Listen as Mike Farmer shares about the incredible work God is doing through Gracious Promise and Share the Hope. Both Gracious Promise and Share the Hope play key roles in creating relationships with men who are incarcerated, and then helping them bridge the gap to a stable and more abundant life afterward.
Gracious Promise
Gracious Promise is a local Kansas City ministry to those who are in jail. In the interview with Mike he shared how they work hard to limit overhead and keep the main thing the main thing.
The main thing for Gracious promise is creating relationship with those in local jails and helping them arrange and get transitional services and what they need upon reentry to society.
Gracious promise works as a net to catch individuals leaving jail, to help them quickly achieve basic essentials, housing and a job.
Show Notes
Learn more about Gracious Promise
https://www.graciouspromise.org/
Learn more about Share the Hope
https://www.kcunderground.org/share-the-hope
Find Share the Hope on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/670845196688663/
Snippet Video
Share the Hope
Share the Hope is all about creating a community for men who have exited jail.
I have had the opportunity of attending a weekly get together held Satuday mornings at Homers Coffee House in overland park. It was an authentic experience real raw and about Jesus.
People need people who can understand them and Share the Hope offers a unique community that can lead those once incarcerated to new life. Most of the leadership of Share the Hope have at one time been incarcerated so they understand the struggle and can lead more effectively.
Kansas City Kingdom Partnerships
The kingdom partners in Kansas City make possible these unique missions of God. The partners of Gracious Promise and Share the Hope help provide, housing, basic needs, jobs, counseling, friendships etc…
God’s Kingdom Partnership Leads to People knowing God!
As Sons and Daughters of God we all have the same Father and serve the same King!
Jesus prayed to the father in John chapter 17:20 – 23
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
Transcript
Nathan Sack 00:00
Thanks for joining us for another Faith Horizons podcast. The purpose of a Faith Horizons podcast is to discover the kingdom of God in Kansas City, one conversation at a time. Listen as Mike farmer shares about the incredible work God is doing through Gracious Promise and Share the Hope. Both Gracious Promise and Share the Hope play key roles in creating relationships with men in jail, and helping them bridge the gap to a stable and more abundant life afterward. Here’s my conversation with Mike Farmer. Well, Mike Farmer, Welcome to Faith Horizons podcast. Thank you. So I just recently learned about Gracious Promise in the last few months. And I just wanted to hear from you, you know who you are and how you got to leading Gracious Promised today. Well, I mean, obviously, the Lord is leading Gracious Promise. But you know, He’s put you at the helm. Told you go do and so you’re, you know, following the Lord the best you can to do that. So I hear that you had quite a few years in prison ministry. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Mike Farmer 01:12
Yeah, started out in 1995. But actually didn’t get on the board of Gracious Promise till 2000. But Gracious Promise did start in 1995. But then I came on the board of directors as a volunteer in 2000. But I started out with a Prison Fellowship in 1985, I was chairman of Prison Fellowship in Kansas in 1985, with Chuck Colson, and we were going into the prisons there for quite a few years, 15 years, and then I figured out people don’t need help, or they’re in there as much as they need help when they get out. And so God says, you need to go where God is working. Nobody was working on the outside and helping people transition from prison, from prison back to society, except Gracious Promise. So that’s when I got on the board of directors of Gracious Promise and had been there ever since about 2000. You said 2000. I started the board of directors.
Nathan Sack 01:56
About 2000 you said.
Mike Farmer 01:58
2000 I started the board of directors.
Nathan Sack 01:59
Oh, cool right. And then you said that just for whatever reason, that gracious promise, kind of took a turn towards maybe more financial stuff. So things kind of got shut down and then reopened. So just tell us a little bit about that. And then when were you able to refocus the ministry?
