KnoxCAM Director, Dr. Jill Lagerberg, started announcements on WOKIFM radio 98.7 today, Thursday, July 28th. Listen to this announcement knox_CAM4346 Jill’s radio ad July 2011
You can read about the audition details in Get Involved
On Sunday, May 29, twenty-one members of KnoxCAM travelled to Northeast Correctional Complex in Mountain City to attend an inmate-written-and-produced musical drama entitled People, Life, and Situations. The following reflection was written by one of our members:
” Where does one go to experience worshipers dedicated to the task of giving up all that they are to glorify God our Father? Some might think that a church or a mission would house those best qualified for the task. Others may find inspiration in nature’s splendor or a quiet personal time of prayer better to edify the giver of all good and glorious things. I would submit that although these are excellent choices, I have just experienced worship in a way most could not imagine.
I just saw men who were focused and fully dedicated to the act of worship. I just saw men who understand what it is to be forgiven of sin to the point of giving all of themselves in an act of total gratitude and supplication. Those men are inmates at Northeast Correctional Complex in Mountain City. These guys invited us to come worship with them, and I am so glad I did.
I saw an inmate generated faith-based musical drama. Gifted musicians played. Sincere actors witnessed through carefully written skits. Voices sang of sin, brokenness and forgiveness. Righteous rap to rival that of Christian rapper, T-Bone challenged my paradigm of worship. Best of all, fellowship with the men who shared all of this made the event poignantly personal.
I cannot set aside the impact that their genuine, authentic praise has had on me. These men know who they are in Christ and have aimed themselves at using their gifts to make a difference in the environment where they live and beyond. I have been humbled by the transparency of pure faith at work in of all places, a prison. Their bodies may be incarcerated, but it is was clear to all who were there that their hearts and souls have been set free by the love of Jesus.
“Sometimes good people do bad things.” This comment came from one inmate attempting to explain why prisoners must face the consequences of their actions. Are we not all the prisoners of our sin and only find freedom in the forgiving blood of Christ? These men know this and have put their praise into action. What an example they have set for us all! My brothers in prison do not make excuses for why they cannot do the work of furthering the kingdom of God. They use their circumstances as a platform to launch wholehearted, unfettered praise.
The Holy Spirit knows no boundaries as is evidenced by the change in my heart that took place in last night. I got to leave at the end of the evening and come home, but my heart is still there with them. Let us all covenant to pray daily for these brave men who are doing spiritual warfare where they have been planted. I look forward to our next visit and know that God will be in it. ”
Matthew 25:40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.
On April 29 we traveled to Southeastern Correctional Institute near Pikeville, TN for our fourth concert there. A beautiful day, especially welcome after the crushing hailstorms of two days before. A number of illnesses and family emergencies had decreased our numbers, but thankfully God is not dependent on numbers to accomplish His purposes. The prison officials and inmates have begun to recognize and remember us; our entrance was unusually quick and smooth; the guards were extremely helpful. One of them said, “I’ve heard about you all. I’m looking forward to being here tonight and seeing if you live up to what I’ve heard.” Afterward he said, “You all come back as often as you can; we need things like this.”
Did we face challenges? Certainly. We missed our missing members; we missed the reading glasses and printed programs that were left on the bus; we missed the monitor that was connected improperly. But did these things really matter in the end? Not at all. God was there. We saw Him on the faces of the men as they sat leaning forward in attention and as they laughed (at all the right places) or spoke words of affirmation in response to the drama. We saw Him in the tears in their eyes as we shook hands, in the joyful smiles when we called some of them by name and they realized we remembered them. We saw Him in the Bibles many of them carried and obviously cherished. Oh yes, God was there.
Please pray for these men, so many of whom are forgotten. Pray that they will come to know God, more deeply, or for the first time. Pray for those who are believers, that they will be strengthened and encouraged as they minister to others in the prison. Even there, even in that dark place, God is present, working, and loving.
On April 29 we traveled to Southeastern Correctional Institute near Pikeville, TN for our fourth concert there. A beautiful day, especially welcome after the crushing hailstorms of two days before. A number of illnesses and family emergencies had decreased our numbers, but thankfully God is not dependent on numbers to accomplish His purposes. The prison officials and inmates have begun to recognize and remember us; our entrance was unusually quick and smooth; the guards were extremely helpful. One of them said, “I’ve heard about you all. I’m looking forward to being here tonight and seeing if you live up to what I’ve heard.” Afterward he said, “You all come back as often as you can; we need things like this.”
