'Sign dancers' to open 3-day conference

By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Religion & Ethics Writer

Members of Hawaiian Island Ministries perform a sign dance that prison chaplain Roy Yamamoto says helps ex-inmates stay committed to God. Photo courtesy of Hawaiian Island Ministries If you go Hawaiian Island Ministries' 15th annual Honolulu Conference Thursday to March 8 Hawai'i Convention Center $35 for single session, $225 for all three days 988-9777 or www.himonline.org The "Compassion Capital — Hawai'i Moving Forward" training session will be Thursday on the premises and includes some HIM conference speakers. A youth jam will be 6 to 9 p.m. March 8.

That's a pretty successful streak for the dance troupe of ex-inmates, who often face a recidivism rate of 70 percent to 80 percent, said Yamamoto, now prison chaplain for New Hope Christian Fellowship's New Start program. Nearly all of those who performed the 2000 "sign dance" — a sort-of modern dance, or sign language for the body, is how he describes it — turned their lives around and remain committed to God, Yamamoto said.

In 2000, the dance troupe received a standing ovation. In the audience was Pam Chun, who co-founded HIM with her husband, First Presbyterian senior pastor Dan Chun. She remembers how moved she was by the performance. "You could see their hardness, and their tenderness ... " she said. "Now, they have a different visage, and you can see something's been working with them. It shows there's hope for people."

This year, Yamamoto's group will be among the opening acts for the ecumenical conference, one of the largest of its kind in Hawai'i. It draws lay leaders and pastors for Christian churches statewide, as well as some from the West Coast. About 4,000 are expected to attend.

The speaker list for the conference includes: Shirley Dobson, wife of Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, who speaks nationwide about issues affecting women and families, and is chairwoman of the national Day of Prayer task force; Beth Moore, the Texas-based Southern Baptist creator of Living Proof Bible study resource material; Jack Deere, a pastor at Trinity Fellowship Church in Amarillo, Texas, known for the "Power Ministries"; and Ché Ahn, pastor of Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena, Calif., and president of The Call movement.

Also drawing a crowd this year is a free one-day training conference co-sponsored by HIM, "Compassion Capital — Hawai'i Moving Forward" session. Chun, who co-founded HIM and serves as its vice president, said more than 250 people had signed up for the session, which is financed by President Bush's faith-based initiative. The O'ahu session, one of several statewide, will be Thursday.

The effort involves traditional providers as well as churches and religious groups in social service, and has drawn national debate over how religious programs can get government money without running afoul of the constitutional separation of church and state.

Co-sponsoring Thursday's workshop with HIM are the Hawai'i Community Foundation and the University of Hawai'i's Center on the Family. The partnership received one of the first 21 grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, totaling $300,000 per year for three years, which the foundation will match.

HIM provides the training portion of the partnership, Chun explained. The UH organization serves as administrators and will hold up the research end, and HCF will provide the matching money and assistance for organizations applying for grants.

The cost of putting on the training sessions is around $100,000, she said. "We cannot charge people a cent to attend these programs."