INSIDE THE IMPACT
GRADUATING WITH PURPOSE
On March 12th, family, friends, and supporters gathered at the Indigo Hope Center to celebrate something that did not happen by accident. Fourteen men and women crossed the stage at JUMPSTART SC’s 2026 Transitional Program Graduation, and every name called represented a life genuinely transformed by the grace of God.
“I’ve never graduated anything before.” Those were Jeff Martin’s words as he reflected on his time at JUMPSTART SC and what God had done to bring him to that moment. It was the kind of testimony that silences a room. Teresa Trempe and Greg Windley shared as well, each one a reminder of what becomes possible when someone chooses a different path and finds a community willing to walk it with them.
It may not look like a formal ceremony, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. We’re family.
Tiffany Martin, Earl McCoy, Bobby Stroman, Aaron Trempe, Teresa Trempe, Greg Windley, Chris Wright, Courtney Balchin, Anthony Brister, Robert Donovan, Joey Hutto, Jeremy Johnson, BJ Lynch, and Jeff Martin completed JUMPSTART SC’s transitional program after release from incarceration. They did the hard work. They stayed the course.
The message to each of them was simple: your identity is not what you’ve done in your past. You are a child of God.
To the families and friends who showed up, thank you. To the donors and volunteers who made this possible, you were in that room whether you knew it or not. Every resource given, every hour served, every prayer offered helped put fourteen people across that stage.
To God be the glory.
When lives that are off track
THE PATHS WE TAKE
“I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate... Who shall deliver me from the body of this death... I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 7:15, 24-25
To know the right thing to do and to do it are two completely different things. To acknowledge a need for help and seek someone out. To see a pattern of addiction and face it. To see a better path and to take it. If you’ve been a Christian for any length of time, you know that the working out of our faith is a painstaking process. It’s not always linear, and if we’re honest, we all stray far more frequently than we’d like to admit.
Spring has a way of making new beginnings look easy. But the ground doesn’t thaw without a fight. Seeds break open in the dark before anything rises. What appears effortless is often the hardest kind of work.
The men and women we walk alongside begin to fully understand this outside the walls. The difference between those who fall away and those who find their footing isn’t willpower or our program. It’s who they place their strength in. Jesus Christ, who meets people exactly where Romans 7 leaves them—desperate to live differently.
This is the process of becoming more like Christ, and it doesn’t happen in a moment. It happens in a thousand small surrenders, most of them invisible to everyone but God. The war being waged inside every believer is the same one Paul writes about in this text. So, this spring, the question isn’t whether you know the right thing to do. You probably do. The question is whether you’re willing to take the next step toward it.
Scan
FREEDOM BEHIND BARS
At 4:30 every morning, before her two little boys wake up, Sarah meets with the Lord. She calls this season her happiest. But her joy was not built on ease. It was built in surrender.
At thirty years old, Sarah found herself holding a four-month-old baby and almost nothing else. Her marriage had collapsed. She left Ohio and came home, no longer a wife, no longer a homeowner, no longer certain of herself. Through tears, she told her father she didn’t know who she was anymore. His answer changed everything: “Your identity is in Christ.”
I do not understand my own actions.
Romans 7:15a
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That moment reoriented her life. She surrendered fully, and from there, God began rebuilding what had been broken. Then, while pregnant, she sensed the Lord speaking with unusual clarity: I want you to read Scripture in prison. She resisted for over a year. She was dyslexic. She had babies to raise. The timing made no sense. But the nudge wouldn’t leave. Eventually she found JUMPSTART SC and walked into Ridgeland Correctional Institution.
She did not feel fear. But she was not prepared for what she found inside. “I saw more freedom in prison than I do in people on the outside.”
To anyone who feels a quiet nudge to serve, she has one thing to say: keep listening. She has never met a single person who regretted saying yes to Christ.
HE IS RISEN INDEED
The weather changed our plans, but the JUMPSTART SC family didn’t notice. They were inside the Indigo Hope Center, already gathered and singing.
There is something about worshipping on Easter morning alongside people who have known the real power behind the empty tomb. “He’s Alive” and “Amazing Grace” don’t sound the same through a lens that has seen what the resurrection does in a life.
In 1 Kings 17, a widow had already lost her husband. In that culture, her son was everything: her family, her security, her future. When he died, she had nothing left and no way forward. But salvation came for her. One woman. One household. A glimpse of what God was willing to do for just one.
Then came Luke 24. An empty tomb. The salvation that came for one extended to all. Every person who believes. Every person who has run out of hope.
We are thankful for the participants who shared their stories on Easter morning and reminded us all that freedom is only truly found in Christ.
He is risen indeed. Hallelujah!
There are 40 miles between Hilton Head and Ridgeland. Every Monday, Andre drives them with one prayer on his lips: “Lord, how can I show up well today?”
For Andre, legacy is simple and steady. Praying each morning for his wife of 48 years. Investing in his children and five grandchildren. Driving 40 miles to sit with men behind bars. Choosing consistency over applause. He says it plainly, “I think maybe the most important thing I do is show up.”
One man he mentored entered prison with a broken marriage and estranged children. Through prayer, letters, and practical steps, restoration began. Years later, Andre received a call. The marriage restored. The family reunited. A new child on the way. He says if that had been the only story, it would have been enough.
Sometimes legacy is not loud. Sometimes it is 40 miles, a faithful presence, and a man willing to say, “I’ll see you next week.”
We’re excited to welcome six new participants who joined us this month! Would you prayerfully consider supporting them in their transition here at Restoration Village?
Become a personal mentor for a graduate released from prison to help them reintegrate into society. Discover impactful ways to engage with JUMPSTART SC or volunteer inside prisons to share, engage, and inspire participants during our 40-week discipleship program. Your involvement can make a profound difference in the lives of those seeking a fresh start.
Not everyone can volunteer, but everyone can make an impact. Will you give a gift today to help the men and women we serve take their next step toward a future greater than their past?
MEET HILLBILLY
Phil grew up in Pickens, South Carolina, so poor his family lived in a barn while his father built their home. They hunted, fished, grew their own food, and drew water from a well. A bag of fruit from the church at Christmas felt like abundance. “We felt so blessed,” he says. And he meant it.
Then came a Nashville record deal, radio play, and money. Phil lost his footing fast. He knew of God, but he didn’t know God. Not yet. Wrong crowd. Wrong choices. Fifteen years in a South Carolina State Prison.
Inside, everything changed. Phil gave his heart to the Lord, joined JUMPSTART SC, and never missed a session. In December of last year, he walked out.
Today, Phil is the house manager at the intake house at Restoration Village. When men are first released from prison, this is where they come.
Phil knows exactly what that moment feels like—the disorientation, the weight, the fresh start. When men walk into that house for the first time, this is what they hear: “Hello. My name is Hillbilly. Welcome home.”
