Locked Down For The Lord Prison Ministry, Inc.

                   Larry & Kathy Medford

                   P.O. Box 1900, Hope, AR 71802

                   (870) 777-7528

                   Email:  biker4christ@cablelynx.com

                  Website: www.lockeddown4thelord.com 

January 2010

“And the King shall answer and say to them, Truly I say to you, Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you have done it to Me. “ Matthew 25:40

Happy New Year! We want to start this year out by thanking all of you for your prayers and financial support last year. We’re looking forward to the doors God will open for us and places we will be able to minister at this year.

During November, Larry and Danny had one service at the Maximum Security Unit in Tucker, AR. We went to a swap meet and two toy runs. Larry also made a trip to Baytown, TX to visit Rollie, the Bandido who was saved while he was in prison here in Arkansas. While Larry was there, he overhead Rollie sharing his testimony with one of the home health nurses who checks on him regularly. What a blessing to hear him tell what God has brought him through. Larry went to the funeral of one of the members of the Banshees motorcycle club who was killed in a bike accident in Texarkana. There were several different clubs at the funeral home and the funeral. So many of them are searching for brotherhood, if they only realized that what they are looking for could be found in Jesus Christ.

As far as society is concerned, those in prison and jail might be considered “the least of these”. We want you to know that because of your support, we had the funds to buy over 8,000 packages of Ramen noodles and over 3,000 packages of cheese crackers and hot cocoa. We started checking prices of Ramen noodles, hot cocoa, cheese crackers and individually wrapped candy in November to see where we could get the best deal. By the second week of December, Larry had wiped out the local Sam’s Club supply of Starlite mints so we went to “plan B” which was individually wrapped Tootsie Rolls. We also had donations of socks and bars of soap. All of these items went into Christmas sacks for seven Arkansas prisons, two county jails and the Texarkana, AR work release center. During one of Larry’s trips to the Save-A-Lot store, a young woman who was unemployed and has a family member in jail insisted on buying a case of Ramen noodles for us. We were able to reach out to more prisoners than we ever have before and we could not have done that without your help.

We keep a monthly log of our ministry mileage and the total for December was 3,985 miles. Praise God we didn’t have any ice or snow during that time. Larry and A.J. had one chapel service at the Maximum Security Unit in Tucker, AR and two chapel services at the Ouachita River Unit in Malvern, AR. A young man was saved at one of the Malvern services the week before Christmas. We also had a chapel service at the Wrightsville Unit in Wrightsville, AR. We went to the Marine Corps Toys for Tots Toy Run in Texarkana, TX on Dec. 13. It was a cold, foggy morning but they ended up with seven hundred motorcycles and collected over three thousand toys and cash. Larry went to Gentry, AR which is in the northwest corner of the state to pick up boxes of Little Debbie cakes for the men at the Ouachita River Unit in Malvern. A company in Gentry donates the cakes but someone has to pick them up.

I went with Larry to the Maximum Security Unit in Tucker on Dec. 5^th to hand out Christmas sacks. A choir from a church in Siloam Springs, AR was there to sing and the pastor prayed with each group of men before we gave them their sacks. We spent most of the day there and then went to a chaplain’s banquet in Little Rock that evening. The following Saturday we went to Little Rock for a benefit for one of the Highways and Hedges Ministry’s members. From there we went to the inmate counsel banquet at the Pine Bluff Unit. As we have in the past, we sat at a table with a couple of men whose families did not attend. The inmate counsel does some good things at the unit but as our brother in Christ David Shockey shared with the men, the most important thing they can do while they are in prison is to get a relationship with Jesus Christ. The following Saturday, Larry, A.J. and I handed out sacks at Texarkana Regional Maintenance and Work Release Center. When we finished I drove to Arkansas CARES in Little Rock, which is a women’s rehab facility. This facility allows the women to keep their children with them during treatment. A friend had asked if I wanted to help her with a Christmas party for the women and children. Some other friends had given us several large bags full of stuffed animals and this seemed like the perfect place to take them. There was a scheduling mix-up and we couldn’t stay as long as we had planned but the women thanked us for coming. We hope to make this an annual outreach.

Larry and A.J. went to the Miller County Jail on Dec. 17 to minister and hand out sacks. Larry said many of the men remembered him either from our local county jail or one of the prisons. We took sacks to the Hempstead County Jail on Dec. 21. Larry ministered to a juvenile while he was there. He said the young man was very scared and told Larry he could be facing a life sentence. There were five women there and they were excited to get a Christmas sack. Two ladies came in to do a Bible study and we sang Christmas carols, prayed and shared Scripture together. On Christmas Eve, A.J., Larry and I went to Southwest Arkansas Community Correction Center in Texarkana, AR. They brought the men into the chow hall to get their Christmas sacks and had cookies and hot cocoa for them. Larry and the chaplain took a sack to a young man who refused to come to the chow hall but he told them he didn’t want the sack.

We also mailed out one hundred twenty Christmas cards to prisoners and we received a large stack of cards in return. We wanted to share what some of the men wrote in their cards. “The Christmas card put a smile on my face, thanks! It’s times like these when you think everyone has forgotten about you and someone who you may not have expected shows up at your door and blesses you with God’s love. You two are amazing people”. “I want to wish you both a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We inmates really appreciate all that you do for us. It’s good to know that someone cares. Even though I’m constantly surrounded by people, it can get very lonely in here”. “Thank you for the card, it really means a lot to me, seriously. This is the worst time of year for us guys behind the wall. I miss my kids, I miss my job, I miss my life”. Something as simple as a Christmas card can have an impact on these men. I think that wraps up all of our Christmas activities. Someone asked what we were doing for Christmas and I told them probably just rest! We were tired from all the activities but it is worth it. There is no doubt in our mind that some of the men that got Christmas sacks and cards did not get as much as a letter or card from their family. It is our hope that during this Christmas season they realized that God loves them and He hasn’t forgotten where they are or what they are going through.

We are working on our rodeo/revival schedule and should have those dates set up soon. We may be doing more ministry work closer to home than in years past but in reality we are in the mission field when we walk out of our front door. We’re planning to go to Daytona Beach, FL in March for bike week. The campground where we have stayed since 1995 is closed so we’re trying to find somewhere else to camp. We would also like to go to Laconia, New Hampshire in June for bike week. We haven’t been there since 1995. We’ll also be going to bike week in Sturgis, SD in August. We’re looking forward to an awesome year sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ at prisons and bike rallies. Can we count on your prayers and financial support in 2010?

In Christ’s Love,

Larry & Kathy