The 634 inmates at Madison Parish Correctional Center and Madison Parish Detention Center here – both facilities are located on the same campus – have the opportunity to worship in regular, weekly church services, thanks to Johnny Magnuson, pastor of Willow Bayou Baptist Church in Tallulah, and his wife, among others.
TALLULAH – The 634 inmates at Madison
ParishCorrectional
Center and Madison
ParishDetention
Center here – both facilities are
located on the same campus – have the opportunity to worship in regular, weekly
church services, thanks to Johnny Magnuson, pastor of WillowBayou
BaptistChurch
in Tallulah, and his wife, among others.
On Friday evenings, Magnuson preaches to the
inmates at MPDC, and on Monday evenings he preaches to the inmates of MPCC. His
wife, brother-in-law and sister-in-law, all of whom minister through music,
assist Magnuson.
I really feel
that it’s important to carry on a prison ministry,” Magnuson said. “The love
that the Lord Jesus Christ placed in my heart for all men is what inspires me
to do prison ministry.”
Marques Smith,
inmate chaplain at both facilities, assists Magnuson by setting up the sound
system and chairs before each service. In addition, he often leads in the
opening prayer, sings in the choir, or does the altar call, he said.
“Most of the
time, [Brother Johnny] will have me do that after he finishes preaching,” he
explained. “I assist him in baptisms, and if anyone needs prayer, he and I may
get together and pray with them.”
The inmates
appreciate Magnuson’s efforts very much, Smith said. It is encouraging to
inmates who are from the area, especially when they are released.
“They really
enjoy that he’s able to come out and visit with them because then there will be
someone in the community they know who will help them get back into life,”
Smith explained.
“The guys from
other areas of the state enjoy that he brings the truth,” Smith added. They
enjoy the singing and the fellowship. Johnny spends time with them, and a lot
of guys like that interaction. It isn’t just a cattle call.”
Inmate Benjamin
Gary – reared in a Southern Baptist church – is especially grateful, he said.
“It’s hard to
find a service that fits what you were brought up on, especially in a prison
institution,” Gary
explained.
“I enjoy Brother
Johnny’s service,” he continued, explaining that many denominations lead
services at the prison, supplying inmates with a church service every night.
“He’s my
favorite,” Gary
said. “I truly enjoy his preaching. I like his style and I think he’s very
effective. Probably the greatest thing is that it’s the truth straight from the
Bible. It means a lot to me to be able to find that closeness in his preaching
to what I was brought up on.”
One aim of the
ministry, besides preaching the Word and leading inmates to Christ, is to
insure that each inmate has his own Bible as well as literature to study,
Magnuson said.
“There is a great
need for Bibles,” he continued. “We do everything we can, but sometimes it
doesn’t seem like enough.”
Magnuson and his
wife have handed out upwards of 200 Bibles in the eight years they’ve been
ministering at the prison. Gideons have also accompanied the Magnusons and
handed out Bibles, he said. But the need is still great because the inmate
turnover rate is so rapid.
“We hold
pre-trial inmates also, everything from DWI to murder,” explained Warden Jimmy
Shivers. Once they’re convicted, inmates may move on.
“We don’t house
any serious offenders with more than 15 years,” Shivers said. “Most have 5-8
years to serve on their sentence. We do have up to 15 years, and some with less
than a year.”
For every Bible
the Magnuson’s have handed out, they’ve also performed a baptism, Magnuson
said, explaining that over the years he’s probably baptized in the neighborhood
of 200 men.
One night, he
baptized 28 at one time, representing not only a catch-up on professions that
had built up over time, but also baptizing a set of 12 who had made professions
of faith in one night, he said.
“Some of our
regulars had gotten out and gotten others to come to the services,” Magnuson
said. “We had a pretty big turnout that resulted in so many salvations.”
The church
service, which lasts two hours, incorporates singing, from the prison choir and
either from the Magnusons or special guests, as well as a time of invitation.
Baptisms are scheduled on an as-needed basis at the prison.
“Our discipling
is done during the church services,” Magnuson said. “What they do is
continually attend our services where we teach them and try to grow them in the
strength of the Lord and grow them in the Word.
“On Sundays they
hold their own services,” he continued. “And they have ministers inside the
prison who take care of Bible study.”
“[Mr. Magnuson
is] one of the many that we’re blessed to have,” said Shivers, referring to the
almost nightly services conducted at the prison by differing denominations.
“They don’t get
paid for it,” Gary
said of the group from Willow Bayou. “They could be doing other things, yet
they’re doing the work of the Lord and sharing the gospel with us here.”