Resume for John Ward, Ordained Southern Baptist Minister

Ordained in 1983 by Forest Hill Baptist Church in Anderson, South Carolina USA. Forest Hill is Southern Baptist Convention affiliated. I was entering Seminary at the time, and unofficially helping with children’s programs then.
Licensed to preach the Gospel by Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Westminster, SC in 1978. I was serving as a youth pastor at the time.

EDUCATION SUMMARY

Anderson University, Anderson, South Carolina. I earned an Associate of Arts Degree there in 1977. This is my home town school. I was born in Anderson in 1954. I am retired now and on disability and live in Foothills Assisted Living in West Union, SC a few miles from Anderson. I am still able to sing and preach and write so I am posting this resume.

Southern Wesleyan University, Central, SC. Bachelor of Arts. I learned a lot at this school and they were kind to Baptist and other students from different faiths. We had fun learning from each others differences and found a lot of common ground too.

Erskine Theological Seminary, Due West, SC, Master of Divinity. 1986. This fine institution is owned and operated by the Associated Reformed Presbyterian Church. Erskine proved to be a blessing to me because my family was going through a crisis at this time. My father was dying from lung cancer and the seminary faculty did everything they could to help me graduate before he died like recording classes and letting me take exams alone. Then when he died the professors and some of the students showed up at the funeral home to greet my family because I was a part of their family. My father lived long enough to see my diploma then he died a week later. A pastor himself he had always dreamed of going to seminary but never had the chance and I fulfilled that dream for him and me. Through Erskine I served as a supply pastor.

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville Seminary, Master of Arts. I had always dreamed of going to Southern. Being able to go to a school with such a long tradition. Many friends of mine from Anderson were already there as well as a former pastor. Louisville was his home town so he took a church there and I felt at home too with so many friend there already and I met knew friends easily too.

That is my eduction summary. A word about my jobs. I guess I would have to say that I was a bivocational
pastor. I would work on a regular job or be in school and work in a church part time and I understand that the Southern Baptist Convention is saying that is going to happen to ministers on a more regular basis in the future because churches will not be able to hire full time ministers on a regular basis. So I guess I was a kind of pioneer in this. As far as my secular jobs went I always seemed to have custodial jobs which was fine. Sometimes I worked in public schools. Sometimes I worked in plants. My favorite job was with AnMed Health in Anderson, SC as an Environmental Services Technician which involved more than just cleaning. It involved cheering up patients and families. And disinfecting and purifying areas. And all of the doctors and surgeons knew that they could not do what they were doing if we were not doing what we were doing. I was friends with large number of people in the hospital. I got asked by the chaplain to do a reading for a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. I was already friends with many in the black community before then but they really befriended me after that. This ends my summary. Some of my hobbies include writing poetry at:
http://www.booksie.com/John Ward. Look it up if you are interested. And check out my other post here at John Wards World. I am also into acting and comedy as well as preaching and singing. Thank you for your time.
By the was: I became a Christian when I was 7 years old and I had a speech impediment. Contact me at Facebook to find out how I was healed of that.

References

Rev. Doctor Randy Keasler Rev. Bob Marcaurelle
Westminster Baptist Church Meadowbrook Baptist Church
Westminster, South Carolina Anderson, South Carolina

The name of the production company that I have acted for is Dead Horse Productions in Anderson, SC.

Sunday, April 14, 2013: Today marks exactly the first anniversary of the death of the late great Shakerpearean actor Jonathan Frid. Though Frid began as a stage actor from Canada he eventually moved to New York City to study and find acting work there. He had an appartment and rarely stopped by it during the day because he was pounding the beat –traveling the streets going to thwarted trying to find some kind of acting work.

Finally he resolved that he would give up on New York and move to Florida. One day during this time he stopped by his appartment which he rarely did during the day and heard hid telephone ringing. He answered it and it was his agent telling him he had an audition for him. But Jon replied something like this” but I am getting ready to pack and move to Florida. My plans have already been made.” And his agent said something like this: “But Jon there’s this soap opera that wants someone to play a vampire for about six weeks. It would be good money then you could move on with funds.”

The quotes above are not exact but close to the story. But Jon did try for the role and won and his vampire role on Dark Shadows caught on like wildfire and saved the show which was near cancellation. It did not take the producers of the show long to realize that they needed to change Jon’s vampire character (named Barnabas Collins) from a mean vampire to a reluntant vampire. Barnabas evolved into a hero and the show attracted 30 million viewers during its ABC network run and is still beloved and watched on DVD and other media. So Jonathan Frid is missed and mourned and he left behind a lasting legacy.

