| Copyright Times Publishing Co. Jul 8, 2006
The women whom Barbara Stepanik and Hazmin Flynt hope to inspire
have seen hard times.
In many cases, they've been battered by the men in their lives.
And now they are serving hard time, locked up in the Hillsborough
Correctional Institute. Their personal relationship with the
Almighty is questionable at best.
"They're angry with God, and they say, 'Where are you?' " Stepanik
said.
Stepanik, Flynt and others from a new nonprofit Christian organization
called Passion Flower Productions will try to convince them on
Sept. 16 that he is alive and well and wants to help if only
they'll let him.
The ministry was founded to help unchurched women who struggle
with low self-esteem, stress and relationship issues, and "give
them a glimpse of God's grace," Flynt said.
The September program, or "experience," as the group
calls it, is its first.
Flynt, 42, a classically trained pianist and former mechanical
engineer, met Stepanik, 65, a retired psychiatric nurse, at Heritage
United Methodist Church in the Countryside area of Clearwater,
where Flynt was the director of contemporary worship.
That meeting led to Passion Flower Productions, named for a
type of woody vine with unusual blossoms that Roman Catholic
priests of the 1500s said symbolized features of Christ's Passion.
The board of directors includes Kathy Orr, a technical sports
director; Jason Flynt, an engineer at Progress Energy and husband
of Hazmin Flynt; Ron Stepanik, a former prison warden and husband
of Barbara Stepanik; Sally Lindberg, who owns a tax firm; Paul
Gunter, who owns a finance business; and Sylvester Bryant, a
Realtor.
The group has created a Web site, www.passionflowerproductions.com;
is selling a CD, Exposed, of original music by Flynt and her
band, Unknown Artists; and is also selling an inspirational book
by Stepanik, Pretty Is As Pretty Doesn't.
In the future, they plan to offer a guided imagery CD as well
as a new book, which will help raise money for a child-care center
for the women and children of Belle Glade, a community hard hit
by hurricanes over the past two years, Orr said.
The members know they can't bombard their audience with Scripture.
"We have to go through the side door or the back door," Stepanik
said. "We can't go through the front door because it's too
scary for them. It's about figuring out ways to reach them on
their hunger level, their thirst level."
The group uses art, education, songs lightly sprinkled with
the Gospel, and discussion sessions, which help women express
themselves and understand themselves better.
By helping the gender, the founders think they are ultimately
helping to heal the Earth.
"Women are the change agents of the world; we are the peacemakers," Stepanik
said. "We were physically made to nurture."
The prison where the group will conduct its one-day experience
became a "Faith- and Character-based Institution" in
2004.
The Florida Department of Corrections program involves community
volunteers who want to make a difference in inmates' lives.
The facility has 143 staff members and about 280 inmates. The
group will host about 50 prisoners.
Flynt, a mother of two, admitted that she was a little nervous
about what she was about to do, but excited at the same time.
"I can't wait to go to prison," she said, laughing. "I
can't wait."
Eileen Schulte can be reached at (727) 445-4153 or schulte@sptimes.com.
|
