ONA -- You are loved.

That is the message Elicia Bias of Ona and dozens of volunteers belonging to the West Virginia Group of Kairos Prison Ministry like to share with residents of Lakin Correctional Facility for Women in West Columbia, W.Va.

Kairos Prison Ministry International, a worldwide, volunteer-based Christian organization "bringing the light of Christ to the darkness of prison" through prayer, love, support and other acts of kindness, features a structured program for a three-day weekend.

After attending a weekend event in Ashland in 2005, Bias felt strongly that God was calling her to do some type of prison ministry, but she argued and questioned why she would be called to work with "those people."

"I was very quick to judge others based on what I believed was right for me," she said. "I had the habit of classifying sin as good sin and bad sin.

"People who went to prison were worse than me because they were in jail for the sins they committed."

That's when God gently changed her heart. In 2000, when Bias and husband, David, were in the process of adopting their first child, whose mother had a sordid past, she realized how easily you could love someone like that. During the second adoption process in 2003, the birth father had a sordid past and the way she felt about him was also changed.

"Through all these circumstances, God was using others to help mold and prepare me for where He wanted to send me," she said.

Bias became a part of the Kairos Prison Ministry in February 2006, with her first weekend at the Lakin facility in May 2006.

"Since then, I have taken part in the weekends that occurred November 2006, May 2007 and November 2007," Bias said. "In addition, I have participated in the two-day retreat in February 2007, August 2007 and February 2008."

Volunteer witnesses spend weeks preparing and praying for their "adventure," Bias said. At periodic meetings and prayer circles, members mold their team with support, love and strength to meet the challenges and changes to be seen behind the prison bars, have the assurance that God is with them, and share Christ's love to those who may not realize they are loved unconditionally in spite of their mistakes.

Bias has served as agape coordinator and table clergy, although she is not an ordained clergy.

"If there are not enough clergy available for each family table, someone who is considered spiritually mature may fill that role," Bias said.

Currently, Bias is the outreach person on the Lakin Advisory Council.

"The council chooses the leader for each weekend," she said, "but you can only be a leader once."

Bias, a member of Ona's Bethesda United Methodist Church for almost 14 years, served as its choir director for nine years before giving it up to devote more time to the prison ministry.

Entering a prison for the Kairos Weekend is a world all its own. There are rules to be followed, both from prison wardens and from the Kairos organization.

"Most of the personnel are glad to have us and excited to be a part of the weekend themselves," Bias said. "Because Kairos has been at Lakin for nine three-day weekends now, and the staff sees the benefits and changes it has brought, they are supportive to the ministry."

After entering the heavy, barred doors at the institution, volunteers, clergy and participants share cookies baked and sent by community volunteers or those from the "free" world as some inmates call them.

Prayer, meditations, chapel visits, discussions, testimonies, singing and eating are included in the weekend agenda. One of Bias' favorite parts of the ministry is Saturday evening's forgiveness ceremony.

"This service is one of the most sacred moments of the weekend for all of us," she said.

Throughout the day, everything points to forgiveness and the things necessary to forgive are added to a list.

"We are reminded that when we pray the Lord's Prayer, we say, 'forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.' "

That list on paper doesn't go unnoticed. At the evening ceremony, the papers are placed in a tub of water to give those names to God and ask His help in forgiveness. The paper disappears into the water, totally dissolved away. The chaplain then washes the hands of participants as an outward showing of the cleansing within from unforgiveness, after which each is given a bag of cookies and asked to take them to someone in the prison they need to forgive or be forgiven by.

Another special moment for Bias is witnessing the women reading letters addressed to them. Inmates never receive unopened mail, but when Kairos comes, they get a bag of letters written by the team members.

"Many walls are broken down at this time, as those incarcerated women read and realize that they are loved unconditionally by a savior who was willing to give His life for them, in spite of what they have done," Bias said. "For some, they have never experienced any kind of love, let alone unconditional love.

"This is really what it is all about, sharing God's love with the least, the last, and the lost and then in turn, seeing lives changed because of that," Bias said.

Kairos Prison Ministry has three men's groups working in West Virginia -- Huttonsville, St. Mary's and Mt. Olive -- and the one women's group. There is also Kairos Outside, which works with inmates' families.

For more information about the ministry, visit the Web site www.kairoswv.org or contact Bias at bias4@suddenlink.net or call (304) 736-6741.

AP Video

Photo courtesy of Tom Burger

Elicia Bias hugs one of the inmates at Lakin Correctional Facility for Women near West Columbia, W.Va., during a Kairos Prison Ministry trip to the prison.