PRAYER
As in any ministry our APAC project started with strategic prayer. Going back several years. Ken Fisher on one specific occasion challenged the Queensland Council to seriously pray that God would open the doors for an APAC prison at a time when it seemed unrealistic to contemplate. I believe this was a defining moment in the activities of our ministry

PRESENTATION PFQ STATE CONFERENCE
Tony Roper presented a talk on APAC at the PF Qld state conference in March 2000 which was warmly received by the PFQ family. He offered to use his profile within the DCS to make discrete approaches to the Director General and other highly placed personnel.

PRESENTATION DCS BOARD
During mid 2000 we were buoyed by reports from Tony that senior staff from the DCS (Queensland Department of Corrective Services) were interested in the things he was saying about APAC and Innerchange after years of gentle 'nudging'.  He took up their offer to present a briefing paper to the QDCS board to present the latest information about APAC and propose a local implementation in a decomissioned prison that was slated for demolition.

FORMING A COMMITTEE
PFQ Council convened a special meeting to begin work on  an official proposal to the DCS. It proposed a new committee led by Martin Howard and included Ken Fisher, Lester Schulze, and several other APAC advocates. It was an enthusiastic team that became very active in exploring a local vision for APAC using the approach that had been observed in the Texas replication. The committee soon attracted people from outside the PF family who offered special skills. These folk were brought on as Allied Resource Persons.

PRESENTATION TO STATE CHAPLAINCY BOARD
At the recommendation of the committee Tony Roper made a presentation to the State Chaplaincy Board of APAC material including a video about Humaita . This received a moderately enthusiastic response. At this point it was probably unclear to the Board what shape the program might take locally.  We offered to keep the board advised of any progress.

PRESENTATION TO KEY DCS PERSONNEL 2000
Around October 2000 we arranged an informal meeting with Senior DCS personnel to coincide with a visit from PFI leaders Timothy Khoo and Graeme Taylor. This turned out to be a very strategic meeting that enabled us to talk at length about the APAC vision. To have Graeme's firsthand reports about the New Zealand strategy and the success of The Sycamore Tree Project® was a crucial advantage. We were excited to see that the two officials were open to the concept. They offered constructive advice about how to prepare a proposal that would be well received by their colleagues in the Department.

ESTABLISHMENT OF PRAYER TEAM
One of our committee members Judi Roper arranged a small intercessory prayer team. This is the invisible advantage of our committee. Strategic prayer will continue to open doors and break through seemingly impenetrable walls as we continue in faith.

NAME AND LOGO
We named our local APAC implementation "APAC Transition - New Life for the Real World" we felt that this name conveyed the spiritual and secular goals of APAC. It also emphasised the fact that the program spans the custodial and post-release phases of an inmates life, which was an important distinction that all supporters need to be reminded of.

SOURCING MANUALS AND RELEVANT RESEARCH
We located several important APAC manuals through the PF International network that enabled us to get more detail on the specifics of curriculum, planning and logistical requirements. The APAC - Building Sure Foundations document, lays out the vision of APAC and explains the core values of the methodology. The InnerChange Manual contained vital detail that gave us a vivid insight into the day to day running of the program. Both of these are available in electronic form. Subsequent documents have been released this year in the APAC Map package.

PROMOTIONAL VIDEO / NEWSLETTER
In early 2001 as we realised the enormity of the task ahead of us. We needed some simple informational tools to let other Christians know about the APAC vision. We prepared a video using material sourced from Jack Cowley of InnerChange in Texas featuring InnerChange, and Mrs Washingtons/Ron Flowers reconciliation. We branded this with a local introduction and contact information. This video became a viral communication tool. So far 150 copies at a cost of less than $4 each were distributed to churches and interested individuals. It has been circulated to others and shown it at home groups and church services all over the state. It was accompanied by a simple news and information brochure that contained essential articles that explain the concept, history and value of APAC. We were careful in the preparation of this material to avoid false claims about the likelyhood of the project, while still conveying a sense of opportunity to the Christian community.

We sourced some relevant statistics about prison recidivism and prison release numbers. We were stunned when we found out from DCS sources that the number of inmates exiting the South East Queensland prisons was over 6000 - more than the entire Queensland prison popluation.
We also interviewed a senior executive of an American private prison contractor, who gave us valuable insight into the need for post release support.

PREPARATION OF PROPOSAL
Martin and Tony prepared the proposal according to the programs framework document that we were given by the DCS. It took at least three months to sift through all our material and decide on the standards for our local implementation. We relied heavily on the InnerChange Manual in this task. The whole committee reviewed the final document before releasing it to the DCS in April 2001.

MEETING WITH DCS POLICY BRANCH
After giving the DCS a few months to look through our proposal, we arranged another meeting with them. We were invited to meet three people from the Policy branch in May 2001. We were warmly received. It turned out that they had not received our proposal, but instead had material that had been presented by Tony Roper, some 10 months beforehand. This confusion did not hamper the meeting however, and we were given the opportunity to explain the concept afresh. Once again we were greatly encouraged by the Department's openess and professionalism. They were very cordial and constructive. They were frank about how we should expand the proposal to ensure that it moved through the remaining layers of management without delay.

INVOLVING CHURCHES
Churches who had seen our video were requesting more detailed presentations to their leadership and congregations. We saw this as an opportunity to attract new churches to the PF vision. At this point our PFQ Council realised that it needed a more comprehensive approach to church promotions. A new initiative has been launched, called Partnering with Churches, which gives us a philosophical framework to attract churches with an exciting vision, without undermining their authority. We will achieve this by taking the role of a resourcing organisation that facilitates the local churces in developing their own justice ministry.
This will allow churches to support take part in APAC without feeling burdened or threatened.

TRAINING FROM PFI
In July 2001, Graeme Taylor led the committee in a short training session to introduce us to the APAC and Sycamore Tree Ministry Advancement Programs. These consisted of a selection of outstanding printed resources that lay out the planning process behind these programs. The PFI program design team have done a inspirational job of drawing together the combined wisdom of APAC pioneers, criminologists, researchers and PFI ministry specialists into a very accessible curriculum. As we review this material we can see the possibility of improving our vision of APAC Transition and increasing its chance of success.

SYCAMORE TREE PROJECT
In August after discussions with Graeme and the PFQ Council it was agreed that a local implimentation of the Sycamore Tree Project® would be a valuable step in gaining support and understanding of the APAC methodology, amongst all stakeholders. This work will come under the APAC Committee and will be led by Martin Howard. It is planned to take place in early 2002.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS
We have had a slump in activity during the last half of 2001 due to changing circumstances in the lives of committee members. These include members moving interstate and a new baby in my family. We intend to submit the new proposal in the coming weeks whereupon we expect it to be in the DCS system for a number of months. This will give us time to strengthen our church network and impliment some of the ideas from the MAP packages.
We will continue seeking the Lord's will and walking through doors that he opens.  We need your prayers and support over the coming years as our planning bears fruit, and finally impacts the lives and souls of those affected by crime.