A Sunday service at LifeWorks Church in Wickliffe, Ohio, became the centre of a national church debate this week after Pastor Israel Ford publicly introduced a second wife to his congregation.
The moment took place on Sunday, October 25, 2026, during a service at the church near Cleveland. Ford, who is known to members as Prophet Israel, stood with his first wife, Pastor Lydia Ford, as the arrangement was presented to the church. Video clips from the service spread quickly online, and by Monday, October 26, the story was being covered by Christian and entertainment outlets across the United States.
The announcement was unusual not only for what was said, but for who said it first. It was Lydia Ford, Ford’s co-pastor, who addressed the congregation and introduced the other woman, rather than Ford making the introduction alone.
A first wife introduces a second wife
According to multiple reports of the service, Lydia Ford told the congregation that she and her husband are living in what she described as a polygynous marriage, a form of polygamy in which one man has more than one wife.
She presented Shakayla Ford, formerly Shakayla Talley, as her husband’s second wife and as her own sister in marriage. Shakayla Ford is a minister in the church and a friend of the couple, according to reports from BGospel and the Christian Post.
“My husband, our prophet, he has a second wife. Y’all know her. Y’all love her. Y’all benefit from her ministry every week,” Lydia Ford said in the service, according to BGospel’s account of the clip.
Shakayla Ford then addressed the congregation. In the clips circulated online, she spoke about the reaction the news might cause and said she had not been slighted. Reports described the reaction inside the sanctuary as mixed, with some members applauding and cheering while others appeared surprised or stunned.
The service did not present the arrangement as something new to everyone in the room. Shakayla Ford thanked people who had known about it, according to BGospel, and later reports said the union had been kept private from the wider congregation for a period before Sunday’s public announcement.
Three years, according to reports
The Christian Post reported on Monday, October 26, that Ford told his congregation he has been living with two wives for the past three years and that he believes God endorses the arrangement. Other outlets covering the story on October 26 and 27 repeated the three-year figure.
The Gospel Report has not independently verified a marriage date or a legal marriage record for the second union, and this article does not claim one. What is verified is the public announcement itself: Ford, Lydia Ford and Shakayla Ford appeared together in the service, the arrangement was described openly as a polygynous marriage, and Ford then introduced Shakayla Ford to a wider audience on social media.
That distinction matters, because polygyny is illegal in the United States, as the Christian Post noted in its report. The article does not present Ford’s religious description of the relationship as a statement about its legal status in Ohio, and no legal documents have been cited in the coverage reviewed for this article.
Ford did not respond to a request for further comment from the Christian Post on Monday, according to that outlet.
“This is unbiblical,” Ford wrote
After the service, Ford posted a video of the moment on Facebook and introduced Shakayla Ford to his followers in his own words.
“I would like to introduce to the world, my second wife, Shakayla Ford!!!” he wrote, according to multiple outlets that quoted the post.
In the same post, he challenged the teaching that a man should have only one wife.
“As a nation we have been taught that a man should have one wife only. This is unbiblical,” he wrote.
Ford described his position as an unpopular truth that many pastors will not preach. He said he would not choose pleasing people over what he believes God has revealed, and he told followers who disagreed that they were free to disconnect.
“People may not accept this and choose to disconnect, and that is ok! This life will be over soon, and we can all laugh about it in Heaven. Until then, God bless,” he wrote.
Ford also said he would explain his position in greater detail in a full sermon, which he said would be uploaded later in the week. Coverage published on October 26 and 27 did not confirm that the full sermon had been posted at the time of writing.
The scripture argument, and the response to it
Ford’s argument, as presented in his post and in coverage of the service, rests on his reading of Scripture. He cited Exodus 21:10, a passage that sets out obligations for a man who takes another wife, including that he must not diminish the first wife’s food, clothing or marital rights.
In coverage of his broader argument, Ford has also pointed to Old Testament figures who had more than one wife, including Abraham, Jacob, David and Solomon, and has argued that exclusive monogamy is a later cultural teaching rather than a biblical mandate. That is Ford’s interpretation, as reported, not a consensus position in Christian teaching.
