If you’ve ever been to Blue Ridge, you may have left with a passionate “Hallelujah” resonating in your ears. Those of us who call BRCC home know this cry of worship comes from none other than the God-seeking Rhode Islander with a self-proclaimed daredevil spirit, Don Tordoff.
Don has been in his role as Pastor of Community Groups since August 2007. He credits that role with helping him grow in his relationship with God by teaching him to focus on prayer and walking with the Holy Spirit. He considers the body of BRCC to be a family that continually reminds him God is less concerned about the things he’s doing and more interested in who he is becoming.
In order to understand more about Don, read his favorite Scriptures: 1 Samuel 14 and Matthew 14: 22-32. You can also watch Cool Hand Luke or It’s a Beautiful Life, or read Unstoppable Force or Of Mice and Men. Then, if you think you have enough stamina to keep up with Don, he’d love to have you join him in one of his other passions, which include mountain biking/racing; cooking breakfast; telling stories; and running around the big room, singing and shouting, “I am free to run, I am free to dance!”
Although you would never know it upon meeting Don, his life did not start out God-centered. However, he realizes that God was working in his life long before he chose to accept Him. His most fond God story actually began when he was a child.
When I was about four years old, my father left my mother and us kids. Over the next 43 years, I became more and more painfully aware of what happened as a result. After years of failed attempts to reunite with him, I realized that it was beyond me to make it happen. So I let it rest and left it up to God. Well, in August 2007, my dad called me, out-of-the-blue, and asked if he could come to visit. A few days after he arrived, we agreed that we needed to talk. So, he met me in my office at Blue Ridge. Over the next hour and a half, we really talked about our lives for the very first time. I asked him about his spiritual journey. He told me that he knew about God, and then he started telling me things that he’d been experiencing over the past year. Almost unbelievably, my dad was sitting right in front of me describing the powerful and mysterious work of the Holy Spirit. Then, we talked about Jesus! That day, I held my dad’s hand as he prayed and became a child of God. Hallelujah!
Hallelujah…….that brings us to the next of Don’s memorable identifiers, his family:
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve answered questions like, “Hey, aren’t you the guy with seven kids?” or “Seven! Don’t you know what causes that?” To be totally honest, in the blink of time that it takes for someone to ask, I’m undone by a sudden flash of joy as I embrace and revisit the story of where we, the nine of us, have come from. I flashback to being 14 and seeing my wife for the first time. I see her and remember all the life we have been through. I see her beauty and strength in giving birth to Nicholle, Dustin, Stephanie, Dylan, Kylie, Ethan, and Lydia, and, in seeing each of their faces, I gratefully answer, “Yes I am.”
dtordoff@blue-ridge.org
434.525.7481 ext 106