Mike Farmer 02:16
Yeah, it was about seven years ago, we were going through some financial crisis, payrolls, stuff like that. And we’re spending most of our time raising money worried about finances and stuff like that. And I just said, I need to go into the jails and prisons and help people. I can’t spend all my time fundraising and keeping this organization going. So I quit, and left the board of directors. But I said, God has given me a vision, and whether it’s real or not, but I think it’s real that we need to be all volunteer, driven, no paid staff, no buildings, and all church supported. And then I quit the board of directors. And then six months later, they called me back and said, we’ve let everybody go, we’ve got rid of our buildings. We want to do that vision. And I said, what vision? So I didn’t really know you had your so it was like, and then we just, it just God lead us from that moment on. We’ve all been Holy Spirit lead. I have no idea what’s going on. I don’t know when it’s going to happen. But God just shows up volunteers will call jails will call prisons. It’s just amazing how God is orchestrating all of this. No one’s in charge, but the Holy Spirit and the power of God, I just love this because it works because God’s doing it. God will bring stuff up every day or bring this up. And that’s what we do. We do what God wants us to do when He wants us to do it.
Nathan Sack 03:34
Just tell us a little bit about what is the core ministry or core goals of Gracious Promise, just you know, explain some of the maybe even minutia of what the Gracious Promise does.
Mike Farmer 03:47
Basically at this time, we’re in jails. And the idea about going in jail is people’s lives are really in distress a hurricane, or tornado. And so we go into the jail, we meet them in the jail, talk to them one on one, find out what their issues are and how we can help them as they get out. And that depends on the individual. Some people are ready for help. Some people have a family, some people have a home they can go to so the people we really help are the people with nothing, and nobody, and they burned all their bridges. So what we do is when that person when we meet the person in the jail, we find out when they’re getting out, they call us once they get out of the jail, we help them get to an Oxford House and sometimes it’ll take the Oxford House, the interviews are on Sunday. So if they get out on a Monday, we put them up in a motel until they can get to an Oxford House. And then we help them with a cell phone, food, clothing, hygiene bedding, and a job so we help them get established. Gracious Promise basically, is a bridge from getting out of jail to getting stable. We want them to get stable. We want to have a place to live. We want to have a job, we want them to have a cell phone. We want to get them stable. And then we’ll talk about Shae the Hope later that helps them after that. So that’s what Gracious Promise is that bridge, helping people as they get out of jail from total chaos, to having some stability and having a functional life at this point.
Nathan Sack 05:11
So one of the key things that you’ve done in order to do that is you go establish a relationship with these people while they’re still in jail.
Mike Farmer 05:19
As much as we can. Sometimes we can only seem them once, sometimes we’ll see them more than once. But we do take interviews, we get lots of information from them, why they’re in, what their situation is, what they’re gonna need when they get out. I just saw 11 people last week in the Johnson County Jail, and they just got through inputting all their information to our computer system. So somebody calls me and says, hi, I’m Joe Blow, you saw me while I was in jail, I can pull the record up and find out what they’re going to need while in that situation. We do keep good records. It’s all confidential. We don’t share with anybody, but we do need to know who they are and what their needs are.
Nathan Sack 05:54
So how many people would you say that are currently in your record system that you guys have helped or tried to help, I guess.
Mike Farmer 06:02
Well, COVID really mess things up. But we’d probably see two or 300 every year until then. And then COVID, we were shut down, but so we’ve, we’ve had we have teams, two teams of five people that go into two different jails. And so they’re able to see maybe 25 a week. So I mean, it, it varies depending on, you know, whether the jail can shut down for a while or whatever. So, it’s never about numbers. We’ve seen 1000s of people basically over the time.
Nathan Sack 06:33
Oh, that’s incredible. Yeah. What is Gracious Promise? And what is Gracious Promise not.
Mike Farmer 06:38
We’re basically just a group of volunteers that care. That’s all. We’re as little organization as possible. As much organic stuff as possible. We want to- we want to be the ministry basically, for me, seven years ago, was founded on Billy Graham’s principles. He developed teams, and the teams had power to do whatever needs to be done. It wasn’t about Billy Graham. Billy Graham didn’t run the organization. He was the leader, but he didn’t- he had functioning teams. So we have functioning teams of people- people that go into the jail, we have people that go visit people while they’re in the jail, we have people that write letters to people who are in the jail. We have people that are, you know, emailing people when they’re in jail. So we have different teams to meet, we want to let people know they’re not alone anymore. The biggest problem for people when they get into jail, is they feel they are alone, no one cares. And we’re going to tell them that we care. And we have the love of Jesus in us. And we want to share that love, that you are not alone, you’ve got a place to go, you got a group of people that care about you. And we’re going to help you get your life together if you want to and if you’re ready.
