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The Metanoia Minute
Monthly Prayer Requests and Ministry Updates January 2017
In This Issue
January Travel Schedule
January Update & Praise
January Prayer Requests
Watch Our Videos
Upcoming Events
About The Casson Family
Find us on Facebook

To Learn More About MNA-Metanoia Ministries, click here to visit our website.

 
Dear Friend,
  
Happy New Year! I don't know about you, but I am excited about this new year. After reviewing what God has done in 2016, and giving thanks and praying and meditating about where we are going, I can't help but be excited.

God has sustained us through 2016, and He added a new employee to our staff. We are hoping to see mentoring start at a new prison in the first quarter of this year, as well as begin laying the ground work for starting it at another prison later in the year.

We are serving many students via correspondence, and we are beginning to see more involvement in reintegration efforts, especially with men who have been mentored at Walker State Prison. The infectious joy of ministering to prisoners is spreading throughout the PCA and beyond!

The Lord our God is indeed good to us, and 2017 is a year in which we will continually rejoice in His goodness!
January Travel Schedule 
  • 23-25: St. Louis, MO: Racial Reconciliation and Justice Conference
January Update & Praise  
  • Our Financial Support was the best in the history of Metanoia! We are very thankful for all who invest in our ministry.
  • In 2016 we were blessed to add 159 new Corresponding Disciplers to our ranks. What a joy it is to see so many answer the call to "remember the prisoner" (Heb. 13:3)
  • In 2016 we sent out 455 new student packets. This is the number of new prisoners who desired to study with Metanoia!
  • In 2016 we were blessed to add 26 new mentors to the Community Mentoring Ministry at Walker State Prison.
  • God continues to open doors across the State of Georgia regarding the mentoring ministry. If you live in and would like to be involved in your area, please contact me.
  • We praise God for the work He is doing in the prisons across the country. We are thankful to be a small part of the mighty work He is doing.
January Prayer Requests  

  • Please praise God for the growth that He has given to Metanoia and for the impact the gospel is making in the lives of so many.

  • Please pray for the men and women who are involved with Metanoia, whether as students, corresponding disciplers, mentees, mentors, or supporting churches.

  • Please pray for potential ministry expansion in the California Prison System

  • Please pray for a seminary solution as we have some students around the county who would benefit greatly from seminary education.

  • Please pray for Shelly as she keeps up the daily work of maintaining the correspondence ministry. 
  • Please pray for Rev. Randy Jackson and the expansion of the mentoring ministry into the State of Georgia. Once again we were told by a high-level Corrections Official that this is the most important component of the faith and character model. Pray that God will raise up the laborers.
  • We have applied for a substantial grant package which will facilitate Metanoia's growth over the next 6 years or so. Please pray that the donor will catch on to our vision and see the amazing work that God is doing in our prisons across the country.
  • Please pray for new financial partners who would like to invest in God's work in the prisons.
  • Please pray that God will help us in finding the right people we need to fill important positions over the course of the next several years.
Watch our Videos or Listen to Interviews
MNA-Metanoia Prison Ministries has been blessed with some videos that were produced by Genesis One Productions, with the help of Christ Covenant Church. Andy Caldwell directed, shot and edited the videos, and I think he did a fantastic job. You can watch the videos here:  Metanoia Video and  Metanoia Video 2 . Please let me know what you think. Also, please visit Ligonier.org and watch another video here:  http://www.ligonier.org/blog/metanoia-prison-ministries/

If you would like to listen to an interview by Dan Frye of A Rebel's Cause Radio, you can watch or listen here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSVVOxtDyQM

If you are interested in listening to the radio interview with Pastor Kevin Boling of Knowing the Truth, you can hear it here:   http://www.sermonaudio.com/playpopup.asp?SID=31312142251
If you are interested in listening to the podcast interview with William Hill of Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary's Confessing our Hope podcast, it can be heard here:  http://www.gpts.edu/podcast/Broadcast7_(Casson).mp3

Upcoming Events: Mark Your Calendar!

I thought it might be good for you to be aware of various events that we are scheduling so that you can both pray for us, and attend if you find yourself in the area. Here are the events on the calendar thus far:
  • Jan. 24-25: St. Louis, MO: Racial Reconciliation and Justice Conference
  • Feb. 1-5: Salt Lake City, UT: Northern California Presbytery Meeting & Presentation at Jordan Valley Church.
  • Mar. 6-13: Ligonier Conference, Orlando, FL & Church presentation
Mark, Eliana, Raylene & Joelle
About The Casson Family   
Mark Casson   is a husband, father, businessman, author and PCA Ruling Elder who also happens to have spent over 15 years serving a life sentence in California's prison system. He is the Director of Metanoia Prison Ministries and the Director of Prison Ministry for Mission to North America. Mark is a sought-after speaker who has taken the gospel of grace to high schools, college campuses, prisons and churches. He has a passion for mercy ministry to prisoners that is infectious.

His beautiful wife, Raylene has been a school teacher for more than 20 years and has taught in Bolivia, Canada, and the U.S. in both Christian and public schools. Raylene currently works part-time as a reading intervention specialist in Hamilton County, TN. 

They have two precious daughters. Eliana is 8 years old and has played in CA, NY, FL, MT, UT, OR, ID, NV, AZ, NM, TX, OK., TN, SC, HI, WI, GA, SD, WY and MN. She loves her little sister, Joelle, who is 4. Their daddy calls them his beloved rapscallions.