GREENFIELD — She was headed out of the Hancock County Courthouse when she met them on the sidewalk.
She told them she was headed to the prosecutor’s office to talk to someone about her case. She took them up on their offer to pray with her.
There on the sidewalk, three volunteers for Courtside Ministries joined hands with the woman and prayed for the conversation ahead. Moments later, she went on her way.
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For about a year the volunteers have set up a table east of the courthouse on Tuesday mornings, praying with anyone interested in having someone speak their requests to God.
“Jesus was always interacting with those who were troubled, disenfranchised, and underserved. So it is natural that his church should do the same…” wrote volunteer Matt Norman, also a ministry manager at Christ Fellowship Church in Knightstown, in an email. “For me Courtside is a small, simple and surprisingly easy way to offer the love, hope, and grace that Jesus offers to all who would believe in him.”
The volunteers are part of various churches. They have prayed with people who, like the woman, are taking a next step in resolving their case. They’ve prayed with people who work in the courthouse. Once they prayed with a public official a few days before Election Day. (The vote was later in his favor.)
There are plenty of people the Courtside volunteers do not pray with. They don’t approach inmates being escorted from Hancock County Jail into the courthouse for hearings, respecting a sheriff’s department prohibition on anyone doing that.
And they can read the body language of some people hurrying past; if they don’t think the person is interested in talking to them, they’ll leave that person alone. In a letter the group sent to the Hancock County Commissioners before it ever set up its table on the sidewalk, the group stated that was how volunteers would conduct themselves.
The praying volunteers estimate that during the two hours they’re there on each Tuesday morning, they pray with fewer than 10 people. That’s OK with them.
“Even if it’s only one person … it’s worth it,” said Deb Hickey.
Hickey said she and other volunteers offering prayer will talk about Jesus with anyone interested. They also, however, get into conversations about physical needs people are facing. They’ve referred some people to Love INC or, for those seeking a spiritual home, to a church near where the person lives.
Some people have asked those praying just what they are saying as they pray, since they possibly are praying with someone who’s committed a crime. Hickey said they pray for wisdom for the people making decisions, and they don’t really pray a case goes this way or that; they ask God for what is right and just to be done.
People do sometimes suffer the consequences of their actions, Hickey said, but she and Rhonda Hardy tell those paying a penalty, and the family members also feeling the pain of the situation, that God loves them and still has a plan for them for the future.
“We’re able to speak comfort … and speak into their life: ‘God has a purpose for your life,’” Hardy said.
“People think so often God is waiting up there with a big stick to punish you,” Hickey said. “He has good plans for you. … We do reap what we sow, (but) when we truly repent he can make a way.”
Prayer requests are kept confidential, but volunteers try to continue praying privately for the people they join hands with.
“We may never see them again, but God is still working,” Hardy said. “We don’t know the whole story.”
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Courtside Ministries was the vision of attorney Tyler Makepeace, who thought spiritual guidance would help the people he represented and others in their situation, and as well as helping his fellow attorneys gain wisdom in how to best help their clients. The first Courtside Ministries table was set up outside the El Paso County Courthouse in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2009. The ministry has volunteers offering to pray with people outside county courthouses or government centers in 27 Indiana counties.
The Hancock County group would like to add a Thursday evening shift to its current Tuesday morning hours. Those who would like to have someone speak to their church or small group, or those who would like to volunteer, can text Rhonda Hardy (765-696-1226) or Deb Hickey (317-850-8723).
Hickey also said people don’t have to have business in the courthouse to visit the Courtside Ministries table. Anyone in the community can stop by for prayer.
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