Nathan Sack 07:47
If you want to and if you’re ready. So one of the things you talked about before, we were just talking just a short time about a few of the things that you said you’re not there to basically provide them a nursemaid when they get out or you’re there to help them be the men that you know and make their own life choices. So just speak a little bit about that.
Mike Farmer 08:07
Well, unfortunately most of the men in there and ladies in there have made bad choices. And they’ve learned they haven’t learned how to live a life of being legal, because they live in an illegal life where they don’t pay taxes. They don’t have car insurance, they don’t have car license, they don’t have you know, they just they have an illegal lifestyle. And for them to be square and I call they become squares, because you do everything right. And that’s hard for them because they don’t know what that is. And so for us, someone has to be ready to make that really hard leap from being illegal and running your own life and having no responsibility and no rules whatsoever to start having rules. And that’s the hard part. So someone has to be ready and really want to make that that transition. And some people are get out. And they try to do that for a while and they just fall back out. It’s really hard to go from an illegal lifestyle, to doing everything legally in a square life.
Nathan Sack 09:05
Basically, you help them identify, hey, this is what illegal life looks like. It seems like you’re also helping them work through some of the decisions that they’re going to have to do in order to have that and maintain that so that they can have stability in their life.
Mike Farmer 09:21
Well, the main thing we want to do is help them help themselves. We want to maintain their self respect. We want to maintain their dignity. We’re not there to tell them what to do and how to do it. We’re there to help them really, if they really want to make changes in their life, where they’re 100% and help them, but if they’re playing games with us, and people do play games, and they try to mess us around and take this and we’ve learned when those people are starting to play games, and we just okay, so I’m sorry, we can’t help anymore because we don’t do any more work than they do. They have to do the work. They have to want to do the work for themselves. Because we’re all volunteers. No one’s paid, we do this because- so if we’re trying to wet nurse everybody that gets out, we’ve got no time. Can you drive me here? Can you pick up this for me? Can you go over here and pick this up? So we would have no time. So it looks like a guy who just got out, he says, can you give me a ride here? Can you give me a ride there? I go, no, we don’t give rides. There’s something called Johnson County Transit for a buck 50. You can go around where you want, you need to do that for yourself. But they’re wanting help. And so it’s hard weaning them off that we’re going to be that wetnurse for him. But this is the character building they need. They need that character to know they can do it. I can make changes, I can live that life and Jesus Christ is the way to do that. Because they know the power of the Holy Spirit’s in them. This is the right thing to do. Are you going to do the right thing? Because some of them just aren’t used to doing the right thing.
Nathan Sack 10:46
So as you spoke before, you said that the connection is initially made in the jail. And then so how would they contact you after they’ve been out? Obviously, you’ve been emailing them and you’ve had some communication. So do they just immediately like call you right when they get out?
Mike Farmer 11:01
Well, here’s the funny part about that people. So well, I’m getting out next Thursday. And you need to come pick me up. And I’ve learned that they think they’re getting out. But when they walk out, before they walk out the door, all these warrants show up from other counties. And so I’d say you need to call me when you are released from the jail, then we will come pick you up. I can’t come pick you up when you think you’re getting out. Because you may or may not get out. So they- we have a number that they call and it goes to my cell phone. And then we find out what it is we’ll send them a cab, we’ll send them an uber, we’ll send them a volunteer that’ll go out pick them up, and they’ll help them get in a motel, help get in an Oxford House, get some food, clothing, cell phone for them. So all depends on the individual. We don’t have a program, we have a caring, individualistic mission, we help individuals, we don’t help groups of people. Everybody’s an individual with individual needs that are different from everybody else. So we help that person, the way they need to be helped them when they see that and feel that they feel like oh, this is different. They really do care about me. They do know me, and they are going to help me help myself.
Nathan Sack 12:13
Oh, that’s incredible. Because that most organizations like what you’re talking about are running a program. Salvation Army, you know, Catholic Charities, Catholic Charities are great programs. Yeah. Nothing wrong with them. But what you’re saying is, is that this is a hey, you come to us, we’re going to help you, you know, carry your own backpack, you know, and have a life. So you keep mentioning Oxford House. I’ve heard a lot about, I’ve heard some about Oxford House. So do you guys actually have connections with Oxford Houses in Kansas City? Because it seems like they’re everywhere?
