New Journey, The

United Prison Ministries International

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Aaron Chancy (Host), Steven Rodford

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Series Code: TNJ

Program Code: TNJ000008


00:01 The following program discusses sensitive issues.
00:03 Parents are cautioned that some material
00:05 may be too candid for younger children.
00:11 Welcome to "The New Journey."
00:12 The program where we meet real life people
00:15 with real life testimonies,
00:16 with real life working ministries for Jesus.
00:18 Today, we'll meet a man
00:20 that spend more than half of his life incarcerated,
00:22 but now serve Jesus actively in prison ministries.
00:25 We learn how he found Jesus and how no matter the crime,
00:29 God does not forsake us nor leave us.
00:31 I'm your host Aaron Chancy.
00:32 Come join us on The New Journey.
01:03 Welcome back to the program.
01:05 Today our guest is Brother Steven Radford.
01:07 Welcome to the program. Brother Steven Radford.
01:09 Thanks for having me. Thank you. Thank you.
01:11 We're going to talk about two aspects in this testimony.
01:15 We gonna talk about your testimony
01:16 and also we gonna talk about
01:18 how you got involved with prison ministries.
01:21 First we're gonna start off with your early life.
01:23 What was your early life like?
01:24 Give us a background, some background information
01:27 on your early life?
01:28 Well, I'm from Birmingham, Alabama.
01:30 Okay.
01:31 And there were seven people in my family, my grandfather,
01:36 mother and father, had two older brothers.
01:38 Okay. And a younger sister.
01:40 Okay.
01:42 My grandfather was an alcoholic.
01:46 Okay.
01:47 My dad was also an alcoholic, a drug abuser.
01:53 He spent time in prison.
01:56 Was it tough as a young person
01:57 seeing your father as an alcoholic,
02:00 using drugs and seeing him away for prison?
02:02 Well, I didn't understand that it should have been tough.
02:05 I didn't know what actually to expect
02:07 because that was all I saw.
02:10 I thought that we were poor.
02:12 We lived in a house that
02:15 they used to call them double tinned-up houses.
02:17 They were like three rooms
02:19 and you could stand on the front porch
02:21 and look in the backyard.
02:23 But fortunately, my mother who is alive today,
02:27 I thank God for.
02:29 She demanded that my brothers and my sister
02:33 and I attend the church.
02:34 And we did up until we decided that
02:39 we didn't want to go to church anymore.
02:41 Okay.
02:43 And in the neighborhood that I grew up in,
02:46 there was vice all around.
02:48 There was whiskey drinking, gambling
02:51 and so you could say truthfully that my environment
02:55 had an effect on some of the choices that I made.
02:59 Okay. Okay.
03:00 So you grew up kind of in a rough environment.
03:02 There were things going on around
03:04 that the drinking, the drugs,
03:06 so many different things that going on,
03:08 your neighborhood was a rough area.
03:09 Was it tough growing up in this particular area?
03:13 You know, contrary to problem opinion, it actually it wasn't.
03:18 Most of the people in the neighborhood
03:20 were kind of like family.
03:21 Okay. Everybody knows everybody.
03:22 Everybody knows everybody,
03:24 but everybody was doing their own thing
03:26 and nobody got in anybody else's business.
03:28 Okay.
03:29 But I didn't have to deal with gangs or bully,
03:33 any type of bullying and things of that nature.
03:36 Now, you stated that you were going to church at a early age.
03:39 Was your home a Christian home? What was it like for you?
03:44 Was your mother around
03:45 and going to church things like that?
03:47 Yeah, she, my mother is a Sunday church goer.
03:52 And she went every Sunday
03:55 and her rule was that we would go too.
03:58 Okay, if she go, you go.
03:59 Yes. Okay.
04:00 And so we were like go to church every Sunday,
04:02 you know, I really thank God for her
04:05 because I understand the Bible
04:07 when it says in the Book of Isaiah 55
04:11 that the word of God
04:12 will not return to Him void,
04:14 but would accomplish what is being sent out to do.
04:18 I made-- I begin to violate the law of God
04:22 very early in my life.
