HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Sunday morning sermon at Agape Ministries in Harrisburg is a start for men seeking a second chance after prison.
"I saw how hard it was for men to just be back in their family without issues and problems," said Pastor Derrick James, who started Agape Ministries.
In the basement of Zion Lutheran Church on 4th Street, Pastor James helps reentrants through H.I.S. Ministry, which stands for Helping Individuals Succeed.
"I found that a lot of men who were coming home from prison [weren't] doing well with reunion back with their family after being away for so long," he explained.
Pastor James believes that most, if not all, issues are rooted in a father’s absence, leaving family members to pick up the pieces.
"When you have the kid who is missing their father, as they grow, statistics say that if the father is not in the home, then the kids are more likely to commit crimes," James said. "Also, kids are more likely to use drugs, that's more criminal activity. So that's now affecting the community."
Through his organization, Pastor James addresses the struggles of reunion as reentrants transition from prison to a life of freedom. He started the program in 2018, knowing firsthand the needs in his community.
"Growing up in the same environment that most of our kids grow up in here in the urban community, I didn't have a father," James said. "So I knew how it felt."
He leads many initiatives, including fatherhood training, to help teach previously incarcerated men how to show up for their families.
"One of the hardest things for men to deal with is feelings," James said. "Men don’t like to communicate their feelings and they don't know how to identify their feelings, and then how to express them in a positive productive matter."
Through the manhood development training, Agape Ministry pastors help men navigate the emotions they may feel while finding out what “normal” is.
"At one time I would just hold all my feelings in and I wouldn't talk to anybody," Agape Ministries Pastor Eddie McCary said.
McCary started with the program after serving 36 years of a life sentence handed to him when he was a teenager.
"As a man, I was always afraid to ask for help," he said. "Being able to express myself and share my feelings with another man was vital for me because that's something I never experienced."
"We just love one another here," Duran Sawyers, another pastor with Agape Ministries said. "That's our main thing is just loving on one another and the love overwhelms all of the problems."
Sawyers, a former inmate at the Dauphin County Prison, now finds comfort in the community.
"The thing that you're struggling with yourself? Find someone else," he said. "Help them with that very thing and you can tell them, ‘Hey, I'm here with you. I've been through this. I've gotten through it. It doesn't stay as bad as it looks.’"
Both men emphasize that it takes a village.
"Ask for help. Don't be ashamed," McCary said. "There's nothing wrong with asking for help and you'll find out that people care. There are a lot of good people in the world."
All the work done through the ministry aims to stop the prison pipeline, helping men return home, and stay home.
"I have many guys who are in their family now making a difference," James said. "They're taking care of their wives, they're taking care of their children, they're going to work. They're not committing no more crimes."
The pastor says men in the home make the difference, and data backs that up.
Today in the U.S., roughly 17.8 million children live without a biological, step, or adoptive father in the home, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
That’s about one in every four kids, and a number twice the population of New York City.
Last year, Pastor James started the 'Father Me' program for boys ages ten to 14 years old. It allows men in the community to fill the paternal gap, providing guidance to kids while their dads serve their prison sentences.
"We teach them about peer pressure," James said. "We deal with all the things that a father should be teaching his son."
He says this small part of their community can make a big difference.
"You never know if you can change one person's life, you can change generations," James said. "If you change one person's life, you can change the world."
Activism doesn’t end with the programs at Agape Ministries. Pastor James frequents the Dauphin County Work Release Center to teach people about gun violence, counsel inmates about their feelings and subsequent actions, and help prepare them for release.