The Clarence #1 Short Course was conducted 19-22 October 2026 at Clarence Correctional Centre, Lavadia, 12km southeast of Grafton, NSW and replaces the Grafton Correctional Centre which closed a number of years ago. The Grafton Regional Committee was renamed the Clarence Regional Committee having run 22 Short Courses, the last one being September 2019.
Since then they have been running a Journey program from January 2025 and were approved to run a Short Course in October 2026.
I want to acknowledge the faithfulness of the inside volunteers who have persisted all these years. Without them this Short Course would not have happened.
This Short Course presented unique challenges. Only one team member lives in Grafton, so the volunteer base was below satisfactory. Next was catering, accommodation, fund raising and recruiting. There were so many moving parts as to be almost overwhelming.
The current Regional Committee did a lot of the heavy lifting.
The volunteer pool for the team was less than optimal. A call went out to other Regions for help. John Morony and Mid North Coast responded. After an initial surge we ended up with 17 team members. Not the best but workable.
A couple of meetings with Clarence management laid the foundation for this Short Course. The management and staff are unbelievable. Courteous and polite to visitors and inmates alike they couldn’t do enough to ensure the success of the Short Course. This was a first for Clarence and the majority of the staff, some of whom were Christians.
I knew we were going to have a good Short Course because satan tried to interfere right from the very start. From day one he attacked team members, family members and our organising right up to the last day when we had our Closing Ceremony.
The team were aware of these attacks and I was conscious of the prayers that protected the team and myself. I trusted in the fact that God was in control. As you read in the last Newsletter – God turned up!
The Core Team rose to the occasion – all but one was a local Clarence member. The foundation for future Short Courses has been laid.
We had the standard hiccups that all Short Courses have but the aim of presenting a successful Short Course was reached. I would say we achieved 90% of what we set out to accomplish. Recruiting is well advanced, accommodation, catering, fund raising and a Team Formation meeting location are also underway.
From a standing start this diverse team gave of themselves financially, physically and emotionally to present Christ to the prisoners.
God honoured their work and His Kingdom was expanded in Clarence Correctional Centre.
Ken Moore
Leader – Clarence #1
