Pastor Israel Ford says his relationship with two women is rooted in scripture, but his explanation of their marriage is raising questions about faith, gender and double standards.
An Ohio pastor is defending his decision to have two wives after his congregation learned that the woman they knew as a member of his church was also married to their spiritual leader.
Israel Ford, who leads LifeWorks Church in Cleveland, recently went viral after his wife Lydia introduced another woman, Shakayla, as her husband’s second wife during a church service.
“Our prophet, he has a second wife. Y’all know her, y’all love her, y’all benefit from her ministry every week,” Lydia told congregants.
The revelation sparked considerable backlash, prompting Ford and both women to appear on “Larry Reid Live” to explain the arrangement, which they say has existed for nearly three years.
According to Ford, the relationship developed after Shakayla became close to the family while helping Lydia recover from surgery. What began as a friendship eventually evolved into romantic feelings between Ford and Shakayla, but the pastor maintains he wouldn’t move forward without his first wife’s approval.
“I would never marry her until you are okay with it because I can’t have two wives if I get a second one and the first one walk away,” Ford explained.
Lydia acknowledged that she initially opposed the idea.
“Ain’t no way. I ain’t doing that. That’s not for me,” she recalled.
She says prayer, fasting and studying scripture eventually led her to reconsider.
The family describes its arrangement as a polygynous marriage, a form of polygamy in which a man has multiple wives. Although polygyny appears in several biblical narratives, its presence in scripture has long been the subject of differing religious interpretations and does not mean the practice is universally accepted within Christianity.
Ford maintains that his decision to publicly acknowledge the relationship was motivated by his religious convictions.
“I believe that if you do something and you preach something, you should live it,” he told Reid. “I think transparency is everything.”
But Shakayla admitted she would have preferred to keep their relationship out of the spotlight.
“I would have preferred to be honest for it to be private,” she said.
While Ford and his wives describe their relationship as consensual, their explanation also raises questions about how power is distributed within the family.
The three share a home and combine their finances, but Ford acknowledged that Lydia receives greater consideration in certain decisions because of their longer relationship.
Lydia also admitted experiencing jealousy when Shakayla entered the marriage, although she said communication helped her work through those feelings.
Perhaps the most revealing moment of the interview came when Reid asked whether either woman would be allowed to pursue another husband.
Ford’s response was unequivocal.
“If they wanted, you know, another husband, then they don’t want me,” he said.
That distinction highlights a central feature of polygyny: the arrangement permits one man to have multiple wives without necessarily extending the same freedom to women.
It also raises a broader question about the difference between agreeing to an unconventional relationship and having equal authority within it.
Although consensual nonmonogamy takes many forms, Ford’s arrangement is specifically structured around one husband and two wives, with different expectations for each.
Ford’s marriage isn’t the only controversy surrounding him.
According to court records cited by Complex, the pastor was convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence in 2019 following an incident involving his then-17-year-old stepdaughter.
The teenager testified that Ford struck her with a belt, leaving bruises. Ford maintained that he was disciplining her, but his conviction was upheld on appeal in 2020.
Ford and Lydia also previously pleaded guilty to offenses connected to a separate incident involving another woman, according to the report.
There are also legal questions surrounding the marriage itself.
Ohio prohibits bigamy, although it remains unclear whether Ford’s relationship with Shakayla involves a second legally recognized marriage or a religious commitment without legal standing.
Despite the controversy, Ford remains steadfast in his explanation.
“When the Lord tells me something, I move on what he says,” he told Reid.
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