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The Metanoia Minute
Monthly Prayer Requests and Ministry Updates January 2019
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,

Welcome to 2019! We are very thankful for your continued prayer support on behalf of Metanoia Ministries and the prisoners we serve.

As I look back over 2018, I do so with great thanks to our Sovereign King and I rejoice to see the work that He has done.

Metanoia added 2 new mentor ministries last year, and overall we trained 123 new mentors! 2018 was, by far, the largest growth we've had in the mentoring ministry.

We also saw the number of students involved in our correspondence ministry increase significantly, hitting the 1,200 mark late in the year. 

The seminary at Walker State continues to move along and we added some new students in December. We expect to graduate our first class in January of 2020!

Glory be to God for all of these works!
January Travel Schedule 
  • 12: Clemson Presbyterian Church, SC: Mentor Training
January Update & Praise  
  • As stated above, we trained more than 120 mentors in 2018! We are thankful for the men and women who have come forward and decided to serve in this life-on-life ministry. 
  • We are praising God for the work that Shelly Marshall has been doing with the correspondence ministry. Shelly has been reaching out to prison chaplains and the result has been hundreds of new student requests! We thank God for the opportunity to give solid, biblical teaching to prisoners.
  • Our support topped all previous years in 2018, for which we give thanks! God continues to bless the ministry with the resources we need to fulfill His calling on us. 
2019 Prayer Requests  
  • Please pray that God would move more men to join mentoring at the four locations we currently are serving. 
  • Last year we added new staff members. Please pray for each of our staff: John Theoharis, Randy Jackson, Shelly Marshall, Tim McCracken, Steven Howell, Tony Rogers
  • Please pray for student longevity in the correspondence ministry. We want to work with students as long as possible.
  • Please pray for John Theoharis, who will be overseeing the mentoring work at Phillips and expanding our re-entry work. 
  • Please pray for Rev. Randy Jackson. Please pray that the Lord will expand the opportunity to mentor more men at Hays, that God will continue to work in the life of R.P., who was a mentee at Walker and Hays but has been released now, and that the Lord will continue to guide Randy in his calling to minister to prisoners.
  • Please pray for Shelly as she continues to see more and more students wanting to study with Metanoia.
  • Please pray for Rev. Tim McCracken and the work he is doing in the prisons in CA. He has a very large field that truly is ripe for harvest! Pray for more laborers.
  • Please pray for Steven Howell as he oversees the administration of the mentor ministry at Walker.
  • Please pray for Tony Rogers. Tony is raising his support and will be sitting for Ordination in January.
  • Our budget has increased over last year. Please pray that God will supply all of our need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus!
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

In 2017 I was interviewed by Eric Nevins, who hosts the podcast, "Halfway There". You can listen to his interview here: http://ericnevins.com/podcast/halfwaythere/037/
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:
  • January 29-30: Chattanooga, TN: Conference on Economic Justice
  • March 14-16: Orlando, FL: Ligonier National Conference
  • March 29-30: Huntsville, AL: MNA Mercy Conference
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 as a first grade teacher in the Hamilton County School District in Chattanooga, TN.

They have two precious daughters. Eliana is 10 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, AL and MN. She loves her little sister, Joelle, who is 6. Their daddy calls them his beloved rapscallions.