We are thrilled to share that Forgiven Ministry was featured on the front page of the Taylorsville Times this week in celebration of our 25th anniversary! What began with a determined declaration—”I’m never going back inside a prison”—has become a powerful testimony to God’s redemptive plan. For 25 years, Forgiven Ministry has been bridging the gap between incarcerated parents and their children through our One Day with God camps, transforming lives on both sides of prison walls. We’re deeply grateful to Editor Angela Farr King and the Taylorsville Times for sharing our story. Below is the article as it appeared in the October 8, 2025 edition, highlighting the divine appointments, miraculous provisions, and changed hearts that have marked this incredible journey of faith and forgiveness.
Scottie Barnes said she would never go back inside a prison after spending much of her childhood accompanying her mother on weekend visits to see her father, who was in and out of prison all of Scottie’s life. Scottie said, “We would borrow a car and pack sandwiches because we didn’t have much money.” She remembers well the trauma of being an inmate’s child and wishing to have the love of her father throughout her childhood.
Scottie continued visiting her father as an adult, sometimes driving as much as 800 miles in a weekend, because she desperately wanted to show him the love of Jesus. He finally accepted Jesus as his Savior about 10 months before he passed away in federal prison in 1987. Scottie was finally able to receive the love from her Earthly father that she so desperately wanted as a child because he had Christ inside of him. When Scottie left his grave site she said, “I’m never going back inside of a prison.”
But God had other plans for Scottie. He intended to use the trauma of her prison visitations as a child to form a ministry that would reach thousands of incarcerated people and their children. She is one of the few who understand what it’s like to have a parent in prison so she knows the need to connect inmates with their children for many reasons: to alleviate some of the trauma, to help break the prison cycle within families, to help with inmate behaviors in prison, and to simply show them that they are all still loved by a Savior and creator who offers forgiveness.
Scottie and her husband, Jack, co-founded Forgiven Ministry in 2000, which enabled her to share her story of forgiveness at various ministry events and churches. Jack has been Scottie’s number one supporter and prayer warrior from the beginning and still is today. In 2003, she and Jack were invited by the International Mission Board to travel to the Philippines so she could share her testimony at various locations. While in Cebu, they were invited to speak at an orphanage called Project Mercy. It was there that they met Ezekiel, a 12 year old orphan who had heard Scottie’s testimony and how she had longed for years to hear her father say, “I love you.” Ezekiel had been abandoned at the age of two in what was known as “trash city.” He was also longing desperately for the love of a parent. He asked Scottie to help him pray to find his father. Scottie and Jack prayed with Ezekiel and left the orphanage, expecting that they would never see or hear from him again. But God was already weaving together an amazing story.
The next day, Scottie spoke at one of the prisons and at the end of her presentation, someone shouted out, “Hey, hey!” An elderly Filipino man stood in front of her and said, “Today I gave my heart to Jesus and I have a little boy named Ezekiel. I want to tell him that I love him. Scottie and Jack had just witnessed a divine moment and knew that they would be able to go back and tell Ezekiel the good news about his father.
Six months after this event, the One Day with God (ODWG) camps hosted by Forgiven Ministry were born in the United States. It seems that God had to take Scottie and Jack to a third world country to reveal His plan for ministry inside of prisons to them. Scottie said, “I had to repent to God for waiting so long to seek His plan.”
One Day with God camps are three day events that seek to reconcile children with their parents who are incarcerated. Scottie knew that when God gave her the vision for these camps, which included taking food, toys, balloons, entertainment artists, crafts, dozens of volunteers, and children into prisons, some leadership in the prison systems might think she was crazy, but God has honored the plan God laid out before her and the ministry has grown immensely over the past 25 years. The first ODWG camp was hosted by Caldwell Correctional Center in Hudson off campus at Hickory Cove Bible Camp, under the supervision of former Warden Keith Whitener.
Over the past 25 years, ODWG camps have been held in Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Colorado, Florida, and Louisiana. There are teams of volunteers within these states that serve at multiple camps each year. It can take 70-80 volunteers to run just one camp for a weekend. Forgiven Ministry has a Board of Directors and has hired two ministry coordinators who organize and travel to oversee each camp as Scottie’s health no longer permits her and Jack to travel to each one like they used to.
