SAFE SPACE: Fordham Family Farewell

it's 7 o'clock you oh 100 oh uh action okay now okay future hey okay oh um got it okay um so tony are you working this camera okay so i'll be speaking first until i introduce everybody then we'll go back and forth okay yeah so open up with me i don't know if that's a fact videos okay i know um um guys when you guys listen um please i kind of want the dim lights but they said either they're all down or they're yeah riverside nashville's impact the city ministry presents a very special safe space episode one that is near and dear to our hearts as a church family this is the fordham family farewell for the past 14 years pastor fordham and his family have exemplified excellence in leadership loyalty and love while we're saddened to have to say farewell to our pastor and his family we hope that this safe space episode warms your heart and fills you with wonderful memories and now our host minister damaris miller good evening everyone and welcome to another night of safe space i am your host minister demaris miller the young adult minister here at the riverside chapel and listen guys i know you all have been asking what's going on riverside well guys we have been cooking we have been cooking in the kitchen getting ready for this episode and so today i it's my privilege and my honor to be able to have special guest host we're going to have some special guests and we're going to be talking to our our first family about their time and their memories here at riverside would you pray with me heavenly father we thank you and praise you for this opportunity to share our testimonies lord your word says that they were overcome by the testimonies of those who share so god today bless our hearts give us words from on high so that you can get all the honor and the glory in your name we pray amen amen and amen listen guys i want to jump right into this safe space episode and i'm going to start off by introducing my co-host dr summer woods welcome summer to the safe space thanks for having me thank you for coming you guys must understand that summer is my great friend and i had to almost almost beg her to be a co-host but i could not do this without her and so thank you for joining and with last but not least we want to introduce the man of the hour pastor fordham how are you i'm good man i appreciate you having me i didn't i didn't know i have to leave to get on safe space man listen man but i'm glad i'm here though i'm glad i'm here man i've arrived i'm on safe space you are here and we're glad to have you all and everyone knows that we start off each safe space with an icebreaker and so today we're going to start this one off with the icebreaker called one has to go all right okay one has to go all right pastor one has to go you can never preach a gospel ever again oh my which one is it matthew mark luke or john one of the gospels has to go never to be preached never to be read one of the gospels has to go and why well i know which one is staying john is staying john john is tight okay luke i shouldn't say john is tight like the others aren't tight but john is tight okay john is my favorite luke is written for gentiles so i need luke you know mark is actually the shortest and we can get most of what mark has in matthew so i'm gonna slide mark out keep matthew so we can keep some of these parables that aren't in mark okay i know you probably didn't want a theological no i did i did and i'm glad i'm glad you answered it in that way okay all right all right one has to go all right one kansas city chief player has to go to another i thought you about to say the kansas city chiefs no they're not going we're not gonna do you like okay we're not gonna do like that one player has to go to never have ever put the uniform on for the kansas city chiefs i think i could guess who your three will be it's gonna be four oh okay i can guess three of them yes three you're gonna say mahomes okay you're going to say kelsey okay you're going to say tyree keel oh and whoever is next can go because i need those three okay okay okay okay go ahead all right okay so i you have two two of those correct we got pat mahones okay we have travis kelsey we're gonna throw in tony gonzalez oh you met from like his his his oh forever i got that forever and then derek thomas won oh yeah no oh has to go you're good yeah yeah you're good dude you're good yeah yeah yeah i'ma tell you why gonzalez is going wow because he played for the falcons too and he actually tried to diss us for a second now people have tried to forget about that but if you're gonna we know pat mahomes is not going we know that correct travis kelsey on the low man he he may eclipse gonzalez he's actually eclipse he's gonna eclipse him in chief's records okay but gonzalez has falcons numbers too guys got you guys so no i'm i'm gonna let gonzalez go wow what it does say though is we're tight at the tight end spot do you receive that i did receive that okay i didn't respond okay all right this is good this is good right here one type of food has to go you can never ever ever have this type of food again okay we're going to start off with ice cream just ice cream no ice cream is stained ice cream yeah it is there i know but ice cream's awesome you're giving me sub categories of ice cream no no no no no i'm going to give you four different types of food ice cream is here to stay okay okay pizza pizza's probably here to stay too okay okay i don't know what else you got okay hot dogs oh okay and then soup one has no i like soup okay yeah i'm getting rid of even i do like hot dogs okay but i'm getting rid of hot dogs you can live with ice cream pizza and soup okay what type of soup man really any but marie wright okay made a soup years ago okay i love i love soups with potatoes i love soups with corn uh i wish that panera bread summer corn chowder was here year-round yeah okay i love soup um uh uh a split pea soup oh you know who else makes a good soup talk to me alicia hunt i'm telling you no i like soup i like it okay i'm a soup sting hot dogs is leaving because you don't like big franks no i do want to give a shout out to hot dogs i just don't like them as much with you as i like soup we knew ice cream was here okay and then pizza i mean come on dude you know but yeah hot dogs here's my problem i i like easy to prepare things so soup man oh come on yeah okay okay just it's right there yeah all right well doc thank you for being a part of our our icebreaker no problem is that it is that it that's it that's it no no no you said it it's not over but that's it for that segment but now we're going to transition into we want to go down memory lane with you and so we're going to start we're going to play some some slides of how and when it all started all right my you went way back [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] good evening fordham's uh the questioning of the hour is what are one of your most fondest moments of pastor fordham uh pucky all righty uh i'll i'll go first we purchased a microphone for puck because he's saying all over the house and i don't believe anybody outside of the house for a long time knew he could sing because he was pretty uh introverted outdoors but he was extroverted in the house and he was loud in the house so that's why we purchased this microphone but once we got the microphone he started preaching in it and he actually got the hamper put his his children's bible on top of the handful hemper and just started preaching and that was when he was four and then by nine he took bible studies and maybe all of this should have been a clue that he was going to be a pastor but we certainly had no idea took bible studies and um could barely put his head about above water when it was time to get baptized by randolph stafford one of our favorite people and he did it with such confidence to be such a little fella and he was always very short for his age but um i mean everybody was just clapping and clapping when he went down in the water and came back up but what they did not know is that puck practiced all week in the bathtub he put his head under the water and came back up all week so by the time he got baptized he did it with confidence of course he practiced everything he did and that was one story i think the story that i probably remember most is pup was always a hard worker and we never had to push him in fact when he was six he and his brother had a little paper out for the kansas city call and they had 50 customers that they served once a week he was very faithful with that when he was age 15 i worked for the kansas city missouri school district and so it was possible that i was able to find jobs for them every time they came home whether it was summer holidays whatever they could clean buildings cut grass and so forth and i remember when pup got his first check he was 15. got his first check he was very excited and when he brought that check home i said now first of all we have to understand there are certain parameters in terms of certain percentages and he looked at me very strangely and i said of course you know you're gonna pay your ten percent tithe and i said we'll probably put about five percent away for maybe cyber school church and church functions then you need about 35 percent put away for pine borders academy because that's where you want to go he was looking at me and i said then maybe another 25 percent just just strained safe and then i think i said but you're always going to give me 15 for the household and he's looking at me and i said yeah everybody here works so you're part of it and finally he said i think it was about ten percent left he said i'm not gonna have enough money left to even go on a date i said well i don't have enough money either to go on a date welcome to the real world fella and so but the thing that impressed me the most about him he said to us i guess i don't know it was the next day or whatever he said daddy and mama if i get a second job on my own and i'll pay tag on it can the rest of that money be mine and i said sure absolutely and believe it or not he went down the street i guess he and went to the burger king got a job in the evenings and of course every day in the summer he was working in the school district cleaning buildings in the evenings he had his other job because we had promised him once you pay your time every bit of that money is yours and so that's the thing that it really impressed me and i was really i was happy for him he was happy he had his money and of course we were saving money for school and and so forth wow wow you went all the way back on me brother