“I Will Take It in Faith”

George Rickford was studying to become an Anglican priest when he met the missionaries in 1969 and received a testimony of the restored gospel. Because of his black ancestry, however, Rickford could not be ordained to the priesthood under the policy of the Church at the time. When missionaries told him about the restriction, Rickford responded with a “tongue-lashing about discrimination” and kicked them out. “I wept like a baby after they had left,” Rickford recalled. “It hurt my pride, it was an insult, and I was just totally disappointed.”

Despite the disappointment, Rickford soon found himself sharing Joseph Smith’s story with a friend who was a priest in the Anglican Church. “As I told that story, I just came alive,” George remembered. “Something took over and I just radiated.” That night, George stopped in a park to thank God for the strong spiritual experience and felt prompted to ask about the priesthood. “O Father, what about [the restriction],” he said. “I don’t understand it and it just seems so terribly wrong.” In response, he recalled, “The word ‘faith’ was just spelled out letter by letter before my closed eyes. … Beautiful feelings just swept through me from head to toe.” These consoling words then came into his mind: “George, you don’t have to understand everything about my Gospel before you commit yourself to it. Why don’t you show your faith by accepting what you’ve heard and commit the rest into my hands?” Rickford recognized the Spirit of the Lord in that message. “I heard myself say, still with my eyes closed, ‘Yes, Lord, I will. I will take it in faith. And thank you, by the way, thank you.’”

With that answer, he was baptized “on raw faith” and participated actively in the Church. He was unable to bless the sacrament but was soon called to teach seminary. He was baptized for the dead by proxy in the temple but could not be endowed or sealed with his family.

On June 9, 1978, Rickford received a phone call. A friend read him President Spencer W. Kimball’s declaration extending the priesthood and access to temple blessings regardless of race. “The implications of what he was reading dawned on me,” Rickford said, “and I just felt goose bumps coming all over.” Rickford soon received the priesthood and was sealed to his young family in the London England Temple.