04:24 I started smoking when I was about 10 years old.
04:27 I started drinking when I was about 10 years old.
04:30 I was smoking marijuana at 12
04:33 and about the time I was 14 years old,
04:36 I believe I was an alcoholic.
04:38 Okay. Okay. Okay.
04:39 So you were on several different types of drugs.
04:42 You were on marijuana, you were on alcohol,
04:45 you were smoking cigarettes at the time.
04:47 Was it hard to cope with all those things
04:50 in the system because it's foreign to the body?
04:52 Was it hard on the mind?
04:54 Was it hard on the body taking these different drugs?
04:56 What was the feeling of it?
04:58 Well, it was a feeling of excitement, glee out,
05:03 you know, most of the times what it did was
05:05 what I wanted to do.
05:07 As a matter of fact, I was taking
05:09 different kinds of pills.
05:11 In that particular time, they had pills
05:13 that would take you up
05:14 which was described as P and PO that will take you down
05:19 which would kind of put you to sleep.
05:21 So I was into, you know, just all over it.
05:25 You know, I really get into it
05:26 because I was dare by one of my peers
05:32 and because of that,
05:35 I found myself doing things
05:37 that other people expected me to do
05:42 and not doing what I knew was right to do.
05:45 You know, I can testify to the fact
05:46 even in my own life,
05:48 you mentioned some of the drugs are upper,
05:49 some of the drugs are down earth.
05:50 You know, and I spent so much time
05:52 on a lot of the upper drugs,
05:54 I took some down earths as well
05:56 but you know, you tend to see people out there on the streets
05:59 that kind of look like zombies
06:01 where their eyes are really beady,
06:03 hair is all types of different way,
06:04 looks like they've been up, you know, for weeks at a time.
06:07 And I can testify to the fact
06:09 that on all these types of uppers,
06:11 it is to have you awake for days at a time.
06:14 Did you ever experience that in your own life?
06:16 Yes, I did.
06:18 And if you noticed there was a progression.
06:19 Yeah. Yeah.
06:21 I started smoking. Okay.
06:22 And then I started drinking. Yeah.
06:24 It's like one leads to the next.
06:26 One leads to another.
06:27 It's like, you're looking for something else
06:30 that you're not getting from the one
06:32 that you started with.
06:33 And you know that's where I was,
06:36 just trying to find something that I could really never take.
06:39 Okay, now, eventually
06:41 you got involved in criminal activities.
06:44 Speak a little bit about what criminal activities
06:46 you were involved in
06:48 and eventually you were incarcerated.
06:49 Talk a little bit about those instances?
06:52 Well, I-- the first time I think I remember doing
06:56 something actually wrong was I stole some money
06:59 that was placed in the house.
07:02 Okay.
07:04 You start out with something simple, didn't you?
07:05 Well, no, it wasn't really simple,
07:07 I just thought it would.
07:08 And it just kind of like gravitated to other things.
07:12 Now, I was in school and you know,
07:15 I was getting my lesson, I was passing my grades.
07:17 Matter of fact I graduated from high school
07:20 and I went on to do a stint in United States Air Force.
07:23 But all the time I was smoking and drinking.
07:28 While you were in the military? While I was in the military.
07:30 My criminal activity was not that much.
07:34 Okay.
07:36 I was arrested for being with my older brother once
07:41 when I was about 16 years old.
07:43 And later on, you know, I was released.
07:47 Okay.
07:49 But as far as you know me just being active,
07:52 you know, in the criminal element
07:53 that I grew up in the streets.
07:55 And I live by the rules of the streets.
07:58 And so therefore for me it really wasn't nothing
08:02 that I probably wouldn't have done.
08:04 Because the drugs and alcohol had just numb me
08:08 to the values that we have in society.
08:11 Oh, yes, you know, I know how--
08:13 you know, a lot of people get involved in crime
08:15 and you know, I did myself,
08:16 I didn't start off with something big,
08:18 I didn't start off with grand theft auto,
08:20 I started off with something simple
08:21 as a small charge, just take a little toy from the store.
