John Marshall
John Marshall is just an ordinary man with extraordinary faith. Anyone who truly knows him knows that. He is the kind who loves a good challenge and is not afraid to try anything new. Perhaps these characteristics, more than anything else, prepared him most for the road life of faith.
John Lynn Marshall was born on May 10, 1933, near Grantsville in Calhoun County, West Virginia. He was the third child of Albert Morris and Bertie Elizabeth Williams Marshall. He had an older brother, William, (now deceased) and an older sister, Patricia. Later, two more brothers were added — David and Joseph.
“Johnny”, as he was later called, grew up on his family’s farm, learning how to plow, plant, chop wood, milk the cows, and gather maple syrup, along with a host of other farm-related activities. These were the Depression years, and one had to “make do” and survive with little or less.
The Marshall family attended church in the one-room school house (which, like many other school houses at the time, served a double purpose), walking the few miles to hear the circuit-riding preacher on Sundays.
Johnny loved music. When he was in sixth grade, he and his brother, Bill, and sister, Pat, sold rose bud salve to buy their very first instrument — a guitar. Then Bill bought the body of a mandolin for a quarter, built a neck for the instrument, and traded Johnny for his share of the guitar. Johnny worked at playing the mandolin, but his first love truly was and still is the guitar. When he could, he would sit outside his cousins’ house and listen to them play till late in the night.
When Johnny was fifteen, the family moved to Tunnelton in Preston County to care for Bertie’s aging father. In May of 1950, Johnny graduated from Tunnelton High. By this time his father, Morris, had been spending much time in Akron, Ohio, working to provide for the family’s income. Eventually the family moved to Akron and began attending the Akron Baptist Temple.
After working for several years (Goodyear, Inc, and the BF Goodrich Co.), John enrolled at Michigan State University (then only a college) and began to pursue his major — forestry. His one desire in life was to become a forest ranger, to live in the woods away from large cities and crowds. Nothing and no one would keep him from his goal.
No one but God.
It was in the fall of 1953 when God began to work in his heart — bringing conviction and revealing John’s need for Christ. So it was that after weeks of searching for the truth, John found himself in the office of Dr. Dallas Billington, who very clearly saw that John was under deep conviction. Dr. Billington merely had to turn him to John 3:16. The Holy Spirit did the rest. John accepted Christ’s work on the Cross. His questions were answered, his soul at peace. He was saved eternally!
It was not long after his salvation that John knew God was calling him to preach. After almost two years in the Army, where he had been the assistant to the chaplain, he moved to Springfield, Missouri, to attend the Baptist Bible College. While at college, he was highly involved in helping to start a ministry to the military on Fort Leonardwood. He also started a church in Waynesville, Missouri, and pastored there for a short time.
Upon completion of Bible college, he ended up living on Long Island, painting houses for a living and taking guitar lessons on the side. At 29, John was beginning to wonder if God did indeed have a mate for him. The answer came after a desperate prayer in the closet of an apartment he been hired to paint.
“You will meet her soon,” the Lord answered his pleas.
Sure enough, he did. A friend invited him to a Bible study where he was asked to play his guitar for background music. Seated in front of him was Leanore Schaefer. It wasn’t long before they began dating and only seven months later, they were married on November 10, 1962. Their honeymoon was spent in the very apartment where John had made his fervent prayer.
John and Lee moved to Missouri shortly after their marriage. They settled in Waynesville, where John returned to his pastorate for a time. John felt led to return to school, and he enrolled at Southwest Missouri State College, majoring in Industrial Arts and minoring in Music. They helped another church for a short while. Daughters Julia and Rebekah were born to them during their years in Missouri.
Then came a move to West Virginia in 1967. John took over a mission in Wheeling that had not yet been birthed into a church and they saw the work blessed by God. Their daughters Jennifer, Deborah, and Sharon were born during the eight years they spent in the northern panhandle of the state.
In October 1975, they moved (ironically) to Long Island where John took yet another pastorate. This was his last pastorate, and it could hardly be called pastoring, as the church was board run and the committee voted on almost every decision. The family of seven lived comfortably in the large parsonage next to the church, where the committee saw to it that the grass was mowed in the summer and the snow was shoveled off the sidewalk in the winter.
It was in 1976 when John felt the Lord leading him to a new venture. By this time the family had grown to eight with the arrival of their sixth daughter, Joanna. This venture was unlike any the family had known up to that point. God was leading them to a ministry of evangelism.
Most people thought John and Lee were crazy when they packed up their six daughters, an extra traveler, Pat Cassidy, and of all their belongings, and left the Old Church in Lynbrook, New York. Their home was now a 1948 Oneida bus and a step van. There were no fancy brochures introducing them, not many pastors who had ever heard of them, and they knew of only two meetings lined up when the bus and van pulled out. Their first stop: Vermont, the second: the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia.
Initially, they had a full-fledged show: preaching, chalk-talk, puppet shows, ventriloquism, singing, dramas, skits, and VBS programs. They came in “through the back door” of most churches and no one really thought that the family with an overabundance of girls was really quite sane. Two more daughters and two sons were added to the family.
Almost thirty years since the day he left the pastorate at the Old Church, John continues to be faith ful in service. He has never wavered in the calling of evangelism. He has stood strong for the old-time way: sound preaching from God’s Word, uncompromising Godly music, solid standards, and a concern for the needs of lost souls. Now seven of the children have married and left, going on to serve God on foreign fields or in the States. The remaining three daughters have continued to travel with their parents.
John is starting out on a new venture these days: building a log home in West Virginia, not far from where he spent part of his teenage years. For the past four years, the family has traveled part-time and stayed in West Virginia part-time to work on their house.
John has enjoyed putting time into his project. He still loves being outdoors. He spends time on video projects and crossword puzzles. But to tell you the truth, his first love continues to be music. And almost anytime of the day you can find him playing his guitar, or banjo, or mandolin — or maybe his harmonica.