October marks 25 years for this ministry and Scottie’s local team planned a huge celebration that took place over the weekend of September 19-21. Volunteers from several of the above mentioned states traveled for the celebration to share testimonies, stories, food, and fellowship. They all share a common bond of wanting to reconcile children with their parents in prison. Many expressed how those incarcerated behind prison walls simply become parents for a day when they get to be with their children. There are tears shed when families are reunited for the first time in years and some have never even met their children who may have been born after their incarceration. Some inmates have actually become volunteers for Forgiven Ministry after their release.
A lot of care goes into ensuring safety and training for these events. Inmates have to apply and have excellent behavior leading up to each event. Caregivers have to agree to transport the children to the event and sometimes that means Forgiven Ministry supplies hotel rooms, gas money, or airplane flights if possible. Sometimes volunteers even drive to pick children up themselves. Every single item brought into the prison must be accounted for and documented going in and going out. Volunteers must undergo training and adhere to strict guidelines just to be a part of these camps. There is extra training and set up on the Thursday of each weekend camp. Friday is a seminar just for either the moms or dads who will be seeing their children with teaching on the subject of being “Godly Dads” or “Godly Moms.”
The entire Saturday of a ODWG camp is filled with activities that include games, entertainment that could be a magician or a skilled basketball duo, lunch, a large birthday celebration for all of those missed birthdays, teaching of the Word of God, craft making, a delicious lunch together, picture taking for keepsakes for the children in frames made by their parents, a father/daughter dance and a father/son walk or a mother/son dance. Final goodbyes are always emotional, but worth it to see such a change in the hearts of those who attended.
Wardens of the prisons where these camps are held report that many inmates who might normally hate each other or who are part of rival gangs let all guards down during these ODWG camps. When they all come together in one room with their children, they are able to laugh together, play games together, and just be fathers or mothers. Some of them even give their lives to Jesus and begin a completely new life.
So what are the benefits of a prison hosting a ODWG camp? Why should someone sacrifice a Saturday to volunteer? Several leaders from various departments of correction in different states took time to share their reasons for supporting One Day with God camps and Forgiven Ministry. Kim Edwards, a Program Specialist in the Michigan Department of Corrections, said, “One Day With God Camps are the best family focused programs in prisons today.” She even added, “They are anointed.” Reggie Weisner, the former warden of the Alexander Correctional Institution said, “The One Day With God Camps helped inmates behave better, adjust better inside of prison. I certainly didn’t think Raleigh would approve of the ODWG camps, but they did. One thing Scottie’s group does better than any other group is follow up. Inmates are better off having been associated with the program.”
When asked if this program can serve as a deterrent for bad behavior and a motivator for good behavior, Jennifer Cozby, the Regional Director for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said, “Yes! It can absolutely serve as a deterrent for breaking the cycle (in families)!
Keith Whitener, who retired as warden of Alexander Correctional ten years ago, said, “Scottie witnessed to the staff too. (This organization) changed the whole culture of the prison.”
Scottie has faced some opposition to this ministry, especially in the beginning. She wanted to buy land for her ministry and some people refused to sell to her, calling her an “inmate lover.” She prayed for a safe place for children to stay during prison visitations. Keith Whitener shared that when Alexander Correctional Institution was being built, there was a small “extra”room in the plans. He said, “This was unheard of. There was no reason for this room to be built. When building a prison, every inch of space is typically accounted for.”
Ezekiel’s Room was born. It was a small room with windows where children could relax and play during visitation with their inmate fathers. God had provided the space that Scottie had prayed for. That has been the foundation for Forgiven Ministry since its inception. God has supplied every need, even when they seemed impossible.
When asked about the future of Forgiven Ministry, Scottie said she prays it will continue long after she and Jack are gone. For now, she will continue to serve those that others may ignore by following her life verse, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.” Proverbs 3:27.
“To read the original article in the Taylorsville Times, click here.”
