Celebrating a 37-year calling

By JANET HART LEONARD
For The Reporter

What if God calls you to a place you never imagined living and doing something you never imagined doing, yet so perfect you never wanted to leave … for 37 years?

Have you ever known a minister and wife who have pastored the same church for 37 years?

Meet my friends, Andrew and Georgia Marshall. They have served as pastors at Victory Chapel Community Church on 216th Street in Noblesville for all that time.

On May 25, Pastor Andrew will give his final sermon from the pulpit at the small country church.

Andrew was an MK – a missionary kid. His family would spend many years in Argentina. He met Georgia at Grace College in Winona Lake, Ind. On their third date, while walking in the rain to a movie, they both realized they had found the one with whom they would spend a lifetime, loving the Lord and each other. They married on July 25, 1981.

Andrew graduated from Grace College in Winona Lake, and he and Georgia moved to Wisconsin to serve at a church camp while he was getting a Master’s degree in Christian Camping. It was not a 9-to-5 job – it was 24/7. Their next endeavor was in Markle, Ind., where Andrew was a youth pastor.

Andrew had never planned to pastor a church, but God would show him and Georgia that His plans were better.

In the fall of 1987, Georgia typed Andrew’s resume to send to Victory Chapel Church. It was the only resume she sent to a church where he would interview as the lead pastor.

He was asked to give a sermon. He only had one sermon prepared, so when they asked him to come back the next week and give another one, he was a bit concerned. One of the ladies who would help decide if they were to hire him sat in the back row and could not hear him. He would have to prepare another sermon and speak louder.

A vote of affirmation was taken that day, and Andrew and Georgia moved into the parsonage on 216th Street. There, they raised seven children and pastored three generations of those who called Victory Chapel their church.

That one sermon Andrew gave for his interview turned into thousands.

It was at their kitchen table that Andrew and Georgia told me their story. I had been friends with Georgia for over 12 years and asked my publisher, Stu Clampitt, if I could write a feature story about them. It’s rare for a pastor to stay at a church for more than a few years, and I knew they had quite the story, and I wanted to tell it.

With seven children and 37 years at Victory Chapel, they have enough stories for a book.

As I sat at their table and watched their glances back and forth to each other, there was one thing I knew … they were right about their thinking on their third date. They would spend a lifetime loving God and each other. God had planted their ministry and their love there at Victory Chapel.

Both Andrew and Georgia kept talking about how the church loved them well. That goes both ways. Their faces lit up as they spoke of the people of Victory Chapel.

One of the stories they told me was that at their first sermon interview, Andrew asked Georgia to sing a solo while he played the piano. When he got to the chorus, he played something different than what she was singing. They started over. He did it again. The congregation saw how this husband-and-wife duo handled an uncomfortable moment. They saw the “real” Andrew and Georgia and fell in love with them.

The conversation then led to everyone still seeking a place where they will be loved and embraced into a community. Victory Chapel has been doing just that. Today, when families are scattered, the church family is needed to nurture and embrace them.

Longevity and record-breaking attendance run in the pews at Victory Chapel. Iris Beechler, Larry and Sharon Freeman, Shannon and Valerie Carson, Dean and Mary Bardonner, Toni Boone, and Terry Dunn have attended Victory Chapel all the time Andrew and Georgia have pastored.

If you know Andrew and Georgia and want to celebrate their ministry, you are invited to Victory Chapel, 13350 E. 216th St., Noblesville, on May 18 at 10:30 a.m. There will be a church dinner afterwards. You know, church ladies can cook!

While Andrew will preach his final sermon from the pulpit at Victory Chapel on the 25th, it will not be his last act of ministry. He is already encouraging his Edgewood neighbors. He surprised eight of them with one of his famous homemade pies.

I think Victory Chapel got a two-for-one for 37 years. Congratulations, Andrew and Georgia. It’s time to enjoy a new chapter. I know God is writing a wonderful one for you.