[02.07.08] Recently the Assemblies of God (AG) honored 160 men currently serving prison sentences at the Soledad, Calif., Correctional Training Facility for giving $1,000 toward a well-digging project in Africa.

The mostly Christian inmates, with sentences ranging from soon-coming releases to life in prison, only earn between $27 and $36 for one month’s wage.

Yet after they viewed a four-minute video about the Africa Oasis Project, in which the AG is building water wells in African areas where women and children have to walk 10 miles to obtain water, the men immediately gave a cumulative gift of $1,000.

Despite the prisoners’ meager wages, many have been tithing for the last five years, the AG news service reported.

 

 “I've taught them how Scripture says to bring all the tithe into the storehouse," said Judge Lindsey, a chaplain working at the facility. “Little is much when God is in it. Here are men with small salaries, yet they are committed givers."

 In the past, prisoners have given $1,300 to victims of the 2004 tsunami in Asia, $1,000 to Convoy of Hope for Hurricane Katrina aid in 2005, and have donated $1,200 a year to sponsor three underprivileged children in Third World countries.

The prisoners’ tithes have also helped purchase library materials, equipment and ongoing lunches for ministry volunteers.