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FFL Ministry Strategy
Mission
To teach inmates how and why God created them so that they are set free to live a life of purpose and meaning both while incarcerated and after their release.
Foundational Scriptures
John 8:31,32 -…Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
Philippians 3:13-14 "Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
Program Structure
The core of this process will be the new Free For Life Seminar presentation taken from the nationally known Men On Target seminar.
Development of an FFL Leader's Training Manual/Lesson Plans for prison chaplains and volunteers to follow-up inmates for a period of one year following seminar presentation.
Development of electronic and printed follow-up materials for inmates, e.g., special inmate manual and CD-ROM 50-week study guide.
Develop the FFL Institute to train and equip chaplains and lay volunteers to administer the FFL process.
Free For Life Seminar
The Free For Life seminar consists of six sessions and will incorporate the Five Keys that unlock our true potential: Release, Resistance, Relationship, Revelation and Response. Here is how it works:
OTM's experience with men on the outside suggests that a very high number of participants follow through in this area. We anticipate that the majority of inmates who complete the FFL seminar will also participate in small group accountability sessions.
Discipleship & Follow-up
Romans 12:2 summarizes the goal of this key component to the FFL program. "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will." (NIV)
Prison chaplains and FFL-trained volunteers will conduct 50-week study groups with inmates that will focus on the five keys to unlock our true potential. These key volunteers will follow lesson plans outlined in the FFL Leaders Training Manual as they encourage inmates to remain focused on and accountable for the material already presented in the FFL seminar. Inmates will learn how to:
FFL Institute
The FFL Training Institute will follow the plan outlined by Paul as he instructed Timothy regarding discipleship: "For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come."
1 Timothy 4:8 ( NIV)
Recognizing that prison chaplains and believers with a heart for prison ministry represent the primary targeted group for this training, the FFL Director will conduct one day training seminars for volunteers desirous of learning the following skills:
Initially, these one-day training sessions will need to be conducted on site at correctional facilities or perhaps host churches interested in expanding into prison ministry. Eventually, these sessions can be video taped and made available to prison chaplains or church leadership. Technology advancements are also making this type of training available via the web or through distance learning venues, e.g., college classrooms, vocational schools who would allow OTM to utilize their facilities and downlink to correctional institutions or churches via satellite.
FFL's Distinctives
Although many excellent prison and jail ministries currently exist both nationally and internationally, most simply do not have any resource materials designed to help inmates gain a clear understanding of how and why God made them. On Target Ministries' Target Reference Manual (TRM) is perhaps the only resource material currently available to meet this critical need.
Prisoners are very familiar with shortcuts. Many of them believed that by stealing, robbing, raping, or even killing, greater success, increased personal worth, and power and respect among peers or associates would be greater than before their crimes. Their shortcuts ultimately led to captivity, not freedom.
The FFL materials will help inmates discover that there are no shortcuts when it comes to spiritual maturity and proven character. The FFL Manual is perfectly suited to teach and reinforce this critical principle after being reformatted for a prison setting.
On Target Ministries is already well established and poised for further expansion into specialty areas of ministry. Since 1994, the seminars for both men and couples have proven that once a person discovers how and why God created them, a new fire is ignited in their soul to fulfill that purpose.
Inmates in our nation's correctional institutions are no different when it comes to the longing and desire to find purpose and meaning in life.
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For details call On Target Ministries at
1-800-367-6364
Fax: 1-719-481-2676
E-mail: webmaster@otm.org
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