COLUMN: Vermont Church at Prison leader authors memoir: ‘Don’t Burn My House Down’
March 25, 2025 | By Guy Page
Most people will never visit a prison. They never wonder what it’s like because they’ve already been told: it’s where society puts the bad folks.
Author Peter Fiske and wife Joanna. Courtesy photo
That’s what IBM engineer Pete Fiske, the father of a thriving family in Underhill, thought until the unexpected happened -- he experienced a calling to “do God’s work” inside prisons.
Fiske describes his unexpected calling and subsequent decades of ministry in a 2025 thrilling book/teaching tool, “Don’t Burn My House Down.”
Soon after his calling began, he found himself at a Christian seminar inside a prison where he faced his fears of encountering the most dangerous men on earth. Instead of a showdown, he experienced a true revelation: God opened his heart to these men and inspired him to become known to thousands of men and women inside and outside the walls of Vermont prisons as “Pastor Pete,” helping them salvage their lives through the love of God.
In 1992 with his late wife Agnes, Pete Fiske assumed the leadership of what was to become The Church at Prison. He retired from IBM a year later. God told Pete this ministry was a “church” and thus in 1997 The Church At Prison, Inc. was incorporated as a church in the state of Vermont. Since then, he has devoted his life to God to guide lost souls (infamous murderers, drug dealers, addicts and thieves) to spiritual redemption by Jesus Christ and its wonderful expressions of substance abuse recovery, law-abiding living, work, and successful family life. In November 2004, Agnes passed away after a 5-year battle with cancer.
In April 2006, Pete invited Joanne Falise to a church service inside a prison. She continued serving alongside him and they were married on Dec. 30, 2006, with a second ceremony inside prison in January 2007.
In February this year, Fiske, now 80, and Joanne, 77, retired from the leadership of The Church at Prison, Inc. They remain active as emeritus leaders, serving on its board and continuing as pastors within the church. They live in Jericho at the edge of a town forest with their border collie Asher and Maine Coon cat Simba.
Fiske’s 2024 book/teaching tool “Don’t Burn My House Down,” details Pastor Pete’s calling to do God’s work, his work in prison ministry, and how he is endlessly inspired by the beauty of the natural world that God has provided in rural Vermont.
Drawing on his life experiences, Fiske’s book describes a path forward for other people feeling the tug of an improbable calling to serve others in God’s name: “Trust and embrace God's calling. Step boldly into your purpose. Empower your journey with faith.”
The book was released on Amazon on March 10. Signed copies are available at dontburnmyhousedown.org and a portion of each sale will go to the Church at Prison, Inc.
Learn more at churchatprison.com. Fiske may be contacted at pastorpete@churchatprison.com.
Berlin resident Guy Page is the editor/publisher of the Vermont Daily Chronicle and a board member of the Church At Prison.