By Moses Primo, Jr.
Richard Wise, the grandson of a Baptist minister, was preaching and teaching Sunday school in the Chillicothe Correctional Institution—as an inmate! While confined, he was very involved in the church program led by the two prison chaplains, but in 1980, a slot opened up in the Sunday service rotation, and it was offered to the local Seventh-day Adventists who had long and consistently ministered there.
The Allegheny West Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, under the direction of Ernestine Mitchell, immediately coordinated volunteer church members from four congregations to visit and hold a full church service in their chapel once a month.
“I decided I would correct the Adventists on their misunderstanding of the holiness of Saturday,” Richard says, “but after completing their Bible studies, I was convinced about the Sabbath, and was baptized!”
Richard took his faith seriously, and soon was ordained as an elder. He also actively led out in unsanctioned Sabbath worship services on the prison grounds until prison officials relented and allowed Sabbath services in their chapel.
Enter Christine Cochran, who joined the local volunteers at the Chillicothe facility in January 1989. Having a strong burden for prison ministry, she mailed articles and ministry materials, some of which she acquired from 3ABN, to any inmate who would receive them.
Later that year, while still serving time, Richard married Christine, and confidently says, “The only two experiences I would insist on reliving would be learning this Bible truth, and meeting my wife!”
Persistence
Being as ministry-minded as Richard was, he wasted no time. By the end of that year, he had learned a lot about 3ABN, and began petitioning the prison to carry it. But try as he might, the answer was always no.
When he was transferred across the street to the Ross Correctional Institute in 1997, he once again started a church, developed a prison ministry with Adventist volunteers, and petitioned to add 3ABN to their channel lineup. But although the church and ministry flourished, the answer regarding 3ABN was always no.
Richard was transferred again in 2002, this time to the London Correctional Institution, in London, Ohio. Once again he made efforts to start a church, a community-led prison ministry, and have 3ABN brought in, but this time the officials said no to all three—every time he asked.
Disappointed, but determined, Richard didn’t give up. “My efforts in London failed,” he says, “but I still held Bible studies with six or eight inmates the entire time I was there.”
Christine was also putting effort into promoting 3ABN by videotaping 3ABN programs and starting a lending library in her church. Then she attended 3ABN’s camp meeting and picked up fliers and door hangers to help get 3ABN added to the local cable companies. “If I could get 3ABN added, the inmates in the prisons would have access to their programming through local cable,” she explains. But despite her best efforts, the doors remained closed.
On August 18, 2004, Richard was released on parole. Finally he could share a prison ministry with Christine so he immediately applied to volunteer at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution.
“I received a letter that basically said I’d never be allowed, but I could apply again next year,” he says, “so I did. Every year. Again and again—and every year I was denied.”
Try Again
By now you must know that Richard and Christine didn’t stop there, but went into other prisons in the area, instead. He did, however, enter Chillicothe to visit a fellow inmate named Alex, whom he and Christine had “adopted” as their own son.
“Alex was a Muslim, but Christine would give him Bible studies while I was serving time in another facility,” Richard says. “He was baptized, and when I came out of prison we visited him together. Then one day last summer Alex asked if I would try once more to get 3ABN into his prison.
“Honestly, after trying for so many years, I’ll admit that I didn’t think it would work. But for Alex’ sake, I decided to try again.”
This time Richard decided to call Glorystar, a satellite dish company that includes 3ABN in its receiver. He spoke with Brian Gohl, who kindly shared the lengthy and challenging process they go through to install new channels in a prison.
Fighting back discouragement, Richard decided to try anyway, so Brian gave him the name of a lady who had succeeded in getting new channels added to the Chillicothe facility.
Another man he spoke with was a Christian staff member who worked at Chillicothe and with whom he had built a friendship over the years. He agreed it would be nice to have 3ABN, but explained that 3ABN would need to obtain permission to share the existing equipment.
These were new obstacles, but Richard felt as though he was moving forward—especially after speaking with 3ABN’s Jennifer Todd, who confirmed we would be happy to provide technical support. Jennifer sent the prison a portfolio introducing 3ABN and followed up with a call.
Finally, only one obstacle remained: obtaining permission to share equipment. But no one knew how to contact the equipment owners.
Richard called the lady who had gotten the other channels into the prison, and she was very kind. She explained how she had facilitated the signing of the contract and then, to Richard’s surprise, she gave him the contact number for the equipment owner!
Richard called and shared his testimony over the phone, and the man’s heart was touched. Finally, four months after promising Alex he’d try again, the last hurdle had been cleared, and in October 2013, the inmates found 3ABN, 3ABN Latino, Dare to Dream, and 3ABN Proclaim! added to their TV lineup. Almost 3,000 inmates now have access to these life-changing messages—including over 100 death row inmates!
“Since last fall we’ve baptized twelve inmates, and we have six more studying for baptism,” Richard exclaims. “Our church services have grown from around sixty inmates to about ninety. Many of them are Hispanic, and they ask for 3ABN materials in Spanish so they can read and share them with other inmates. You cannot imagine how much these inmates value 3ABN!”
Never Give Up
Since 1986, Richard has led over 300 inmates to baptism, but he and Christine are still going strong. “We are now going back to all those prisons that told us no, and we’re trying again,” he says.
“The Seventh-day Adventist mission, which was started in March 1986, is still going strong 28 years later under the nurturing care of Melvin and Ernestine Mitchell. And now that 3ABN is a vital part of this ministry, more and more inmates will come to know this truth, and Jesus can come soon!”
How do you use 3ABN in your local outreach? We’d love to hear from you, so please call us at 618-627-4651 extension 3120 and ask for our marketing executive, Jennifer Todd. Let’s pray together and see where the Lord leads us. God is eager to reach His children with a message of hope and salvation, and He chooses to use us to accomplish this. We can never give up!