Embracing the Outcast: My Experience with Prison Chaplaincy and Street Ministry

with Rev. Michael Stamper

Rev. Michael Stamper’s own spiritual path has lead him to encounter America’s outcasts: those living on the streets and those who are incarcerated. Speaking from his own direct experience, he describes how street and prison chaplaincy has itself become a calling and a spiritual practice, a practice in which he is not asked to fix, save or transform anyone other than himself.

PRESENTER

Rev. Michael Jiun Stamper, Ph.D., Sensei (Teacher) at Open Mind Zen in Melbourne, Florida. Mike has been meditating since the early 90’s, and practicing Zen Buddhism since 2009. He received Dharma transmission from Roshi Al Rapaport in 2020. Mike has a Ph.D. in Mythological Studies/Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Carpinteria, California and a BA/MA in Economics from Wayne State University in Detroit. He was ordained as an interfaith chaplain/minister in 2010, after graduating from Chaplaincy Institute in Berkeley, Ca. He has been a volunteer chaplain with the Florida Department of Corrections since 2009. Mike also chaplains persons with Parkinson’s, of which he is one. He is retired from the banking industry and lives with his wife, Elizabeth, in the Melbourne, Fl. They have 7 children and 6 grandchildren.