Holiday Greetings

Hello everyone. I am sorry that I have not been here in a while. I have mainly been writing at a linked site named http://www.booksie.com/John.Ward I have been writing poetry and trying to write a story there. Whenever I publish anything there it is automatically copyrighted in my name (as it is here too). Try this site out. I think I an going to try writing an article there today on suicide prevention. I tried suicide once but I am grateful that it did not work.

A Reason To Give Thanks

Once again Thanksgiving Day is upon us and many of us are wondering what do we have to be thankful for? The world is more violent than ever and a prophecy uttered by the apostle Paul hauntingly seems to be coming true before our very very eyes because he said way back way back in the first century A.D. that “the love of many will grow cold” in the last days.
But we are still here and I guess that is something to be grateful for.

Perhaps, if you are an American, you are not happy with the way the latest election turned out. If so just wait. In four years you will get another chance to voice your opinion. Either way, That is one reason that I am thankful to be living in this republic. So many from overseas and across our borders would love to live here either legally or illegally so there must be something attractive about being here.

And I am thankful for all countries that practice freedom as well. I know that they did not attain it easily but now that they have it it is precious to them like our is to us. So if your are complaining about Thanksgiving Day here in the US remember there are still some good things going on here. And some bad things. It has always been that way and it will always be that way until we all have hope in the future of the earth.

A Tribute To The Angels

Do you believe in angels
Well I most certainly do
And I am not afraid to admit it
I have seen two
No big deal or anything
But this was so awesome
That I had to turn my head
I was filled with a feeling of dread
I knew that whenever angels would appear
The witnesses would often be filled with fear
But very shortly I got over that
I was filled with peace from my shoes to my hat
Angel protect everybody in some kind of trouble
If it was not for them we would have died a long time ago
AS it is we probably have a ways to go
So the next time you feel like you are all alone in the world
Remember that angels are always looking over us
And they always know exactly where to go
Because their orders come from Jesus

Someone

Someone that I once knew is alone again. There is a lot of distance between us but we have remained close friends. Thankfully her life is full with children and work and church.
She has distractions that will help her to get through this and on with her life’s work.

She is having to redefine herself now. Everyone goes through this sooner or later in their lives although I would have preferred it be later for her sake.

I know that she has peace. She is a Christian and that is a part of our faith. But she also has children and other family and church family and I hope that I fit in there somewhere.

She is a blessing to everyone she meets. I hope that some of you get to meet her someday.

The Dangers of Stereotyping.

These days it is getting hard to tell who the heroes are and who the villains are. Back when I was growing up I was an avid reader of comic books, especially Superman. Come to think of it I still am. Even though I am fifty-eight now. In the comic book/graphic novel world it is always easy to tell who is good and who is evil. It has been shown that even Superman has a darker side but so far he has stood be his main code in life though he has come close to breaking it at times: He will not kill no matter what the circumstances.

Wouldn’t that be great in real life. But here we have killings and hatred and rioting all because we still believe that everybody is the way that we think that they are. We have stereotyped everybody. I know what it is like to be stereotyped. When I was growing up and going through elementary school and what was then called junior high school I could not talk plain. Also I was on the chubby side (now I am weight impaired). So bullies were always after me from a young age. My one solace was a church that I went to that my family and I lived next to during those years. We lived in a “mill village” but this was a very good church and I felt acceptance there and they helped me to make it through those years.

As I moved through elementary and junior high school years I finally reached high school and actually was somewhat popular. By my senior year a doctor in Charleston, SC had developed a procedure called larynx reconstruction which cleared up my voice and led me into going into singing and in high school I did some acting and I sang with choir and I studied to be a preacher. During my time I witnessed the changes that were going on during the civil rights movement. Some of my friends and family were slow to accept those changes because of stereotypes but I new what it was like to be stereotyped myself and to be looked down on to. As I grew up I still faced prejudices as a preacher. I was single, never married (not by choice but that is another story) and I was a Baptist and tradition was against me because very few people had heard of a single preacher although there are a few around now.

But I am content now. I am retired now and living in an assisted living facility and am in a good church and around good friend and good family and room mates and my family is nearby and I can write soo I am happy. I hope I have said something important here. If not I will try again.