Mike Farmer 12:45
Oh yeah. Well, they’re nationwide. There’s 32 of them in Johnson County. And we work with them all the time. We put, you know, two, three people in there every single week. And we help them with their deposit, which is usually $200. And then Heartland Church has graciously provided the first two weeks rent. So when someone is getting out of jail, they’ve got to have their deposit and the rent. Well, they’re not working they have no money. So we’re that jumpstart for them. Move into the Oxford House. Your deposit is paid, your first two weeks are paid. Now go get your job, get the money coming in. They can start taking care of themselves.
Nathan Sack 13:15
Right because that’s vital. It’s absolutely vital.
Mike Farmer 13:19
It’s insane, you get out of jail, go find a place to work.
Nathan Sack 13:23
I have no place to live. No place to live yet.
Mike Farmer 13:26
So we make is that really intentional, helping them get stable. So we do this all the time. All the time. I’ve every day, got this guy call me, that guy call me. This guy called me just got out and he said, where’s my money? The president wants to know where the money is. I said the Heartland Church is gonna send you a check. You need to wait, the president has a problem have him call me, of the house. So you know, they know the drill. They know the drill now.
Nathan Sack 13:52
Okay, so you’re saying that Gracious Promise working with its partners has been able to set up ability to pay the deposit and then also get the first two weeks of rent paid.
Mike Farmer 14:02
It’s Heartland Church- Gracious Promise pays the deposit. Heartland church pays the first two weeks rent.
Nathan Sack 14:07
That’s Heartland Community Church.
Mike Farmer 14:10
That’s my church.
Nathan Sack 14:11
Okay. So Heartland Community Church provides the money to pay for the first two months, two weeks. So are they able to stay at an Oxford House once they’re once they’re there after the first two weeks or?
Mike Farmer 14:24
Oh, absolutely. Oxford Houses are run by the people in the house. They need people in the house because they, the people in the house, pay the bills. So they need- so if the House has five people, they’ve got a budget, they’ve got to have five people in the house paying the bills to be able to have that house be stable. So they’re wanting people as they get out of jail to come into the Oxford Houses. And you have to have a drug problem or an addiction problem or alcohol problem to go into these houses because it’s a recovery house. So we have some people that are in jail not addiction problems, and they can’t go on their Oxford Houses.
Nathan Sack 14:57
Yeah, that’s true. That’s interesting.
Mike Farmer 14:59
So we have a- we have affordable apartments that we can provide them a list of. They have to smile and dial and find out to get in the apartment, then we help them and they send us a copy of the lease. We send the two weeks rent in and deposit. So, you know, it doesn’t have to be Oxford Houses.
Nathan Sack 15:16
But okay, that’s important to know. So basically, it’s the initial deposit and then the first two weeks of rent to help these people. Get started. Get started.
Mike Farmer 15:28
Yeah, cell phone, food, clothing, hygiene, bedding. Those are basic stuff, too. I mean, I don’t have a bed. I don’t have a pillow. I don’t have sheets. So we go to Walmart, get them bed, pillows, sheets and stuff like that.
Nathan Sack 15:39
Do you guys have I mean, I know that you’ve already said that you got rid of all the buildings. But do you have a building? Or do you have someplace to put stuff?
Mike Farmer 15:45
Zero. Our overhead is basically zero. Every dollar that people provide for us, basically goes to helping people. We have no overhead. So people say, well, we give, we only have 20% overhead, but we may be a 1% overhead. Well, it’s God’s ministry. We’re doing God’s work. This isn’t about Mike Farmer or about any volunteer. We are servants. We are servants of the Most High God, we’re servants. It’s not about serving us or getting anything. We’re to call the love people with the love of Jesus. That’s all we do.
Nathan Sack 16:19
So basically, Gracious Promise is creating relationships with people while they’re still in jail. And then once they get out, it’s helping kickstart their life. Bridge. So yeah, just that bridge. Awesome. Yeah, that’s incredible. Yeah, so you help with the cell phones and that little bit of the food. You know what they need. You got clothing. Yeah, that’s cool. So do you do you guys partner with anybody to provide clothing and stuff like that?
