Photographer documents members who take risk for religion

Before Lauren Pond met the Rev. Mack Wolford and his family, she couldn’t understand why people would risk their lives for their religious beliefs.

But after photographing Wolford and his family before, during and after his death from a serpent bite, she has begun to appreciate their belief system — a sect of Pentecostal Christianity that believes in serpent handling — and they’ve become like family to her.

Pond spent months documenting Wolford, who lived in West Virginia before his death in 2012, and his close-knit family, who practice a religion whose members are referred to as Signs Followers.

In November, the Columbus resident and photographer published a book of photos about Wolford and his family, titled “Test of Faith: Signs, Serpents, Salvation,” after she won a book prize last year.

Signs Followers handle snakes because they take a section of the Bible — Mark 16:18 — literally. The verse reads, in part, that “they will pick up snakes with their hands.”

Followers of the religion, a branch of the Pentecostal Holiness denomination, handle serpents during church services as a show of faith. In every state where serpent handling has been practiced, it’s also been banned, except in West Virginia, said Ralph Hood, a professor of psychology and religious studies at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Hood has documented more than 100 deaths from snake bites in religious services, but says the “people who do it are very sincere in their faith.

“They believe the way people die is always in the hands of God,” Hood said. “(They’re) being obedient to God. They handle serpents the same way Catholics take communion, because God said, ‘do this.’”

Signs Followers believe that if a person dies in obedience to God, salvation is assured, Hood said.

It took years for Pond to be able to write about the experience and be comfortable sharing her work, though she thought Wolford’s story was an important one to tell others.

Pond, who now works at local Fresh A.I.R. Gallery and at Ohio State University as a multimedia producer, first heard about serpent handling in an anthropology course she took in 2010. The next year, she found herself exploring West Virginia, looking for people who belong to the religion.

In 2011, she was introduced to Wolford, who was willing to open his church and his life to Pond to document.

Her view of his home and family life “definitely helped me appreciate this belief system on a more human level,” Pond said. “It’s not just snakes ... There’s a lot more to it.”

Pond said “a lot of religious coverage focuses on the formal aspect of it and it’s these human stories behind the religious practice that I think can open the doors to greater religious understanding.”

Though Wolford’s death is the “sensational” moment and hook of the book, Alexa Dilworth, the senior editor at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, which published Pond’s book after she won the Honickman First Book Prize in Photography, appreciated how Pond went further than just covering that moment.

“It became about the women in his family and how the women in his life continued on in their faith,” Dilworth said. “What really drew me in is how accessible his whole family is as you move past his death. I think most photographers would have stopped there. She goes beyond that.”

Now the photographer visits with Wolford’s family each Thanksgiving and a few other Danae King ............. 614-461-8756 Email: dking@dispatch.com

times during the year. His mother, wife, sister and brother have become like family to 31-year-old Pond, who grew up as an only child in a not particularly religious family.

“They’re really happy with (the book),” Pond said of Wolford’s family. “They’re so used to being made fun of, I think they like having something that I hope does them justice.”

A former employee of a Hilliard indoor swimming facility is accused of secretly shooting video of a teenage girl while she was changing her clothes.

Justin Francis Budding, 22, of Hilliard, is charged with felony counts of illegal use of a minor in nudityoriented material and voyeurism.

The two charges accuse Budding of putting a GoPro camera in a locker room at Aquatic Adventures, capturing video of a 17- year- old lifeguard while she was changing on Dec. 11, Franklin County Municipal Court records show.

When Hilliard police interviewed Budding on Dec. 14, he gave consent to search his phone. Videos containing suspected child pornography were found on Budding’s phone, which resulted in an additional felony charge of pandering obscenity involving a minor, court records show.

Budding made his initial appearance in Franklin County Municipal Court on Thursday. He is free after posting $ 35,000 bond.