After 20 years of freedom, two former inmates returned to Rayburn Correctional Center to help raise funds for a chapel. Ricky Sinclair, Pastor of Miracle Place Church in Baker, and real estate tycoon Joe Cross of Hammond each pledged to raise $10,000 to complete RCC’s chapel, which is two thirds complete. Construction stopped when the funds already given were depleted.

Sinclair and Cross spoke at a jambalaya dinner hosted by RCC. Also on the program was Offender Chaplain John Sheehan, who has ministered at RCC for seven years. Pastors and volunteers from across the parish were invited.

“When we talk about building a chapel, we’re talking about transforming hearts,” Sinclair said. “We’re talking about changing men from the inside out.”

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Transformations are taking place at RCC. Inmate-on-inmate and inmate-on-staff violence has decreased since Chaplain Wayne Cook brought in offender missionaries who graduated from the New Orleans Baptist Seminary extension campus at Angola. He currently has six dedicated Offender Chaplains.

“We try to live among the men here and be an example of what faith can do to change lives,” Sheehan said. “We are on display 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We have to demonstrate the righteousness of God, or we’ll be viewed as hypocrites.”

Approximately 43,000 men attended faith-based activities at the prison in the previous year. They spent 93,000 hours in classes and worship services.

“We’re running out of space,” Sheehan said. “We have backlogs for most of our activities.”

A chapel will change that. The RCC chapel differs from most of the ones built at other institutions because it is more than a corporate worship center. It will include space for four classrooms, as well as a worship center designed to seat about 285 men.

RCC is different in another way, according to Louisiana Prison Chapel Foundation Executive Director Cindy Mann.

“We’ve had more participation by individuals for this chapel than any other,” Mann said. “We’ve been truly amazed at the level of support generated here. . . The inmates have raised almost $7,000.”

Mann asked those present to pledge to fill the gap between the $400,000 already raised and the $120,000 needed to complete the project.

“We are one of only three prisons that still do not have a place of worship,” Warden Robert Tanner reminded. “Like the cloud that followed the tabernacle in the wilderness by day, and the fire that was visible at night, the chapel will be a visible sign of an invisible God.. We have asked all of you here to help find the best way to complete our project.  I thought that if we could get about 150 people to raise from their churches or make a personal contribution of $1,000, the chapel could be completed.”

When Sinclair asked if anyone was willing to make a pledge that night, the offenders were some of the first to respond. The pastor of United Fellowship, the offender church, pledged to raise $600 from his congregation. His men tithe the four cents an hour they earn at RCC. The Jaycees and Vets Clubs pledged to contribute $3000. Volunteers and pastors also pledged their support.

By the end of the night about half of the remaining amount had been pledged. Parish churches were encouraged to help raise the rest.

“From my experience in prisons across the state, there is no prison in the state that has the presence of God more than Rayburn.” Chief Jeffery Travis, a former RCC Warden said. “That’s why we’re going to cross this finish line and complete the chapel.”