Mike Farmer 16:48
We have multiple lists of charitable organizations and people. Yeah, we, you know, we’ve got stacks and stacks of stuff. You know, people need this. People need that. We’ve got multiple resources. We have resource sheets. We’ve got everything they need.
Nathan Sack 17:02
Okay. But they’re the ones who have to make the decision to do it.
Mike Farmer 17:06
Well, we did have a guy that got out of Norton prison, and he rode the bus from Norton prison. And on the on the way back to Kansas City, there was a guy that had do about Gracious Promise and Share the Hope said you need to go Share the Hope meeting. Yeah. So he was riding on the bus, got off the bus came to one of our Share the Hope meetings, in his prison sweatshirt, his prison jeans and his prison boots. He had nothing else. At the end of the day, he had the clothing, he had a cell phone, he had an Oxford House. And that two days later, he had a job. Two months later, he wanted a car and we said okay, if you put up 50%, we’ll put up 50%. And you pay us back. So we found a $2,000 car. We put up 1,000 he put up 1,000. He got the car, he paid us back early over the time, he paid us back the 1,000. So he’s got his own car.
Nathan Sack 17:58
That’s incredible. It’s a simple way of doing things.
Mike Farmer 18:02
Only God’s way of doing things because it just common sense. A man wants help a man needs help. A man gets what he wants. We help him get what he wants. That’s all we did. It’s very simple.
Nathan Sack 18:12
So do you have actually employers that you actually work with to-
Mike Farmer 18:15
Oh, yeah it’s so easy finding a job now. In my 37 years of doing this, it’s never they don’t care if you’re a felon, unless you’re going to a bank and you’re a bank robber. But they need people. I mean, they’re hiring people, they’ll give $1,000 bonuses. It’s the easiest time to get a job. A job is not a problem. The problem is a lot of people don’t like authority, and they’re told what to do by their boss and they’ll quit their job. So that’s a big problem too. Certain people just can’t take people tell them what to do. And if that’s their problem, we can’t make them do it. When they have to go do whatever they want to do. They just disappear.
Nathan Sack 18:49
Okay, so let’s transition to Share the Hope. So there’s another organization that you’re a part of that it seemed like it started in the last seven years too, right?
Mike Farmer 18:58
Well, it started when Steve and Rick two ex-offenders were meeting with Brad Bidicker and another guy named Dan, and they were having Bible studies on a regular basis. And during the Bible studies said we would like to get involved with Gracious Promise. So they invited me into the Bible study. We sat down and I said well, why do you guys want me in here. We- so Mike we think- these are Steve and Rick the ex-offenders- we think that you need to have a support group fellowship group of ex-offenders, for them to meet and for them to help each other and I go why would we want that? He goes Mike, you need to share the hope. And that’s where the name got started. And so Steve and Rick were there we started out in Panera there for a while and we got too big went to Homers Coffee shop and now we’ve got six of them in Johnson County and we’re going to have one in Clay County. We got we’re gonna have one. This is just going to explode. We’re thinking of Miami County, Douglas County. The sheriff’s departments love what we do, and in addition to the Gracious Promise program in jail is to get out, we’re gonna have a Share the Hope group, there’ll be a fellowship group for people when they get out to have weekly meetings, because a lot of guys want new friends and new playgrounds and new things to go. And so that’s what Share the Hope is- Christian men doing the right thing, a place for you to go. We have a Wednesday night, Thursday night, Saturday, two Saturday mornings, and a Saturday night. And so the places to go things to do, and they become part of the organization. And they lead the groups themselves, it’s led by ex-offenders. And that gets them experience, it gives them character, it gives them confidence in who they are. And then they bring other people in it just so it’s God’s plan. We’re men who’ve been there or helping other men who’ve been there. And that give us real credibility. Because Mike Farmers not been in jail. Other people that are helping us Gracious Promise volunteers have not been in jail. So the credibility of us we love, we can care, we want to help them, but we’ve not been where they’ve been. And so when someone has been, where they’ve been, the situation they’ve been, and they’re telling them what they should do and what not to do, it has a lot more weight than what we could tell them to do, even though we want to help.
Nathan Sack 21:17
And also they’re on the other side, too. A lot of them are on the other side. You know, hey, I made it. You know, I’m on the other side. I’ve established my life. I have a family, whatever, you know.
