Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 26, 1993 TAG: 9304260074
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Herbert R. Beard is a self-described "three-time loser."
At 39, he's been in jail almost half his life. His first sentence was for second-degree murder and he's been incarcerated on lesser charges since.
But now, he says, he believes his life will be different.
Sunday afternoon, he was baptized as a symbol of a new commitment to the Christian faith.
Beard is the latest of 11 inmates baptized by immersion at the Roanoke County-Salem Jail.
Although a Christian ministry to inmates has been going on for years, until two months ago there had been no way to immerse converts at the jail.
They used to be transported to the Roanoke Jail, which has a baptismal pool, for the rite. But transportation and scheduling conflicts were making that more and more difficult, said Roanoke County Sheriff Gerald Holt.
So ministry volunteers found a way to bring the water to the inmates.
Ben Jefcoat, a Norfolk Southern mechanic, heard about a portable baptismal pool that a retired engineer in Vermont had designed. He passed that information on to Bill Board, the leader of the jail ministry and retired director of the Roanoke County/Salem Chamber of Commerce.
Together they arranged to have a similar pool built for their ministry here and now have conducted two baptismal services in a jail common room.
Board, who has been involved in the jail ministry for 12 years, said that since the baptismal pool does take some time to set up and fill, baptisms will be performed only when at least four or five inmates are ready for the service.
A collapsible wooden frame - built by students at the Arnold R. Burton Vocational-Technical School - supports a vinyl liner that is half-filled with water for the services.
Inmates kneel in the pool and bow forward into the water as Board and Jefcoat announce their initiation "into a new life."
Donna Kidd, 26, had tears in her eyes as she prepared for her baptism.
She has "lived the other way and I don't like it," she said. The Salem woman has "three kids I want to raise the right way," and she says her baptism symbolizes her commitment to do that, once she is released from jail.
Susan Turner, a 29-year-old Martinsville native, said she knows she had been "backsliding" - not living up to her Christian faith - in recent years.
Sometime in the next year, she'll be coming up for parole, she said, and "I know I need God in my life. I can't do it alone."
Jimmy Pressley said family members were as excited as he was at his recommitment to Christianity.
"I know I have to follow God before I can follow my life's destiny," Pressley, 29, said.
Though he had been baptized as a child, he said, he had neglected his faith. When he gets out of jail in four or five weeks, he expects to begin attending Mineral Springs Baptist Church.
"This will continue," he said. "It's no passing thing."
Board and Jefcoat say they both understand about "jailhouse religion" - when inmates feign a commitment to religion in order to gain special favors or early release.
But the two volunteers say they don't try to make judgments about that.
"I take the attitude that I can't get inside their minds," said Board. "I'm willing to take them at their word."
On the other hand, they know that at least sometimes their work has yielded fruit.
"There is nothing like seeing a former inmate on the outside who comes up to you and says, `I've accepted Christ, I'm doing fine, and I'm never going back,' " Jefcoat said.
by CNB