Published: April 12, 2009 06:51 pm      

Full-time pastor also serving as a warden at Coffield Unit

TENNESSEE COLONY — John Wisener is a busy man. And he loves it.

He is the full-time pastor at Tennessee Colony Church as well as serving as the assistant warden at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Coffield Unit.

“I am what you call a bi-vocational minister — a full-time pastor and I work at the prison,” Wisener said. “Many of the same people I work with I see in the pews on Sunday morning.

“It’s a true measure of accountability. They see you in the workplace and see me at church. My life is transparent,” he added.

While Wisener didn’t plan his long career with TDCJ, he did know even at a young age that he would be involved in the ministry in some way. He grew up in church and was saved at age 12.

“I didn’t know exactly what God wanted me to do or where he wanted me to go, but we had faith that he would lead us down the right path,” Wisener said.

After graduating from Hugh Springs High School in 1980, Wisener originally planned to pursue a career as an agriculture teacher when starting classes at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville. Instead, his career with TDCJ began, working for the agency until 1997 when he started working for Correctional Corporation of America, which led him to Oklahoma, North Carolina and Montana. It was during that time he met his wife, Kimberly.

At the church they were attending, as active members helping any way they could, he was asked to serve as the associate pastor.

“At first I said ‘Oh, no, not me, I’m not that guy’,” Wisener said. “That’s when I really recognized my desire to be a pastor.”

When his sister called to tell him his mother was dying of cancer, Wisener and his family relocated back to Texas, returning to TDCJ and officially surrendering to the ministry in 2003. He attended Texas Baptist Institute in Henderson in 2003-05. He served as the pastor of Demascus Baptist Church in Mount Pleasant for two years.

In January 2006, Wisener and his family moved from Northeast Texas to Tennessee Colony for TDCJ, eventually getting the promotion to assistant warden at the Coffield Unit.

At the time, they were attending a church in Palestine, passing by Tennessee Colony Church located at the five-way intersection in the community on a daily basis. One of Kimberly’s co-workers kept inviting her to visit the church, but they kept putting it off.

Finally in March 2007, they decided to visit Tennessee Colony Church.

“That Sunday morning there were only 18 people in the congregation. The visiting preacher that morning read the resignation letter from the former pastor who had taken ill and felt he could no longer serve as pastor due to his health,” Wisener said. “It was a divine appointment. The Lord put me here at the time when the church needed a pastor.”

Wisener first served as the interim pastor before being asked to serve as the pastor on Mother’s Day 2007.

“We’ve been here ever since,” Wisener said. “The Lord has really blessed our work. We’ve had almost 30 baptisms and over 50 people have joined the church. We’ve added a lots of families and young people. We have a large children and youth program. Sometimes we have more kids here on Wednesday night than on Sunday morning. The Lord is doing good work here. We have a good community.”

Tennessee Colony Church has served its community since before the Civil War and has a Texas Historical Marker. The church was formed from three families of different nominations — Baptist, Methodist and Disciples of Christ, which used circuit rider ministers. In the 1950s, the church came together as one church and called its first pastor.

“Today, the church is a group of like-minded individuals of different denominations who believe Jesus Christ is our Savior,” Wisener said.

When asked to serve as the pastor, the membership expressed a desire to rebuild.

“My proposition coming was that we would rebuild the church spiritually then numerically then financially,” Wisener said. “So we established a building fund and we hope in a couple of years we can build a multi-use facility to give the kids a place to worship and have fun.”

Located close to the prison units, Tennessee Colony Church tries to minister to inmate families that travel frequently through the area. The church also is a big supporter of the Cayuga school district, which many of the kids who attend the church go. Last year, the church held a Prayer Walk through the school “laying protection” over the school grounds.

“We put a real hedge of protection over the school, “ Wisener said. “We feel that is at least part of the reason the school has been so successful in education and athletics.”

Services on Sunday start with Sunday school at 9:30 a.m. with worship services at 10:45 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Wednesday services start at 6 p.m. with a free meal open to everyone.

“We have a man and his wife at the church who fix the dinner each Wednesday and consider it their ministry to the church,” Wisener said. “Since we offered a free meal, our attendance has been on the upward of 2 to 85. We then have classes for all ages. This place is hopping on Wednesday night.”

Wisener is grateful for his job at TDCJ, which due to his state retirement in the not-so-far-away future will allow him to do and go wherever God leads him without being a burden financially.

He and his wife have two children — Derek, 17, a senior at Westwood High School; and a daughter, Shelley, 21, who works in Bonham.