Q & A: California ordained minister Tinequa Bedford defies arguably the toughest of odds, starts a flourishing ministry
Andre Johnson 
Within minutes of conversing with Tinequa Bedford, it wouldn’t take very long to realize that given that about which she had to overcome, she is a woman after God’s own heart.
Truth be told, the mere fact that Bedford is alive today is because, well…on second thought, perhaps she could pretty much tell it herself.
“God saved me so that I could save somebody,” Bedford, 45, customarily says virtually every time she finds her sharing her assortment of life-changing testimonies.
Which, much to her delight, essentially sums up why this Lancaster, California-based ordained minister and native of Tulsa, Oklahoma deemed it necessary to share of story once again.
Only this time, she spoke exclusively with Making Headline News.
That said, we bring to you an extensive Question and Answer segment featuring Tinequa Bedford.
MHL: Describe your upbringing in the church:
TINEQUA: My upbringing in the church was a traditional one. I was raised in the Baptist Church. Every Sunday we went to church. From singing in the choir, serving on the usher board, and how can I forget standing up on Easter Sunday in front of the entire congregation saying my speech. You name it. I did it.
MHL: What are amongst key, life-enhancing values you were taught as a Christian child?
TINEQUA: Among the many key values of that my mother taught we…what I remember the most was never give up and always strive to achieve your goals no matter comes your way. The situation that you’re going through will make you stronger as you strive to achieve each goal without feeling sorry for yourself. Most importantly, my mom taught me that life doesn’t stop to wait for us. We must keep moving forward with time or get left behind. My biological father was never in my life and that is why I had so many downfalls when it came to men. I wish that I had more to say when it comes to my biological father but, in reality, I know nothing about him, and he knows nothing about the woman of God I am today. But God! (My Father above)
MHL: So it seems that, obviously, drawing to closer to God has been a primary focus all along for you. Would that be a fair assessment to make?
TINEQUA: He picked me up, turned my life around, and placed my feet on solid ground. Now, He taught me that I was more than a conqueror…that I can do all things through Him, that all I had to do was continue to seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and everything else would be added. My Father taught me to love people in spite of their faults and see the need because we all need to be loved. My father showed me one of the greatest key values that anybody can ever be showed is that when you truly know selfless love, you shall gain His unmerited favor.
MHL: Any pastors or ministers in your family?
TINEQUA: Yes, my uncle, Pastor Fred Abraham Jr., is the pastor of New Paradise Baptist Church in Pearblossom, California. We were ordained and licensed by the same pastor, my spiritual father, the late Dr. John Lee Lett, Sr.
MHL: What is so special about the support you’ve acquired as a young minister of the gospel?
TINEQUA: The support that I’ve received from my family is outstanding. My husband, the man that God sent me, Deacon Alvin Bedford, always has my best interest at heart. He only desires what’s best for me. He knows my journey has been hard to get to where I am today. So, at times, he’s a bit overprotective, but he’s still the man that I love, adore and I appreciate all of his support that he gives me no matter what. Outside of God, he’s my best friend. My kids have been a tremendous support to me through this journey. My oldest son, Dariante Smith, calls me the virtuous woman. I love them dearly for the support that they have offered me as I travel this tedious journey, fulfilling God’s purpose over my life. Dariante, Angel, and Isaiah are what make me stronger in my walk…they give me purpose and inspire me to never to give up.”
MHL: So it seems that your uncle, this mighty man of valor, saw flashes of your spiritual greatness long before God strategically handpicked you for His glory. You agree?
TINEQUA: Yes! My uncle, Pastor Fred Abraham Jr., is truly a man of God, and when he has to be away from God’s pulpit, he calls upon me to stand in his gap. What an honor, because he is dedicated to what God has trusted him with and he loves his membership. He believes in me. We all come from a background of loving the Lord, and they only want what the Lord desires for my life. My family continues to push and support me into my destiny in life, and every day, they are amazed at the woman of God that I have become.
MHL: Tell us more about your beloved mother and how she has gone about paving the way for you for a time such as now.