where it all started where it all started so talk to me puck um walk us through what you remember about how you prepared as a child what i remember as how i was reared as a child how we how you prepared your parents talked about how you prepared for everything you were you you practice in the bathtub before you got baptized you know um you know i don't remember as much stuff as like my parents would at you know four five six uh what i do remember though when i was a freshman or sophomore at oakwood um i guess i was a sophomore because i was the academic vice president okay and frank hale former college president he came and spoke and i'm sitting back then you know you on top of the platform i'm sitting on the platform behind him and this guy is just eloquently i mean just oratory out of this world and i noticed he didn't have any notes and i remember asking him afterwards uh dr hill how did you do that and he said preparation preparation preparation that's literally and i remember that so i do remember from 19 forward being very impressed by what frank hale said you know i probably don't have as many memories of preparing in the bathtub to get baptized you know but i do know that concept from frank hill was indelibly stuck inside of my mind that you need to prepare so that you can feel comfortable now speaking of preparation did you prepare your did you prepare your hand gestures were you kind of watching did you prepare in the mirror let me ask that we all want to know how did you did you have your suit on why are you prepared did you you know no i it's more probably for me people that know me well know i'm not an actor so i cannot if if you say smile for a camera i don't know what to do okay but if i know what i'm talking about then i can be comfortable and authentic so i need to prepare the material um i don't really have to prepare the mannerisms your father talked about your drive to to be a hard worker um where did that come from were you raised that way where did you just have it or was like i need money so i'm gonna work three jobs i mean where did that i mean no as he said i mean we had we always had a job i mean i remember he mentioned the call newspaper we used to collect worms when it would when it rains my brother and i can smell worms because we would collect worms and sell them as fish bait to the shop so we always had a job i remember my mother had this thing we were doing where we were putting screws inside of a plastic container and sealing them so we just always had a job so work was like a normal thing and it was the motivation to be able to get your own stuff i always like you know this dates me but i wanted the jordas jeans what in the world joy that's anyway or i remember i wanted the sky jordans i was the first my foot wasn't big enough for the air joints i went to sky jordans so my parents would always be like well no we play we pay x dollars so i would be like well if i if can i have your ex and then i'll work and get y and it's amazing how that comes through the dna of a couple of my children the same exact thing you know but that's where it comes from gotcha you know where they get it from very much so got you got you got you so we've heard from your parents in your early child years how you'd like to prepare and your work ethics and now we're going to transition into your early ministry and early marriage so at this time we're going to play a couple more slides for you to take a look at [Music] do [Music] okay so pastor fordham you've now grown into a young man you preached your first sermon at pine forge you became a theology and business major at oakwood what i want to know is when did it go from jenny the girl from pfa to oh jenny how long do we have for this answer um i was in austral well okay jennifer and i met when she was a freshman at pine forge i'm a senior and she can actually tell you that she remembers when we met she she remembers what i said i don't remember this okay i don't remember what he's when we met but i remember one day i had on some yellow converse sneakers and some black what would they call push i don't know the short pants i was looking very cute and i remember walking past the school and puck was sitting on the steps with another young lady but he said jennifer gill where have you been all of my life and i remember this this was that pine board okay now i'm a senior she's a freshman i wrote it in my journal i'm just talking i don't know what's going on okay so fast forward four years later i'm a senior at oakwood and when the freshman girls you know seniors from pine forge become freshmen we kind of see them as our little sisters so you know you're you're grasping them you know hanging out with them making sure they're good and i do remember somebody at the end of my senior year said something like so you know what are you gonna do next and i said well i'm going to australia as a student missionary but then when i come back i'm going to marry somebody like jenny gill no i'm just talking i don't know what's going on you know you're doing a lot of just talking it's a lot of justice free conversion man just talking just talking brother but this is the truth summer when i was in australia i was praying that god would would lead my life and show me who i needed to be in a relationship with okay so i'm kind of you know meticulous this is the preparation thing so i made a list of all of my previous relationships my mother used to encourage us get to know a bunch of people so and so so i listed all these individuals and i came up with the grid with all of these different traits i'm just telling you this sounds like you okay and i i ranked them i rated them and i said okay i need this kind of person and i went to sleep and had a dream and the list turned into jennifer mercy god my lord and i said okay because i used to always just be talking i said god i'm not even going to pursue this i need a letter to come from her to me in australia come on and then i will go after her and i have a letter in my memory chest at home from jennifer gill now jennifer i need to know why you sent him a letter yes okay this is a heart a weird story to tell so let me tell what i can tell okay okay what i can tell is his sister was passing out yearbooks his little sister evelyn is a friend of mine and she was passing out yearbooks and i went to the table and i asked how puck was doing and she said he's fine blah blah blah blah blah and i said give him give me his address i'll write them and that's what that's what happened then it took her my sister forever to give her to address but eventually she gave her the address of it so if if that if that happened in 2021 we would call that sliding in his dms and so you slid in his body they so i'm in australia and i get this letter i couldn't believe it and i'm like oh my goodness that so i even tell my i remember calling my mother and saying i know who i'm supposed to marry she said is it that jennifer gilger wow well you know that just sounds like god did all of that and we know clearly he did you guys are amazing um so you now are um conversing in a different way right and just tell us briefly a little bit about how we got over that hump into proposal fiance marriage just get us there it took a long time when i came back from australia um i remember i would send her stuff in the mail i sent her a boomerang saying i'll be back you know this kind of stuff so it took a little while for her to realize that the dream i had was from god you know she knew too much of the just talking person you know so it took a little while but eventually we started dating um i think we started dating november three or four one of those four of 1994 i believe yeah um but i told her i said whenever i propose to someone i will play stevie he didn't say that he said whenever i propose to you oh no and he said that to me before we started dating he said when i propose to you wow go ahead i will play stevie wonders with every beat of my heart okay so jennifer's in kansas city see you puck i see you thank you my brother see you i see you oh oh yeah so so jennifer's in kansas city for uh christmas break right and you can you know when you're dating you know that you're about to propose you but you're trying to you know so you know we're kind of waiting so i decided i would wait until new year's eve so i think like christmas passes and she's like oh you know you know no proposal that kind of thing so man we get out kansas city has this place called the plaza very nice uh almost like a green hills area where they would have carriage rides and stuff okay so we get on the little carriage ride and back then you know i have my cassette tape okay this is 1995 or something whatever it is and i play a song that was another song that she and i like and i intentionally played it twice i put it on rotation so she would think this is just oh this is just going to be but the third song was with every beat of mine yeah and she was like ah and i got down on what need proposed so yeah that was that was my little stuff man wow wow wow wow i love it i love it i love it now now we've talked about how you met jenny and how you uh proposed and got married and now you've received a call from alex bryant your first president actually jay alfred johnson okay and then alex bryant became president gotcha alex bryant was youth director he probably was there helping out so you know he's got you what went through your mind you you were like it's on and popping i'm here we're about to do this thing or were you afraid or were you kind did you know what's going to happen yeah man i think what was probably beneficial to me a little a little anchor of comfort was i was in my home conference i knew these people i felt comfortable because i didn't go to oakwood as a theology major i went as a business major it took me a little while to get comfortable with the i'm gonna be a pastor thing that didn't it just didn't fit it was like a hard straight jacket that was one of the reasons i went to australia so i could just go somewhere else get comfortable with the fact that i'm a pastor so it was very helpful that i was in my home conference but i was honored man and it's amazing jay alfred johnson will say to this day that he and this is just a reminder whatever your hand finds to do do with all your might i was presenting at oakwood i was usm president and they have you during alumni weekend introducing somebody and he said you prepared so well for that little welcome i decided then if i had a chance to hire you i would that's before any interview and that's preparation wow how did you prepare for this first