COVER STORY 29 March 2022 www.goodnewsfl.org Good News • South Florida Edition To accommodate the needs of their large family, the Formans joined together two adjacent houses into one home with plenty of space to host large Bible studies and homeschool. The spacious backyard serves as a playground with a wooden swing set, basketball hoops and an old Ficus tree that provides plenty of shade for outdoor gatherings. Today their son Timothy and his wife Becky, live around the corner in the home that previously belonged to his grandfather. They are a tight knit family that lives by the motto “the more the merrier.” Over the years hundreds have attended Bible studies hosted for all ages at their home, participated in homeschool activities or social events there, and a few have even lived with the family while going through a period of transition. “Our heart is to disciple and to encourage people to grow in faith,” said Jennifer. “Homeschooling allowed us to have the freedom to pick curriculum, to make Bible time a focus for us and to give us the flexibility to travel and not be at the speed of others.” Travel and missions And they have traveled the world, learning history firsthand. Collins said it all began when his class was studying Australia at school in the 1960s. “I came home and asked my father if he’d ever seen a platypus and said I’d like to see one.” Shortly later his father announced, “We’re going to Australia to see a platypus. It was the Louise Eggleston Friendship Tour, a widow from Norfolk, VA, who believed in prayer, and the Forman family’s first of many international trips. Jennifer said Collins loves to travel. “He thinks that’s the best education and loves to take the kids and just see what God has made, whether it be safari in Africa or going to Southeast Asia. They get a lot of history, and they get to see it for what it is - to learn about the different religions and groups and talk about it.” The list of destinations they’ve visited reads like a world atlas: China, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Albania, Italy, Greece, the Czech Republic, Austria, France and Great Britain. They’ve also done domestic travel. When the kids were little, they took two Lewis and Clark trips in an RV, and traveled to historical destinations in the northeast, such as Maine, NewYork, NewHampshire, Boston and Plymouth Rock, often venturing off for four to six weeks at a time. They mix in mission work along their travels whenever they can. While in Albania, for example, they told Bible stories to children at a Gypsy gathering there, hosted by a local church. A connection in Athens resulted in them helping a Salvation Army church distribute clothing to Muslim refugees from Syria. They presented Bible stories and prayer for refugee school children in Thailand and were invited by the pastor to distribute Operation Christmas Child boxes to the children. “It was really special for them to be a part of that because we had been making boxes for years!” Jennifer added. The Forman children have also served on short-term mission trips with an organization called Global Encounters. Tim andAmanda went to Romania when they were 15 and 17. Some of the siblings have also served inArgentina, Peru, Myanmar, Ecuador and Guatemala, and as a family in Jamaica. “They’ve all led teams or been on teams since they were in their teens. It was a three-week commitment, and it was one that our family committed to because when they went to Ecuador, the team actually met and slept here at our home before we drove them to Miami and sent them off to Ecuador. We’re still involved and still support them,” said Jennifer. This summer some of the family plans to visit Oberammergau, Germany to experience the Oberammergau Passion Play, whose roots date back to 1633 when the Oberammergau villagers promised to perform the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ every tenth year, if their people were spared from the bubonic plague. The legacy continues As the children have grown and begun families of their own, they’ve each continued the Forman legacy of faith and service in their own ways. Timothy is a professional artist specializing in spectacular oil paintings of Florida landscapes and attends and teaches at the family Bible study with his wife Becky. His most cherished family traditions are “family Bible-time, traveling the world together and weekly breakfasts withmy dad. I also have some fondmemories of being with all my family in Africa at the age of ten.” A former Lifework Leadership Program Director, Amanda Forman, earned an MBA from Saïd Business School, at Oxford University and is currently working in London as Lead Business Designer at Zone, a subsidiary of Cognizant. Amanda attends Holy Trinity Brompton, the church that originally developed the Alpha course, an evangelism program now run in 169 countries. Amanda said, “Overall - I really appreciate how our family has invested in people. Examples that come to mind are the work my grandfather did to de-segregate the hospitals, helping to create an integrated and holistic healthcare service for every person in Broward County, and the hundreds of thousands of students (including myself) that have had the opportunity to better themselves through taking classes at the schools, universities and colleges located on the site of the old family dairy. I also think of the countless people - of all types - that my parents have welcomed into their home throughout my life. They are truly the most hospitable people I know!” After earning his medical degree from FloridaAtlantic University, Nathaniel Forman is working on his fellowship in Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. He and his wife Robin have a 2-year-old son, Hamilton, and are active at Cross City Church in Columbus, hosting Bible studies in their home and serving in The Village, a ministry that cares for children and families in crisis. Their second child, a girl, is due in March 2022. John Forman is Senior Director of Acquisitions with Bridge Industrial. He and his wife Sarah have a son, Ezekiel (Zeke) and attend The Exchange Church in Deerfield Beach. Taking an active role in Christian ministry, Alyssa Forman now serves as Director of Marketing andCommunications at First Priority South Florida and previouslyworked as an intern for the National Christian Foundation. She serves alongside her father on theworship teamat First Christian Church Fort Lauderdale. Exploring her Chinese heritage from her grandmother, Alyssa is also studying Mandarin and recently initiated a Chinese NewYear celebration for the family. Alyssa said, “I’m proud to be a Forman because of the legacy of integrity my grandparents and great grandparents created. As shrewd as he was, he was respected by all because of his heart of integrity and the conviction to do what was right… Every Saturday morning, my grandfather would walk to our house, and we would make homemade apple pancakes! We still make them together when everyone is in town.” She emphasized that quality time is a “big thing” in their home. “My dad, specifically, would work all day and so his way of spending intentional time was to take each of us out for a one-on-one breakfast (sometimes at 5 or 6 a.m.) before he went to work. On our way, he would ask three questions: Is there anything I’ve promised you that I haven’t done? Is there anything I can start doing or stop doing to be a better dad? Is there anything you’d like to see us do more of as a family? These three questions gave us as kids an opportunity to voice anything we needed to, even if it was just “I think we should go see a movie together as a family.” The youngest, Daniel Forman is an industrial sales associate with Berger Commercial Realty. Thankful for the Forman men and women who paved the way for him, Daniel said, “My family's success is not only because they were smart business owners, but because they were good people who loved God and treated others with fairness and kindness. Now working in the same industry as most of my family before me, I see and hear howmuch respect and admiration people have for them and I'm proud to be a part of that.” thy Forman, Becky Forman, Amanda Forman, Alyssa Forman, Daniel n www.justusmartinphoto.com Forman Sanitary Dairy milk ad from 1938.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjE2MjU=