08:24 Take a little candy from the store
08:25 and things like that.
08:26 And what happen is it became a habit,
08:28 it became a habit, it became something
08:30 like you get a thrill out of doing this thing.
08:33 And next thing you know
08:34 you lead the way to bigger things.
08:36 You start taking the cars, you start breaking into houses,
08:39 things like that.
08:40 so a lot of times, it's like this tumbleweed effect in life.
08:43 We start off with something small just like with drugs,
08:45 we may start off with what they call the gateway
08:48 to all marijuana and then we say,
08:50 well, you know, what I want to progress,
08:51 I want something a little better.
08:53 I want some more thrill out of it.
08:54 and then it leads to way to different drugs,
08:56 different types of crime, things like that.
08:59 You know, now eventually you serve some time in prison,
09:02 I want to spend a little bit of time here
09:04 talking about your prison time.
09:07 How long did you actually spend in prison?
09:09 I spend a total of 31 years. 31 years. You know what?
09:13 That's longer than I've been alive, 31 years.
09:16 How was it being in prison for 31 years?
09:20 Well, to begin with I was in prison
09:23 because there was a life taken.
09:27 And I did not do anything to prevent to take another life
09:34 and when I was asked a question by the authorities,
09:37 I lied about it.
09:38 I was arrested and then I was deemed as guilty
09:41 as the person that actually committed the crime.
09:45 Thirty one years in prison is--
09:49 are you talking about 31 years of somebody telling you
09:52 what to do, what to wear, when to eat,
09:55 where to go and you know, at times
10:00 I thought that the possibility of me not able to getting out,
10:04 you know, was a reality.
10:07 Now, what was your original sentence?
10:09 What were you originally sentenced to.
10:10 My original sentence was life in prison.
10:13 Life in prison.
10:14 With the possibility of parole.
10:15 Is even a testimony that you're even out right now
10:18 because there is a possibility there is that small possibility
10:21 where you could still be
10:22 incarcerated to this day, right?
10:24 Absolutely, I noted the only reason
10:26 that I'm out right now
10:28 is because of the love and power of God.
10:31 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.
10:32 So what year did you get incarcerated in?
10:36 I was arrested in April of 1975.
10:40 And I was released in April 2006.
10:45 Now to from 1975 to 2006 that is a large, large gap.
10:51 When you got out of prison,
10:54 how was it or how is it
10:56 still trying to read just to society
10:58 because when you went in,
10:59 that was a much slower pace society at that time.
11:02 Then you come out in 2006.
11:04 People got iPhones, iPads
11:05 and all these electronical things now.
11:08 How was it or how is it
11:09 readjusting to society even now?
11:11 Well, I gave my life to the Lord in 1990.
11:15 I was in the home
11:17 and that's prison inside of prison.
11:20 There you go, okay.
11:21 It's where they take people that have disciplinary problem
11:25 or take people there for their lives
11:27 or take people that they want to investigate.
11:29 I was on the investigation and during my time there,
11:33 I began to look at my life.
11:36 And it was not turning out like I wanted it to be.
11:39 Yeah. Okay.
11:40 And, you know, that's why I'm so thankful for my mom
11:44 because the word that she demanded
11:46 I go to church and get began to come alive in my life.
11:50 And, you know, I didn't know
11:53 at that particular time of any formal way to pray,
11:57 so I talked to God and I asked God to forgive me.
12:02 You know, I told Him that I wanted something
12:05 different in my life.
12:06 And, you know, the thing about God is that He doesn't wait
12:10 to answer our prayer.
12:12 What the Bible says
12:15 that "If you call on Me, I will answer you
12:18 and I will show you great and mighty thing."
12:21 When I pray, God answered me. Amen.
12:24 And He forgave me and then He began
12:27 to give me that new heart
12:29 that the Bible talks about in Ezekiel.
12:31 You know, the Bible also talks about
12:33 if any man be in Christ, in Him,
12:35 2 Corinthians 5:17, he is the new creature.
12:38 So God began to transform my mind.
12:41 Okay.
12:43 And so my attitude began to change,
12:45 my talk began to change.