Mike Farmer 21:27
Success stories. Yes. I’ve done it. So you can do it.
Nathan Sack 21:30
I’ve done it, so you can do it. So you’re talking about communities of people, that churches basically.
Mike Farmer 21:40
It is the Acts 2 church. Most churches are worship centers. You go to listen to a nice message and you hear a great songs and stuff like that you hang out together. But that Sunday morning, the rest of the week. There’s other stuff going on. The Acts 2 church is real and raw. People that come in to Share the Hope are going through it. I’ve got nothing, I’ve got nobody, what do I do? I want to get my kid back. I’m, I’ve got this problem with my wife, I’m- they’re real and raw. Most churches don’t get real and raw with people that way. You come to a church, hi, how are you I’m doing great things are going great. You can do a Bible study. This is the in-depth stuff, where the Acts 2 church, they helped each other they ate together. If someone needed something, they gave it what I have extra to you, you helped each other. This is what Gracious Promise and Share the Hope is we’re helping people actually get their life together at a raw and real basis. It’s the real underbelly of life that most people don’t want to talk about.
Nathan Sack 22:34
Right. And I saw that when I was I was able to attend one Share the Hope so far. But I mean, some people just walk in, and they’re bawling their eyes out because they’re having a bad day. And it’s not a bad, bad day like I would be used to it’s a bad day, like I don’t want to talk about you know. They’re overwhelmed, they have, you know, they have life issues, their wife doesn’t want to talk to them. Their kids are you know, they’re trying to get back get possession of their kids. They burned all their bridges. I can’t imagine.
Mike Farmer 23:06
It’s overwhelming. I just don’t see how some people can function. But they do.
Nathan Sack 23:10
It’s amazing, actually. And I just also noticed that these people, when they were there, everything was real.
Mike Farmer 23:18
There’s no mask. You’re not BS anybody. We have had some people come in that try that. Immediately they’re gone. Because this is the real deal. You can’t pull the wool over anybody’s eyes. These guys know exactly what’s going on. If you want to help, we’re there to help you. But if you’re there to play a game, you’re gone, we don’t kick them out. We just they know that they’re not getting away with anything. And they go someplace else because they can’t play the game.
Nathan Sack 23:42
This is a, this is a previous convict led Acts 2 church. We see right through you.
Mike Farmer 23:50
Absolutely they do. But they’ll get they’ll give you the clothes off their back.
Nathan Sack 23:52
Was Share the Hope has been going on for about seven years now. It’s got the one I went to had about 40 maybe 30 or 40 people there. You said there’s about potentially 60 people that actually are involved in that one. And then there’s others that are like six or seven different Share the Hopes in Johnson County alone. That’s incredible that these you know, so how many people would I mean, it doesn’t matter numbers don’t really matter, like you said, but like you were talking about what, you know, 150 people maybe.
Mike Farmer 24:18
Yeah, and people come and go and people come and go. You know, it’s an opportunity to join a Share the Hope group, you don’t have to be there. If you feel like you have to be here and it’s a duty, we don’t want you to be here if you don’t feel you’re getting something out of it. And you’re not contributing to it we don’t want you to be here. Because if you’re just, you know, it has to be- has to be people that really want to be there and want to be involved. We don’t want to bore you and force you to be here. You got better things to do. Go do it. Because when you’re there, you’re present. You’re bringing stuff, you’re involved in people you care about people. We don’t play any games. It’s the real and raw part.
Nathan Sack 24:59
That’s awesome. It’s the real and raw part. Just between the two of them between Gracious Promise and Share the Hope, is there anything that you would ask for help with or if somebody wanted to contribute or if they wanted to maybe get involved? What would be like a first step.
