From Disgrace To Dignity PDF Download

From Disgrace to Dignity is Part One of the autobiography of Rev. Reggie Longcrier. "I grew up on the street corners of Atlantic City, New Jersey. The pool halls were my classrooms. My textbooks were pimps, pool sharks, con men, card sharks, bank robbers, drug dealers, and a variety of misdemeanor street hustlers. I learned fast, and rated high marks in the morals and values of the criminal subculture.Between the ages of eleven and nineteen, I had paid dues in several reformatories throughout the state of New Jersey, serving from nine to eighteen months a stretch. Before turning twenty one, I was on my way to the Trenton State prison in New Jersey to serve a six year sentence for armed robbery. After serving four years and nine months between Trenton, Rahway and Leesburg State prisons; having honed and cultivated my skills to become a bonafide player, I was ready to make my claim to fame in the so-called world of hustlers. In 1980, I was nominated and celebrated at Atlantic City''s infamous Club Harlem, among pimps, hustlers, and people of the night, as "King of the Nightlife." This was the most prestigious and coveted awards given each year to hustlers who supposedly made their claim to fame. By now, the drugs and nightlife had already taken its toll. I was on my way down. For years, I had used heroin and cocaine intravenously until the veins in my arms and legs had literally collapsed. I snorted heroin and cocaine until I had bored a hole in my nose, and could stick a Q-tip through one end and out the other. I ended up doing at least four stints at Riker''s Island, not to mention the aliases I had served time under. Then I found myself spending time in jails of New Orleans, Atlanta, Virginia and North Carolina. As one member of the parole board in New Jersey had stated, "I''d been on a rollercoaster ride and traveled one long and rocky road." But thanks be to God, the ride stopped when I came to the crossroads of my life faced with a fourteen year to life sentence for the Habitual Felon Act in the state of North Carolina. I was over 500 miles from home, and all my bridges burned behind me, no friends, no more money, no hope and without God. My life passed before me in a panoramic vision; the people I had hurt, the jails, detention homes, reformatories, and prisons I had served time in, and the drugs I had used-all vanity and vexation. Then I asked God to come into my life and make something of the mess I had made of it. I asked the Lord to help me to change, and give me another chance to make up for the years I has wasted serving the adversary. I asked him to help me live right. I promised him that if he did that for me, I would give Him back a man after his own heart, one he could be proud of, a man of whom He could say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." It has been over twenty years now since the Lord answered that prayer. From Disgrace to Dignity is the story of how a wretch like me now holds the keys to one of the prisons where I was once an inmate." Catawba Correctional Center for eighteen years, pastor of Exodus Missionary Outreach Church for nine years, and Executive Director of Exodus Homes for eight years. I live in Hickory with my wife Audrey and my daughter Adrienne. God gave me a vision to for the "Exodus Movement" which is leading people out of bondage into a new way of life where they can go from disgrace to dignity. The Exodus Movement begins inside the walls of the prison, leading inmates into a knowledge of God''s power and love through a relationship with His son, Jesus Christ. We encourage inmates to participate in a wide variety of prison ministry activities and bring them out to worship with us at Exodus Church with the help of approved volunteers. Inmates are able to join our church while they are still incarcerated and be a part of the Exodus Church family. Soon we will have a religious services building on the grounds of Catawba Correctional Center where worship services, classes, and special prison ministry events can be held. When an inmate is released from prison, they can come to Exodus Homes to get back on their feet and successfully reenter society . In our Post Incarceration Aftercare Program, we can help them abide by the conditions of their probation and parole and learn a new way to live. Many find a new life in Christ as I have done.