12:47 The people that I was around began to change.
12:50 You know, God began to come alive for me in my life.
12:54 In your own personal life? In my personal life.
12:55 Okay. Okay.
12:57 You know, I think one of the reason
12:58 I had stayed away from Christianity
13:00 and accept Jesus Christ as my Lord
13:02 and Savior was because of what I was seeing.
13:05 I was seeing people that were saying they were serving God.
13:09 And they were doing another thing.
13:11 Absolutely. Okay.
13:12 So that was kind of hard on you, you're seeing this.
13:13 You know, even in my own instance,
13:15 I remember growing up
13:17 and so many people would try to in essence save face.
13:20 They would go to church not because
13:22 they wanted anything out of church.
13:23 It was just basically,
13:25 I want to go just to kind of save face.
13:26 And here I'm, I'm drinking, smoking,
13:29 doing all these things like that.
13:30 And people would look down on me
13:32 because, well, you're coming to church,
13:34 you're doing all these things,
13:35 but then come to find out these ones
13:37 that were put on the front,
13:38 they were doing the same things as I'm doing.
13:40 But what they'd try to do is heave all the blame on me
13:43 all that you're bad, you're this, you're that.
13:46 Not knowing that they're doing the exact same thing
13:48 that I was doing.
13:50 That's why the world is saying today,
13:52 I'd rather see a sermon than hear one.
13:54 Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, exactly,
13:55 You know, it's much more powerful,
13:57 like I say action speak louder than words.
14:00 It's much more powerful
14:01 to see a person living the Christian walk
14:03 than just talking it and living totally different
14:06 than what their Christian life actually professes.
14:09 Now, in relation to the long period of time
14:13 that I was in prison.
14:15 When I got out of prison a lot things had changed.
14:19 Oh, yeah.
14:20 I mean I was riding in the car and they had changed so much
14:24 that I didn't know how to get out them.
14:27 And I had-- you know, I went to a place
14:29 to use the restroom
14:32 and, you know, normally the restroom had handles
14:38 so after I finished,
14:40 I was looking for the handle to flush it,
14:43 but I didn't see one, right.
14:45 And I didn't see one and thus, you know, began to look,
14:48 you know, over, so I just backed away and said,
14:50 well, maybe they'll come in.
14:52 Maybe they'll come in to flush them so.
14:54 And flush them so.
14:55 And when I backed away, you know, it flushed
14:57 and I went like wow, it's--
15:01 I'm adjusting and I believe, you know,
15:03 God has given me an attitude of learning.
15:06 Since I'm born again, I'm a babe,
15:11 so there's a lot of things that I've got to learn
15:14 and God is, He has given me the patience,
15:16 you know, to be able to learn 'em, to sit back
15:18 to listen, you know, to be observant
15:21 and in just, you know, allow His Spirit
15:23 to manifest itself in my life.
15:25 Do you feel that after spending 31 years in prison
15:28 that you were institutionalize,
15:30 you know, you hear so many stories of people
15:32 that have spend time in prison and they come out,
15:35 it's hard to readjust.
15:37 Their mind state is prison, prison, prison
15:39 because this may have been all they known for years.
15:41 I know even for myself I spend a little time in prison
15:45 and when I got out, I was still in the same habits
15:47 of doing some of the same things
15:48 that I was doing while I was in prison,
15:50 in terms of eating with the spoon
15:52 instead of eating with the fork,
15:54 that's one of the habits I still have to this day.
15:56 And even washing my clothes and the showers
15:58 and the toilets things like that.
16:00 It took me a little bit to readjust to being
16:01 able to wash my own clothes myself.
16:04 Was it similar to you, for you for that?
16:06 In my case, I had to say no.
16:08 and the reason I do is because while I was incarcerated.
16:13 At course I just mentioned that I gave my life to the Lord.
16:16 And what God did was enabled me
16:19 to see reality for exact what it is.
16:23 And when He did that, you know,
16:25 I began to not do time but use it.
16:28 Okay. Great.
16:30 And that's where I think narrow minds come from
16:31 when we just do time.
