Premier of new SOCPM Newsletter Check it out!

Greetings

Week 25 of the lockdown 😞.

Active COVID cases: Dixon 6 staff, 4 inmates - Sheridan staff 0 inmates 1 Not a good week at Dixon. Despite one new active case among inmates at Sherdian, in an e-mail from Chaplain McClimans, some normalcy is returning. The men 30 at a time are getting yard, 50 at a time are eating meals in dietary and some of the contractors are returning to work. A return for volunteers may be on the horizon.

This past week saw one of SOCPM's long time students, David being paroled. David had been a student since October 2018. David was one of the more talkative, but what he shared was good. He quite often would share words of wisdom and encouragement to other students who were going through a trial. On the other side of the spectrum Alex, a SOCPM student 01/2018 thru 04/2019 was admitted to Stateville NRC for what appears to be a parole violation. Alex became or was a young believer, at least by profession, who desperately wanted to reconnect with his son but was fighting for visitation rights. Please be sure to lift both David and Alex in prayer at the experience transition in their lives.

This week’s midweek message by Joe Thorn was Self Help vs. Self Control. You can view the summary of my notes from the Weekly Message, on SOCPM's new Weekly Message website page. The message was distributed to inmates at Dixon and Sheridan who were SOCPM's at the COVID-19 lockdown began.

SOCPM on ZOOM was launched this past Monday. Three SOCPM Alumni Joe (10/2012 - 02/2014), JD (05/2014 - 09/2016), and Gavin (02/2018 - 02/2019) participated. Two others were no shows. It went well despite some connectivity issues for one of the guys. It was an introduction night and as I kind of expected, we didn't get through all that was planned, but we're looking forward to connecting again next week.

I was told my short 3-minutes message for the inmates at Dixon will be played in mid-September.

As you read in the intro of the SOCPM Newsletter, this is the new and I hope, improved newsletter. With the newsletter changes, SOCPM's website had had some changes. More changes to the website are planned. However, I have some challenges with my skillset in making some of the changes but I'm hoping I'll be able to complete them soon. I hope you like the changes to SOCPM's Newsletter and website.

To Him be the glory in ALL things and to Him alone!

Scott Kalas
Soldiers of Christ Prison Ministries