New Orleans Church’s Flavor: Blend Music, Laughter, and Literacy

It is a joy to write about the church and how it is God’s unique expression of grace through the appointed founder or leader. Some are as unique as a fingerprint. Forword Christian Church in New Orleans is exactly that expression.

If you visit, for example, you could run into Rev. Rufus with the Golden Toofus, the bug-eyed, wild-haired alter ego of Rev. Larry Rodgers, Forword’s founder and senior pastor.

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Rodgers grew up in a traditional church where “there were many legalistic rules and lots of traditions sprinkled with a little Bible,” he says. “That can be very dangerous.”

So when he decided to begin his own church, Rodgers didn’t want his congregation to be hidebound by long lists of dos and don’ts. Which is where Rev. Rufus comes in — a street preacher who lightens things up with Bible-based jokes and malaprops. It’s a refreshing break for a church that helps its parishioners deal with heavy issues, including homelessness. 

Make no mistake, though: when it comes to the Gospel, Rodgers is all business. 

Not Just Performance Ministry

“We want people to understand that we stand for holiness and don’t waver when it comes to what the Lord says,” he says. “But we also want them to know the love of God is really in this place and is here for them. Along with traditional praise and worship, there are sometimes Christian candid conversations where people can share their problems and challenges and ask questions pertaining to their faith.”

At the same time, “I want to tap into people’s gifts and strengths,” he says. “Everybody has a gift. That may not be singing, may not be rapping, may not be dancing or writing, but it’s something.”

Though he was called to ministry and founded a thriving church, Rodgers found his gift — writing music — as a child.  Back then, his dreams looked like Grammy Awards and number-one hits.

“I’d been writing songs since I was 12 years old,” Rodgers says. “I started in the music industry professionally and toured with one of the biggest rappers in the industry at the time, a gentleman known by the name of MC Hammer. I’m a native of St. Louis, so I started with him in 1990 and toured all around the world with him, but as a hype man, a dancer, and a recording artist.”

But God had other ideas for him.

Forword Publishing

“When God came into my life in 1995 and changed my whole life, I walked away from the secular and all the big time,” Rodgers says. “I had been out there with Diddy, Jodeci, Boyz II Men, TLC, En Vogue. But I walked away. And I sat for a while to study the word of God.”

By 1999, “I put out my first gospel album, but God was still reminding me of the book,” he says. “I haven’t published it yet, and I know I’m in trouble with the Lord, but he’s showing me some mercy.”

Though he’s got a lot on his plate — music, his ministry, writing — Rodgers has a tendency to put his projects aside to help others with theirs. That instinct led indirectly to Forword Publishing, an independent book publishing company that’s among Rodgers’ latest endeavors..

”We published our first book right after the pandemic, in 2022: ‘The Family That Prays Together, Succeeds Together,’” Rodgers says “It’s a 200-page prayer journal, because we wanted to inspire people to write as well, because that’s what God told me.”

“I started Forword Publishing to be a conduit and a blessing to others” waiting for the opportunity,  he said. “We are the most economically friendly boutique publishing company around. I’ve heard people say they spent upwards of $30,000 and are still disappointed with the end product. I had to talk one gentleman off the ledge because of his experience. They put him through the wringer, charged him for myriad packages, and still have not published his book.”

The “we” includes his wife and son. 

“Everybody in our house writes,” he says. “It’s a family affair. I’ve been married almost 26 years,” he says. “We met on the campus of UC Berkeley in Northern California. I was taking classes. She was a full-time student. I was a struggling entertainer trying to make it in the music industry.”

He said their son, now 15, wrote his first book when he was 7.

Forword to Literacy

After years of dodging his call to ministry, Rodgers started Forword Christian Church, with its own unique mode of worship. He began with Church in the Park in California. Then back home to Missouri, where he feels more like an evangelist and is not caught up in any form of traditional ministry. This is where he shares ministry with Rev. Rufus. 

And Rodgers uses his publishing company to minister to young people — putting their photos on the cover of the magazine they publish, covering events like a fashion or talent show — and to strengthen children’s literacy.

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”The kids come together, and we let them write their stories and then we compile them into an anthology,” he says. “That’s what we’re doing right now. You’ve just got to stay with them, whether it’s gaming or being on social media.”

He talks about the magazine as if it were his child.

“That’s my heart,” he says. “That’s the heart. It’s about instilling what I need to instill in the youth so they can have the mindset of ownership and entrepreneurship.”