Read: 1 Peter 3:18-22

“In which he proclaimed to the spirit in prison” – 1 Peter 3:19

On Saturday, January 20, 2024, Carol Boss, Sandy McDougall, and I attended a mini OPOP, One Parish One Prisoner seminar at First United Methodist Church in Olympia, Washington with Chris Hoke, Alvin Shim, and members of their awesome and dedicated OPOP staff to facilitate the meeting. This was of interest to us as St.Paul’s has sponsored Paul Fuentes and we wanted to hear and share information with other teams with dreams, hopes, stories, and ideas.

After a blessing from Rev. Jonathan Weldon, part of our morning session included a panel of men and women who had been released from prison and had been placed with an OPOP team. The OPOP teams were from different churches, mostly around the Olympia area and there was a lively question and answer with sharing their stories, heartaches, hopes, fears, and successes with lots of tears, laughter, and smiles. After a lunch of pizza, tacos, and salad, we settled down for an afternoon of sharing information with other teams, networking, and sharing updates from Chris and Alvin. An informative report from Candice Baughman let us know about criminal legal and policing bills being introduced in the Washington legislative this 2024 session.

Hope rippled around the room, hope for more inmates to find a team, hope for teams waiting for their new person to be able to start a new life, hope for reconciliation between the released and their families, and hope for “walking alongside just one neighbor leaving the tombs of incarceration”.

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11) Amen.
-Mary Ann Taylor