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Biographical Sketch

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Colvin Blanford, Rel.D.

January 2005

Colvin Blanford was born in Dallas, Texas and lived in the San Francisco Bay Area from 1948 to 1970.  He received the Bachelor of Arts degree from San Francisco State College (now San Francisco State University) in 1960, the Bachelor of Divinity degree from the Berkeley Baptist Divinity School (now the American Baptist Seminary of the West) in 1963, and the Doctor of Religion degree (Rel.D.) from the Southern California School of Theology at Claremont (STC) in 1969.

Dr. Blanford served as the organizing pastor of the Cosmopolitan Baptist Church in San Francisco from 1963 to 1970, Executive Director of the Brooks House of  Christian Service in Hammond, Indiana (a ministry of the Board of National Ministries of the American Baptist Churches, U.S.A.) from 1970 to 1973, Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Gary, Indiana from 1973 to 1981, he was on the faculty of the Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (Lombard, Illinois) from 1974 to 1991 serving as Director of Black Church Studies and Associate Professor of Ministry from 1981 to l983 and serving as an Adjunct Professor during the other years.  He taught in the areas of ministry, preaching, and social ethics in both the Master of Divinity and the Doctor of Religion programs.

 Dr. Blanford organized Christ Baptist Church, Gary, Indiana in 1981 and served as pastor until 2002.  The church has been blessed to be the "parent" or "grandparent" of churches in Chicago, South Africa, and Malawi (Central Africa).

As of August 2001 there were twenty-two Christ Baptist churches: Nineteen in South Africa because our pastor there has been blessed to plant 18 churches in the past several years, one in Mzuzu, Malawi, one in Chicago, and one ("The Mother Church") in Gary.

As of October 2002, Pastor Blanford retired from this ministry in order to help to plant and develop dynamic Christian churches throughout the country and around the world.

Dr. Blanford is currently the Organizing Pastor of NEW LIFE CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIPS INTERNATIONAL in Mesa, Arizona.  This ministry is a Spirit-led, Spirit-empowered, Prayer-centered, Purpose-driven Cell Church based upon the biblical "principle of twelve" that is interracial, intercultural, intergenerational and international.  This ministry plans to plant other churches with wholistic ministries throughout the country and around the world.

Pastor Blanford is happily married to the former Margaret AnnTyrrell of Beaumont, Texas.  He and Margaret have two sons (Colvin ll and Christopher), three biological grandsons (Colvin lll, Christopher, and Christian), two biological granddaughters (Asia Margaret Louise and Cara Annette), one spiritual granddaughter (Ryan Carter), and one spiritual grandson (Shawn Sistrunk).