10 Sep These People REALLY Want to Come to Church

Darwin Dunten (right), senior pastor, First UB church (Findlay, Ohio)

If you had to be searched before you go to church and then stripped searched after you attend services, would you still go?

Because of security concerns, when prisoners leave their cell at the Findlay/Hancock County, Ohio jail, they must be searched. When they return to their cells, they are stripped searched. This was implemented about 4 months ago after drugs were being smuggled into the jail.

That would be the death nail to many ministries.

Not for the jail ministry. There has been a slight decline in the attendance from 50 inmates a night to 35-40 inmates. But the ministry remains strong.

Jim Woodward and pastor Darwin Dunten of First UB in Findlay, along with pastor Ted Fairchild of The Rock UB church in Findlay, spend a lot of time encouraging the inmates when they do come. We thank them for being willing to go through the gauntlet to attend. We share that this is really a testimony to their faith. And we also tell them, “Your actions put our own church members to shame.”

Think about it. What would happen to our churches if each church member had to be stripped searched to attend services?

Yes, we recognize that there are still prisoners that are willing to go through the searches just to get out of the cell. However, it is making an impact on the jailers. A corrections officer recently told Pastor Dunten, “For them to go to your services after what we have to put them through, you must be doing something right.”

Matthew 25:36–“I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”