The women at Lincoln Correctional Center received a unique Christmas gift this holiday season when Family-Friendly New Life Media network radio stations, WIBI and 91.5 WCIC, and Hope Shows partnered with LCC leadership to bring the Sara Groves“O Holy Night Christmas Tour” to the medium-security facility in Lincoln, IL on Saturday, December 12.“It was an amazing opportunity to bring the hope of the Christmas story to 500 women living in the midst of one of life’s most challenging circumstances,” states Hope Shops founder Robyn Lyn. “Life is complicated and our choices have consequences, but Christ came to love the lost, heal the broken and free us from the emotional and spiritual prisons in our lives. We were honored to spend the evening at LCC, participating in this work.”
Sara Groves and Melody Olson w/ LCC Ladies
Sara Groves and her band performed two one-hour concerts for the LCC inmates, hosting a total of 500 of the 1000 inmates at the facility. The inmates were generous with their applause and appreciation as Sara shared her songs and her heart. The grandchild of long-term prison ministry volunteers in Springfield, MO, Sara shared the story of her first Christmas “concert.” “I was three months old when my parents smuggled me in to the federal medical prison in her coat,” states Groves. “At that time volunteers were going in for a Christmas service and at the end of the service I started crying. It was an impromptu nativity with my mom, my dad and I.”
Equipped with this heritage of prison ministry, Sara Groves was uniquely positioned to address the needs of the LCC ladies in word and song. Groves encouraged each woman in their individual relationships with God as well as their corporate relationships with each other. “It is impossible to capture all of the elements that went into our concert at the Lincoln Correctional Center for Women,” states Groves. ” The enthusiasm of the women, and their words of gratitude were overwhelming. The simplest Christmas song took on new meaning in those four walls.”
For all the situations where the Bible may seem unclear, Jesus was very literal when it came to providing for the poor, orphans and widows, healing the brokenhearted and visiting prisoners. “My first visit to a prison was to see my sister’s best friend serving a seven-year prison sentence. She was a responsible young lady who made a mistake,” states Lyn. “It could have been my sister. It could have been me. It was very hard to leave her there. To be able to walk back in to another women’s prison with gifts of encouragement and hope for other people’s sisters, friends, moms and daughters was such a privilege.”
WIBI, WCIC, Hope Shows and Sara Groves
The partnership with Christian radio is a key component of the Hope Shows ministry outreach to prisons. Hope Shows and Christian artists can visit for a night, but Christian radio, when available, is accessible to inmates 24/7. Christian radio provides community, not just music, and the combined communities of WIBI and WCIC provided both financial and prayer support for the LCC event.
“Working with Robyn on this experience was one of the purest ministry experiences I’ve had at WIBI since my arrival four years ago. The organizational and spiritual hurdles were high, but with prayer, patience and effort, we were able to pull off an experience that the women of Lincoln and my team will never forget,” states Jeremiah Beck, station manager and morning co-host at WIBI. “Lives were impacted. The Gospel was shared. A Christmas gift was offered, and it happened because of Robyn and the incredible people at Neighbors to Nations church, the staff at Lincoln Correctional Center and our friends at WCIC.”
An event of this magnitude in a prison facility is no simple task. It took a team of individuals and organizations dedicating significant time and resources to accomplish the task, including INO Records, Creative Artists Agency, Sara Groves and band, two sound companies, prison administrators and staff, area churches and donors.
Partial support for the LCC prison show was raised through two “Hope Rocks With Remedy Drive” concerts, sponsored by WIBI, in mid-November. St. Matthew United Methodist Church (Belleville, IL) and iWorship Center (Springfield, IL) hosted Word Records’ Remedy Drive along with regional favorites, The Great Romance, Photoside Café, Royal Tailor Band and Kaleb Krueger Band, to raise awareness for prison ministry and support for the Hope Shows event.
Attendees were given the opportunity to “Pay It Backward,” a WIBI giving initiative, in the form of a $10 concert ticket for an Illinois inmate. Donors wrote personal messages on the back of the prison tickets to encourage the inmates at their event.
WIBI, WCIC and Hope Shows plan to expand this initiative in 2010 with additional Hope Rocks concerts for the general public and prison shows within the listening-radius of each radio station. Stay tuned to www.hopeshows.com, www.wibi.org and www.wcicfm.org for more information and giving opportunities.
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Family-Friendly WIBI and Family-Friendly 91.5 WCIC are sister stations in Illinois’ New Life Media network. Based out of Carlinville, IL at 91.1 FM, WIBI is rebroadcast in Mt. Vernon, IL (89.7), Springfield, IL (90.5), Vandalia, IL (91.7), Granite City, IL (90.1), Jacksonville, IL (91.5) and Effingham, IL (93.7). WIBI features “A Positive Start to Your Day with Lori and Jeremiah,” middays with Joey Krol and Rob Regal, “The Ride Home” with Ashton Lee and “What Matters Most” in the evenings with Patty Dudley. For more information about WIBI, visit www.wibi.org.
WCIC (Peoria, IL) serves as a source of encouragement through positive, Christ-centered music and programs featuring “Scott & Catherine in the Morning,” middays with Jill Tracey, afternoons with Jeremy Tracey, “What Matters Most” in the evenings with Patty Dudley and weekends with Donovan Hill. For more information about 91.5 WCIC, visit www.wcicfm.org.
Hope Shows was established in 2009 to advance the surrounding hope in Christian music through event production and related resources. Focused on spiritual, emotional and relational wellness, the organization connects hurting communities to the one Hope of healing. The Hope Rocks Campaign serves as the primary communication initiative of Hope Shows, accelerating the distribution of Christian music to individuals and communities where it is most needed. For more information about Hope Shows and the Hope Rocks Campaign, visit www.hopeshows.com, www.hoperockscampaign.com or email info@hopeshows.com.
