Dean Poling
The Valdosta Daily Times
STATENVILLE —
Jim Harnage knew something was wrong when several participating families suddenly backed out of a new program within his Silent Ministries.
He soon learned why.
Some of the participants told Harnage that they had heard he once worked undercover with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They asked him if this was true. Harnage did not initially know how to reply to the question.
The reason?
Because, he tells The Valdosta Daily Times, it is true.
Earlier this decade, Jim Harnage worked undercover on several cases, he says. Harnage lists cases where he provided inside information to federal investigators. These investigations were resolved in the courts years ago.
Though he hasn’t publicly discussed working undercover with the feds until now, anyone familiar with his Silent Ministries shouldn’t be surprised.
Harnage has made no secret that Silent Ministries is not a traditional Christian-based mission.
Silent Ministries does the expected good works of a ministry. It collected used coats and warm clothes for the poor during last winter’s bitter cold temperatures, for example.
But Silent Ministries also helps women and children in abusive situations. Harnage doesn’t just get the abused out of the abusive situation, he goes after the abuser. He shares information with law-enforcement to help put the abuser away.
He’s made no secret about this work. In 2009, The Valdosta Daily Times published a story detailing how Silent Ministries had developed a national program via the Internet. Silent Ministries became a national network of attorneys, law-enforcement officers, prison wardens, psychologists, investigative reporters.
This network helped many people while turning other people over to the law. His work even brought him national attention in 2008 with a spot on Nancy Grace’s cable television show.
So, Harnage’s work with law-enforcement is no secret. But for his new Infusion Project to work, he feels he must admit to his past work with the feds.
“I want to go on and put it out there so no one has to wonder where I’m coming from,” Harnage says. “It’s a relief to get it out there. It’s like a burden lifted from my shoulders.”
His undercover work with the feds is several years in the past, he says. But, pointing to his Silent Ministries work, Harnage says he believes in doing what is necessary to do what is right.
During the past several months, he has felt compelled to concentrate more on the needs he sees in his native South Georgia. Harnage created the Infusion Project as part of his Silent Ministries.
The Infusion Project hopes to “inject life and vision into small rural communities by helping all residents without prejudice or discrimination to discover and develop their talents and skills,” Harnage says, and “provide the tools necessary for citizens to contribute to each other and local government with no cost to government.”
The project seeks to create an employment search network; develop employment interview skills and wardrobe; seminars on employment retention, preventing financial suicide, life after bankruptcy, coping with depression, domestic violence and abuse; take field trips to courts, jails, financial districts; credit counseling, etc.
During the past several weeks, he has visited with South Georgia officials to attract their interest in the Infusion Project. He had recruited 25 Echols County families and 10 Lowndes County families as the project’s initial participants. He says these families had seemed excited about the program.
Then 10 Echols County families pulled out and he faced questions regarding his undercover federal work.
“I’ve never had a hand in busting a moonshine operation or a marijuana operation,” Harnage says, adding he was involved in cases where someone was injuring or potentially hurting someone else.
And as he has all along through Silent Ministries, if he can stop someone from being hurt or hurting others, Jim Harnage will go undercover again.
