THE recovery of an Assemblies of God chaplain from near death has led to an ongoing revival at a North Carolina medium-security penal institution with 480 inmates.
Caswell Correctional Center in Yanceyville has experienced an upsurge in attendance at chapel services as well as increased incidence of prayer since the return of AG US Missions Chaplain Joe Lenna following a liver transplant.
“The prayers of the men brought me through,” says Lenna, who has been a full-time chaplain at the facility since 1994. “I could feel their prayers.”
Lenna had lived with hepatitis for years, but his health took a turn for the worse in 2005 with a diagnosis of cirrhosis of the liver. A gradual decline continued until November 2008, when he could no longer drive a vehicle or function at work because of pain.
Lenna’s wife, Faye, had to provide personal daily attention to him, surviving on four hours of sleep a night before going to her job as a fourth-grade schoolteacher.
“Coping meant long walks when darkness settled and Joe was in bed, as I could weep without anyone seeing my red, speckled face and eyes,” says Faye, his wife of 37 years. “I would converse with Jesus and ask Him to be so kind as to hold my hand and carry my broken heart.”
In February 2009, the Lennas moved to Jacksonville, Florida, in hopes of Joe securing a liver transplant at Mayo Clinic there. Faye took a three-month leave from her job.
Faye faithfully read the Bible and prayed to keep from emotional and physical exhaustion. Throughout the day she would recite Scripture truths such as, “Be still and know that I am God,” “The prayer of faith will save the sick” and “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”
Yet Joe’s condition worsened as ammonia levels rose in his brain, robbing him of the ability to think clearly. Eventually he couldn’t dress himself or control bodily functions.
“She certainly kept her vow of taking care of me in sickness and in health,” Joe recalls.
Joe entered a hospital with pulmonary and kidney failure. Sensing imminent death, he reviewed funeral plans with Faye. Yet thanks to the prayers of friends, he recovered within days.
In April 2009, Lenna underwent a successful liver transplant.
By August 2009, Lenna began working again one day a week before building up stamina to come back full time. Only upon his return did he learn that a handful of inmates had been praying in the prison yard twice a day – initially in response to his medical condition.
Lenna’s inmate clerk, *Bob, was one of the four men to inaugurate the prayer meetings in a corner of the yard.
“When his illness worsened we knew we had to fight the devil, because we needed Chaplain Lenna,” says Bob, who has known Lenna since 1996. “We didn’t want Satan to take him out.”
The prayers of prisoners have helped more than just the chaplain. More men are praying before meals. More have been baptized. Bible studies take place almost every night.
“I attribute it all to these guys praying,” Lenna says. “When I got back, they started praying for God to move, and it seems to be working.”
Bob says initially some of the incarcerated made snide remarks about the small prison-yard gatherings, but others stopped and asked for prayer for themselves or their families. Members of the close-knit prayer group fasted for some requests for a day, a week or even longer. As happened with Lenna, a couple of inmates’ parents who had been on their deathbed made full recoveries. Some inmates with physical ailments received healings after seeking prayer. Others heard from wives and children for the first time in years.
Bob took a proactive stance to those who wanted intercession.
“Guys who weren’t believers would say, ‘Remember me and my family,’ Bob says. “I tell them, ‘Why don’t you come join us and stand in the gap for your family?’ When God answers their prayers, they can’t believe it.”
Some of the non-Christian scoffers now are part of the prison church.
Lenna keeps his distance from the meetings in the yard.
“I approve of it, but it’s their prayer meeting,” says Lenna, who raises his own support as a community-funded rather than government-funded chaplain. “I don’t want them to think I’m there to take over.”
Nevertheless, inmates relate well to Lenna, who became a Christian in 1971 after serving 11 months in prison. He might have contracted hepatitis in the military when the same needle inoculated various Marines. Or it might be from his intravenous drug use in the 1960s, or from the tattoos he had inked into his skin.
Whatever the cause, recovery from surgery has gone well.
“I just turned 60, and I feel better now than I did at 30,” Lenna says. AG News
More AG News
AG Web Services helps churches build free websites
Emmaus Experience will take AG youth to Israel
Pastor D Mohan is WAGF’s vice-chairman
