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From Collection 474, T1
From Collection 474. Jose Hernandez describes how he becamne chaplain for the Maiami County correctional system after returning from missionary service in Spain.
ERICKSEN: How long after you got back did the chaplaincy open up and how did that come about?
HERNANDEZ: Very unique situation. The chaplain that was before me (I met later, but I did not know at time) was accused of letting an inmate escape. Therefore he was pressured to resign at the time I HAD COME from Spain. And there was an opening in the paper in the Miami Herald asking if anyone had a agree or any experience in a chaplaincy program, that they were interested in hiring a chaplain. And nineteen ministers applied for the job. Fourteen were chosen [to be interviewed] and I was one of those fourteen. And I heard about...I heard that there was a job offered in the department of corrections through a friend of mine. And I didn't even know about it. I was here for six months to see if I was going to go back, to see if I was going to raise support enough to go back after those three years. And for some reason I applied for the job, not knowing. And I got called, you know and, you know, they told me, "Listen you have been chosen to be interviewed.." And I said, "Okay." And I went there and at that time I just had my bachelor's of arts and I had guys there.... I was twenty...twenty-nine. There were guys there that were forty, forty-three, forty-four, distinguished, with their doctorates and they used to be chaplains in all sorts of prisons and chaplains of hospitals. Here I was a pastor for three years and a missionary for three years. Therefore I never, never thought in my life thought I would get the job. A month later I had forgotten about the job and somebody called and said, "By the way, you know, the job that you applied for about a month ago? You were first chosen to be the chaplain and we're interested if you are." And it was total [pauses] I was wondering if I should be....what should I do, where should I go and start my own business, should I go back to being a pastor, should I go back to Spain. And all of a sudden this job opened. And later on I found out that there a lot of people had applied and they knew commissioners and they knew governors And they had letters from all. But the director of corrections was hired a month before me and he wanted somebody who was not well know, because he was not well known. And it was just the perfect timing situation. He felt comfortable, I was young enough. I thought it was just going to be one jail. It was five of them. Therefore that was a total surprise to me. I thought, you know, I was going to go over there and have maybe nine hundred inmates, a thousand inmates at the most. I didn't even think it would be that big. As I looked back, I thought maybe it was four or five hundred inmates. And I found out that I had five jails, twenty-six hundred inmates. And that was overwhelming. That was the biggest congregation I ever had. And one person to take care of those five jails...it was a scary responsibility. Especially because I took seriously the ministry of winning people to Christ and discipling people. I said, "How in the world am I ever, ever going to do this?" But the Lord, you know, developed a lot of things through a lot of people and today we have a very good program