WHEATON, IL (March 25, 2009)\u00a0 – The new executive director of JUST of DuPage, Annie Rose, was amazed by what she heard and saw on her first day at work recently.
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\nThe nonprofit organization – Justice-Understanding-Service-Training – ministers to the roughly 800 inmates at the DuPage County Jail. Rose sat in on a Bible study led by Henoch Fuentes, a pastor of the Evangelical Covenant Church, who is a full-time chaplain with the organization.<\/p>\n
The class was studying Mark 2:1-12, which tells how Jesus healed a paralytic let down through a ceiling by his friends. Fuentes asked two of the men to draw on a whiteboard what the scene might have looked like.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the rest of the group continued their discussion, these two men collaborated on what turned out to be a very good drawing,\u201d Rose recalls. At the end of the class, three men gave their lives to Christ, and Fuentes asked other inmates to pray alongside the new converts.<\/p>\n
As much as the men may have been influenced by the words spoken, the two men working together at the front of the room proved to be a powerful testimony as well. They once had been rival gang members.<\/p>\n
\u201cEarly on, they struggled with one another in the Bible study group, but over time, the unity they shared in the body of Christ overcame the ugly and destructive gang rivalry,\u201d Rose says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese two hated each other,\u201d Fuentes recalls, laughing.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoesn\u2019t God in Christ bring together enemies so that we can together be a dwelling of the Holy Spirit?\u201d Rose asks. \u201cWhat a gift it is for me to see God at work in the same way in the jail. And what a gift it is for all of us to see the contribution of a Covenant pastor who is allowing the Lord to use him to disciple inmates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fuentes, who is the interim youth pastor at Elgin Covenant Church, says he appreciates the opportunity he has to share the gospel every day. \u201cOne of the guys was telling me just a half hour ago that when he gets out, that \u2018I want to come with you and deliver food to the poor.\u2019 People are really being transformed.\u201d<\/p>\n
He cites the example of an inmate who recently received a life sentence for killing three members of a Mexican drug cartel outside a local restaurant in 2004. Fuentes says he had seen a remarkable change in the man, who has committed his life to Christ and ministered to other inmates. After being sentenced, the inmate told Henoch he looked forward to serving God in the state prison to which he was eventually transported.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis change is real,\u201d Fuentes says.<\/p>\n
In addition to the Bible study, Fuentes teaches eight-week classes on anger management and job readiness. He explains to them the physical and gradual emotional changes that lead to angry outbursts. He also counsels them on how to deal with obstacles to success \u2013 which are many \u2013 once they are released from jail.<\/p>\n
Fuentes has long been regarded in Elgin for his ministry. In 2002, The Martin Luther King Jr. Committee and the City of Elgin awarded Fuentes the Humanitarian Award for civil rights advocacy.<\/p>\n