16:34 I began to read
16:36 and try to be aware of the going zones
16:38 in the world.
16:39 And so and then you'll have to get out,
16:43 I had a good support system.
16:44 Amen. Amen.
16:45 My family was there and the church was there
16:48 and my spiritual family.
16:49 You know, I had a lot of people
16:51 that were there to hit me along the way.
16:53 There's only one thing that I used to do that I still do.
16:57 What's that?
16:58 And that's I have a tendency to go to bed early
17:01 and get up early.
17:02 Nothing wrong with that. I love going to bed early.
17:04 Nothing wrong with that. That's great.
17:05 You know, being in prison, they tell you
17:07 when to go to bed,
17:08 what time to eat, when they get dressed,
17:10 it's a lot of rules of, you got to do this
17:12 at this time, this time, and this time.
17:14 And, you know, when you come out to society,
17:16 you're still in those same
17:18 kind of habits for little while.
17:19 So I could testify to that fact as well.
17:21 You know, now what's interesting is
17:23 while you were prison in 1990 you started to read,
17:27 God started to open up your mind,
17:28 you started to draw closer to Jesus Christ.
17:30 He was working on you. He was changing you.
17:32 Now, you're actively involved in prison ministries.
17:35 I want to spend some time
17:37 with your involvement in prison ministries.
17:39 You work with UPMI Ministries, can you, can you delve
17:41 into that information a little bit?
17:43 Well, when I gave my life to the Lord,
17:46 I was really on fire.
17:48 I wanted to tell everybody about Him
17:51 and tell about the love and forgiveness that He has,
17:53 so I start to read my Bible,
17:55 and I start to go to church every night in prison,
17:58 they had service every night.
18:00 My problem was that I was hearing different ideologies.
18:04 I was hearing different doctrine.
18:06 I was hearing things that was not in line
18:08 with the word of God.
18:10 And one day I was in the prison
18:12 and I told one of the other Christian guys
18:15 about my predicament and he invited me
18:19 to United Prison Ministry International Bible study.
18:22 And I went to that Bible study,
18:25 and the first thing I heard of
18:27 when I went is I want you to know,
18:30 that you cannot trust me.
18:33 The founder Richard Bland, that's what he said,
18:36 and when he said that I kind of sat up in my seat
18:39 because in the world you can't trust people.
18:42 Yeah. Yeah.
18:43 Now, here it is, I have a Christian telling me
18:46 that I can't trust him.
18:48 But the thing about it was that
18:50 he supported it with what the Bible say.
18:53 You know, United Prison Ministry
18:54 International's motto is we go by the book.
18:58 And when he went into the Bible
19:01 and he use a scripture to show us that,
19:04 you know, the Bible say you can't trust man
19:07 and the Bible says to trust God.
19:09 So when he did, you know,
19:11 I knew that I was in the right place to hear
19:15 and learn some truth of the word of God.
19:17 Okay. Okay.
19:19 So you met Richard and Carolyn Bland
19:21 while you were actually in prison.
19:23 These are the leaders
19:24 of United Prison Ministries International.
19:26 How long now when you got out in 2006,
19:29 how long has it been now since you've been working
19:31 with United Prison Ministries International?
19:33 For five years. For five years.
19:35 Okay, so immediately when you got out,
19:36 you started working with UPMI Ministries.
19:38 Almost immediately. About 90 days after I got out.
19:41 Now, were you baptized while you were in prison
19:44 or did you get baptized when you came out of prison?
19:46 I got baptized when I got out of prison.
19:48 Okay.
19:49 I want you to talk a little bit
19:51 about that experience of baptism,
19:52 the feeling that you feel going down
19:53 into that watery grave.
19:55 What does it feel like getting baptized?
19:57 Let me tell to you
20:00 how I believe I got out of prison.
20:02 Okay.
20:03 When I was in prison, you know, I questioned God.
20:07 I often time asked Him, what's going on
20:09 and I was reminded that God's love
20:14 the Ten Commandments is my gauge,
20:17 that's my standard I'm to live.