district the first church wow man um prayer you know now another thing is i've been blessed with uh mentors and i grew up uh with a bunch of pastors in my family although i didn't appreciate it because i wasn't trying to be one but my grandfather who i lived with when i was at pine forge uh was a pastor he's also been conference president here in south central so i took advantage of that resource while he was still alive you know so when i'm in australia i'm writing him i'm talking to him i'm trying to get everything i can another blessing that i had um c.d brooks was married to my father's first cousin okay so i uncle charles to me so i would call him and so i had an awful lot of individuals that i could bounce things off of my uncle booker my uncle butch all these different people yeah i love that jenny what about for you you are now the first lady for the first time how did that feel were you like this is a little weird don't call me first lady call me jennifer or how did you embrace that i don't really remember how it felt now you have to remember i was in love you know what i mean so if you think about i mean i was excited to be married to this man and i was excited about that and then we moved after we went to andrews we moved to a small town in in missouri where barbara robinson is and from vivian and charlie joe oh we gotta hit vivian go back to them okay but but they did not have a walmart i'm trying to i'm trying to delicately say what the kind of town it was you know one stop light you know those kinds of things so i wasn't really trying to be a pastor's wife i was trying to run a social committee so i went to that church and we had parties every saturday night in karaoke and we did women's ministry things and all that stuff so i don't know if they if i saw myself as the first lady but i was going to have fun in that town jenny's claim to fame she led the choir okay and in this town they always have this thing called the azalea festival where there's these flowers and it's a springtime thing and for our church to be presenting at the azalea festival was just amazing you know so i mean jennifer was leading the choir and so and so and you know i'm so excited that she's going to take this choir and she said well you know you guys sing tinder and i'm like oh my goodness you know i'm not comfortable with that but uh no that's the kind of stuff we i mean we're 27 and 24. now we're having a good time man but rewinding when we were at andrews i was thinking because i passed her for a year before we got married so i was thinking of mentors before that but man my next greatest mentor was charles joseph who pastored at stratford in chicago charlie joe when we were at andrews we interned with them in chicago so every weekend we would go to chicago and that is where just by osmosis and i mean i would tell people the reason why i sing the same song every sabbath and pray the same prayer is because of charlie joe he said you want worship to feel familiar to people and they say no that's my church and man i remember when we we were pastoring in lincoln nebraska we had a member who went back home to zambia we went to visit them in zambia when i preached i prayed the same prayer prayed the plain prayers she started breaking down crying wow because it's like a memory thing you know so charlie joe and vivian man charlie you have to when you asked about mentors i have to talk about vivian i mean there's nobody like vivian joseph and what we appreciate so much about charlie joe and vivian is they sat at the dinner table with us you know it wasn't really um them teaching us it was them modeling for us they modeled marriage like nobody's business they modeled marriage um just everything everything about vivian you know we just wanted to be like her yeah praise god for mentors at this time we're going to play a video from someone that you might know or remember from your first church hi guys it's me dia all the way from new york new york new york sending you guys this love i understand you all are leaving i can't imagine what you members are feeling right now because these are two people in ministry that once you see them once you feel them and their love for christ you know that this is what they were put on earth to do let me give you a little bit of some history so when i moved back to lincoln nebraska i lived in texas i taught there and uh pucky and jennifer just moved there as a young couple in ministry and they moved to allen chapel sda church lincoln nebraska and i moved back and the way that peaches describes it is they were having a rehearsal at church and i had just literally moved back into town and i breezed in and she said i just remember you came in looking like tina turner now look it's because my hair looked like i it was wild and it was blonde and it looked like i had just gotten off the back of a harley davidson anyway they were they're having rehearsal and i think i might have just come in and just taken the rehearsal over or something or just coming to meet them i don't know that was our first encounter but we have always been separated by one degree of separation because me and uh plucky grew up in a central states conference he was in kansas city i was in nebraska but we always just like crossed paths he and i always was friends with evelyn and then our parents all knew each other from college from union college days so then they all went to school my plucky in general so went to school my cousins to oakwood university and we have always just known each other and have kind of known each other's circles but never got to work together so i don't even remember the years anymore y'all two thousand four five three four five that's when we all got to to to be in ministry together and i believe somebody called pucky and i i was the minister of music when i moved back home to lincoln and people called me and puck the scottie pippen and jordan of ministry of course he was jordan he was shooting all the best pucky as a minister is one of the most phenomenal ministers preachers i've ever heard in my lifetime and i've heard a lot of preachers from any denomination and the way that he is able to tailor a sermon that is universal for everybody doesn't matter what they believe who they believe once they hear pucky they are a believer and i know that for a fact because he brought many of my friends to christ one being one of my friends koi mai you remember him was raised buddhist asian friend of mine heard puki one time preach and said i need to know more about this jesus that he's preaching about and having to this day still talks about him and talks about how his life has changed that's one out of many of my friends that have encountered this man's preaching unbelievable and i know that you members understand what i'm talking about you members and friends one of the things about an adventist church is that sometimes we all feel like military kids we're always constantly being moved around and shuffled around especially our pastors and when that happens it can be so such a blow to the heart and the spirit because you want that person to stay forever and especially when you get into the groove of that person and you all have been there a long time for them a long time so you have made your mark there but i just want to you know say to you don't don't get sad too much because it can pull you down just be glad about about the amount of time that god allowed you to spend with this couple and the life lessons that they've taught you and you've learned from them because i know they have changed your life because they have changed mine they're forever my friends wherever you need me whenever you need me you know that you all you do is call me and text me and i'm there in a heartbeat [Music] okay so eventually you shifted from a pastor's couple to now you are a family in ministry so jennifer my question to you after having pace you are now entering motherhood but you are now raising what we would call a pastor's kid what are some commitments that you made early on that you were determined to do when raising your boys wow that's a loaded question a good question i i had some pastor kid friends who were not happy with their father and they weren't happy with their father because he chose the church over them that's how they felt and they rebelled because of their father's choices and i was determined you know even though i can't make the decision for him i was determined that that would not happen in our family that my children would know their father you know i wish that i could say everything happened because of my wisdom you know i wish i could say that but i was blessed to stay at home and that wasn't my wisdom i moved to that small town and couldn't get a job as a teacher it's one of those small towns where the teachers stay until they're retired there are no openings you can substitute you know but i was blessed to be a stay-at-home mom and the reason it was a blessing was that puck's meetings were usually in the evening but we were home all during the day you know and we took full you know all the opportunities to spend time together that was probably the most important thing to me excellent so for those who are joining us that may not know this is pace what's up what's up we have pax and we have price i'm blessed amen yes yes now they have government names but that is what we call them and probably majority of you do not even know what their real names are i remember discovering that when i looked at cumulative files at school i'm like who is jenny but okay i have some questions we have some questions for you all okay i'm gonna start with price price um what are some of the joys and challenges of being a part of a pastor's family joy's challenges yo um so some of the joys is like i notice a lot of folks like to like bring us into their little family you know what i'm saying and then some of the uh some of the uh what was the other word you wanted cons challenges challenges like growing up there were just a few people just there's a few that like tried to get at me a little bit like some grown folks who tried to comfort me and they ain't know who i was i mean they could do it with them but they got to me and didn't they it didn't work well but but yeah those are a few challenges that happen but you know we all cool now can i he let me add to what he's saying when he's saying come for me there were a few people that would say you should know better and that is coming from no he shouldn't know better he shouldn't or he's like i know differently there you go that's just not how i know it that may be how you do it that's