VALDOSTA — Valdosta native Betty Jo Green knows firsthand the adage, “Be careful what you pray for: You might get it.” A simple prayer led to B.J.’s Bible Club and eventually a ministry involving prisoners from Georgia and Florida to Washington state.

Betty Jo sat down recently with The Valdosta Daily Times at Heritage Healthcare at Crestwood to talk about how her ministry started.

Recovering from knee-replacement surgery on Oct. 31, 2001, Betty Jo came to Crestwood nursing home for physical therapy.

“While I was here, I prayed and asked the Lord to give me something to do for Him,” she said. “After I prayed this, I saw a sticker that said, ‘Be careful what you pray for. You might get it.’”

After leaving the nursing home, she developed an infection in two places and had to go back to the hospital.

“The Lord put me in the room with the sweetest black lady who wasn’t a Christian,” Betty Jo said. “Her name was Marie from Quitman. I witnessed to her and led her to the Lord.”

Excited about what had happened, Betty Jo called Tom Gregory of TMA Inc. International, whom she had worked for as a secretary almost 20 years, retiring in July 2001.

“We were both excited,” she said. “He and (wife) Cherie (of The Potter’s House Parable Christian Store) came up with a Bible for Marie, who said she didn’t have one. He prayed with her.”

Dr. Valdez, who had been Betty Jo’s physician at the nursing home, also came to check on her.

“He held my hand and (Marie’s) hand and prayed for both of us,” she said.

Betty Jo said she thought about Marie being in Quitman and that she needed to be discipled.

“I asked Cherie if she had any books I could disciple her with. Cherie suggested using The Mail Box Club lessons. She even went down to The Mail Box Club and picked up some lessons for me, and B.J.’s Bible Club was begun.”

The club eventually went from involving adults and children to a prison ministry.

“The prison ministry was begun when Mr. Gregory gave me the name of a prisoner at Lowndes (Correctional Institute),” Betty Jo said. “Then the prisoner wanted me to send lessons to a friend.”

The ministry spread to many prisons in Georgia, Florida and some went as far as Washington state.

“Every time a prisoner got a lesson, he would be so excited, he would send a buddy’s name,” she said. “Sometimes it was his grandma, his mother, his aunt. When he relocated, he would sign up people there, and it went from prison to prison.

“A lot of these prisoners were saved by doing lesson one, which asks if you are saved, and they are honest about it. If they want help, I write a prayer with their lesson. A lot of times, they will say, ‘Please pray for my mother who is sick,’ and I will write a prayer. I will tell them you can read this prayer over and over, and you are praying to God. They don’t know how to pray.

“We actually had at one time 500 students. This is when I needed help. Someone at church (Covenant Baptist) stood up and said I needed a volunteer. Several Sundays later, Kerry Montgomery came to me in tears and told me she wanted to help. Kerry is from Canada and her husband is Don Montgomery.”

Retired teacher Jeff Massey, Brenda Sims, Brenda Howell and Faye Setser help Kerry Montgomery grade the Bible lessons and mail the next lesson. Covenant Baptist pays for the Bible lessons and the postage.

Betty Jo did the ministry for 10 years, with two out of every eight people coming to know the Lord through B.J.’s Bible Club, she said.

“When I came here with renal failure (in January 2011), I told Kerry she would have to take over the ministry I had trained her to do.”

While others might consider their work done, Betty Jo continues carrying the Gospel from her wheelchair, distributing the Bible lessons at Crestwood, praying with residents who say they feel bad, and telling the employees about the Lord.

One Sunday morning while on the front porch, a woman employee was sitting there having lunch.

“I said, ‘How long have you worked here. I don’t remember you.’ She responded, ‘Five years, but I work on the unit.’ Then I asked if she were a Christian, but she didn’t know.”

Betty Jo said the woman had started going to church earlier because her two younger boys had seen a documentary on TV “something about hell, and it scared them. They said, ‘Mama, Take us to church. We don’t want to go to hell.’ She had started going to church but wasn’t saved.

“Then I asked her, ‘Suppose you died tonight, and God said, ‘Why should I let you into my heaven?’ And she couldn’t answer.

“Then I asked if she would like to be saved, and she said yes. I went over to her and took her hand, and she repeated the prayer of salvation with me.”

Betty Jo, who will be 77 in September, also enjoys bringing joy to the residents. To some, she will say, “God loves you,” and a smile will light their faces.

One day, she asked a Crestwood resident, who is almost blind and deaf, if she would like to sing.

“Yes,” she replied enthusiastically, “I sang in my church choir.”

They started singing together, and Betty Jo learned her favorite song was “I’ll Fly Away.”

“When she starts singing that song, you can’t get her to stop,” Betty Jo said. “She’s so funny.”

In addition to her       ministry at Crestwood, Betty Jo enjoys visits from her husband, Houston, who lives at home along with daughter Deanne Forte, husband Bobby Forte and their three children.

The Greens, who will celebrate their 56th anniversary on Sept. 29, also have two other daughters, Amanda Litzke of Marysville, Ohio, and Shelly Oehlers of Sylvania, Ohio; and 20 grandchildren, including 13 of them adopted, with six of those with special needs.

Betty Jo begins each day with a special prayer.

“Every day, I pray, ‘Lord, Help me to glorify you this day. Let your light shine through me.’”

And it has.