LifeBoat Fellowship
"Coming Alongside to Help People in Transition"
We at LifeBoat FellowShip appreciate the opportunity to be included in the Lord's work of aftercare along with mnay others. It is not our work but the Lord's work through his body on earth.
Our founder Pastor/Chaplain Leonard Roy Harris through a series of God-ordained events was led to his current ministry. He was drafted during the Vietnam Crisis and was sent to Korea as a military policeman. While there he was interested in corrections but was stirred by the needs of young people and became interested in juvenile probation. He applied for a position from Korea. The director of Court Services was a veteran who had served in Korea during the Korean conflict when he discovered that the applicant was in Korea he placed his name at the top of the list to be hired even though there was a freeze on hiring. Leonard Harris was hired as a Juvenile Court probation officer in a few months after finishing his tour in the Army, a position he held for 4 years.
Rev Harris became Pastor Harris of Grove Heights Baptist Church and left the position as a probation officer. he has been the senior pastor for 28 years now. While pastoring the Lord called him to serve as a full-time case manager at the Salvation Army Community Correctional Center, the nations largest "half-way" house servicing men and women from Federal prisons.
Pastor Harris served in that position for 13 months until his wife Darlene finished college and got her degree and started working then he resigned. He discovered later that his position as a case manager was preparation for him to be part-time chaplain a year later and he has held that position for almost 15 years.
Pastor/Chaplain Leonard Roy Harris started the resident's fellowship at the center every Tuesday and Thursday evening from 8:30pm to 10:00pm. He also began to counsel and witness to and disciple the clients and developed an orientation that witnessed to the general population. He also developed a fatherhood workshop, a drug deliverance workshop and currently a relationships workshop.
As clients left the half-way" house and the resident's fellowship they continued to reach out to Pastor/Chaplain Harris. Rev Harris sought the Lord's mind on the next step of ministry and the Lord presented the vision of LifeBoat FellowShip as a local church -based ministry sending out a "lifeboat" of mentor-disciplers to help and encourage Christian ex-offenders in their transitions. The ministry was launched about 12 years ago by Christian ex-offenders and members of Pastor Harris' church family. Currently LifeBoat presents Pastor's Harvest Breakfasts' to share the vision of local church aftercare. LifeBoat also finds local churches that will host a fellowship between christian ex-offenders and local church members. LifeBoat FellowShip also provides LifeLine Services to provide an opportunity for Christian Ex-offenders to minister to the members, families and friends of the local churches. Lastly, LifeBoat FellowShip offers Orientation Training in local church-based aftercare ministry.
LifeBoat FellowShip is just a small part of the work the Lord of the Harvest is doing in aftercare. The key is for the local churches to seek the Lord of the Harvest and allow Him to thrust them into the work of local church aftercare. Read the additional articles about aftercare on this website. Feel free to call Pastor/Chaplain Leonard Roy Harris on his cell phone at (773) 297-9102 or e-mail him at lendar@ameritech.net or call him at the Correctional Center at (312)421-2406 ext. 3306 Let's all join in with Jesus as he labors to reach and disciple the loss in the world of "corrections"
