The Reason of the Hope

This book offers a plausible explanation of the phenomenon of faith in Christ; an explanation to help those who want to know that they know; and a description of how the children of God, who yearn for an inkling of revelation from the Divine, can experience this mystery of the faith.

From the Fall of 1984 through the Spring of 1987, I taught a Saturday Afternoon Bible Study at Staton Annex Correctional Facility in Elmore County, AL (now Elmore Correctional Facility). We began a verse-by-verse study of the book of Romans, but the course of the Bible Study, and the direction of my life, changed when we reached the 9th Chapter: I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost (Romans 9:1). In my explanation of the Apostle Paul's statement, one of my comments was: "Our conscience is where God speaks to us down inside". This aroused conversation, interest and curiosity, and the men chose to pursue a study on the conscience before continuing with Romans. We never returned to the verse-by-verse study of the Book of Romans. Those men had experienced the mercy of God through the forgiveness of their crimes, sins and lifestyles, and were dependent upon the grace of God in their continuing quest to develop loving Christian character in an atmosphere of hatred, squalor, and decadence. Those men hungered and thirsted for a closer relationship with Christ, so much that I consistently felt conviction to move in directions of ministry and vocation that I could not comprehend at the time - I am now a correctional educator, offender counsellor, and prison minister, as well as a free-world lay-minister, speaker, and worship leader. Teaching is the highest form of learning, and I spent several years teaching about the role of conscience in our spiritual lives. That experience helped me grow closer to Christ in a very personal way, and to become increasingly aware of my own continuing needs for His mercy and grace.

Frank A. Clem is a former offender, correctional educator, offender counsellor, and lay-minister for Jesus Christ. Having served ten years in the Alabama prison system, he experienced dramatic changes in his life while incarcerated, namely, a transformational relationship with the Spirit of Christ. A high school dropout, Frank earned a GED; and then, while incarcerated, earned a Diploma in Auto Mechanics from J F Ingram State Technical College, and an Associate in Science Degree from Alexander City State Junior College in 1989, graduating Magna Cum Laude. For the remainder of his prison term Frank functioned as an Adult Literacy tutor, and as a. Instructor's Aide in Auto Mechanics. Upon his release from prison, Frank was employed by JF Ingram State Technical College as Assistant Instructor in Auto Mechanics, and continued his education earning a Bachelor of Science in Adult Vocational Education from Athens State College in 1995, graduating Summa Cum Laude. He then attended Troy State University in Montgomery and earned a Master of Science in Counseling and Human Development in 1998. The same year, he was promoted to Instructor at Ingram and transferred the Related Academics Department, teaching Developmental Academics. Over the years Frank had developed and composed numerous student development curricula for inmates. He arranged and adapted these to a cluster of five Basic Study Skills courses described in the Alabama State Course Directory, and became the exclusive BSS Instructor in the College Prep area of Ingram's academic department. In January 2002, Frank was promoted to Faculty Advisor of the Draper-Staton Campus of JF Ingram, which included the Guidance Counselor function for that campus. He soon realized that the overwhelming majority of his duties was processing disciplinary action toward misbehaving students, which left very few opportunities to offer encouragement, motivation and proactive guidance. After a year in the corner office, he elected to return to the classroom to resume instructing his personal and student courses. Frank has appeared in three informative videos concerning adult literacy in prisons and jails, Christian efforts toward social reintegration of former offenders, and personal change from the inside out. He is a spokesperson for his local church in efforts promoting concepts of personal and civic restoration from a Biblical perspective. He has recorded and published sixteen songs – most of which he wrote and composed, and he has plans to further pursue that avenue. Prior to writing and publishing this book, "The Reason of the Hope", Frank has written and published another book, "Maxim-ize Your Life".