Buried Treasures

Discovering a journey long after it had begun.
By Chris Chapman

While attending a lunchtime aerobics class several years ago at the First Baptist Church in downtown Jackson, I happened to learn about the Buried Treasures Ministry. This group ministers to incarcerated women and provides for their children through a “Dress A Child” project. I decided to participate in the ministry, and that’s how I came to be shopping in August 2003 with Matilda Thomas, who was raising her four precious, young grandchildren while their mother served time in prison. Three boys and a girl—just like my own family growing up.

About a year later, Matilda and her grandchildren were without a home as a result of Matilda’s divorce. With the help of my church, the First Baptist Church Madison, and the Buried Treasures Ministry, we eventually were able to get Matilda qualified to own a home through a housing assistance program. But because of the demand for housing created by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Matilda’s home construction became a two-year process.

In the meantime, I became involved in another Buried Treasures project. I learned through Nicki and Dick Benz, the founders of the organization, that the women in prison needed a prayer journal. Because of prison code restrictions on bindings, all that they had was loose-leaf paper. I searched the Christian bookstores and couldn’t find anything suitable. It became apparent to me that I was going to have to write a journal that could be approved for prison use, and that was also simple and easy to read. I decided that the focus would be on prayers of the Bible and learning how to pray. I set out to tackle this “small task” and found that I had a lot to learn!

But God sent His friends to help me, and the Buried Treasures Journal was born. The original 60 copies went to the Buried Treasures’ ladies and another ministry for women. Well, before I knew it requests for the prayer journal from various prison ministries poured in. But the cost of printing another 100 books was going to be $3,000, not exactly in my humble budget. Knowing that I would be giving these away, I had to find a way to afford the printing. My print rep suggested that I print 1,000 copies; give away 500 and sell 500 to pay the printing cost. You can imagine the price tag on that one. But I jumped in, thinking in my usual way, “Oh well, it will work out.”

Well, a lot has worked out since that time. I have fulfilled many requests for journals from prison ministries around the state and have actually sold some as well. Matilda and her family moved into their beautiful home, and her daughter in prison accepted Jesus Christ. In addition, an interesting development came from a call I received from the Mississippi Department of Corrections last month.

As it turns out, Mississippi will be the host of the National Adult and Juvenile Female Offender Conference in October 2009. After a planning meeting in my office with representatives of the organization, I learned something very important—that prison ministry programs are the number one contributing factor for women not returning to prison. The conference organizers also said they would like to use the prayer journal for a workshop.

And so the Buried Treasures’ journey continues.