Critics online responded by pointing to a different passage: 1 Timothy 3:2, which states that a church overseer must be the husband of one wife. That verse has been widely cited in social media discussion of the announcement, and in commentary questioning whether a pastor in a polygynous marriage can meet the New Testament standard for church leadership.
The debate, in other words, is not only about one church in Ohio. It is about two different ways of reading Scripture, and about whether Old Testament examples should be treated as permission, as regulation of an existing practice, or as description of a practice that the New Testament later narrows for church leaders.
EEW Magazine, in its report on the story, framed the tension in similar terms, noting that defenders of polygyny point to the laws given to Israel, while others point back to Genesis and to Paul’s one-wife standard for men who lead the church.
Who are Israel Ford and LifeWorks Church?
Israel T. Ford co-founded LifeWorks Church in 2009 with Lydia Ford, according to the church’s own account and multiple news reports. The church is based in the Wickliffe area near Cleveland, Ohio, and describes its mission as helping families learn about God through a personal relationship with Christ, love Christ through obedience, and serve God with time, talents, treasure and testimony.
Ford was born and raised in the Cleveland area, according to the church’s official biography. The biography says he grew up with a passion for music, travelled with gospel artists as a musician, and was called to teach the word of God at the age of 20, beginning with Bible studies in his own home. He has served as a teacher, pastor and prophet, and is the founder and visionary of LifeWorks Church.
Lydia Ford grew up in Cleveland in a small Pentecostal church pastored first by her grandmother and then by her mother, according to the church. She is described by the church as a nurturing figure whom many call “mom,” and she co-pastors the church with her husband.
Shakayla Ford, according to the Christian Post, is also a minister in the church. Reports describe her as a congregant and friend of the couple before Sunday’s announcement, not as an outsider introduced to the church for the first time.
Why this story travelled so fast
The story spread for several reasons, and they go beyond the announcement itself.
First, the format was striking: a first wife publicly introducing a second wife, in a church service, on camera, with the language of blessing rather than secrecy. That is not how polygamy stories usually reach the public, and it gave the clips a clear, shareable moment.
Second, Ford did not present the arrangement as a private failing or a matter for apology. He presented it as a theological position, with a scripture citation and a promise of a fuller sermon to come. That turned a personal announcement into a doctrinal argument, which is why it drew responses from pastors, commentators and ordinary churchgoers rather than only gossip coverage.
Third, the story landed in a week when church leadership, marriage and public accountability are already live questions for many congregations. A pastor openly defending plural marriage forces a direct conversation about what churches teach, what they tolerate, and where the line sits between personal conviction and public office in a church.
The clips were first circulated by Protestia, according to EEW Magazine and BGospel, before being picked up by larger outlets including EURweb, Hollywood Unlocked, the Christian Post and BGospel. By Monday, the announcement had moved from church social media into national Christian news coverage.
What remains unanswered
Several questions remain open at the time of writing, and they should not be filled in by guesswork.
It is not clear from the coverage reviewed whether Ford’s promised full sermon has been uploaded, or what additional scripture or argument it will contain. It is not clear whether LifeWorks Church has issued a formal statement beyond the service itself and Ford’s social media post. And it is not clear what, if any, response the wider church community in Cleveland will make, beyond the online debate that has already begun.
What is clear is the public record so far: on Sunday, October 25, 2026, at LifeWorks Church in Wickliffe, Ohio, Pastor Lydia Ford introduced Minister Shakayla Ford as her husband’s second wife, the family described the arrangement as a polygynous marriage, and Pastor Israel Ford then defended that arrangement publicly, calling the teaching that a man should have only one wife unbiblical.
Whether congregations accept that argument, or reject it on the basis of 1 Timothy 3:2 and the traditional Christian teaching on marriage, is now the debate the announcement has started, and it is likely to continue well beyond this week.
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