how we do it excellent excellent pax talk to me all right can i answer a review book real quick yes uh price said he was blessed i want to point out that i'm blessed too okay i didn't want to make it seem like he was continuously everybody's blessed i got you so pax all right your pastor's kid um what's it like for the dating life i mean is there pressures on that thing i mean is it when your dad preaches in different places you would travel and the different young ladies will be following you all i mean what's it like to be the date as a pastor's kid we call this safe space right safe space what's that i understand if it was if it was invulnerable space i wanted to you know you talk about know your know your culture that's with this guy mr pastor um dating life i think one thing i was thinking about and this is just a joke i think that growing up as a pastor's kid take it or leave it you you have an instinct to always know how many people are looking at you from any room you're in in any angle so i know that when i'm in the lobby i know that you can see me from this door that door that door that door oh but uh nah they did a good job at let me touch you because his person his love language is personal touch they didn't know they did a good job at not putting too much pressure on it and and as price said um not letting them get to you yeah so is that deep enough is that no no no okay it's good it's good i don't know all right all right all right all right all right i'm not married all right you're going into ministry yes sir was there pressure did your father say hey listen one of my son's got to be a pastor and it's going to be you no okay i'm very thankful that wasn't my story it wasn't what you think the stereotypical thing is yeah um actually as god called me it's funny hearing his story because it's very similar to mine like i came in as business god was calling me i was running stuff start failing i start failing all the business classes i'm like okay god i'll listen a little bit and then i start moving towards and everything starts working out um it's a blessing to actually be a pastor's kid while going into ministry because there's a lot of things that you can't teach in class that like as pax said as a pastor's kid i already know like naturally i haven't seen a world different where you you live like a minister like i have friends who like a friend will call them at 3am to pray with them that's normal to me because i see my dad doing it correct for them it's like why are you in my business i have friends they don't have they don't have sermon prep they don't know how to they don't know how to manage their time i see my dad get up at four and and do his sermon prep i see that i see the the books in the closet i see how to i see how to study so it really was more of a blessing than pressure honestly the what you would think will be pressure can motivate you to go higher because it's almost like and for me i was never the type for like i want to prove you it was no you believe in me oh i can go even farther come on now so now i walk into classes fordham oh what are you about to oh yeah bad i'll be the top of the class let me watch me you know what i'm saying so i love it wow wow that's awesome pastor when you hear that i mean that that just kind of made me feel i just felt in my heart you know i'm a little emotional but i'm like like job well done well hey praise god praise god i mean you know no praise the lord yeah yeah and praise the praise yeah yeah definitely definitely definitely so pastor fordham as a pastor how did you manage this pastor dad role how did that work for you yeah that was very fortunately i have a wonderful father i mean my brother and i love going to football games with my father love playing games with my father love playing rook so i i enjoy family you know so uh the mission statement that i have purpose statement that will be in my bio when i go places is that i want to be a growing christian an adoring husband an exceptional father and an excellent pastor simultaneously and that order is important to me so at the beginning it was important that we had family nights on monday nights that i made sure they knew that they were priority uh that we spent time together that we enjoyed each other's company um i did not want them having the kind of experience that i observed one time when i went to it was called evangelism council back then and a lot of the older pastors were just acknowledging they had a panel discussion where they said why are our kids angry with god and leaving the church and the consensus was it's because of us and i remember saying god i don't want to do this if that's going to be my kid's testimony and he helped me see it doesn't have to be you know so my objective was to prioritize god which is different than the church god wife children and them ministry excellent powerful go ahead good um i actually wanted to affirm that more as a son um i remember in class my like junior senior year i was just writing about childhood and i was reminded of times where he mentioned family nights we used to have sleepovers i think sunday or monday night not sure if there was a board meeting the next morning but i remember staying up all night playing madden with my dad and that's one of the things i remember i remember winning the super bowl like eight times with the chiefs playing a franchise on madden we had the best team ever the fictional when it was fictional super bowl yeah yeah yeah when it was when we were two and four you don't want us to go there right you want to derail the conversation but yeah moments like that just knowing the church isn't in competition with you it's you know what i'm like there's a hierarchy i'm not forgotten that that means a lot as you grow yeah i just want to add to the point with that i know my dad has probably canceled meetings because pax is across town and he and he's lost and he the gps just isn't working for me so thank you pastor definitely it's interesting because this week i had an opportunity to talk to your parents and your mom shut me down she said don't after my date night we will talk then and she was like and i was gonna be later on she was willing to talk but she she was like no no no we're about to do our date night and we could talk then and so i believe that was passed down and we love it no yeah that's real as school board chair pastor fordham has told me like we may have to cancel the meeting because they have a flag football game like it's not a joke and i we i've seen it lived out it's beautiful so we're going to take a moment and just look through some riverside memories [Music] do [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] so pastor riverside you're 36. you get the call to come to riverside what were some of your thoughts when you were thinking about wow i am going to the riverside seven evans man chapel one you all remember that randy stafford baptized me i don't know if i can communicate how intimidating it was to think they're asking me to go to the church where he pastored you know it just didn't even i'm like i'm not no i'm i'm not him what are you talking about you know so that was the first thing you know um i think the next thing was we really put out a fleece jennifer talked about homeschooling and pace was i guess in second grade or something like that and he was in the middle of the school year and we were like you know it's already hard enough to have him move his classmates you know all that kind of stuff and we had prayerfully agreed that we were going to say no unless the conference could figure out some way to delay this thing or something you know to kick your pace and if you know enough about how the conferences work they're not going to like pause a church for you for years so and so elder benjamin brown i remember i mentioned to him what the challenge was you know elder brown is real deliberate he's real smooth he's real and i had i'm i'm hyper so i had to be quiet i said i'm not gonna say anything and he just kind of listened he thought we were actually meeting in the lunchroom of f jenkins and he said well maybe we can like fly you back and forth every other week until may or something and i was like that's what we prayed for so even though i i on one hand had this intimidation of how can i be going to the church where the person who baptized me was pastor that just can't happen but i also had this conviction that god was calling me so it was it was both of those right quick how did you prepare the family for this you guys have a sit-down conversation like hey it's time to leave it's time to move we're going to meet new friends we're going to move into a new home you know don't go there embarrass me i mean what was that conversation like first you know i gotta make sure my wife is on board you know and really it's interesting because i was we happened to be in africa celebrating our 10-year anniversary i think when elder edmund called me on behalf of elder brown okay so i didn't respond because we were gone you know so we get back at the airport you get all these messages that come in and i shared it with jennifer kind of like you know i mean we had just gotten permission from alex bryant who was president at that time to stay in lincoln it was working well i like staying one place a long time so i just mentioned it to jennifer get guess what this is you know so i kept moving and jennifer was the one who started saying oh my goodness we might need to think about that i don't know i can't remember exactly what was on your mind my parents were older that's what was on my mind that my parents lived in huntsville and i couldn't help but wonder if this was god you know i think my dad had already suffered with cancer um he had gotten it was in remission he was in remission and we couldn't help but wonder and what's crazy is we moved here december of 2006 and her father died in june of 2007. and i was there every weekend i could drive down it was so god yeah lincoln nebraska that wouldn't happen but preparing the key i mean you know pace was the main one because he's seven i think pax may have been just turned five price is two and a half you know so because pace was in school it was more like okay we gotta try to communicate with him i don't remember what kind of stuff we said i remember there was a map table thing on the kitchen table because i was little i couldn't eat without spilling so there was like a map kitchen thing and i remember like them like do you know where tennessee is not to point to tennessee and there was a guitar and like was like we're going to tennessee i don't