Ford, Marcia

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Ford, Marcia

PERSONAL: Married; husband’s name John (a distribution center supervisor); children: Elizabeth, Sarah. Education: Monmouth College (now Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ), B.A., 1972; Jersey Shore Bible Institute, Asbury Park, NJ, 1975-77. Graduate, education for ministry program, University of the South, Sewanee, TN.

ADDRESSES: Home— Orange City, FL. E-mail— misfit@marciaford.com.

CAREER: Writer, editor, journalist, and manager. As-bury Park Press, Asbury Park, NJ, reporter, 1973-77, religion editor, 1974-83, education editor, 1977-78, copy editor, 1978-83;Monmouth Business Talk, managing editor, 1987;Charisma, news editor, 1994-96, associate editor, 1996;Ministries Today, news editor, 1994-96, associate editor, 1996;Christian Retailing, managing editor, 1997-98, news editor, 1998-99; freelance writer and editor, 1999—.

MEMBER: Emergent Village, Advanced Writers and Speakers Association, Florida Writers Association, National Association of Women Writers, National Writers Union, Toastmasters (served as officer).

AWARDS, HONORS: Royal Palm Literary Award, Florida Writers Association, first place, autobiography, 2004, for Memoir of a Misfit; first place, inspirational, 2004, for 101 Most Powerful Promises in the Bible.

WRITINGS

Charisma Reports: The Brownsville Revival, Creation House (Lake Mary, FL), 1997.

(With Scott Marshall) Restless Pilgrim: The Spiritual Journey of Bob Dylan, Relevant (Lake Mary, FL), 2002.

101 Most Powerful Promises in the Bible, edited by Steve and Lois Rabey, Warner Faith (New York, NY), 2003.

Meditations for Misfits: Finding Your Place in the Family of God, Jossey-Bass (San Francisco, CA), 2003.

Memoir of a Misfit: Finding My Place in the Family of God, foreword by Phyllis Tickle, Jossey-Bass (San Francisco, CA), 2003.

God between the Covers: Finding Faith through Reading, Crossroad Publishing (New York, NY), 2005.

Finding Hope: Cultivating God’s Gift of a Hopeful Spirit, SkyLight Paths (Woodstock, VT), 2006.

The Sacred Art of Forgiveness: Forgiving Ourselves and Others through God’s Grace, SkyLight Paths (Woodstock, VT), 2006.

Traditions of the Ancients: Vintage Faith Practices for the 21st Century, Broadman & Holman (Nashville, TN), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS: Writer, editor, and inspirational author Marcia Ford is a thirty-year veteran of the writing and editing business. A former newspaper reporter and magazine editor, Ford has been a freelance book editor and a managing editor. Much of her magazine work has been for Christian-based publications, and her books often reflect associated religious and inspirational themes. In 101 Most Powerful Promises in the Bible, Ford highlights biblical promises and advice from both the Old and New Testaments. She stresses passages that provide readers with instruction, hope, and inspiration and explains how the lessons from the passages can be applied to particular situations and to daily life. She includes historical information and commentary on the biblical verse she highlights. Ford successfully elucidates “key biblical principles, providing her readers with substantial truths to reflect upon long after the book has been closed,” noted a Publishers Weekly reviewer.

With Finding Hope: Cultivating God’s Gift of a Hopeful Spirit, Ford “manages to communicate the essence of hope with intelligence, humor, and grace,” commented a contributor to Publishers Weekly. At the time of the book’s writing, Ford was suffering from a severe illness and reeling from the effects of a fire that had damaged her home, yet she still found encouragement in her Christian faith and advice for readers searching for a source of hope when their own lives turn bleak. She endorses placing one’s ultimate hope in God and illustrates this notion with stories from history, popular culture, the Bible, and her own life. She also provides idea-triggering questions for readers to consider and suggests practices such as meditation and journaling as methods for restoring clarity and hope.

The Sacred Art of Forgiveness: Forgiving Ourselves and Others through God’s Grace contains Ford’s meditation and consideration of the often difficult act of forgiveness. Using a structure similar to that of her previous books, Ford illustrates the liberating power of forgiveness with stories from history and from her own personal experience. She offers questions for readers to ponder and lists practical exercises to be undertaken by those seeking a better understanding of forgiveness and what it can mean in their lives. Ford finds the greatest source of forgiveness in the divine and in the great forgiveness demonstrated by God. As a practical matter, Ford also considers the difficulty in forgiving someone who is dangerous or abusive, noting that forgiving someone does not necessarily require reuniting with them. A Publishers Weekly writer concluded: “This primer belongs in the hands of anyone who needs to give or receive forgiveness.”

Ford’s interest in religion extends beyond the traditional branches of Christianity, as demonstrated in Traditions of the Ancients: Vintage Faith Practices for the 21st Century. In this book Ford describes twenty-eight spiritual practices, some forgotten or little used, from the biblical tradition and early Christian worship. Ford describes such practices as praying for the gift of tears and bereavement; using solitude and silence as an enhancement to religious observance; participating in prayer at fixed hours; consuming memorial meals; and more. Ford “offers some interesting ideas to readers wishing to climb out of ruts in their prayer and worship habits,” observed a Publishers Weekly critic.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES

PERIODICALS

Publishers Weekly, August 11, 2003, review of 101 Most Powerful Promises in the Bible, p. 274; January 30, 2006, review of Traditions of the Ancients: Vintage Faith Practices for the 21st Century, p. 63; February 13, 2006, review of The Sacred Art of Forgiveness: Forgiving Ourselves and Others through God’s Grace, p. 84; September 11, 2006, review of Finding Hope: Cultivating God’s Gift of a Hopeful Spirit, p. 51.