Preacher
He came to El Reno expecting to teach.
Don writes that he entered the prison on January 2, 1986 as a university-trained preacher, confident that he had come to teach the inmates.
The Author
Don L. Wood
Preacher. Missionary. Eyewitness.
The man who walked into a prison expecting to teach discovered that the questions waiting for him would reshape his own life.
Don L. Wood describes himself as an international missionary and preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. His book grew out of decades of study, ministry, historical research, and firsthand involvement in the Blake Williams story.
43years
The Work Behind the Book
Read. Rewrite. Start over. Keep digging.
In the acknowledgements, Don describes the book as the fruit of his last forty-three years. He says he read it, reread it, rewrote it dozens of times, and started over dozens of times.
“What remains, I offer with a full heart.”
The Journey
From preacher to student to missionary.
The manuscript tells Don's story through a series of moments that eventually led to this book.
The Challenge
Then the prisoners examined the preacher.
After his sermon, the men critiqued what he had taught from Scripture. Don says he could not rebut what they showed him.
The Study
One question changed direction.
Blake Williams did not deliver another sermon. According to Don's account, Blake simply asked him whether he wanted to study.
January 13, 1986
The student entered the water.
Don records that after further study he was baptized on January 13, 1986 for the forgiveness of sins.
Mission
The story did not stay inside the prison.
The manuscript records Don later carrying the gospel to India, South Africa, the Philippines, and Brazil.
The Book
Forty-three years of study became one case.
Who Changed the Church? is presented in the acknowledgements as the fruit of more than four decades of reading, rewriting, research, ministry, and reflection.
JAN021986
El Reno, Oklahoma
“I would teach these thugs a thing or two.”
Don's account is deliberately self-critical. He writes that he arrived convinced he was the educated preacher in the room.
After the sermon came the biblical critique. Rick Shutt spoke first. An elder from the local El Reno congregation followed. Blake Williams sat quietly.
Don says he heard the criticism and could not rebut it. Blake's response was only a question:
“Wanna study?”
January 13, 1986
Don records that after the study that followed, he was baptized for the forgiveness of sins.
International Mission
The road kept going.
In the Blake Williams account, Don names several places where he personally carried the gospel after El Reno.
01Mumbai, India
02Western Cape, South Africa
03Cebu City, Philippines
04Goiania, Brazil
The Eyewitness
Why Don wrote the Blake Williams story himself.
Near the end of the account, Don says that Rick Watson had intended to write Blake's story but died before finishing it. Don describes himself as the last living eyewitness able to preserve the account.
Read the Blake Williams Story
The Result
Who Changed the Church?
What Happened After the Apostles—and Why It Still Matters
The book brings Don's historical study and personal experience into one central question: what did the apostles actually leave behind, and what came later?
Explore the Book