TINEQUA: My mother, Alexa Brown…well, she’s one of my biggest supporters. When I come to her for advice, she always tells me to do what’s right in my heart and let the Lord lead me. She comforts me when she sees the burdens that I carry, trying to teach God’s people how to live righteously, leading them to Christ. She sees every day the disappointments I face when I feel Gods people have fallen astray and she says, “I’m sorry you have to go through that.” But I always tell her, “To whom much is given, much is required.” Along with the host of aunts, nieces, nephews, cousins, etc., they have my back, and truth be told, I have theirs as well.
MHL: When you take inventory of your life, what is it that you see?
TINEQUA: When I look back over my life, I saw God positioning me for His ministry when he sent Three Angels to speak to me…literally! I was about 29 years old. First positioning: God sent an angel unto me. She came to me in a store and said God had a plan for my life and that in me was greatness. But I didn’t understand it then. She walked away and I went back to look for her, but she was gone. Second positioning: I was driving down Ventura Boulevard when a man jumped in my car. How did he know that my doors were unlocked? He began to speak to me. He said, “Drive me down the street to the next block and let me out.” I drove and his words were so profound. He said, “You’re a special and unique individual. You have good in your heart, now let me out here.” He got out! Third positioning: I had just came out of 10 years of domestic violence abuse in my first marriage and I was coming home from the hospital, riding in the car with my mother. And then the third angel was sent to me through a phone call. A very good friend of mine named Kekee Parker was caring for my children while I was at the hospital being looked at, because I had been abused and tortured all night. She called my phone and she said, “I have a woman who is asking to speak to you.” The woman had walked up to her in the store and described my situation to her, insisting on speak with me. So I spoke with the woman and tears begin to fall down my eyes. The woman had begun to speak, saying “God told me to tell you that it was over and that no more abuse was going to come upon you.” The woman started describing how she had been in an abusive relationship and almost got hit with a bullet but the bullet missed her by an inch.
MHL: My God! So now what?
TINEQUA: As I rewind those moments and begin to play them in my head is when it all seemed clear. God works in mysterious ways, and we don’t always understand His plan until it is revealed right before our very eyes. I began to question the No. 3 (angel) and the significance of it. I began to ask the Holy Spirit to show the revelation to me and it came. Christ rose on the third day with all power in His hands, and I do declare after the third positioning encounter, I rose with all power in my hands. I was never the same again. Glory to God!
MHL: When did you officially accept your calling to spread the gospel?
TINEQUA: I fully accepted my calling June 7, 2015. I was licensed as a minister of the Gospel. One year and five days later, I was elevated in my calling and received my evangelism license. Even at that time, I was still running from my calling to serve God. I knew that this was something that was not to be played with that I couldn’t just give God my sloppy seconds. I was either going to be hot or cold and not lukewarm. So, my spiritual father, Dr. John L. Lett, Sr., felt that it was time to accept my calling from God. He saw me through so many difficult times in my life and even at my lowest point he was there to help me find my way. He saw something in me that I didn’t even see him myself at the time and he never gave up or stop believing in me. I love and miss him dearly!
MHL: Tell us a memorable testimony.
TINEQUA: This is my testimony. I’m married at the age of 29. I had a desire to be a wife, a mother, and raise my family in a two-parent household. So with having one young son who was nine years old and being pregnant with my second daughter whose father had abandoned us, I met my first husband. He seemed like he was a great guy and that I could trust him. Keep in mind I never really had my father in my life. I had been abused by multiple men in my lifetime as a young girl, and even when I did get the one opportunity at meeting my own biological father, he molested me as a young girl. I was just someone who wanted to be to be loved, but had no idea what real love was. To me, abuse was named love. So I got married to whom I thought was my knight in shining armor, and he really turned out to be my worst nightmare. Within six months to a year after being married, that’s when the abuse began. Night after night, being tortured, raped, and abused. There were so many nights I just knew I was going to die. Secrets of his drug addiction unfolded. I’ll never forget one night, he woke me up in the middle of the night while the kids were asleep, he said, “You wanted to know if I have a drug addiction” because I kept asking him. The red flag was there and I so desperately ignored it. So at knife point, he made me watch him smoke drugs all night while he raped me…afraid to leave, 10 years back and forth of torment, because I didn’t know how to walk away and stay gone. Now keep in mind, all I knew was love’s name was abuse, so I would leave and go back. I would leave and go back, because he said, “Oh I’m going to change,” and I really thought he would. I even dealt with him having an affair. So after two and a half years, I finally got the courage to walk away and filed for a divorce. So my mother and I hired someone to file my divorce out of the Penny Saver. Lord and behold, to my surprise, just when I thought it was over, I found out that I was still legally married to him. You see…the person that I hired to do my divorce took my money and ran off and never completed the paperwork. My spiritual father, Dr. John L. Lett, Sr. was the one who married us. So, I got a call from my spiritual father saying that he had been contacted by my husband at the time, to tell him that he looked into us being divorced because he had not been served any paperwork. Come to find out, we were still legally married. Ok, just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse…well, by this time, I’ve already had my third child, Isaiah, and I’ve had this child out of wedlock. Now, at this time, I had just found out that Isaiah’s father was living a double life and he had a family that I had no idea about. Let me tell you he had hidden it really good, or maybe he hadn’t really hidden it and I just didn’t pay attention to it. You know how the red flags are there and we don’t pay attention to the red flags because we’re so desperate to find love, or at least I was? So I felt like, “Why not go back and try this marriage thing again because it’s been some time since we’ve been away from each other maybe he really has changed?” After a couple of months, he was right back to the same abuse. I finally decided that we would move back into the same home together, night after night, I was once again a victim of the same cycle.
