In the early nineties, Pastor C.E.Lewis was asked to visit a woman in the local detention center who had fallen into some sort of criminal behaviour. She had been a food bank client and so knew Pastor Lewis to be an understanding and compassionate shoulder to cry on. Since that time, the local detention center (jail) became a mission field in its own right.

Earl Lewis, for many years, visited the jail weekly. He offered people whom he visited an opportunity to accept Christ and, if they chose, he signed them up to receive The Searchlight Bible Study, a course of 30 lessons which reflect the Church of God (7th Day) doctrines with scriptural references. Recently, Earl's visits have been "on-call"-- if someone requests a visit, he is still willing and able to go and talk to inmates about the Lord.

As some of the prisoners left the local jail and entered the state penal institutions,SEED followed. Word of mouth spread that "seed"and pretty soon, we were sending out many Bible studies. Some people were shuttled to other states so that now students are all over the United States and in Canada. Prisoners told one another about the courses, and they told their loved ones about them,so that this part of SEED ministry has grown tremendously! Studies now offered include not only The Searchlight Bible Study, but also The Discovery Course; Basic Lessons About Salvation; and Studies in John. With the successful completion of each of these courses, the student is presented with a Certificate of Completion suitable for framing. Many students have done all of these courses and want even more of the Word of God. Since 2005, Linda Storm has acted as the Coordinator for Bible Studies. Hundreds of studies have been completed and certificates awarded. More importantly, lives have been and are being changed by the Holy Spirit of God.

We here at SEED believe every person is made in the image of God and each of those persons should be treated with kindness and compassion. Does that mean we endorse or overlook criminal behavior? No, but we must constantly remind ourselves, "There, but for the Grace of God, go I". We also fervently believe Isaiah 55:11 "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."