When Will Learning Take Place?

Profile of Rev. Jerry W. Ford
 

BORN: Pine Bluff, Arkansas, October 30th  

FATHER: Jerry Wilburn Ford, Sr.
LICENSED TO PREACH: 1940 

MARRIED: Marion Long of Pine Bluff and Wichita, Kansas, in Phoenix, Arizona, March 4, 1945  

THREE CHILDREN: Novis Annette (died at 3-1/2 years of age); Sherri Lynn, and Jerry Wilburn

Rev. Ford's background was one of giving to the A.M.E. Church.   A tremendous upsurge in congregational interest and the growth of churches under his administration was phenomenal in terms of the broadening of its base in the community.  He specialized in a ministry to youth, based upon the inclusion of those of mature years as sponsoring interests.   His ministry was characterized by a belief that the church should have dynamic social concerns for the development of people's lives, and particularly with reference to the Black Community.

 

Bethel, where he later served, was a congregation somewhere around 500 members and now numbers more than a thousand.   His unorthodox evangelistic style, coupled with his deep dynamism and charisma caused people to be endeared to him and to begin their trek toward the Lord.

Rev. Ford was a successful pastor at Bethel and pastored at Bethel from 1966 - 1977.   Pastors who followed him were the Reverend Alexander A. Morgan (1977-1986), Reverend Edgar E. Boyd (1986-1992) up to the present pastor, Reverend Kelvin T. Calloway, Sr.