November 24, 2022

Dear Friend of Twin Cities Ministries,

Greetings to you this holiday season! We trust that this letter finds you enjoying the abundant grace and provision of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are grateful for another year of serving Christ to meet the pressing needs of our cities through housing and discipleship.

Our vision and calling has always been to be a force of grace and power into the lives of those enslaved to lives of crime and substance abuse. Our co-founder Seth Evans experienced that transformative grace and power, and sensed the strong call of Jesus Christ to return to the jails, but this time as a minister of the gospel, to give away what he had received through Christ.

This call manifested itself in two distinct efforts. The first was to serve as chaplain to Ramsey County Jails, one of the two city-center counties in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area. Over the years, we have provided counseling, Bible studies, classes on parenting, anger management, life-skills, and a variety of other services. We have also been able to significantly serve the corrections officers. With the onset of the COVID pandemic, the jails were immediately shut down to outside guests and programming, including our chaplaincy efforts. This December, after almost three years, Ramsey County Jails will be re-opening its programming. Seth has been preparing the last several months for this reopening, and our opportunities there are growing. Seth has provided an update:

We are finally getting back to programming at the jail after several years of lock down status due to C-19 restrictions and officer/staff shortages. The administration has decided to take this opportunity to rebuild the entire jail program system and programming calendar from the ground up. They have allowed me to be a part of the planning and implementation of this new structure—an exceptionally rare opportunity. We will be taking our time setting up new classes, recruiting and training new volunteers. Rather than starting everything all at once, each month we will be adding another layer of programming. This will allow the jail staff to adjust to seeing new civilians in the facility and to evaluate the efficacy of the scheduling, making adjustments as we go. Because TCM has been such a blessing to the facility, staff and county over the past 12 ½ years, we will be responsible for a large portion of the classes and volunteer oversight. Please keep us in prayer as we engage in this difficult work over the next year.

Seth’s call also manifested itself in housing. Obtaining affordable housing in the Twin Cities is already difficult. When you add a criminal record, bad credit, debts, a lack of education, mental health problems, and other related challenges, it’s almost impossible. Seth saw that finding affordable housing was one of the biggest factors in early stages of getting on the right track to recovery. That reality has only become more apparent after COVID.

We understand the value and role of work in strengthening recovery efforts and have always required our residents to find a job and pay a program fee that covers some, or most, of their housing expenses. However, we have always recognized the difficulties people faced. Because of this, we have not required payment of this programming fee until they successfully find work. We will aid them in this process which adds to their credibility as a potential employee.

One of our residents, to whom we have provided ongoing financial support, has been working full-time since he started the program. He was always faithful to pay his program fee, and to serve the neighbors and other men in the house. His life before coming into the program was less consistent. His extended family has a long history of crime, violence, and substance abuse.

In the last year, he has faced substantial personal challenges. His adult daughter has gone to treatment three times. His nephew was murdered. His niece was sexually assaulted. His son stole his identity, ran up substantial debt, and was ultimately sentenced to prison over the whole ordeal. As a result, more than half of his paycheck was garnished for the last year. Through all of this his faith didn’t falter. He was able to support his family and demonstrate the Gospel to them, and TCM supported him the whole time.

Finances are challenging for everyone; it is doubly so for people working to re-build their lives. They face numerous challenges and hardships along their path. We do as much as we can to support and encourage them, housing is one stressor we can easily remove. We don’t think that financial issues beyond their control should end in homelessness.

Our sponsorship funds took a drastic hit over the last three years; we find ourselves unable to offer residents this grace and support due to a lack of funding. Would you consider supporting a month of programming fees for $700? If you can’t do a full month, could you do ½ month? Your generous support would enable us to continue providing this important grace period for residents applying to our program.

In this season of giving thanks and remembering God’s provision of life through Jesus Christ, we’re thankful to God for entrusting us with this ministry. Lives are being transformed—those we serve and our very own. We’re also deeply thankful to God for you for supporting us these past 12 years. We’re looking forward to the year ahead as we plan to start a home for women and children, strengthen our work in the men’s homes, and continue our work in the jails. Thank you for your prayers and support!

Have a warm and joyful holiday season!

In service to Jesus Christ and our cities,

George Stagg

President

Twin Cities Ministries