After he hit rock bottom and found himself behind bars, he began a serious search for God and the true Church. He found it, quite dramatically, when he happened upon the celebration of a prison Mass. His faith renewed, he began to devour Catholic spiritual reading. Some months later he was able to convert Brad, his cellmate of 10 years. Soon they were the biblical "Sons of Thunder," actively engaging Protestant inmates in apologetics debates.
Convert is not the right word for their efforts, however, as Ballentine is quick to point out. "I’ve learned that I don’t convert. That’s God’s job," he said. "I just try to plant a seed which may be watered later."
Some of those seeds have sprouted and borne fruit. Ballentine said he has been a godfather to four prison converts and presently is preparing two recently baptized Christians to enter the Catholic Church. They are young (both in their early 20s), poorly educated, and facing a lot of prison time—so this prison apologist has his work cut out for him.
"I fear that I have failed them," Ballentine mused. "I wish that I had some magical words to be able to cut through the ignorance of modern ‘education.’ I feel so sorry for the countless kids today who have no clue as to so many things, and not just religion."
Gerald Korson