MALONE — At first glance, the chapel appears ordinary.
A golden, wooden lectern is flanked on both sides by speakers. Two keyboards rest farther to the left, at this meeting unused. There are padded pews, filled about halfway to capacity with parishioners, some clutching black Bibles.
But a religious icon — any for that matter — is conspicuously absent. All of these parishioners — all men — wear the same uniform, faded, cornflower blue V-necks and pants featuring white stripes down the legs. Two frosted windows frame the left side of the chapel wall. As the sun peeks through the mid-morning clouds, coils of barbed wire are illuminated in blurry spirals.
Minister Rick McClung of First Baptist Church Panama City delivered his sermon Oct. 30 to about 30 inmates at Jackson Correctional Institute (JCI) in Malone, north of Marianna.
“If you don’t believe in God and the devil, come walk in my shoes for a few days in this prison and you’ll see both at work,” said one inmate, who was wearing a yarmulke.
Chris Hayes has done his best to make prison a place of self-discovery, productivity and spirituality. He’s a barber on the inside, keeping busy with his hands as he had as a mechanic in his hometown of Miami. Most Excellent Way, McClung’s ministry, was Hayes’ first step in his growth as a Christian, since forming a weekly prayer circle with friend Truman Louis.
Grappling with guilt
“It’s a very conducive environment to learning,” Hayes said. “Even though I’m in bondage, it could have been much worse.”
However, when the cell doors clank home at night, Hayes grapples with guilt. He previously has found it difficult to live with his crime, although he said God’s forgiveness eventually granted some relief. Now 43, he looks back on his 20-year-old self with regret. The way Hayes described it, a gun accidentally discharged, killing someone. He was convicted of robbery and second-degree murder and easily could have received life behind bars. He’s been at Jackson Correctional for a year and before that spent four years in county jail. He still has five years on his sentence.
“I realized the hurt I caused. When the victim’s family was on the stand, I couldn’t look up,” Hayes said. “Especially now that God has softened my heart, that was somebody’s life.”
Hayes has vowed that he will not re-enter the trappings of his former life. Like Louis and McClung, he is a former addict and alcoholic. He wants to follow in McClung’s footsteps and serve prisoners or people in shelters.
“There’s no way I can do something with even a 10 percent chance of landing me back here,” Hayes said. “I’d rather be homeless.”
McClung has been conducting Most Excellent Way, his drug addiction ministry, in prisons for six years. He’s been going to the Bay County Jail for eight years. The total years for the program, the foundation of which is the weekly meetings at First Baptist, is 12 years.
“Some of the best Christians I’ve met are guys spending life in prison,” McClung said. “There’s not privilege for the Christian in prison.”
‘I was not alone’
Both Hayes and Louis were attracted to Most Excellent Way because of its reputation at JCI. Once they attended the meeting, they were struck by McClung’s down-to-Earth approach. They received no judgment from the pastor and appreciated McClung was willing to share his personal story.
“Because of his life story, that gave me confidence that I was not alone,” Louis said.
McClung has been clean since 1984. He said coming clean was directly related to receiving Christ as his savior. His addiction started with weekend binge drinking and eventually expanded to include cocaine and barbiturates.
“I hadn’t gone to church three times in my life before that,” he said. “It’s about what God can do in a person’s life when they let Him.”
McClung said the only way Most Excellent Way is different than programs like alcoholics and narcotics anonymous is the use of the Bible. The theme of McClung’s sermon on Thursday was repentance, beginning with a reading from the Sermon on the Mount. The pastor added that attendance is voluntary for anyone, although judges have used the program as part of a court order, but only after McClung negotiates for the subject’s approval.
Louis was a deacon before he was incarcerated five years ago. He said he was arrested for a domestic dispute and is trying his hardest to be a better husband and father to his five children.
“Prison, for me, is a place where you can rebuild. It gave me the time to look in the mirror,” he said. “I’m choosing to follow a way to lead me back to society. My life can be an example as a way to overcome obstacles.”
Both Hayes and Louis say the Bible is their toolbox and medicine cabinet to tackle any lingering temptations. They agreed Galatians 2:20 is a continued source of inspiration.
“Christ is living in me,” Louis said. “It gives me the power to overcome.”
On the outside
Matt Hamric has been a participant in Most Excellent Way for 11 years, but he relapsed multiple times in that time. He said he hit rock bottom in 2007 when he attended a Most Excellent Way meeting high, pledging to McClung that he would get clean and then was picked up just days later for 10 counts of burglary. At that point, Jackson County Glass House, a processing camp for federal inmates, was a relief, Hamric said.
“People relapse all the time,” McClung said.
Hamric has been clean for nine months now. Crack was his drug of choice when he was younger, around the time he went to Pensacola teen challenge. Powerful prescription drugs like Vicodin or Oxycontin were the cause of his most recent relapse. He said he would trick doctors for pain meds with tales of toothaches.
“It’s so readily available,” Hamric said.
Even when he was clean, Hamric would stash drugs in different parts of his house so an emergency fix was available.
“I enjoyed the high, but I was more addicted to the lifestyle,” Hamric said. “I really didn’t know anything else.”
Hamric works for a landscaping company now, his boss a fellow regular for Most Excellent Way. Hamric said he has changed his mindset in dealing with his addiction.
“It’s not about staying clean,” he said. “It’s about raising my family to live for God.”
McClung told the inmates at JCI that October Thursday the most important themes of the new testament are forgiveness and redemption.
“It’s about being honest with God first and being honest with yourself next,” McClung said. “It’s a support group. There’s nothing magical about it.”