Preacher Dad to Preacher Son: Prison Letters

By JAMES WAYNE LANCASTER SR

This true story best describes how a preacher dad felt about his preacher son going to a federal penitentiary for a crime that was unnecessary. It resulted in a disagreement with his church on a certain issue. This injustice turned into a miraculous outcome.

As a father, it was my privilege to write to my son with words of encouragement every week while he was incarcerated. I call them prison letters.

Mark was told [ASI1]that he would never serve God again because you have a tainted past and you are damaged goods.

God turned impossibility into a possibility. He has forgiven his accusers and shares how it is possible to overcome.

Praise for Preacher Dad to Preacher Son

He writes from a fathers perspective about an unnecessary tragedy imposed on his son. Light always overcomes darkness! You need to read this book.

Dr. John Sullivan, executive director/treasurer, Florida Baptist Convention

Jim Lancaster, Sr. opens his heart to reveal the pain of a life taking an unexpected turn. You will be encouraged and blessed as you read.

Dr. Phil Waldrep, Phil Waldrep Ministries, Living with Joy Radio

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 10, 2011
• ISBN: 9781449726584

JAMES WAYNE LANCASTER SR

Dr. James Wayne, Sr. and Irma Lancaster are involved in a premier adult and retiree ministry at Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater, Florida.  They met at Trinity College in Clearwater, Florida, which is now located in Trinity, Florida.  Jim and Irma have recently celebrated fifty-four years of marriage and fifty-three years in full Christian service.  They have three children who are in the ministry.  Jim holds an honorary doctor’s degree from Trinity College. 

Book preview

Copyright © 2011 JAMES WAYNE LANCASTER, SR

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

1-[phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4497-2657-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-2658-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011916401

Printed in the United States of America

WestBow Press rev. date: 10/31/2011

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Dedication

Acknowledgments

CHAPTER ONE

PAINFUL BETRAYAL BY FRIENDS

CHAPTER TWO

AN ANGEL IN HANDCUFFS

CHAPTER THREE

ANGELS PROTECT

AND DELIVER US

CHAPTER FOUR

A PHENOMENAL, IMPOSSIBLE DREAM COME TRUE

CHAPTER FIVE

SCANDALOUS, NOTORIOUS CORRUPTION

CHAPTER SIX

WICKED MEN AT WORK

CHAPTER SEVEN

THIRTY-THREE PRISON LETTERS

CHAPTER EIGHT

PURE JOY, CHUCKLES, AND SADNESS

CHAPTER NINE

DAD: LIVING DEAD MAN

CHAPTER TEN

SON: MACHINE-GUN PREACHER

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CRAVING A

GUARANTEED NEW LIFE

Conclusion

Afterword

Vignettes: Men Who Made My Day

Notes

Endorsements

Foreword

Letters. They have power. They transcend time. They speak beyond just the writer and the reader. Don’t believe it? Just read the New Testament. It is full of letters. Strangely, most of them have something to do with prison.

A pastor’s heart speaks to a church. A spiritual father addresses a spiritual son. One leader encourages another. We read them now. We read them still, and we are encouraged, instructed, and blessed. The letters in this book aren’t Scripture, but they speak to you just the same.

Dr. Jim Lancaster has faithfully served the Lord for over half a century. But spiritual champions aren’t immune from difficulty. When Jim’s son found his world crashing down around him, his father took up the pen and wrote to him every week. Those heartfelt letters were meant to encourage and instruct, just like some other prison letters written two thousand years ago. Like those letters, Jim’s letters speak of a faith in God that sustains in the toughest times.

There are still feelings in this book that are rough and raw. Healing takes time. This is a story of betrayal and heartbreak. It is also a story of grace and renewal.

In this story and through these letters, we get to peek over the shoulder of a good, godly man whose heart was broken. May this story and these letters encourage you as you face your own challenges.

Dr. Willy Rice

Senior Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church

Clearwater, Florida

How many people do you meet in a lifetime? How many of those do you remember decades later? The book you hold in your hand was written by someone I first met in 1979—and never forgot. Dr. Jim Lancaster has eyes that dance when he speaks and a smile that seems to go on forever. But what distinguishes him more than any physical feature is his heart, and that’s why I still cherish his friendship.

I first met Dr. Jim Lancaster when he was a popular evangelist and musician who was serving the church and raising his family along with Irma, the love of his life. Over the next two decades, our paths would cross most often in relation to his sons, one of whom attended the Bible college where I served as academic dean and later as president.

His unconditional love for his son left a lasting impression on me. He had high expectations and at the same time was an unending source of encouragement. Now, three decades later in a gripping story of intrigue and betrayal, he relates the story of how one of his sons, both of whom are highly respected ministers of the gospel, faced the challenge of his life.

Preacher Dad to Preacher Son: Prison Letters is more than a father’s defense of his wrongly accused child. It is a recounting of an all-too-familiar story of how envy and jealousy can be found everywhere, even on the staff of a church. And it is also the story of how the Lord is the defender of all who live their lives resting in His redemption.

Most ministers his age have long since retired. But Dr. Jim Lancaster never saw his five-plus decades of ministry as a job. While he was detailing this vital story, he was also overseeing the senior adult ministry at a large vibrant church. None of this surprises me. He moves a bit slower than he did that day in 1979, but his eyes are still dancing, and he has a song in his heart that we all need to hear. As you read this incredible story, listen closely, and you will hear it too.

