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felt the calling to give a message at the jail.
“I took my idea to the Brotherhood of St. Andrew,” he said. The Brotherhood is the men’s group at Trinty Episcopal Church in Washington, Mr. Shankle’s church.
“After nine or 10 months, the idea was just dropped and I got this guilty feeling,” said Mr. Shankle.
Following his gut feeling, he set out to organize the ministry on his own.
Working with is wife, Mary Beth, and with the help of his church and pastor, Rev. Jennings Hobson III, a plan was organized.
Mr. Shankle explained the first step was getting clearance into the jail. Working with Lt. Charles Hitt of the Rappahannock County Sheriffs Office and Rev. Hobson, Mr. Shankle was allowed to begin his ministry.
“It is sponsored and comes from Trinity but we don’t own it,” said Rev. Hobson.
“The jail is an integral part of our community. This is good for the jail, good for the community and good for the inmates,” he said, adding that through the jail ministry seeds of faith and hope are planted.
“We don’t know what seeds we plant. But, we plant,” he said.
Inside the white room a deputy stands guard with the doors locked and inmates take their seats. It was in that very room that the first seeds of faith were cultivated.
A stonemason by trade, a father of four, a husband, a born-againChristian leader, Mr. Shankle said he was “quite frightened” of his first visit to the jail.
“I had no experience, no background” in ministry, he said but his lack of experience did not stop his quest.
“It was a learning experience for me,” he said.
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