Marjorie was born in Detroit, Michigan, but moved with her family to Port Elizabeth, South Africa when she was nine years old. She lived across the street from the Indian Ocean for twelve years, graduating from high school and attending college in South Africa. Eventually, she returned to the States to complete her undergraduate studies at Michigan State University, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Humanities and French, with a minor in African Studies. A few years later, she added a Master’s degree in French and lived for two years in France—one as a student in Brittany, and the second as a teacher of English in Lille on the Belgian border.
The Call to Ministry
In the midst of a developing career in the automotive industry, Marjorie heard a clear and unexpected call to pastoral ministry. She earned her Master’s of Divinity from McCormick Theological Seminary while continuing to work full-time, commuting weekly to Chicago to attend classes. She was a pastoral intern at White Lake Presbyterian Church for a year, and completed a year of Clinical Pastoral Education at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. She was ordained to ministry as Associate Pastor to Orchard Lake Community Church in 2005. There she developed her gifts as preacher, teacher, and leader able to discern and call forth the gifts of others to join in Christ’s service.
Theological Perspective
Marjorie’s enthusiasm about ministry comes from a strong sense of the movement of the Holy Spirit at work in the world today, always calling us into transformation and growth.She sees this as a vital time for the Church to live into its identity as the Body of Christ: at work in the world to offer community and hospitality in the face of isolation; reconciliation and love instead of division; sanctuary and care to counter fear and pain; worship, study and service that aligns us into right relationship with God and others.
FromMarjorie’s Statement of Faith “...I believe that it is only in living with knowledge of whose we are, that we are set free to know who we are: to live into the abundant life to which Christ calls us—blessed in order to be a blessing—empowered by the Love of Christ at work in our hearts to strive for the fulfillment of the reign of God here on Earth in the transformation of ourselves, in our communities and in our world.Amen.”