20:19 But I noticed that I was not abiding
20:22 by one of those laws and that was God's Sabbath day.
20:26 And when that was revealed to me,
20:28 I began to set aside God's Sabbath day
20:32 for fellowship and worship with him.
20:35 And when I-- when I stood up for God,
20:38 He stood up for me.
20:39 And then I was released from prison.
20:41 Amen. Amen.
20:42 I know that had to be a great feeling,
20:44 a great feeling, trusting in the Lord,
20:46 seeing where the Lord will take you
20:48 and even being involved in ministry right now.
20:50 It's amazing what the Lord will do, isn't that right?
20:52 Absolutely.
20:53 So I get out of prison
20:55 and I began to search for a home church.
20:59 And I found a church in the city
21:02 I was living in Birmingham and I went in,
21:05 I was really greeted with a lot of love.
21:07 It was a Seventh-day Adventist church.
21:11 And the reason I had, you know,
21:13 ended up at that church is because
21:16 the Seventh-day Adventist
21:18 are living the truth in accordance
21:21 to what I understand the Bible to say.
21:23 Okay.
21:24 And so I went to this church
21:25 and I was just welcomed with open arms
21:27 and, you know, people loved me and, you know,
21:30 I began to go on a regular basis
21:32 and even God told me, you know, Jesus has set the example,
21:36 you need to be baptized.
21:38 Okay.
21:39 And so I talked to, you know, the elders in the church
21:41 and I was baptized and I'll tell you,
21:43 right now I'm so excited.
21:46 And, you know, it has been described as a watery grave.
21:52 Okay. Yeah.
21:53 And I knew that when I went down in that water
21:56 and when I came up,
21:57 that my whole life in being would be different.
22:01 Okay.
22:02 Yeah, I mean the excitement is a small word to describe
22:05 how I felt when I was baptized.
22:06 Oh, yeah.
22:08 I knew it was just like, you know, the heavens open
22:10 and God looked on Jesus and said, this is my son
22:13 in whom I-- I, you know, I experienced that too,
22:16 God loves me just that much.
22:18 So, you know, that's kind of excitement that I felt
22:21 when I was baptized.
22:22 You know, what's interesting in the Bible in Luke 15
22:24 it says that all a heaven rejoices
22:27 over that one soul that comes back to--
22:29 comes back to God.
22:31 Now that's, when you think about that,
22:33 all a heaven rejoicing.
22:34 You read in the Book of Revelation
22:36 that is thousands of thousands and ten thousands
22:38 and thousands of thousands of angels.
22:40 So you think about a basketball game.
22:42 You got to NBA game or NFL game
22:45 and you see the 50,000 screaming fans there,
22:48 rooting for their favorite team to beat the other team.
22:51 And you take that and you say, hmm,
22:53 all a heaven is rejoicing over just one.
22:56 And you know it's way more than 50,000 screaming fans
22:59 for their team, but if all a heaven rejoicing
23:03 for that one soul that has come back to Jesus
23:06 and all the heaven was doing that for you.
23:07 All the heaven was doing that for me.
23:09 That is amazing.
23:10 So once you got out of prison,
23:12 you found a Seventh-day Adventist church in Birmingham,
23:14 how long was it before you got back to
23:16 where Richard and Carolyn Bland and started working with UPMI?
23:18 Approximately 90 days. Okay.
23:21 Well, in terms of my parole was that
23:25 I cannot leave the city that I was staying in for 90 days.
23:29 Okay.
23:30 God had already moved in my heart
23:33 and He also directed the Bland's to contact me
23:38 and they did and you know, prayerfully the season was,
23:41 you know, came upon prayerfully.
23:43 I went to work with United Prison Ministry International
23:47 after those 90 days were over.
23:48 Okay. Amen. Amen.
23:50 Now, United Prison Ministry International
23:52 is pretty extensive prison ministry
23:54 and you offer some resources,
23:56 the ministry offered some resources.
23:58 Can you talk a little bit about those resources
24:00 that the ministry has?
24:01 Sure, one of the most books and the most important book
24:04 I think that we provide is a Bible.
24:07 Okay. Okay.
