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History and Purpose of Berean Prison Ministry
Berean Prison
Ministry was founded by brothers Edward and Paul
Meister in 1996. It became a classified
Organization exempt from Federal and State
income taxes under Section 501(c) of the code.
Our Ministry has
chaplaincies at the following County jails in
the State of Illinois: Peoria, Tazewell, Fulton
and Stark. They are responsible for the Youth
Farm and the Juvenile Detention Facility of
Peoria County. We also currently have the
chaplaincy at the Sheridan Illinois State
Prison. Monthly Bible studies are conducted at
the State of Illinois Department of Corrections
prisons at Dwight, Lincoln, Statesville and
Canton.
Chaplaincies mean
that we have regular Sunday services, Bible
Study classes and religious counseling during
the week. Services are also held every Sunday at
the Peoria Illinois Rescue Mission.
Additionally, we conduct Sunday evening services
eight times per year at the South Side Mission
of Illinois and six times per year at the Peoria
Illinois Rescue Mission.
Berean Prison
Ministry is currently in the prisons of the
Republic of Karelia, Russia. Permission was
also given by the Romanian government to hold
services and Bible studies in all of their
prisons. In 2011, Berean Prison Ministry
extended its reach to include Australia.
Berean Prison
Ministry sends out 2,000 Bibles a month to
inmates in jails and prisons in 47 of our States
along with a Bible study course program. This
course consists of 50 elementary and 50
intermediate lessons and a certificate is
awarded as each entire course is completed.
Currently, we are grading approximately 100,000
lessons per year in the English language coming
from as far away as Hawaii and about 12,000
lessons per year in Spanish.
Our ministry has a
food, clothing and medicine program. We
distribute many loads of these items to those
less fortunate in Africa, Mexico, Russia,
Jamaica, Haiti, Honduras and Granada. For
example, last year we sent 200 bicycles to
Mexico. |