know what that is but okay i know you were saying i was five but i still had my personal concerns and things for the record for the record what happens when you raise individuals yes um so this is a big question and you're allowed to take it however you want but this is for anyone what has riverside meant to you for me it has been a community for my sons i still remember one of my parents best friends you know you have your circle in your church one of my parents best friends died in kansas city and all of my friends drove back home and at that funeral i realized i have a community i mean think about that family i'm about to cry again i mean that was my family every thanksgiving they were that you know that kind of thing and i was like i want my sons to have a community and they have a community river i mean they can go wherever but when they come back to riverside this is their home so what riverside means to me is a home for my for my my family you know i think it's a home for all of us i mean it is family for my children it's family for me summer asks the question i'm looking at tomorrow but no it's family for me i have had the best friends at this church which is not easy for a pastor's wife to be able to do but i have had the best friends to raise children with to mentor me to include me i mean there were churches where i literally just wanted to be included you know it would be memorial day weekend and my mother had a picnic every year but i'm far away and i would wonder and hope that someone would have us over we never had that problem here every fourth of july every memorial weekend we were included that's a big deal yeah um i can jump in and use a synonym and say family too like um even judging from okay yesterday i'm in bed classes are canceled because the storms i'm so i'm like i'm in bed right i get a face time from dylan mccraw he's like what's your room number he he drove to huntsville i get a facetime i open my door tim and devin that's my family coming to check on me then today trying to get back here from oakwood there was traffic so my dad calls me like is there a way you can find someone to drive you halfway the first people i call elena uh sanaya hadassah langston these these are the people i'm called these are the people in my phone who i know like that's who's checking out for me that's who's look those are the people i grew up with since i was seven i went through middle school high school and college with them yeah beautiful i say pass you to mike i ain't talked in a minute but yeah just like everybody was saying oh just like just like everybody else saying riverside you know they family this is my second home just like pay set yeah second home yeah church my home and then church yeah so that's like pacer saying my uh some of my day ones jack right there it's like yeah i love y'all i'll never i'll never not love y'all no more real real stuff one other thing because we were homeschooled riverside was our school before we ended up going to jenkins i ended up going to madison end up going to pine forge and going to oakwood riverside was like sabbath school was where i saw people playing for fh jenkins basketball team as a homeschooler is where i met everybody like playing for flag that that's how i know everybody vacation bible school camp meeting like that's my school so that's another reason riverside is so important to us uh i definitely want to agree with everyone's sentiment of this being like a second home i mean this does feel like the last episode of like season 10 of like friends where they're all like crying and about to leave the apartment it's like oh man but um also i think i would say like it brings a lot of inspiration and grooming like i think i think growing up with a lot of people uh riverside is a great place where you meet a lot of people who are black inspirational at the top of the crap craft um and can show you this is what you can be and that's what you can do i've been i've been inspired i i'll add one last little thing tomorrow being home and family i remember when we were telling the boys about this transition and as we were explaining it price said so that really doesn't have anything to do with us right and i said no i guess you're right he's like okay cool you know they get to be here ain't nobody we're not moving we're not changing so it is home it is home wow wow praise god let's do something let's do something different let's do uh a riverside memory challenge okay i'm going to um say a statement and you guys are going to tell me what you think if you remember this okay all right so the first one we're going to do um the wedding ceremony during service give me your thoughts on that oh yeah randolph oh that was that that that thing right there man randolph prayed for seven years i think that's serious man that's serious randolph is the man randolph and michelle okay all right um there was another one uh marathon testimony service oh no man that was amazing i mean it it actually started a guy named chris adams uh shared wanted to say something at the end of service you know but i think what really broke it off uh chris marshall i think this was right after he had just had his surgery or something his first uh thing with his tumor or something and he came up and gave a testimony and then somebody else gave one and somebody else and man we literally were here until like 7 00 pm wow it was amazing and people weren't tired yeah it was just it was the it was like the holy spirit was there wow wow okay those are the two that we have and you've answered those i was looking for summer to get come up with one on the spot and she ignored that uh and so um boys i have one good one man one of my i don't have many but one of my favorite memories was our uh pre-super bowl worship service okay i'ma tell you the truth tennessee had the chief's number i mean man they were beating us year after year after year but that sabbath we had everybody come and their jerseys and of course people like okay what is going on here but it really was good to talk about we're all on the same team you know and i will always remember that service where everybody's in their jerseys and so on so i thought that was fun my favorite memory is my 40th birthday concert walter hawkins celebration could it get better than that no it was the best concert okay gentlemen anything stand out to you all um i really liked our christmas uh services i tell people this all the time like you know you try not to be braggadocious but like these other churches ain't built like us like you know what i'm saying we had our like you know how many recording artists we have that's not normal i didn't realize that until i started leaving that's all i got to say on that that's crazy yeah facts i was gonna say too i was gonna say all of our vacation bible schools that were kind of like summer camps where miss trina would like decorate the church and make it it would go from like a church to like a safari or something but then i i really had fun another skit one time for like a children's uh service that um it was the same week that chris ware preached and he did the powerful sermon where he did the line where the the crowd followed jesus like how the crowd follows chris brown i remember that line chris but um it was also the script it was also the one where price like fell on the floor it was really funny he stole the that was good acting well guys as you can tell we love you all we love the boys jenny pucky we love you all here's a few tributes that we want to share with you jennifer and pastor fordham it is such an honor to be a part of the group saying thank you thank you for your season at riverside thank you so much for all your care and one thing i can definitely remember about the time that i worked with middle school is how you both were always intentional about being present and caring whether it was through laser tag or no events or so event you made sure that whenever you attended and you did you always made yourself available to the students when you were there you were present you participated and everyone could feel the love and passion and care that you had for everyone around you and so man i just wanted to say thank you for that i hope that you continue to enjoy all of the love and appreciation that we all have for both of you then then as you transition that you get to take all of the beautiful memories with you here's to celebrating both of you pastor jen pace paxman price thank you for all that you've done for our church pastor i want to thank you so much on behalf of children ministries as well as the riverside shows wire anytime we sang you were sure during the welcome to give every child a handshake a fist bump or a hug the children's smiles on their faces was always for my heart jen thank you for being a supportive member of the church as well as a supportive parent when your three boys were in the children's choir you were always sure to make sure that they were on time for children's choir practice also it was always fun singing with you when we sang on the praise team anytime i do a funny ad-lib you'd always laugh and say where did you hear that from pace i want to thank you so much for all that you've done from the moment i met you i saw that you were a true leader and entrepreneur my favorite memory is seeing you with your candy case selling candies before and after practice pax my children's choir deacon you're always sure to keep the choir room clean and organized and then there's price price my section leader for section three you're always there to encourage and to help anyone who needed help and so i thank you it's always great to be around a family that not only talks to talk but walks walk and so i'd like to thank each and every one of you and so from the bottom of my heart i'd like to say fordham family forever pastor fordham thank you so much for your support of children's ministry i specifically want to thank you for being supportive of sabbath school and getting behind me letting me know that you were i'm sure that i could do the work and and also praying with me when i was frustrated i appreciate that jennifer thank you so much for your amazing smile and your unconditional love of our children um my child and everyone else's child anybody that you came in contact with for loving them and always being positive about them no matter what and of course we love the fordham boys it's been a joy to watch those boys grow up and just be young men in the church and be have to take their place and just have a place of their own in riverside so we love you all we're going to miss you one of my