Perhaps you’ve heard the news – Burl Cain, warden of Angola State Penitentiary and longtime supporter and advocate for Kairos, has announced his resignation, telling various media outlets that he will step down effective January 1. 

For those of you connected to Kairos at Angola, there is no way to adequately describe the tremendous level of support we have received from Warden Cain – a man of God who ushered spirituality to Angola, and in turn, ushered in siginificant reform to the the prison.

Much of the prison transformation occurred as a direct result of Cain’s own transformation, which is chronicled in the book “Cains Redemption”.

Over the years, Cain would frequently speak of his love for Kairos and the effectiveness of our retreats. Whether he was speaking to local churches or local legislators, without hesitation, Cain would sing the praises of Kairos and the “power of the cookies”.

To say Warden Cain will be missed is an understatement.

Kairos team member Jim Lambert recently said this about Cain:

Shakespeare said the evil men do lives after them, but the good is often interred with their bones. I suggest that we make sure that observation is not true here. Warden Cain is a true man of God. We all should stress this hereafter in our discussions with others. If he made mistakes of judgment, this in no way reflects badly on the huge changes and improvements he has helped make at Angola and in La. Good work Warden, you will be remembered!

Warden Cain will indeed be remembered and will most certainly be missed, but we must soldier on.

As we hear of this news, may we as a Kairos community, have faith that God is the ultimate author of all that has happened and will continue to happen at Angola and God is not resigning.

May we hold Angola in prayer and rest in the confidence that God has our community right where it needs to be for the days ahead.

Speaking of the days ahead – the next Kairos retreat will soon be upon us, March 10-13, 2016.

Rodney Young is our leader and would love to chat with you about opportunities to serve.

You can email him for more information: surodneyyoung@att.net