Barry Banther

(Barry Banther is the former president of Trinity College of Florida where Dr. Jim Lancaster is an alumnus. He also served in the administration of three Florida governors as their appointee to oversee all private higher education. He was elected to four terms as chairman of the State Board of Independent Colleges and Universities.)

Preface

I have been five years trying to persuade myself to write this chapter in my life and the life of my son Mark: Preacher Dad to Preacher Son: Prison Letters.

When I think of what my son has had to go through and the buckets of tears that his mother Irma and I have shed over one of the most senseless attacks and tirades against a servant of God by his coworkers in church life and the work of the Lord, I can hardly contain myself.

Here, I’m quoting the Blake M. Wylie e-mail ([e-mail]): The Case of Mark Lancaster: It turns out that several of the other ministers wanted to get rid of him because he was opposing the passage of a budget in the church, and they knew he had supposedly ‘illegal’ guns. After his arrest, Lancaster spent (nearly) two weeks at a county jail in Grayson, Kentucky before being released on bond. His family has suffered, he has suffered, and his friends have suffered (and all of this also caused a subsequent split in the church since the leadership had actively sought to get rid of him and then tried to cover it up).

The most diabolical statement to come out of the ordeal was from an elder of the church that Mark started in his house. The church got so big that they had to move to another home; then that was too small, and they had to move to another facility. In starting the new church, a group of men were elected as leaders (elders). One of the men later called Mark and told him that he had some bad news. Mark, you will no longer be able to serve with us. You have a tainted past, and you are damaged goods. You’ll never work in the ministry again.

I like how author Jim Collins sums it all up in his popular book How the Mighty Fall. The path to recovery lies largely within our own hands. We are not imprisoned by our circumstances, our history, or by our staggering defeats along the way. As long as we never get entirely knocked out of the game, hope always remains. The mighty can fail, but they can often rise again.

Mark felt like he had been betrayed, much like Joseph in the thirty-seventh chapter of Genesis when his brothers sold him to the Ishmaelites. Thank God, Mark has been able to rise again. He didn’t take the advice of the elder. He is now the adjunct music professor at Free Will Baptist Bible College as well as the worship and praise leader for Inglewood Baptist Church, both in Nashville, Tennessee.

This true story relates how a minister landed in prison at the Manchester, Kentucky, Federal Correctional Institution and later raised to great heights in the service of Jesus Christ our King. He was sentenced to one year and one day of prison time; he served from June 28, 2004, to April 4, 2005, for nine months and seven days, getting out early on good behavior. He also served one month in a halfway house when he was released. While in prison, Mark led a total of eighteen inmates to salvation in Jesus Christ.

While in Grayson, Kentucky county jail for nine days—January 8-17, 2003—he led one inmate to Christ, had three prayer meetings and two Bible studies daily, and, on the last day there, he heard no swearing or wicked ranting or cursing. There was a spirit of revival in the place. He praised the Lord for this.

Dedication

Jackie, Mark’s wife who kept the home together

Renee, Mark’s daughter who stayed true to her daddy

Stephen Wayne, Mark’s son who was the big man of the house

Irma, my sweet wife and the mom who lent great wisdom

Acknowledgments

Danny Bennett is our Pastor of Adult Life Development. Really, he is my boss, and I thank him for always backing me up and pushing me forward with everything I do. In his field, Danny is the best!

Donna Foster serves as Director of First Impressions and Outreach at Calvary Baptist Church of Clearwater, Florida. She has been a super encouragement for the book project. Thanks a million!

My administrative assistant, Karen Cupstid, has encouraged me in every way with this project and has in fact helped me with it. I have said it a hundred times, and I will say it again: I wouldn’t trade her for any three assistants I know. Thank you, Karen.

I would like to acknowledge my wife ‘sweet’ Irma for all the input, corrections and final touches in putting this book together for me.

Jason Lazzaro, graphic designer and graphic artist for Calvary Baptist Church, created the front and back covers for the book.

Bob Colmer, photographer, produced Jim and Irma’s picture.

WestBow Press provided invaluable assistance, beginning with the initial contact and continuing on through project completion. I especially want to thank, Rodney Clidienst.

CHAPTER ONE

PAINFUL BETRAYAL BY FRIENDS

After a workout at the Mount Juliet, Tennessee, YMCA Health and Fitness, Mark drove into the driveway of his home. Before he could open the car door, he noticed fifteen law enforcement officers, guns drawn, converging on him. While showing him a search warrant, they pounded on his car and yelled at him to get out of his car.

They identified themselves as the federal BATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms). As Mark finally got out of his car, they immediately told him to let them into his house. As the agents got into his three-thousand-square-foot, two-story home, they scurried in every direction. The agents went upstairs to Mark and Jackie’s bedroom and tore clothes from the closet, searched through boxes, pulled out drawers and checked between the mattresses. They also searched the attic and storage areas in the garage.

The agents asked Mark where he kept his guns. He told them the guns were in a locked room. Mark kept the guns in a locked room for safety reasons, not wanting any children to get to them. He also had in the locked room a large safe where he would put all the guns whenever he and his family were on vacation