fondest memories of pastor fordham as i served as one of the high school ministry leaders happened on a day when we had had this amazing youth day the youth spoke they sang we had this wonderful sabbath school followed by this awesome concert and then we had the audacity to plan a lock-in for that night well at the last minute our male chaperone backed out and when the pastor found out after he had spent the entire day in all of the events with us he went home at about 9 30 he came back about 10 o'clock in comfortable clothes and he posted himself in a chair in the middle of the hallway that separated the guys from the girls and he stayed awake the entire night working on his computer just staying watch over our young people what pastor does that ours did i am so grateful that we had a pastor that was willing to do anything that it took to support our ministry area and to show our young people that he cared thank you pastor fordham puck and jen uh it's been a great 14 years i remember when you guys first arrived our kids were all young uh they came over to the house and maybe you guys want to go out on date night and we would watch them uh we would lose them sometimes but we always found them i remember the times even when we would take them out and we would have people out in the community and say hey are all those kids yours you know when you have four what's three more uh we really uh appreciate you guys coming into our lives um helping us and growing spiritually we look forward to the things that are going to take place with you all in the future uh thank you for for just being uh jen and pop one of my favorite memories of puck and jen would have to be vacation bible school um i would stay at the church to all kind of crazy hours decorating and puck and jen would try to hang in with me as long as they could they would usually end up going home but um i had so much fun you you made it an atmosphere where we could have fun teaching our children to love and to develop their relationship with christ and you encouraged me in the ministry um you were my mentor and we are going to miss you guys and best of luck in the future this is a message for pastor fordham and miss fordham my kindergarten teacher thank you for everything you do for our younger division and thank you for supporting us we love you and we will miss you bye two things that i will miss about the fordham family will have to be their fellowship and their hospitality the fordham family especially uncle and aunt jenny have a way with making people feel comfortable and at home and that is definitely what they did for my family and i the fordham family has always been supportive of me and i'll be sad to see them go but i am super hopeful for what god in the future has in store for them what i'm gonna miss about miss fortham is she's a fun teacher what i'm going to miss a pastor for them is his prayers what i'm going to miss about the fordham is how friendly they are no one asked me i wanted a new pastor atlanta okay pastor fordham thank you for saying nice things to me at my baptism and they like me every sabbath miss jen you are very nice and pretty too packs pace and price you guys are really cool yeah we will miss you and please stay safe fordham family forever loved what i'll miss most about the fordham family is how energetic they are i love the energy that they're great i'll miss you pastor ford um what i like most about the foreign family has to be how kind they were um yeah uh i'm gonna miss you pastor foil we love you in the time that i've known pace packs and price i've definitely developed a tremendous connection with each and every one of them um you know when we were younger you know we were each other's like best friends you know and going through church going through sob school classes uh adventures pathfinders drum corps all that stuff with those guys man it definitely was so much fun you know it's crazy to look back on it and you know to see where we were versus where we are now man i definitely look at those guys brothers the family you know that's how it's going to be until the day we die i appreciate everything you guys have done for me in my spiritual journey and also just in my personal life i wish you guys nothing but the best going forward much love hey therefore don family it's andre creighton i just want to thank you guys so much for being a blessing to me and my family over all these years you have three outstanding gentlemen in your family especially my boy pax it's kind of crazy we've been friends since adventurers through children's choir and even high school music videos and now we're in college and i think it's really great to have a friend like pax because you're a leader you push boundaries you blaze your own trail and i'm really going to miss you man best of luck to you and your family pax is probably one of if not the most intellectual person i have ever met in my entire life he'll say something and make you think oh my gosh i've never thought about it that way let me reevaluate some things and pull myself together he never fails to make me laugh and smile i'm so blessed to have him as one of my closest friends i honestly don't know life would be so different if we hadn't become friends and i'm so blessed to have him in my life i love you being around pace packs and price when i was growing up in riverside was a blessing it was amazing to just have all three of them around in our group as brothers and it's a wonderful thing to have grown with them as well all of us being in our most of us being in our 20s now and almost reaching there we have been raised as a family regardless of whose parents are whose and that's because i jenny an uncle pastor and i thank god for them and i thank god for their sons and the friendship and love that they have given me and all of us at riverside growing up alongside pace packs and price meant so much to me being friends with young african-american men who also believe in the same things that i believe tell me how to really embrace who i am their friendship has played a major role in making me who i am today so i want to thank you three pace pax and price for letting me be your friend i am so proud of each and every one of you and i will always cherish our friendship i also want to thank pastor fordham and i'm jenny thank you for loving me like another son thank you for allowing me to stay in your house every single sabbath from sabbath dinner all the way into early sunday morning just hanging out i love you all so much and i wish you all the best [Music] so that is how y'all got mark where to talk that was good that was good that is just a small testimony of what you all have meant to us um and you have shared a little bit about you know what we have meant to you all but there's another facet of riverside life that we want to delve into um pastor fordham why would you say you are so passionate about christian education oh yeah that's that's just coming from my parents um my father was a public school educator and i remember him saying that he would die before he would have us in public school i mean that's just how committed he was to it and you know my parents weren't rich and they didn't get a 70 discount but all of us went straight through church school and it's just something that's in my dna and you know i also you know i i honestly i just have a little difficulty with the fact that i'm very mission driven so if my goal is heaven if what i'm wanting is for christ to be the foundation of my children's life i'm not interested in entrusting them to somebody who has different values for six eight hours a day you know and i just think that the the families the children you know that's that's a primary mission field for our church and i think the opportunity to have a church school is phenomenal and to not support it i think is uh anathema i just i don't hey hey it's the education segment and you're dropping vocabulary i appreciate it but i just i bleed it i can't help it it came from my parents yes so it's clear that that's not just a pastor fordham thing jennifer fordham also is very passionate about christian education and you all have in your own lives attended christian seventh-day adventist schools you've sent your children to christian seventh avenue schools which are not always the cheapest but you have committed to that jennifer we are more than excited down the street that this transition does not mean a transition for us you know because really most times when a pastor is leaving a congregation the family is leaving the city and going somewhere else so we are feeling exceptionally blessed that you are not leaving but we can it is clear that christian education is a priority in your home and in what you believe and so at this time we have a special something for you [Music] all right [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] hi my name is corey bean look at the sign behind me it says your talent is god's gift to you what you do with it is your gift back to god when i think of the fordhams i think of that saying right there i can remember pace when he would play basketball now pace was a little bit of a gun for all my basketball heads you know what that means but pace gave it his all on the basketball floor then it went to pax i loved watching pax i hated the fact that i did not get the coach packs pax would come in the game and he was a man after my own heart he was so it's like watching a wrestler play he was all on the floor and diving for balls and doing everything he gave his all uh in basketball and in the classroom and in leading out in usm and everything else and then my boy price price was my first all-american hooper when i first started coaching he gave his all he scored all of our points my other team was about two feet tall and price was the only eighth grader or one of the only eighth graders and price gave his all and i will always be indebted to price because he laid the foundation for the basketball team to get to two final fours in a row and that was all because of price for them but the true essence of the fordham's is pastor fordham and jennifer i can remember them seating sitting in the same seat every game it was like a two old people at church who sit in the same place you always knew when the boys were playing we weren't gonna have a church meeting we weren't gonna do anything else because pastor fordham and jennifer were gonna sit there and not only support their boys but support the fh jenkins flames pastor fordham you have meant a lot to me you have passed down the chairperson position to me and i'm always striving to do and be like