight of Day 3 of the Prison Tour. We started the day off with a lobby call of 7:15am. We only had 5 hours of sleep the night before, so this…

Day 2 was the women's facility and my day to do the devotion on the way to the prison. We had a 15 minute ride from the hotel to Logan Correctional, our first stop. We had to bring in all…

We can't believe we are in our 8th year doing the Illinois Department of Corrections. God has certainly shown Himself inside of the largest church in America! We had a great 45 minute flight to Chicago and we stayed the…