Written by: Emily Tallman in News and Inspiration on September 19, 2012

Monday night marked another milestone in Northland's Prison and Jail ministry. The first live Northland worship service was held in the Orlando Bridge Facility, a Therapeutic Community for adult male felony drug offenders with substance abuse, dependency or criminal behavior issues. These men are serving the remainder of a prison or jail sentence at this facility instead of a standard prison. Through the partnership with The Orlando Bridge, Northland will bring worship every Monday night at 7 p.m.

As the volunteer worship facilitators prepared for the service, almost 50 men arrived dressed in their Sunday best, ready to worship with our congregation through the live Webstream. One of the gentlemen in attendance had previously worshiped with us online in Seminole County Jail and now was a resident there. He had spread the word and personally invited many of the other residents to come worship! It was a wonderful service—the room was filled with worship and praise. The men were very touched to hear a personal welcome from the stage to the Orlando Bridge. They applauded and cheered loudly as a group at the mention of their name.

At the end of the service the men wanted to share a few of their thoughts from their first worship experience with Northland  One man summed it up for the whole group, “You know, it was just nice to be mentioned. I loved being acknowledged and felt like part of the congregation. I’m definitely coming back next Monday!”