The theme -- focused on Jesus and His transforming touch, drawing from Acts 4:20, "As for us we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard" -- was celebrated during the second day of the Woman's Missionary Union meeting, June 17-18 in the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.

In a video filmed behind the prison fences of the McPherson Women's Unit in Newport, Ark., three women shared how they had found hope and a life of purpose despite their circumstances through faith in Jesus Christ.

Introducing herself to the audience, NAMB chaplain Stacey Smith told of her 60-year prison sentence after an early life of drugs and crime. While sitting in a jail cell reading Scripture she asked Jesus to come into her life.

Released after 16 years for good behavior, Smith has returned to prison for the past five years to organize Bible studies and reach new believers. She urged others to find a place of ministry behind the prison walls. "Prison is a mission field with a captive audience," she said. "They hunger for the Word of God."

Chuck Kelley, president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, told how The Story Lives On in the Louisiana State Correctional Institute in Angola. Known for its violence, Angola is the largest maximum security prison in the nation, with 5,000 inmates, "many who will spend the rest of their days in prison and never walk out of there."

The seminary began ministering there after the warden, Burl Cain, a Southern Baptist layman, became concerned about the spiritual condition of the men on death row. After starting Experiencing God studies for the men, he called the seminary for help.

Kelley and professors came to the prison with academic courses "to teach them how to be ministers and leaders." The prisoners have enrolled in classes and graduated from the program. Among their class assignments was to lead Bible studies and start churches within their cell blocks.

Individual and cultural victories have resulted, Kelley said. The moral climate has changed, with incidents of violence decreasing by 40 percent.

Laurie Register, executive director of South Carolina WMU, told how the WMU's Project: Help is transforming lives of at-risk and incarcerated youth within the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice system.

For three decades an Acteens ministry flourished on the campus of the Willow Lane Program for Girls located in Columbia, she said. Now that effort has evolved into multiple ministries as local churches and World Changers have led Vacation Bible Schools, constructed and furnished a transitional house and chapel-activity center and prayerwalked throughout the campus.

WMU national president Debby Akerman told of career missionaries and mission volunteers "empowered to tell the story" despite language and cultural barriers. Continued...