Pastor Dr. Donald Duwayne Ford I is the Founder and Senior Pastor of Second Missionary Baptist Church (SMBC) and Touch of Grace Ministries Proclaiming Jesus Christ (TGMPJC) of Grandview, Missouri (founded February 26, 1978).
In addition to his pastoral duties, Pastor Dr. Ford is the voice of the Touch of Grace Broadcast heard locally Monday through Friday at 9:30 a.m., Sundays at 6:00 a.m. on KPRT (1590 AM) and is seen Saturdays at 10:30 p.m. on Time Warner Cable Lease Access Channel 4. Nationally, the Touch of Grace Broadcast is also aired Sundays: 7:00 a.m. WELP (1350 AM) in Greenville, SC; 8:30 a.m. WBXR (1140 AM), Huntsville, AL; 11:30 a.m. WWNL (1080 AM), Pittsburgh, PA, MD, and VA areas; 3:00 p.m. WFAM (1050 AM), Augusta, GA; 3:00 p.m. WLMR (1450 AM), Chattanooga, TN; 3:30 p.m. KLNG (1560 AM), Omaha, NE and Lincoln, IA; and Saturdays at 5:30 p.m. on B-WSKY (1250 AM), Asheville, NC. In recognition for his work on the Touch of Grace Broadcast program, Pastor Dr. Ford was presented the Religious Broadcaster’s Award by the Midwest Regional Conference of the United Minority Media Association (UMMA) in September, 1999.
Pastor Dr. Ford is a former member of the Afro-American Mega Church Executive Committee of the North American Mission Board for the Southern Baptist Convention and is an Executive Board Member of the Blue River Baptist Association of the Southern Baptist Convention. He served as Field Supervisor for the Midwest Theological Graduate School, as President of the Missouri State African-American Churches of the Southern Baptist Convention, is a former Staff Chaplain for the Jackson County Juvenile Court, and has served as Student Proctor for students of Calvary Baptist Bible College. Pastor Dr. Ford is a multi-subject conference speaker, workshop facilitator, and is author of a book that aids in bible study application entitled
Eyes of Joshua.
Among the numerous awards and honors received, Pastor Dr. Ford was a recipient of the 1996 100 Most Influential Persons Award for the Kansas City area. Most recently, Pastor Dr. Ford received
The Daily Points of Light Award
on June 8, 2004 presented to him by former President George Bush for exemplary volunteer community service. He also birthed and gave leadership to
Youth in a World of Pressure program, which has been designed to aid in the nurturing, directing and encouraging of youth to reach their full potential. The program centers on 11 basic needs of youth and 9 developmental stages in which the parent(s) also share. Pastor Ford established SMBC as a Kansas City Promise site that has received national recognition by America’s Promise as one of the outstanding model sites in the country. He was presented with the
America’s Promise “red wagon” by General Chairman Senator Harris Wofford and
Alma Powell (wife of former America’s Promise Chairman Collin Powell, former US Secretary of State). Over 15 years ago, Pastor Dr. Donald D. Ford I (with collaboration of Kimberly Waller) established the Windsteppers Track Team – a youth program that has made a great impact on our community. Being one of a very few churches that sponsor a track team in the Junior Athletic Association Union (AAU), the Windsteppers has qualified for the national competitions all 15 years with 3 children achieving national rankings (including gold and bronze medals) in 2002 and 2003.
Pastor Dr. Ford has recently assumed the Presidency for the Benjamin Banneker Charter School Board. He has sponsored and participated in mentoring programs at Ruskin High School in the Hickman Mills School District, Grandview Consolidated 4 High School and Benjamin Banneker
Charter School in Kansas City as well as other
elementary and junior high schools of our
community to ensure our youth have the best
possible environment for successful achievement.
His leadership and teachings have born fruit in the form of several churches having been founded or reorganized under his direction. Pastors who trained under his teachings are leading churches in several locations in the Kansas City area and Oklahoma. Pastor Dr. Ford recently founded the
JOEL
Ecclesiastical School of Preparation, a Finishing and Practicum institution for persons called to the ministry work or who simply want to receive more detailed training in the Bible and its teachings.
He is a 1965
graduate of Central High School, Kansas City,
Missouri and a 1978 graduate of Western Baptist
Bible College, Kansas City, receiving his degree
in Christian Education. His many accomplishments
in the community and in his teaching and
preaching ministry afforded Pastor Dr. Ford an
Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree from Western
Baptist Bible College in May, 1998. He is
married to Sis. Verna R. Charles Ford. They have
two children, Donald Duwayne Ford II and
Tashonda Lachelle Ford and three grandchildren,
Mario Bennett, Quierra Ford and Antonio Geno
Robinson.
Pastor Dr. Ford is noted for being the first African-American founder and pastor in the southern Kansas City area starting SMBC with a membership of four that has grown to over 2,500. Pastor Dr. Ford continues his quest to go from “Good to Great” as he endeavors to “Reach a Dying World through a Living God.”
