FULTON – For a couple whose Christian ministry is built around the musical style, Marty Forman admits, “I didn’t know what Southern Gospel music was until 13 years ago.” Marty is half of Forman Ministries, which is a singing duo that includes her husband, Norman.
“I sang in church and in college, but didn’t know that genre of music.”
Now, when the two sing together, audiences “can expect a time of fellowship, a time of worship, a time of enjoyment,” Norman says. “We like to laugh and just enjoy being in the presence of God’s people.”
“We don’t view ourselves as entertainment or a concert,” he says. “We’re there to lead people in worship. Our desire is for (an event) to be a worship experience…and have fun worshipping the Lord.”
“I don’t know that our ministry is necessarily evangelistic in reaching lost souls. It’s certainly capable of doing that,” Norman says. But, he says his dad—the longtime Missouri Baptist pastor, Reverend Weldon Forman—taught him that “until we get the church excited about being God’s people, it’s hard to get the world to be a part of that.”
The couple have been singing together over a decade but only for the last four years as a duet after quartets they were in disbanded. “If we were going to sing, we were left with carrying on by ourselves,” he says.
He describes the ministry as “primarily a ministry of encouragement for believers. The grind of life can really weigh you down. As we come into a church to sing, we hope what we offer is encouragement.”
For being retired or semi-retired individuals, the Formans are busy. (He’s retired as a bi-vocational pastor and emergency medical services worker; she’s semi-retired as a social worker.) Last year, they sang in over 60 events. “It seems like it grows every year,” Norman says. They’re also involved in their community as local chamber of commerce members, have helped with charitable events, and fundraised for groups. Both are trained Missouri Disaster Relief workers.
They’ve sung in churches, nursing homes, parks, festivals, Christian conferences, multi-day gospel meetings, and other venues.
“My goal is not to shut any doors God opens,” Norman says. “When He calls, we respond.”
“It seems like the Lord has been opening doors to us to get into more churches and presented us with more preaching opportunities,” he says. Norman is an ordained Southern Baptist minister and has pastored Missouri churches. This spring he will lead revivals in Missouri and Arkansas.
He says some of those revival doors opened through the ministry’s association with the Fellowship of Missouri Baptist Evangelists.
Both say that being part of a husband/wife duet has advantages over a quartet.
“Practice is much easier,” he says. “Practice usually occurs any time we’re travelling down the road. We either have our practice CDs or our iPad with us.”
She sees being part of a couple as a testimony to God’s work.
“We have a lot of people come up to us and say, ‘I want what you two have.’ They view our faith as the foundation for our marriage. Every time that’s said I smile and say, ‘Thank you God for helping me get that message out there.’”
Singing gets the Formans into other religious denominations. Before any events they talk with leaders to understand and explain expectations. Sometimes, an event leader may not want an altar call, for example. Marty says the couple always includes a gospel message.
Their music is “an experience of faith and talking about Jesus and what that knowledge can bring to people—hope, comfort, blessings,” she says.
“There are always words about ‘this message is about hope and about bringing people to the saving grace and knowledge of our Jesus.’ We never apologize for that.”
Performing as much as they do makes it difficult to maintain connection with their home church in Fulton, Ebenezer Baptist Church. However, their pastor, Mike Hibbard, endorses their ministry and encourages them as ministering missionaries, Norman says. That keeps them singing.
“It is always such an uplift to us to see people worshipping,” Normans says, “and to see them being affected by our music. I don’t say that because of some sense of personal gratification.”
“But, when you’re doing the Lord’s work and you see Him working in peoples’ lives it’s just an affirmation that you’re doing what God wants you to do. That encourages us to keep going on.”
The ministry charges no fee for singing or preaching. “We come on a love offering basis,” Norman says. “The Lord has always provided. “No venue, no congregation, is too big or too small for our ministry.”
To contact Forman Ministries, call 473-826-7016, or email pastornorm1957@yahoo.com.