24:09 Because this is our foundation.
24:12 This is the basis of everything that we stand on.
24:14 Remember, our motto is "we go by the book."
24:17 Go by the book.
24:18 And this is a precious promises edition
24:21 and in saying that,
24:23 the promises that God has made to us
24:26 in this particular edition is shaded.
24:29 We also offer a 32 lesson Bible study
24:34 that answer some of the-- most often asked questions
24:38 that we have as Christian and it revealed to us the truth
24:42 what does saith the Lord.
24:43 For example, it talks about the Sabbath day, you know,
24:47 and it touches on the State of the Dead
24:49 and ask somebody as about who committed the first sin
24:52 and some other.
24:53 We also offer the book The Desire of Ages.
24:56 Great book. Excellent. Excellent book.
24:59 If you're having problems understanding Jesus
25:02 and His life, read The Desire of Ages.
25:05 And we also have this small book,
25:08 Bible questions answered.
25:10 It's got 14 different lessons in it.
25:12 It also touches on the State of the Dead
25:15 and some other things so.
25:17 Okay.
25:18 This is just some and it isn't all the resource material
25:20 that we offer inmates throughout the country.
25:25 Okay. Now, those are some great resources that you have.
25:29 How can people get a hold of these particular resources?
25:32 They may want a Bible, they may want that book
25:33 Desire of Ages,
25:35 they may want some other material that you have.
25:37 How can people get these resources?
25:39 Well, they can email us at office@upmi.org.
25:44 Okay.
25:45 Or they can call us at 205-755-4744.
25:51 Or they can write us at United Prison Ministry International,
25:55 PO Box 8, Verbena, Alabama 36091.
26:00 Okay. Okay.
26:02 So do you encourage people to get a hold of this material?
26:04 This is like a must have, isn't it?
26:06 Absolutely. Okay. Okay.
26:08 Well, we get letters regularly from people
26:12 throughout, you know,
26:14 not just inmate, inmate's families
26:16 that telling us how this particular book
26:19 or lesson has helped them in their relationship
26:22 where God has revealed things in them,
26:24 helped them to understand the Sabbath and another things
26:26 about the truths of God's word.
26:28 Okay. Okay.
26:29 Now, what I want you to do is talk a little bit about
26:32 your feeling, just a few seconds of your feeling
26:34 of going back into the prisons now
26:36 and working with inmates.
26:38 You spent 31 years in there, now you're back in there
26:41 ministering to others.
26:43 Talk about that feeling?
26:44 Well, you know, there's a book on ministry of healing,
26:47 certain Ellen White wrote it on page 143.
26:51 She talks about Christ method being the best method.
26:55 So being able to go into the prisons
26:59 to connect with the people to understand their needs
27:04 and being able to provide for their needs.
27:06 You know, one of the most things
27:07 that people in prison want or need is love.
27:11 That's true. That is true.
27:13 Not necessarily a book, but they need our love.
27:16 But just going back in there is a blessing to me.
27:20 You know, sometimes we think we're doing that kind of work
27:23 that we're blessing others.
27:24 But God blessed me as He enabled me to go back in there
27:28 because it's strengthening for me.
27:29 It helps me to remember that I'm representing God.
27:34 And then I'm representing the whole lot of people
27:36 that are still incarcerated.
27:38 Amen. Amen.
27:39 I want you to look into the camera,
27:40 talk to the viewer right now they're struggling,
27:42 they needs a relationship with God.
27:43 Take about five seconds to talk about this?
27:47 I am a living witness and testimony to the power
27:52 and love of God.
27:54 And I'll say to you that if you are feeling hopeless,
27:59 if you feel like you have something
28:01 that you cannot be delivered from,
28:03 Christ is the answer.
28:06 Thank you so much, Brother Steven Radford
28:08 for being on the program.
28:10 We love to have you back sometime.
28:12 You've been watching the New Journey.
28:13 We encourage you to tune in next time
28:15 for more stories of amazing grace
28:17 and also powerful ministries for Jesus Christ.
28:20 Be blessed.


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Revised 2015-09-28