Our Leadership

Currently Serving
July 2022 – Present

Pastor Ralph Ford grew up in Louisville, Kentucky and attended the historic Magazine Street Seventh-Day Adventist Church as a child. His parents raised him in a Christian home where music was such a vibrant part of his life that he became a church choir director at age 14, writing and arranging many of the songs that were sung. He was Minister of Music there for many years.

Pastor Ford had a formal Christian education at Emma L. Minnis Academy and graduated from New Albany High School. He attended Indiana University Southeast where he studied psychology and became a Drug and Alcohol Counselor. Shortly afterwards, God called him into the Literature Ministry for full-time employment. He was successful from the start and eventually became Associate Publishing Director in Kentucky for the South Central SDA Conference. He received certification in Christian Ministry at Black Hills Mission College in Black Hills, South Dakota.

While in the literature work, Pastor Ford fell in love with giving Bible studies and winning souls to Jesus. He was instrumental in starting the New Life SDA Church in Louisville, KY. Eventually he left Louisville and became the Evangelism Coordinator for Pastor Robert L. Davis in Charlotte, NC. While working together there at the Berean SDA Church, they baptized 150 souls in 2 short years. From there, he went with Pastor Davis to a different Berean SDA Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana where God blessed them again with many baptisms. While there for a year, Pastor Ford was called to be a Bible Instructor with the Southwest Region Conference, and was sent to Houston, TX. His job was to set up a Bible Instructors’ Guild in that city, training bible workers in every church. To his great surprise, during his 5 ½ years in Houston, God called him into pastoral ministry. He was placed as interim Pastor at the New Life SDA Church for almost a year and engaged the small church in soul winning. In that time, they baptized 13 new souls. Following that, he was called to Riverside SDA Church in Nashville, TN as an Associate Pastor to Pastor Furman Fordham. In July, 2022, he began ministering at New Hope SDA Church in Chapmansboro, TN. Although Pastor Ford says he never wanted to be a pastor, God made it clear He had other plans – and now he admits he loves it!

Pastor Ford lost his wife to cancer in 2018 found love again and was remarried July 7, 2023 to Michiel Peart- Ford and now has two bonus children, Micah and Terahnae Turner and three adult daughters (Nicol Ford Edmeade, de-Evelyn Farrell, Carrie Ford) and his young son, Ralph J. Ford Jr. (RJ).