The spring graduation we had within the maximum-security prison in Michigan City, Indiana provided an opportunity for the entire seminary community to celebrate God’s grace, to express gratitude to the Lord, and to be comforted along with visiting family members.
It was a joy to gather with dads and moms and brothers and sisters and sons and daughters of our graduates within the chapel at the Indiana State Prison for the annual graduation. Each graduate can invite two family members to the occasion. With the arrival of summer came graduation celebrations within our campuses. First, the faculty and several board members attended a graduation within the chapel at the Indiana State Prison on May 27.
One student said that he enjoyed the graduation ceremony because it gave him a feeling of normal like he had experienced when he was free. The fact that family members could celebrate in the chapel with him and that they could visit around refreshments afterwards was refreshing. It is the sort of thing you do in the free world. As soon as this graduate spoke of his prior freedom, he immediately gave thanks to God for the freedom he now has in Christ. He wanted to make sure that I knew that he was not complaining.
Another graduate told me that the spiritual growth that has occurred in his life and a newfound desire to seek the ways of God have given him more peace than he ever had on the outside. One student said that the graduation was a gratifying experience because he never graduated from high school and when he graduated from Ivy Tech, he didn’t attend the ceremony.
I was struck by how one of my students (who is in his 50’s and received the two-year Associates Diploma) said that as he was listening to the speeches given by the faculty and graduates that he felt the presence of his Heavenly Father. He was overwhelmed by the love of God for him. He felt truly humbled to be in the presence of such a faithful Father who has blessed him in his studies.
A student who did not graduate said that he found the graduation special because a friend of his had graduated from the four-year program. God gave him the opportunity over the previous five years to watch this man grow in grace and knowledge. He had worked with him as a clerk. He had attended chapel with him. And he had observed a wonderful growth in grace and knowledge.
For weeks the graduates will meditate on the time that they were able to spend with their family members during the graduation ceremony. I love that some family members can attend these graduations. It gives them a better glimpse of the remarkable and unexpected work that the Lord is doing behind the high walls.
I know from experience that it is hard to communicate with people on the outside what is actually happening in the classrooms of Divine Hope Reformed Bible Seminary. For example, I have one student who has attended the program for several years. But spiritually he was always sitting on the fence. In the last brief while something has changed. I asked him why it was that he had now gotten off the fence and was following Christ. He said that while he was in a tough dormitory he had thought that he could be a Christian and still participate in the gangs as an honest gangster. But the Lord delivered him from this attitude. The Lord moved him to an open dormitory where he is free from gang activity. And he has a new joy in the Lord. He is delighted to memorize Scripture. And that is good because I am having my students memorize Romans chapter 8 during the summer class.
After two weeks of class, another student surprised the class by reciting from memory (a month and a half ahead of schedule) the entirety of Romans chapter 8. I love how my students speak about how they have benefited this summer by memorizing this great chapter.
It is a joy to spend time teaching students who are undergoing theological and spiritual transformations. It is hard for their family members on the outside to believe that this could happen to their loved one. It is likewise hard to communicate how a growth in knowledge and godliness is changing my students into such different men than they once were. Their faces might be covered with tattoos of skeletons and gang symbols, but the joy on their faces and the words that are coming out of their mouths have nothing to do with gang activity.