MHL: OMG! So when this tumultuous cycle end?
TINEQUA: It finally comes to an end when, one night, he tortured me, then he got a knife and he told me that if I didn’t cooperate that he was going to kill me. So, all night, I prayed and I prayed and I prayed while being tortured. So the next morning I told my kids they’re not going to school and that we’re going to act as if everything is okay and wait for him to go to sleep. So, after he went to sleep I turned on the vacuum so he couldn’t hear us. I frantically grabbed my children and we got the hell out that house. I finally felt safe, but after a few months he found me again. He was a truck driver at that time, so after he found me he put me on his truck and he tortured me once again all night by gunpoint. I remember telling him that he had a demon inside of him and for that, I paid a heavy price. And then he shoved a bottle up my butt all night. Once again I prayed and prayed and I prayed and I said, “Lord if you deliver me, I will serve You all the days that I live and I will never look back.”
MHL: So then what happened?
TINEQUA: And then an angel appeared before me like Peter when he was released from prison, and here I am, standing faithfully like Job.
MHL: How did those dramatic sequence of events change your life?
TINEQUA: The testimony changed my life, because I could be dead and sleeping in my grave, but God saw differently. It made me realize that perhaps it was such a time as this that God has a greater purpose for my life. That I am here to help women and even a man that could be being abused, battered, and broken down, and to help them understand that they are worth more than they know. It helped me realize the strength that is inside of me, and if God delivered me, He can do the same thing for you. It made me appreciate life for what it really was, and that no material possessions or man could ever replace the goodness of my God. The most important thing is to always remember God kept me and to serve Him all the days that I live.
MHL: Tell us about your ministry.
TINEQUA: The name of my current Ministry is called Damaged Goods Organization. It is an organization that will reach abused and battered families and to help them rebuild their lives. Why? Because someone who was once healthy and/or normal, but isn’t anymore due to unfortunate, traumatic events in his/her life (i.e. physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, drug abuse…You get it). Who better to help them when you have been there? My planned itinerary is to not just transform lives through my testimony, but to travel, teach, preach God’s word and to lead people to Christ…to inspire and motivate God’s people while becoming one of the greatest, profound speakers and ministry leader that God has called me to be. I was called to build God’s kingdom!
MHL: Is there anything else you’d like to share with our reading audience?
TINEQUA: If I could add anything, I would say as Job said: “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I leave.” There’s a peace that passes all understanding that this world can’t give you, so never give up on God. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord!
Well there you have it, folks.
Within minutes of conversing with Tinequa Bedford, it wouldn’t take very long to realize that given that about which she had to overcome, she is a woman after God’s own heart.
Now we know why.
MAKING HEADLINE NEWS SALUTES TINEQUA BEDFORD:
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Andre Johnson is Founder and Publisher for Making Headline News. A 2000 graduate of the University of Memphis School of Journalism and a former reporter of sports for the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper, Johnson covers the NBA Southwest Division from Dallas, Texas. To reach Johnson, send email to andre@makingheadlinenews.com or to memphisgraduate@yahoo.com. Also, follow him on Twitter @AJ_Journalist.
