The MNA Metanoia Prison Ministries Staff

Mark Casson, Director

Dion Marshall, Associate Director

Shelly Marshal, Facilitator

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Executive Director Mark Casson with his wife Raylene and daughters Eliana and Joelle (front).

Mark Casson, Executive Director

There are some things that a person never forgets. They are indelibly etched into his mind. For Mark Casson, it was the words of a Superior Court Judge who told him in March, 1989, “I hereby sentence you to life in prison with the possibility of parole. The key word here, sir, is possibility. You may never parole from prison and in fact, you may die there. Do you understand this sentence I am imposing on you?”

These words were spoken only a few weeks after Mark was converted to Christ through jail/prison ministry. For the next 15+ years, he would spend his days growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mark availed himself of the few Bible studies and courses which were available to him, and he spent much of his time in the Word, teaching others and ministering from the "inside".

Mark went to five parole hearings and was denied parole each time. It was at the sixth hearing that he heard the words, "By unanimous decision, we find you suitable for parole." On February 19, 2004, he walked out of prison a twice freed man.

Mark has continued his active Christian life on the outside. He and his family live in Fresno, CA, where Mark is an ordained Ruling Elder at Sierra View Presbyterian Church (PCA).

Since his release, Mark has been involved in the Dare to Hope program, which takes a message of hope into the prisons in his area. He has been blessed to return to prison more than a dozen times through this program. He has been actively involved in teaching Bible Studies, Sunday School, and the occasional exhortation from the pulpit. He has worked with people at the local Rescue Mission, and he continues to minister to children at a local children's shelter with the members of his church.

In 2007 Mark was added to the Board of Directors of Metanoia Ministries. Sensing Mark's burden for prisoners, his love for the great commission and his desire to see men and women changed through the power of the gospel, the Board called Mark to be their Executive Director in 2008.

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Dion Marshall, Associate Director

Dion L. Marshal was raised in a non-Christian home with a healthy dose of original sin. At the age of sixteen, Dion began to experiment with marijuana and alcohol. Within weeks of his first high, he was "hooked" and had to have more. For the next 10 years Dion was caught in a vicious cycle of the misuse and abuse of alcohol, marijuana, and whatever else he could get his hands on, a dishonest lifestyle to support the expense of these vices, and the consequences of stealing, lying, and cheating his way through life.

Round one was a 16 month stay at a private mental hospital where he was diagnosed with a low self-esteem. Round two was a 2 year jail sentence for multiple counts of forgery. Round three was a 20 month therapeutic community based on the twelve step programs of Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous. Round four was a 60 day drug and alcohol program designed to teach you how to be a productive member of society and attend a 12-step meeting every day. Nothing worked.

By the time the dust had cleared, Dion had committed over 50 armed robberies to support an addiction to heroin. Within a few days of this final incarceration, he heard the gospel for the first time and the Lord changed His heart in a moment of time. For the next 6 years, Dion would walk closely with the Lord in prison serving most of that time as the Chaplain's clerk. It was also during this time that Dion and Mark Casson, our Executive Director, became close friends and dreamed of the day they would both be out and able to share the good news of the gospel with their fellow prisoners.

Dion met his wife, Shelly, in August of 1992, just a few days after he was paroled from prison. They married the following August as Dion was enrolled at Westminster Theological Seminary, where the Lord had blessed him with a full scholarship. Dion and Shelly have two children, Emily Ann and Owen Marshall, who were both born during his three years at Westminster.

Dion has served four churches over the last 13 years. He spent two years as the Pastor of Men's Ministry at New Life Presbyterian in Escondido, California. He spent three years helping re-start Coastal Presbyterian in Oceanside, California. In 2000, the Marshall family moved to Virginia to slow down a bit as Dion served as the Pastor of Sandlick Presbyterian Church in Birchleaf, Virginia. Today, the Marshalls live in Lincolnton, North Carolina, where Dion is the Pastor of Harvest Presbyterian.

Dion has served as the President of Metanoia Ministries for all but 2 years of its 13 year history. While he feels called to preach the gospel and serve as a pastor in the local church, he has a long standing commitment and passion to reach prisoners and serve the brethren behind bars!

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Shelly Marshall, Facilitator

Mrs. Michelle "Shelly" Marshall is the wife of Metanoia Board President, Reverend Dion L. Marshall, and the mother of two children, Emily Ann and Owen Langley Marshall. Shelly was raised by a single mom who expected her children to fend for themselves, achieve good grades, and make something of their lives. They frequented the Polish Catholic Church in her hometown of Syracuse, New York, but the services were conducted completely in Polish.

Shelly's early adult life revolved around work and drinking. In her early thirties, Shelly got seriously sick, which led her to re-evaluate her lifestyle and an obvious problem with alcohol and cocaine. She checked herself into a drug and alcohol program where she found temporary relief in Alcoholic's Anonymous (A.A.) and Cocaine Anonymous (C.A.) .Shortly thereafter, one of her friends from the meetings invited her to church. A few Sundays later the Lord graciously changed her heart. Miraculously, Shelly became a new creature in Christ with absolutely no desire to ever drink or drug again.

Shelly has a rich background in bookkeeping, office management, database set-up and management, tax preparation, and utilizing a wide variety of computer programs. She had her own bookkeeping business for many years serving lawyers, restaurant owners, and small business owners.

Shelly has a real heart for prison ministry. Her prison ministry experience began when she married her husband who spent 10 years in prison. When her husband graduated from seminary, they founded Metanoia Ministries (MM) together and opened a discipleship home for men just getting out of prison. For five years Shelly served as the matriarch and assistant to the director as she helped her husband oversee MM, keep the ministry books, and interacted daily with each of the men who lived in the home. When MM needed more beds to meet the growing number of applicants, Shelly used an inheritance she had received to help Metanoia Ministries move into a new 14 bed facility. She said, "It is God's money, and so it should be used for God's purposes." Shelly participated in some of the new resident interviews, she regularly served as an extra pair of eyes and ears, and she managed all the finances for the ministry.

Today, Shelly holds the title of Executive Assistant to the Executive Director of Metanoia Ministries. Her responsibilities include designing all the handsome correspondence course covers, setting up and maintaining a comprehensive database, copying and reproducing all of our course materials, mailing all the course material to instructors, students, and chaplains, interacting with all our instructors and students, and handling a dozen other odds and ends that pop up week to week.

Shelly is thankful she has the opportunity to serve brothers and sisters in Christ who are in prison. She knows what it is like to be imprisoned in sin as well as the joy of being set free by the Sovereign Grace of God. She sees the need. Her prayer is to be a small part of the solution to that need.

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