Did we face challenges? Certainly. We missed our missing members; we missed the reading glasses and printed programs that were left on the bus; we missed the monitor that was connected improperly. But did these things really matter in the end? Not at all. God was there. We saw Him on the faces of the men as they sat leaning forward in attention and as they laughed (at all the right places) or spoke words of affirmation in response to the drama. We saw Him in the tears in their eyes as we shook hands, in the joyful smiles when we called some of them by name and they realized we remembered them. We saw Him in the Bibles many of them carried and obviously cherished. Oh yes, God was there.
Please pray for these men, so many of whom are forgotten. Pray that they will come to know God, more deeply, or for the first time. Pray for those who are believers, that they will be strengthened and encouraged as they minister to others in the prison. Even there, even in that dark place, God is present, working, and loving.
The thoughts below come from one of the members of the Men’s Ensemble, following our trip to Anderson County jail on February 8.
I saw the same response from each of the (3) different groups of prisoners that we ministered to:
As we gathered and prepared to sing, the prisoners were assembled but gave the general appearance of disinterest. After only a few lines of the first song, the expressions began to change and as we continued, both the two men’s groups and the women’s group became increasingly attentive and moved by the singing.
As we finished, almost every prisoner came up to meet us and either tell a brief story or respond with, “God bless you”. The ministry had an impact!
KnoxCAM will travel to Mountain City, TN on March 26 for our second concert at Northeast Correctional Complex. As we prepare for this event, I am remembering our trip last winter, when the temperature was hovering at freezing and snow flurries were drifting down as we arrived at the prison compound. The check-in procedure necessitated our standing outside for about 45 minutes. I heard one of our choir members remark good-humoredly, “Now why is it we are here in February instead of May?” A few days after the concert, we received a letter from one of the inmates. He wrote that all the men were still talking about our visit and were saying that we must really have cared about them to have come in such cold weather. It was a very humbling statement; God’s ways are indeed myterious and perfect.
Our prayer for our upcoming trip is that we will be tuned to what God wants to accomplish, that we will be His servants; that He will bring to the concert those men for whom what we do will be an encouragement and blessing; that those in attendance will see His love for them. We are so grateful that we can participate in this small way in what He is doing at Northeast.
We are very excited to have to opportunity to present our concert in the Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church Sanctuary on Sunday, April 10, at 6:00 p.m. And it’s FREE.
This year we have fully integrated music, drama, and dance (similar to musical theater) to tell an original, contemporary story of God’s ongoing provision for families dealing with addiction and divorce. Entitled The Ungrateful Servant, it is inspired by Jesus’ parable of the same name (found in Matthew 18:21-35) and is based on true events.
Non-members cannot come with us to most of the places where we perform, so we are looking forward to this opportunity to better acquaint people in the Knoxville area with who we are and what we do. We want people to know that we are available to serve them, and that we are one place where performing artists can use their gifts in ministry.
Come and catch the vision for KnoxCAM on Sunday, April 10!
A story is written in his face, that man in prison blues who just entered through the guarded doorway across the room. For a moment you imagine you could get to know that guy. Or maybe not. Maybe your eyes meet his and suddenly a chasm opens between you. In that glimpse you wonder what he sees written on your face. These first moments are unexpectedly awkward, personal.
————/ /————
The prisoners’ faces are difficult to read, and we are told that this is a necessity of prison life, that too much information in a facial expression, especially an expression that conveys softness, will have undesirable consequences. “We’re not in Kansas anymore,” we have been thinking wryly, from the moment the bus rolled past the glinting razor wire and the security procedure reminded us that prison is also about not letting anyone IN.
As we set up in the prison gymnasium, we sense that the noise of microphone checks, instruments tuning, and vocal warmups, familiar and even calming to us, is surely a curiosity to the prisoners filtering into the bleachers. We fend off a wave of self-consciousness when we gather around for our final prayer of preparation. We ask for help to focus on the mission, to bring into this place our truest worship expressed to the utmost of our abilities, to God’s honor alone.
“This is not about us,” we chasten ourselves. “This is not even about these prisoners,” the Spirit within us whispers. This is about the King, the sinless Savior, who imprisoned Himself in our flesh to be like us, to die in our stead, to conquer even death and bring us to glory beyond imagining.
What happens next is harder to describe. Everything we think we know about our program slips out of our hands and into His. Within these stark prison walls we witness with our inner eyes the sun of righteousness rise, the healing radiance of the Lord God. His light breaks through to our SEEING EYES! We see one tiny flicker, then another, then more, each becoming more recognizable in those faces whose stories we could not read before. When we think we can hardly bear any more, we see our BROTHERS looking back at us!
Time is suspended, physical place becomes an illusion, and we hear ourselves proclaiming freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. We sing and play and dance the Song of the Redeemed because we ARE the Redeemed!
Sylvia Wolfe, KnoxCAM choir member
