Kairos is a worldwide Christian ministry organized in local teams that support regional prison sites.

There are 15 sites in North Carolina.

"These local teams impact inmates spiritually by introducing them to the love of God offered through Christ," says a spokesman. "This creates a more stable community during incarceration and assists in the transition of becoming a productive citizen."

Kairos is an independent, nondenominational and ecumenical ministry, which does not seek federal, state or local government funding. Its funding comes from donations by individuals, volunteers, churches and the community at large.

The Sandhills Kairos Community supports Scotland Correctional Institution (SCI), located in Laurinburg.

Contact with inmates is made through three-day events in the visitor center, presenting a short course in Christianity. These repeated events are followed by weekly and monthly interface with the inmates. The ongoing interest supports Scotland's development of spirituality in the prison.

An information session about Sandhills Kairos program will be held from 7:40 to 8:40 a.m. Thursday, May 26, at First Baptist Church in Southern Pines. The church is located at 200 E. New York Ave., Southern Pines (enter on New York Avenue).

Contact Howard Bradshaw at (910) 695-6217 to RSVP to this meeting.

"Scotland Correctional Institution will house 1,756 inmates by the end of June, with the expansion," says Gary Crutchfield, assistant superintendent of programs there. "Religious programming, such as the support we have from the Kairos volunteers, has a significant impact on the lives of inmates."

What attracts the Christian community to Kairos is that it's Biblical. Christ said in Matthew 25:40, "As you visit the least of these my brothers in prison, >you did it to me." The general community sees the benefits reported in two independent studies that as spiritual programs evolve in prisons, return rates drop 65 percent, And violence within the prisons can drop by 70 percent.

The ongoing success of Kairos in SCI is dependent on the Christian community from the five-county area centered around SCI.

For more information about Kairos, contact Gus Brown at (910) 691-1371.