House Story - Jane Derrick

Jane Derrick was not only part of the core group when House of Mercy started, but was one of those encouraging the very notion of a new church. In fact, she started one of the main components of HoM, our work at Western Correction Center for Women. Jane use to teach hundreds of people every week at a local Christian retreat center, and she gave it all up to begin a Bible study at the prison.

Jane became a Christian as an adult in Germany when her husband was stationed there in the military. She had always had a Christ-like impulse though, as it was Justice that motivated her to leave the small town of Rutherfordton, NC to get a degree in Rhode Island so that she could enter politics. She was in D.C. when the Voting Rights Act was signed into law, and so she went back home to literally drive African-Americans to the polls to vote for the first time. Unfortunately, in our current cultural climate Jane found it more and more difficult to find a church community that shared her love for Jesus and Justice, hence her encouragement of House of Mercy. Now she is at the prison with us every Sunday afternoon. She's on the other side of the barbed wire when our incarcerated friends are released with a hug and a gift card from HoM to help them get on their feet. She's even been known to drive our friends as far as six hours round trip to their home when they are released. Jane has always been our main driver of returning citizen friends to places like work, the DMV, or to the department store to start a new wardrobe. She also brings our incarcerated friends to church every single Sunday.

In addition to all of this, and perhaps even more important, while at HoM Jane's journey with Jesus has only deepened. The Love of Christ has become more experiential to her than ever causing seemingly insurmountable fears to dissipate. In many respects, Jane is the heart and soul of House of Mercy, and for these reasons and more, we call her St. Jane. We love you, St. Jane!!!