you pastor fordham jennifer pace pax price we love you here at fh jenkins you will never be forgotten and i just want you to know that your talents you have given back to god [Music] so [Music] we had the pleasure of having the fordham young men at fh jenkins preparatory school um i was able to teach them and that in itself was such a gift but we had pace who came with us on our eighth grade mission trip and there are students from all over the conference and teachers and parents from all over the conference and everybody keeps saying who is this kid this kid is so amazing he's such a hard worker and going on and on and on so finally i figure out you know where is this kid i got to figure out who this kid is the kid was pace boredom everybody's ranting and raving over him and i said oh yeah he's from fh jenkins so we were so happy that pace was with us on mission trip pax fordham for those of you that know pax well you know that he is super creative and i think i can sum it up in this one story so pax was running for our student government president so everybody's doing their speeches hey vote for me i'm great vote for me pax decides to do a rap to the music of the fresh prince of bel-air theme song um it was great and that is pax boredom price fordham price fordham price fordham uh embodied the fh jenkins scholar in fact price fordham was once our male student of the year and that is a big award at fh jenkins um price had amazing grades he's always willing to help you could walk down the school and see him in the hallway tying the shoes of a kindergartener or playing with some young kid just trying to help them along and he also was a leader in his classroom we at fh jenkins preparatory school were so blessed to have the fordham young men hi my name is jackie kinser and i have the opportunity to work with pastor fordham as a member of the fh jenkins school board it was a pleasure working with pastor borden because he's very intense when we are making plans to help the quality of education to continue to be very strong at fh jenkins pastor fordham i wish you well in your new position and thanks again for the opportunity to work with you pastor fordham thank you for your commitment to fh jenkins preparatory school as a former employee and school board member i witnessed your untiring commitment first hand i am most appreciative of your all-in attitude you not only lead around the boardroom table you rolled up your sleeves and got down in the trenches and as busy as your schedule was you made time to support in a very tangible way your level of excellence and professionalism is one to be duplicated by others and today f.h jenkins continues to benefit from your leadership may god's richest blessings be upon you and all your future endeavors god bless [Music] you [Music] [Music] we teachers at fh jenkins had to do all of our extra classes we taught art we taught music along with all of our academic classes but there was an individual that would come and help us out so much and that was pastor fordham pastor fordham would come almost every tuesday i believe it was every tuesday and he would come and take over our lunch and our recess for us now that may not seem much to you but for a teacher that means a great deal pastor fordham thank you so much it's like taking a cat nap if you ever had a cat nap and gave you so much energy just having those that one hour that you could just rejuvenate get a break away from the children that's so you could come back even stronger the the rest of the afternoon it was so much that it helped us so much and the children they children loved having pastor fordham to come when he would get out there in the gym floor and play kickball with them he he had half the gym with free play and the other half of the gym he was playing kickball with the children they loved it how he and i believe he was the only one in the field but he made it happen they looked forward to it and believe me mrs fordham and myself we look forward to it every tuesday good evening everyone i am dr summerwood i am the principal at f h jenkins and it is truly my privilege and my honor to do this tribute tonight to the fordham boys it has been my pleasure to watch you grow into young men paxton price it has been my honor and privilege to have been your principal pax you always genuinely asked how i was doing and we used to have great conversations about tv shows and school and just life you're one of the few young people that after graduating from jenkins would come back and ask me about how things were going at f a chickens and you really wanted to know like for real not just fluff what is the enrollment how are the teachers how am i managing you truly cared price as your principal i was always shocked when your teachers would say you were talkative i just couldn't believe it the most i could get out of you was yes ma'am or a good morning i later learned that you did everything possible to ensure that there was no chance of getting recess taken away i won't forget the day we were taking the eighth graders out to eat and the conversation just poured out i went back to school and was like price does talk price you are a wonderful young man i am so proud of you and who you are becoming jennifer being your principal has been such a joy you are an excellent teacher and i love watching you grow and i'm excited that you aren't leaving me i consistently tell people we have the best kindergarten teacher around now to pastor boredom oh you have been my coach my trainer my mentor my friend my pastor and much more here in my hand i have a football this is a training football it indicates where to hold the ball to throw it it lets you know the parts of the football it is designed specifically to help beginners pastor fordham took the time to train me on what it meant to be a leader in a church organization just like this football he walked me through every step uh there were times when he would review key emails and letters before i sent them out uh he would have pre-meetings before i had to have a difficult conversation and the list goes on i distinctly remember a few weeks prior to my first school year beginning a contractor walked off the renovation job at the school with thousands of dollars i remember sitting at my desk and crying but i also remember calling pastor fordham and he very calmly talked me off the ledge at school board chair pastor fordham was always one call or text away he would unlock the school when i couldn't get there he would monitor aftercare and recess as you've heard he would brainstorm long-term visions with me basically whatever was needed he would do he didn't just drop the school board chair position but he poured into the next chair when i asked him to be the bible instructor for high school it was an immediate yes whatever you need me to do pastor fordham for six years you have acted as an offensive lineman you have blocked and rerouted any potential negativity providing me room to drop back and throw a hail mary i could say much more but from the bottom of my heart thank you i appreciate you i love you and this tribute could really go on for hours with all of the things that you have done to support me as a principal not many people i think not many school principals could say that they have you as a mentor pastors can say it all over this country in the world but i'm probably one if not the only school principal that can say they have been mentored by pastor berman fordham thank you i i puck does not understand parents whose first decision about schooling their children is not the goal of eternity i don't understand it educate me i don't get it i'm not suggesting that they shouldn't be in a plate that they should be in a place where they can't learn the abcs i'm not suggesting that they don't need the one two threes i'm not suggesting that they don't need the best grades on an s.a.t or an mcat or an lsat but what i am saying is that when jesus says your soul is required i want them to be able to say i'm safe in the arms of jesus and i also don't understand a church as a fluent as ours that does not make it affordable wow now let me say though pastor fordham that will forever stick in many people's minds but but as you know you that might make you squirm a little bit i don't know but i must say as principal of f h jenkins this church stepped up to the challenge i mean we have so many families that have been blessed by the support of this church in a matter of fact i was speaking with our current school board chair a few weeks ago and i said man i remember the last time we had a local hire teacher we didn't have the money it was on the tithe envelope at fh jenkins and these members donated money so that we could pay somebody's salary every month so while that might make you you know oh my goodness this church really has been a true support to fh jenkins and your leadership it would not have been the same without it and we appreciate it well let me say one of my other memories you asked about memories at worship uh an off-camera memory is calling summer wood oh yeah and saying um [Music] i need you to pray about something just promise me you'll pray about it okay i'll pray by the pastor we want you to be the principal to fh jenkins i mean this person who got her phd at vanderbilt this isn't phd at x-com i mean you get my point she could go anywhere right and she prayed about that thing and became the principal of fh jenkins yeah so we we praise god hey wow and and i i didn't realize yes i can say i helped mentor dr summer wolf my goodness and i love that quarterback analogy that was great that was great no that was great obviously you all love fh jenkins and fh jenkins love you all loves your back what makes fhe can so special to y'all we start with price fh is special to me because it's my first i'm going to say my only school i'm trying it's my first school that i've ever been to and it was weird but i can i can say that i learned a lot at that school i want to thank all y'all all y'all that went to school with me if we talk or not still if you went to school with me you're part of my life forever be and i'll invite you to my wedding amen ditto you can come to my wedding too um uh f8 what efficiencies means to me i think i think one thing is um how you guys poured into me like uh i remember one day after school doctor book came to me and she was like you should run president i was like why me i was like and and that you believing in me inspired me a lot i think f.h jenkins was a place of transition for me this was i went to school i went to a preschool and i went to first and second grade i was