Sen. Eddie Joe Williams introduces Varner Unit Field Minister Andre Dunn during Tuesday’s building dedication. (Photos by Mary Alford/ABN)
GOULD, Ark. – It was a day of excitement at the Varner Unit of the Arkansas Department of Corrections, a high security prison in Lincoln County, for those involved with the prison seminary on Tuesday, Oct. 29, as they dedicated the new College at Mid-America education building.
The 5,000-square-foot schoolhouse, which sits beside the prison chapel, has four classrooms, two office spaces, a library, and a restroom with a giant glass window on the door. A groundbreaking for the new building was held Nov. 6, 2023.
The prison seminary celebrated its first graduating class on May 12, 2023. Eighteen students, who are all serving life or long-term sentences for their crimes, donned graduation robes and caps as they accepted their bachelor’s degrees in Christian Studies from Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. A 19th student, who had his sentence commuted in 2020 by former Gov. Asa Hutchison, graduated on the Mid-America campus in Memphis.
The next cohort of students is expected to graduate in spring 2025.
Modeled after similar programs in other states, the program is the first in the state that prepares graduates to become field ministers, whose role is to assist prison chaplains by ministering to inmates inside prison walls.
“Field ministers utilize Biblical tenets and values to promote moral rehabilitation and teach effective problem-solving skills. Field ministers take a gospel centered approach to performing their assigned duties to provide crisis care, community service, peer counseling and faith-based ministries,” said Varner Unit Field Minister Andre Dunn, a member of the inaugural graduating class, during Tuesday’s dedication.
“We do not take this God-given opportunity lightly and commit ourselves to the role and duties of field ministry with the ADC (Arkansas Department of Corrections). We seek to bridge the gap between administration, staff, and incarcerated individuals, while helping facilitate positive change in the Arkansas Department of Corrections culture. Field ministers do not have the same restrictions as chaplains. We live here and offer 24/7 ministerial services to improve everyone’s physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. The ADC administration, chaplaincy and staff work together to ensure that field ministers can preach the Gospel to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, help the blind recover their sight, and set at liberty those that are oppressed.”
The Arkansas Prison Initiative, directed by Professor of Church History, Missions and Theology at Mid-America Seminary Dr. Mark Thompson, provides a unique opportunity to reach an oft-forgotten segment of the population with the Gospel.
Thompson said a Bible verse he has been centered on over the last few months is 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come.”
“We send missionaries around the world to train people in those countries to reach the people in their country. And there are no better people in the Arkansas Department of Corrections to reach other inmates than other inmates,” Thompson said at the dedication. “… We’re teaching them to go and to tell the guys they live with every day about what a difference Jesus has made in their lives and how He has transformed their life and how in turn now, because He has transformed their lives, He can do the same for other guys, too.”
Thompson and Dunn were just two of the several guests to give remarks during the dedication. Others included Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Burl Cain; President of Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary Dr. Michael Spradlin; Colossians 4:18 Prison Ministries Board President Dr. William “Dubs” Byers; Arkansas Department of Corrections Director Dexter Payne; and Varner Unit Superintendent James “Hoot” Gibson. The emcee was Sen. Eddie Joe Williams. The Rev. Jerry Wilson, director of Chaplaincy Services for the Arkansas Department of Corrections, led a prayer of dedication.
During the dedication, organizers also took the time to recognize several individuals and groups who were instrumental in the program’s success, including the Arkansas Baptist State Convention (ABSC). The ABSC helped launch the school, financing the costs of the first four years and continuing to donate annually since then. Byers touted Arkansas Baptists, saying, “They got the ball rolling.”
“They took the bull by the horns, so to speak, and made a wonderful contribution, made a long-term commitment to this project. And to this day, they are still committed to help,” Williams said as he presented ABSC Director of Advancement and News Craig Jenkins with a memento made by the inmates, recognizing the organization as a top donor.
Following the dedication, visitors were given a tour of the facility.
First Baptist Church in Forrest City Pastor Steve Walter, who began serving as an adjunct professor for Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary at the prison this semester, said he has seen a great “eagerness for the word and to walk with the Lord” from the students.
Dunn thanked everyone who provided prayer, financial assistance, equipment, and precious time toward the success of the field ministry program and the completion of Mid-America’s satellite campus at Varner Unit.
The prison seminary is made possible through the partnership of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, Arkansas Department of Corrections and Colossians 4:18 Prison Ministries.
“I am grateful that God gave me a front row seat to watch every day what He is doing in the lives of these men,” Thompson said.