Mike Farmer 25:15
Basically, we ask for prayer. Prayers the one thing we need. Open up opening up these jails, again. This COVID thing, they’re still playing the game. They don’t want to open up the jails because it makes too much work for him because they got to put the volunteers around and they got to take care of they got to bring it’s just it’s a lot of work for the jails to have volunteers come in and have people getting out of the pod and walk them over there. You know, it is a lot of extra work for the jails. I understand it. We appreciate being in there. We’re guests. So we don’t demand stuff. But we just ask that these jails open up again and start taking care of their- giving these people that they’re in custody, some hope. Just give them some hope. You’re locking them up, you’re keeping them in there, you’re keeping them safe. But now they need some hope. So when they get out they’ve got so that’s what we’re asking. And so for money, just get on the Gracious Promise website, gracious promise.org. And share the hope.org. Share the Hope info I forgot which one it is, but you can contribute online to both of those. God provides our money. We never worry about money because God’s taking care of us, but we will you know, we’re there to help people. So if you want to contribute, that’d be awesome. Volunteers right now with COVID. We got more than enough volunteers. Isn’t that amazing? We’ve got more than enough volunteer. And we were waiting for our to plug our volunteers in again, once the jails start opening up, because like in Clay County, we’ve got 10 volunteers are ready to go in the jail. We got a whole couple of churches that are ready to provide so God’s people are waiting and ready for these opportunities. So we don’t have to go find people. People are ready and willing to do God’s work if you just give them this is what we’re doing. Oh, I’d like to do that.
Nathan Sack 26:57
I forgot to ask that question is how many, how many jails is Gracious Promise in right now?
Mike Farmer 27:02
We’re actually in four: Clay County, Platte County, Wyandotte County and Johnson County. We’re working on Miami County and Douglas County right now to get in those jails. So there’s three. Here’s my dream, there’s 3,000 counties in the United States. We would love a Gracious Promise and a Share the Hope in every county.
Nathan Sack 27:22
Wow. That’s just a ability to once these people get out of the jail, that you can help them kickstart their life, and then give them a community that understands where they’ve been, and how it helps them get to the other side.
Mike Farmer 27:38
And when people are ready to go, there we go. I mean, we don’t the Holy Spirit, and God takes care of them. And if they’re where they want to be, and they don’t need help anymore, God bless them. Go, go live your life. I mean, Gracious Promise, Share the Hope is not something you have to be involved in. We have a lot of people that want to be involved in every week and do it. But that’s not, you know, it’s a transitional phase. It’s a recovery phase that people are going through. In fact the two founders are doing great on their own. They’ve got families and jobs and they’re doing great. So it’s moving people on through a really tough time in their life. But we want to have them put that behind them and move on because that’s what God wants to do with them.
Nathan Sack 28:17
Amen. Amen. Is there anything else you want to share about this?
Mike Farmer 28:21
What we’re moving into is other recovery houses, also like Midwest Recovery. You got New Beginnings. We’ve got Mirrors, we’re moving into these other recovery centers with a Share the Hope group. Because the people in the recovery groups in these facilities that aren’t Christian and aren’t jail oriented, they’re in recovery. They need fellowship groups also. So God’s moving us out of where we initially started into these other- so when God’s in charge, He just plays calls up and says, hey, Mike, we’d like to have a Share the Hope recovery meeting in our facility here. They call me they call. So this is all God moved. God ordained opportunities, that this is God’s timing is always perfect. So we don’t push opportunities. Well, why isn’t this happening? I’m really frustrated about some of these jails, but God’s timing is perfect. And He’ll work it and it’ll be there. So but so I don’t worry about the ministry, God’s in charge of it. If we go broke tomorrow, and there’s nothing, He’s in charge. If we expand 10 times, He’s in charge. So I just love being free and just doing what He wants us to do.
Nathan Sack 29:31
Thank you again for being on the Faith Horizons podcast man. It’s been really great just getting to know more about Gracious Promise and then learn about Share the Hope and the unique partnership that they have between the two of them to help these men have a more abundant life.
Mike Farmer 29:45
Thanks for your opportunity. And God bless you and God bless this podcast what you’re doing you’re, good man of God. I appreciate it’s been a time with you.
Nathan Sack 29:53
It doesn’t get more real than that. To learn more about Gracious Promise or Share the Hope or if you’d like to contribute to either one of these incredible organizations, please visit the website links in the show notes. Thank you so much for joining us for another Faith Horizons podcast. We look forward to sharing more conversations from the kingdom of God in Kansas City. If you’d like to partner with the Faith Horizons mission to discover the kingdom of God in Kansas City, one conversation at a time, please go to www.patreon.com forward slash faith horizons. Thank you so much.
