Ellsworth Correctional Facility recently welcomed chaplain Tim Hammye. Hammye comes to Ellsworth from the Coffey County Sheriff ’s Office in Burlington, where he served as chaplain for nine years. He has been in ministry for 30 years, and in April will have his master’s degree in ministry.

In addition to his post at ECF, his wife Carrie Hammye will be serving the community as a seventh and eighth grade teacher at Ellsworth Jr./Sr. High School in the fall. While the Hammyes were happy in Burlington, they attribute their move to Ellsworth directly to a higher power.

“The best way to explain that (the move) is the Lord,” Hammye said. “We weren’t unhappy in Burlington; we weren’t really planning to move, but God had another idea for us. We’re looking forward to getting to know the people of Ellsworth and be a great part of this community. Hopefully, we’ll be a very productive part of this community.”

The opportunity to serve came about when Hammye was in Ellsworth for the Brothers in Blue Re-Entry Event, a faith-based program designed to equip inmates with skills to lead productive lives upon their release. It was at that event he found out ECF was in need of a chaplain.

“My wife and I prayed about it,” Hammye said. “I said ‘God, if you want us here, make a way.’” It wasn’t long after he interviewed for the position that he received the offer.

He stayed in the Family Connections hotel in January, waiting for their home to be move-in ready.

“It’s been a crazy transition,” Hammye said. “It was really the Lord; I always knew we were going to do prison ministry.”

Some might ask why ministry in a correctional facility would be a goal. For Hammye, it just makes sense. A city boy at heart, he grew up about equal distances from both Chicago and Milwaukee.

“I was not the most pleasant teenager,” he said. “I made a lot of poor choices. In fact, I should have been in a juvenile detention center at one point. When I was a teenager, God saved me and gave me a second chance.”

A far cry from those roots now, Hammye also works with the Human Coalition, a tech-driven pro-life organization. In three decades of ministry, he has made it a point to touch lives with the word of God.

“Our heart is just to see lives change all around, and that’s what drives us to see lives change,” he said. “We believe the very best for those we provide ministry to.”

Now, he will share that compassion and belief in redemption with the inmates of ECF.

“There are people who are serving sentences of all different kinds,” he said. “God still can use them, and I want to be a part of that. My desire is to see all these guys grow in the Lord and to see a great move of God throughout the facility. I got a second chance, and I want them to see that God’s grace and mercy is everlasting.”