homeschooled and then i started taking math at f.a jenkins my seventh grade year and then did i go to or i don't i i didn't technically i technically didn't graduate from fa jenkins but that's the only time i'm ever going to say that because i graduated from ffa i probably still have a a cap and gown in the closet downstairs in the living room like i am jenkins is my family i've already mentioned like i have so many memories from jenkins so i love when they tell stories like the people who went to jenkins in my class tell stories from like sixth grade before i was there and throw me in it because i think i was there with them i love it i love it so much jenny oh i'm just proud of our school i'm just proud of our school i never know who to look at summer demars i'm just proud of our school i am proud you know talk about him being a love of church school i am a lover of church school and i taught public school and i was shocked at how influential i was in public school my fourth graders came in one way and they left believing everything i said and i i know what it means to have that kind of influence on a child all day but i'm so proud of our school religiously and spiritually but i've i'm also proud of our school academically you know i think that there usually is a disconnect i shouldn't say usually but sometimes there's a disconnect between a church school being so academically focused and we are academically focused we are spiritually focused and we black people oh yes and we teach our children self-esteem they know their history they know where they come from i'm proud of that i mean i would choose fh jenkins for any of those reasons when i meet black professionals in nashville they need to send their kids to fh jenkins even if they don't believe in christ because we put so much in their children i mean i'm just proud disrupt awesome man i would i would say two things and i'm agreeing with what my wife said definitely um fh jenkins is excellent what we do whether it's black history program christmas program grandparents pro it's gonna be graduation it's a flyer a video it's going to be excellent what we're going to do is actually the next thing i do want to say is i want to affirm our riverside family um we are a church where if you want your child to go we'll help make it affordable so i really want to thank all of our members who have uh added their giving so that that could be an option and i believe that it is a blessing that will will yield eternal dividends hold on one second one second i am fa jenkins i am for a reason because god only begins his life for a season i am because the beginning of life is the most important part because good education can not only mess the brain but the heart i am because i believe y'all know look you got far and i appreciate that yes i am fh jenkins yes well um you pastor fordham have poured into everyone whether you are 90 100 or just being born and blessed and so at riverside we just want you to know that you are appreciated and then we have a couple of special messages just for you your pastor fordham thank you for letting me have a deeper understanding of god your teachings have influenced my decision to be baptized they've taught me that god's love endures forever and that god's love is more important than any other love it was because of your classes that i decided to be baptized prior to cover 19 i had not considered getting baptized but the more i wrote in my journals the more i realized god's love and i've decided to be baptized ever since i'm grateful that your class has led up to this decision and i'm grateful to have you as a bible teacher sincerely cameron dear pastor fordham i can't wait to get baptized by you and accept jesus into my life the reason why i want to be baptized is because i love jesus and want to give him my heart mind and soul i can't wait for jesus to clean me the reason why i want you to baptize me is because you're a kind and supportive pastor you have been my only pastor and i don't want to be baptized by a stranger thank you for being a great pastor sincerely victoria pastor the only thing that matters is things like this at this time we have a couple people that want to come up on the stage you were not aware of this and these two young people have decided and have taken their vows come on now that's all right that's all right that they want to be baptized and they will only have it that you will baptize them and so pastor at this time we're going to play a little video we're going to have everyone get dressed and we have some some clothes prepared for you where we'll have these young people back sounds good all right great great weather great beautiful beautiful [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] this is the absolute best way for us to conclude a safe space we are in our safe space we are here with our riverside church family and we have two individuals who have grown up here at riverside have participated in all of the various activities all of the ministries but the sole reason why we do this is we want them to accept jesus as their savior so i just want to praise the lord first and foremost with the dire family we are so thankful that we have victoria who has made a decision to follow jesus and to accept him as her savior let's welcome victoria as she comes victoria i'm going to ask you three questions do you believe that you are saved by grace through faith because jesus died for you yes and do you believe that he's gifted you with the holy spirit so that you can live according to christ's ten commandment law of love yes and are you here because you're giving jesus your time your talent your body temple your treasure and your testimony to let the world know that jesus saves and he's coming back again yes that i'm gonna baptize you very quickly in the name of the father the son and the holy ghost congratulations victoria congratulations where's camera we want to welcome the bean family as they come forward once again this is another one of our sons of riverside and we are just thanking the lord that cameron is not an outsider looking in he is not somebody saying well jesus is for y'all but he's not for us for me cameron has made a decision that he wants to live for jesus christ cameron is one of these brothers who uh you know we've all watched cameron grow up i shared last week cameron was three months old i think when i first came to riverside and we have watched cameron come all the way through the ranks i was watching some videos price driving kicking it out to cameron cameron hitting his three-point shot but price would always talk about when he came back he said man cameron has grown now i told him i said no dude cameron is taller than me cameron is a man you know what a crazy thing is when our young people transition from 9 10 11 and now they're like 13 14 15. right are you 16 i don't know how to draw 16 15. they become a little cool you know they don't talk as much they you know everything so and so but i want you all to know in bible class cameron talks cameron is absorbing this thing and when i got word that cameron had made a decision as a young man an african-american man that he was not ashamed of the gospel of jesus christ that did my heart well this is one of the greatest going-away gifts you can give to me so i want to invite cameron to come down at this time and we just want to praise the lord for the decision that cameron has made i know it's cold my brother but show him your man man show him your man show me your man my brother my brother it's freezing dude i know i'm gonna ask you three questions man do you believe cameron that you are saved by grace through faith because jesus died for you yes amen and do you believe that he has gifted you with his holy spirit who abides in you and enables you to live consistent with god's ten-commandment law of love yes and are you standing here because you're giving back to god your time your talents your treasure your body temple and your testimony to let the world know that jesus saves and that he's coming back again yes then it is my pleasure to baptize you we didn't get a chance to practice normally at preparation we would get in the office to baptize you in the name of the father the son and the holy ghost praise the lord praise the lord if there is anybody watching safe space that has been inspired by the decision of these two young people and you want to give your life to jesus we want to encourage you go to our website riversidenashville.org so that we can make sure that you are included in the next baptism baptism at riverside i want to thank everybody who has participated in this i don't know whose idea it was to end with this baptism that was phenomenal we are so thankful to pastor demaris miller to our principal dr summer wood and to everybody who's participated in safe space thank you so much for making us a part of your family for 14 years and thank you so much for allowing this to be a safe space for our family and for our children let's buy our heads together dear heavenly father we are so thankful that you have allowed us to become family together here at riverside but most importantly we are a part of your family and lord what we want more than ever is for none of your children to be missing at that family reunion when you call all of your children home we are so thankful that cameron and victoria have made a decision that they're going to be in that number we praise you for what you have done it is your doing and marvelous in our eyes please continue to keep them strengthen them pour your spirit out upon them use them in their own spheres of influence to let others know that you are real that you are a god of love and that you are a savior and that you're coming back again and that they should get to know you as victoria and cameron have please continue to be with their families as they support them in the way that they should go and we just thank you for the safe space that you have created at riverside and at h jenkins where our young people can be trained to love you and to serve you in the name of jesus we pray amen amen amen we want to thank you all for joining us at this safe space remember tomorrow at 11 30 we will have a farewell service and then at 6 30 we'll have a farewell concert then on sunday we have some other stuff going on i'm not trying to tell you everything we love you thank you for tuning in

Channel: Riverside Nashville RTV

Views: 2,488

Rating: 4.8947368 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: 4EF5hiL44zA

Length: 130min 55sec (7855 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 26 2021