Liberty Chaplain Ministries

Liberty Chaplain Ministries is a Christian ministry founded by Edward Blackwelder in 1985, originally loosely organized under the name Liberty Outreach Ministries.

Edward Blackwelder was licensed as a Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ by First Baptist Church of Piedmont, Alabama, in 1989 and was ordained by Bush Arbor Baptist Church in rural Floyd County, Georgia, in 1990.

“Brother Eddie” taught at the college level as a Professor of Criminal Justice and Paralegal Studies and served as Senior Chaplain and Director of the Chaplain Services Department at Piedmont Hospital and Nursing Home in his home town of Piedmont, Alabama.

While teaching Brother Eddie regularly visited numerous correctional facilities throughout the Southeast in order to provide his criminal justice and paralegal students with a “hands on” opportunity to become familiar with the criminal justice system. He believed then, as he does today, that a direct involvement in the “real world” made a student a more rounded future criminal justice or paralegal professional.

As Brother Eddie visited various prisons he came to realize that something was missing that resulted in the extremely large recidivism rate among released inmates. He easily saw that rehabilitation programs were inadequate and, as a Christian, believed that quality spiritual guidance was the answer to the many problems faced by newly released inmates. Brother Eddie felt that rehabilitation should be combined with regeneration and began working toward the goal of offing spiritual guidance to inmates, former inmates and their family members.

Upon retirement due to advancing Parkinson’s disease, Brother Eddie expanded his loosely formed Liberty Outreach Ministries and began a full time ministry. Eighteen years after beginning a full-time Christian ministry and twenty four years after he began his regeneration efforts, Brother Eddie and a small group of dedicated Christian brothers and sisters advanced the growth and Christian programs of Liberty Outreach Ministries to what it is today. The name Liberty Outreach Ministries was changed to Liberty Chaplain Ministries in 2009 to better reflect the expanded services presently being offered.

As Liberty Chaplain Ministries continues to grow so does the expansion of ministry programs. Today, Liberty Chaplain Ministries includes nine distinct ministries: Internet ministry, free world ministry, Crisis, Grief and Hospice ministry, criminal justice ministry, victim and victim family ministry, life-without-parole ministry, death row ministry, inmate family ministry and its’ paralegal ministry. The newly established Internet and paralegal ministries are unique and were added to the existing ministries to serve the spiritual needs of those that cannot attend, or choose not to attend, more traditional and formal worship services and to a variety of other individuals from various walks of life needing Spiritual guidance, growth and specialized attention and assistance.

God has richly blessed this ministry with no end in sight. It is the prayer of Brother Eddie and the other dedicated Christians that Liberty Chaplain Ministries continue to be a positive force in spreading God’s Word to various segments of society that deserve attention, ones that society largely tends to over look and ignore.