Bethel dedicates Adullam home

PATTERSON — Louisiana, which jails a larger percentage of its citizens than any other state, has little more to offer the children of inmates than its foster care system.
But after Saturday’s special service at Bethel Pentecostal Fellowship, Louisiana offers a little more than it did before.
The church dedicated the Adullam Household of Faith, conceived to be a home for the children of incarcerated women.
Numbers gathered by the church indicate that as many as 700 Louisiana children of incarcerated mothers lack relatives or others able to care for them. Angie Spackman, who spoke at Saturday’s dedication and who started a similar home in Alabama, said some children in that predicament are born addicted to drugs or afflicted by fetal alcohol syndrome.
“These are the most vulnerable children in society …,” Spackman said.
“I believe the answer to crime is not the electric chair. I believe it’s the high chair.”
Church members believe the new Adullam home will be one of only three similar homes in the country.
Bethel Pastor Marty Harden noted that the dedication ceremony coincides with the 20th anniversary of the church building on Tiffany Lane in Patterson. The congregation seems to have been working on the Adullam home for a significant amount of that time.
Harden spoke of a generous price quoted by the owner of the land on which the home now sits. And there were other acts of generosity, including the congregation’s own giving. Patterson State Bank and M C Bank offered special interest rates.
One Easter, Harden said, a donor left two jeweled Faberge eggs in his office. Each contained a $17,000 check.
“I would need a year or more to tell you about all the miracles God has done,” Spackman said.