Shown here is a letter from an inmate, one of three inmates from a Texas prison who have been in contact with Reformed Fellowship. They have been taking seminary courses at the prison, similar to what Divine Hope Reformed Bible Seminary offers, provided by Southwestern Baptist Seminary. They represent ten students who have come to embrace the Reformed faith even while being taught by Baptists. Because they were wanting to know more about the Reformed faith, Reformed Fellowship sent them a couple of our doctrinal books. This inmate and another one have completed their studies and now will be assigned to other prisons within the system where they will be preaching, teaching, and mentoring inmates.

Brother Rau,

Grace and peace to you my friend. I trust that all is well with you. I myself am doing well. I had planned to write to you sooner, however between doing papers final exams and graduation, I could not keep up with the letter writing. Everything is over now so I can get back to normal.

I want to thank you for the books that you sent. They were certainly unexpected, but gratefully received. I was looking through the Outlook magazine and I saw the advertisement for for Cornelius Venema’s “Exposition on the Canons of Dort” and then I made a comment to a friend that I wanted that book, and that night I got it in the mail. That was awesome! I read through it quickly and now I’m on how “God Builds His Church Through The Word and the Sacraments.” Again thank you for your generous gift.

Graduation was on May 13 and it was great. I am not going to lie and say that I didn’t feel a sense of pride by earning my degree; I worked hard for 4 -1/2 years and it was and I was proud of my accomplishment. I give all glory to God for giving me the ability to achieve this goal. The best part of it all was to share the experience with my mom, wife, and brother, and then to present my mom with my diploma. She was very happy for me and was touched by my gesture. We shared a few tears of joy.

If you want to know more about the program you can go to heart of Texas foundation.org.

In your reply you spoke about the Hope Reformed Bible seminary in the Indiana prison. Is this in a classroom setting or is it through correspondence? My next question is: is it just for Indiana prisoners or is it an institution with a accreditation? I am asking because at some point I am going to further my education and I want to know what my options are. I am interested to know more about H.R.B.S.

There has been a few changes regarding field placement so I will be at Darrington for about another month or so. I can wait to get out into the field to do the Lord’s work.

I have been rambling on so I will close for now. I thank you for your friendship and support. Take care and God bless.

In Christ

Erin

Mr. Myron Rau is chairman of the board of Reformed Fellowship, Inc.