The YPM Connector

January 14, 2026

Dear Subscriber First Name,

Exciting Changes for YPM Annual Conference in 2026

In 2026 the YPM Annual Conference will meet at The Welcoming Place on the grounds of the Mennonite Central Committee in Akron, Pennsylvania.

Please take a look at the very appropriate accommodations that will be provided by clicking this link: The Welcoming Place. Overnight lodging, meals and meeting space will all be in one location.

We will gather from Wednesday, September 23 at 1:00 pm to Thursday, September 24 at 3:00 pm. We trust that with ample time to prepare that more people will be able to attend than typically do at our traditional Friday-Saturday meeting. The mid-week meeting enables us to reserve a more appropriate setting at a lower cost now and into the future. 

Please mark your calendars for the YPM Annual Conference on September 23-24 and pray about inviting returned citizens and other people who may be interested in becoming Yokefellows. YPM Annual Conference is a great place to be inspired, to learn and to build the YPM community!

2025 Annual Conference Recap - Back to the Basics: Back to the Bible

With 103 registrations and 99 in attendance, YPM had its largest attendance in the last three years at the Bright Side Baptist Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on September 25-26, 2025. Our five guest speakers, including the host church pastor, Rev. John Knight, each spoke of how the Bible had impacted them personally and been central to their prison ministry. 

“Basic Training” for prison ministry was offered to new and veteran Yokefellows by the YPM staff and experienced volunteers. An updated YPM Volunteer Handbook was distributed and is available on our website. Click here. The worship music team was led by Randall Schieck. Executive Director Sean Atkinson hosted the meetings and gave his State of the Yokefellowship Prison Ministry Report. 

At our annual business meeting with 25 of 29 eligible delegates present on Saturday afternoon, former YPM Executive Director John Rush was elected to a three-year term on the YPM state board. Our four regions shared stories of inmates and returned citizens who had been yoked to Christ in the past year.

Sincere appreciation to Bright Side Baptist for their warmth and hospitality was offered by many.

To view photos of the conference, click here.

A Message from David Bowen

Today I received a letter from a man I've know for twenty-eight years. I was his chaplain for fourteen years in the PA DOC. He has been in prison for nearly fifty years. He is serving three life sentences. More importantly he is faithfully serving the Lord Jesus Christ and is a great blessing to the church behind the walls. He is faithful in Yokefellowship in his prison. Here is his letter with his permission.

Enclosed in support of your wonderful ministry please find a check for $60.00. As I'm sure you have been told by the great volunteers who have been faithfully coming to minister to us every Tuesday evening, the program is thriving. The chapel is virtually full of inmates seeking the benefit of the support and encouragement that Yokefellowship offers in Christ Jesus. It's always a great time of fellowship and sharing.

I pray that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. As the apostle Paul wrote, we are to "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in ChristJesus" (1 Thess. 5:18; NIV).                                                                                                                      Keep rejoicing!                                                                                            Franklin

It should be noted that the hourly pay for inmates working in the PA DOC ranges from 29 cents per hour to 51 cents per hour. So if the man is making 51 cents per hour, that's about 120 hours of work. Thank you to all who pray for, volunteer in, and financially support the work of Yokefellowship Prison Ministry. When I retired as a chaplain in prison fourteen years ago, I asked the Lord, "How can I best invest what time I have left in this old world?" He said, "Go back to prison." It is a joy and a blessing to continue to serve the Lord through Yokefellowship Prison Ministry.

Grateful to be yoked with you in His service,

David Bowen

FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SEAN ATKINSON

Happy New Year, everyone! After many months of dealing with and recovering from issues related to my heart and complications from the medications used to treat it, as of yesterday I have been given a report from my cardiologist of "great" in regards to my overall health! Glory to God! I have had ample time to pray and meditate about YPM over these past months and the position that the Lord has blessed me with in it. I am blessed to begin a new chapter as executive director, healthy, refreshed and appreciative of the responsibilities and dedication that is required of this position. I am truly excited about YPM ministry in 2026.

We often use this time of year as a time to look back, and it’s usually through a lens of melancholy. But this is also a time to not only look forward but to move forward. I am not one to make the usual “New Year’s resolutions” as I am sure we’ve all learned more times than not, they fail. But this IS a wonderful time of the year for each of us within YPM to start fresh. To take inventory of things that need done within our individual work, our Area Councils and our regions, to make the changes that need made. To get to those things that have a way of being put on a list of “I’ll get to it” only to remain there awaiting our attention. To set new goals and to design plans to reach them.

I was recently asked by a friend at church “What have you taken away from your past year?” I thought for a moment and answered, “Don’t wait.” What is your life? You are but a vapor that appears for a brief time then vanishes. And the second part of my answer was "We need to get to work.” We as a ministry, as Christians need to be all in, not shying away from the call or the work that He has laid on our hearts. I may have shared before that while in a checkout line at a grocery store I saw a magazine that had in large letters “Rock hard abs in only 3 minutes a day!!” Now I’d like to tell you that I didn't pick up that magazine ... I'd like to tell you that … (no short cuts).

What we get to do is a privilege. It requires a great deal of work and commitment. There is nothing else like it, and I count myself as blessed when thinking about it as I am sure each of you do as well. I humbly thank you for your support and for all of the work that you do for YPM .

But let us remember that all we do — It’s about Him. His plan. His glory. His kingdom.

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Thank you for your continued support! 

Sean Atkinson, Executive Director 

Dave Lewis, Chair of the Board