Built on the rock: celebrating 25 years of ordained ministry

Rev. Robert Marshall (centre) at his installation at Faith Lutheran in Saskatoon in November 2003.

STONY PLAIN CIRCUIT, Alta. – Rev. Robert Marshall was ordained and installed at Faith Lutheran in Coronach 25 years ago on July 26, 1998. When contemplating the milestone of 25 years as an ordained minister with Lutheran Church–Canada, he said: “It is only by the grace of God that I am who I am today, as a forgiven child of God and servant for Jesus’ sake.”  

As a child, Rev. Marshall did not have the goal or desire to serve God or other people; he was challenged with a learning disability and consequently dropped out of high school halfway through grade ten. His teenage years were a tumultuous time for many reasons. “I was a lost child of the world,” he says, who lived a very hedonistic lifestyle.  

For many years he cooked professionally and eventually became an executive chef, learning many things from working with others besides the preparation and cooking of food. Soft skills like working with people, patience, service, diplomacy, leadership, managing stress, communication skills, and many others. Even though he was not yet a Christian, God protected him. 

“I share my personal background with you, not to elicit your sympathy, or because I am extremely proud of it,” Rev. Marshall says, “but because I believe God uses it to help me to connect with and to minister to Christians and non-Christians who have struggled or do struggle with the temptations of our sinful flesh. God has called and gifted me to be an empathetic and compassionate listener and uses me as He chooses, in the parish and out of the parish. God never wastes a moment in our lives.” 

“Truly I am blessed to be an under shepherd of the great Shepherd, to share in ministry that is built on the Rock of Jesus Christ and his gifts to his church.” 

At the age of 22, in 1982, Rev. Marshall was converted and baptized into the holy Christian faith—and as a new creation in Christ, he experienced new desires. At the age of 38, on July 26, 1998, Rev. Marshall was humbly called/ordained/installed into the public ministry to be Christ’s servant.  

Rev. Marshall says that “one of the strongest passionate gifts that He gave to me in my baptism is the desire to help other people come to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. He has given me a very supportive wife, who, for the last 25 plus years of ministry, has stood beside me, helping to fulfill that desire and need of mankind. In every way Sharon has been my helpmate and my soulmate and partner in ministry. Truly I am blessed to be an under shepherd of the great Shepherd, to share in ministry that is built on the Rock of Jesus Christ and his gifts to his church.” 

Rev. Marshall currently serves as pastor at Immanuel Lutheran in Tomahawk, and Emmaus Lutheran in Drayton Valley, Alberta.  

Rev. Robert Marshall 

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