Freedom in the Son was founded in 1986 by Fran Howard. Fran’s vision started with a softball team for incarcerated women and today we have worked with hundreds of women, children and families in the form of prison ministry, mentoring, friendship and more. Read below to find out about our past history and current involvements.

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HISTORY

In 1986 God shared the vision of reaching women in the prison with Fran Howard. As she shared the vision, God raised up many women to walk alongside her in sharing the life and love of Jesus Christ with the ladies who are incarcerated and those transitioning back into their communities.

FITS originally began with 14 young women who made up a softball team coached by Fran. In the early years these 14 women were involved at the Oregon Correctional Center in Salem doing everything from playing ball, to tutoring, conducting musical events, birthday parties, counseling, teaching bible studies and just living month the residents. Over 20 years later, 4 of the original 14 are still actively volunteering with FITS. Today there are more than 65 volunteers working inside Coffee Creek and on the outside as mentors and friends.

Prison ministry

For over 30 years faithful women of God have been carrying on this ministry to the glory of God. The three facets of the ministry as given to Fran are:

  1. Prevention (reaching those before they arrive in prison)

  2. In house (being inside the prison consistently building relationships and sharing the Word of God)

  3. After care (helping women transition back into their communities)

The key to the longevity of the FITS ministry is:

  1. God gave the vision

  2. It is God’s ministry - He calls Who HE wills and removes those He wants to move on.

  3. We prayerfully seek to walk in obedience to Him in reaching out to hurting women in a variety of ways.

  4. We are comprised of many cultures and denominations.

  5. Our criteria is being one in Christ - unity in the Spirit - each one called to share their spiritual gifts in a way that gives God the glory.

  6. The foundation of the ministry is PRAYER. We are each called to pray for the residents, each other, staff and officers we work with at the prison.

  7. We believe we are all equal at the foot of the cross.