Ohio Ex-Cons Form Gospel Group
Reginald Richardson says most people who hear his gospel music group perform are completely unaware of its members' dark pasts. People are often shocked to hear that Richardson and most of the other members of Spirit 'N' Truth are ex-convicts who spent large portions of their lives in Ohio penitentiaries.
Richardson said when he was young he performed as an R&B artist, but was friends with “unsavory” people, and he spent his time doing drugs, drinking alcohol and partying.
He eventually found himself in trouble with the law, and in the summer of 1985 ended up in the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison.
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While he was there, someone saw him singing on a television show that had been recorded before Richardson was imprisoned, and invited Richardson to sing at the prison's church service that Sunday.
Richardson wasn't a Christian, and he admits that he knew very few gospel songs at the time, but he agreed to the performance and made quite an impression. After the service, a man named Herbert Hinton approached him and asked him if he would like to play guitar with him.
They became friends, and Hinton introduced Richardson to Raymond Towler, who to this day serves as the group's bass guitar player. All three were later transferred to the same medium-security institution, where they stayed for about five years.
In the meantime, Richardson attended the prison's worship services, but not because he had a love for God, he said.
“It was really just something to do,” he told The Christian Post in an interview. “I was reading my Bible the entire time, but it never got into me what it was really all about.”
After his fifth year of incarceration, however, Richardson found out that the appeal in his case had been shot down, and he suddenly realized “there was no way to get out” of prison for him. This realization led to a pivotal moment in his life, which occurred one evening in 1992.
“I was praying and crying ... and asking God to reveal Himself to me, and I believe that He did,” he said. “I accepted Christ as my Savior, for real this time. I had done so verbally before, but this time it was different.”
At that time he decided he wouldn't sing R&B anymore, but would instead spread the Word of God through gospel music. He asked his fellow inmate-musicians to join him in forming a new gospel group, and they agreed.
Richardson said many of the inmates attended prison church services in order to impress the parole board, and it took a while for the board to see that he and his fellow band mates had undergone a genuine change of heart and behavior. They stopped using profanity and stopped gambling, and soon earned respect.
The group's standards, which they still hold to today, were set from the very beginning. Anybody who wants to join their group must love Jesus, have accepted Him as their Savior and must live by the words of the Bible.
After spending five years in the medium security institution, Richardson and his fellow musicians were transferred together again, this time to a minimum-security prison. Richardson said that God had His hand in making sure they stayed together while they moved from one institution to another, allowing them to continue to minister to others as a group.
Though the band was only allowed two hours of rehearsal time per week, the men rapidly learned new songs and soon began writing their own music. The other inmates took notice, and the group was asked to perform at a number of different prison events and religious services. The band was even given the opportunity to produce professional recordings of its music, which were sold to inmates, with the proceeds going to local charities in Lorain County and surrounding areas.
After a brief hiatus from playing, and after all of the group's members were released from prison, Spirit 'N' Truth began the second phase of ministry outside the prison walls.
There have been a number of changes to the group since its inception. Some of the musicians, including Hinton, have passed away, while others have been incarcerated again or simply moved on to doing other things. But the message the group shares is still the same.
Today Richardson, now a licensed minister, is one of the group's lead singers, and he performs alongside background vocalist and backup drummer Rodney Smith, second tenor vocalist Michael Milbert, bass guitarist Towler, ordained elder and drummer Antonio Jackson and pianist Sarah Vail.
Vail, the only member of the group who has not been incarcerated, met the men in the group after they had all been released from prison. She has something other than musical talent in common with the band. According to Cleveland.com, she previously worked for Lorain County Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services as an HIV educator at one of the prisons some members of Spirit 'N' Truth were held in.
Vail’s participation in the group, and her experience working in the same prison he once lived in, served as yet another sign to Richardson that God brought them all together, and kept them together, for the sake of ministry.
In addition to performing at churches and events all over the Northeast Ohio area, Spirit 'N' Truth continues to minister to those who are where the band members once were: behind bars.
Richardson said in one of their return-to-prison concerts, a stage was built for them and more than 1,000 inmates came to watch the group and hear its message.
Cleveland.com reported that the group's next performance, scheduled for Oct. 16 at the Gospel House Church and Evangelistic Center in Walton Hills, Ohio, will serve as a special benefit concert for the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center. Proceeds from the performance will be submitted to the center in the names of the 11 women who were murdered by infamous Cleveland serial killer, Anthony Sowell.
This spring, the group began recording new material, and they hope to soon use the power of the Internet to get their music – and their message – out to the rest of the world.
Although the men behind Spirit 'N' Truth may have dark pasts, they've put those days behind them in order to sing and proclaim the hope which has given them a brighter future.
