On May 19, members of the Church of the Nazarene, on the corner of 8th and Bodine, are holding a birthday party. The party will include lunch, singing “Happy Birthday” and cake.
“We’re inviting everyone in town, and feeding everyone who shows up,” said Pastor Marshall Triser.
Marshall was called to Clinton, where the Church of the Nazarene was down to five members and in danger of closing. On Jan. 28, he was installed as the pastor, succeeding Thomas Waller, who retired. The congregation is now up to 20 members, and Marshall can’t say enough about how wonderful the church family is.
“We want people to experience the love of God,” he said of attending the party. “The big goal is for people to know they are welcome and to see the church family I’ve found here.”
The May 19 party is a celebration of the birthday of the larger family of Christians, marking the day the Holy Spirit descended on a gathering of the early followers of Jesus. On that day the apostles started speaking in tongues, sharing the good news in languages understandable to all. The day is called Pentecost, because the apostles were gathered to celebrate the Feast of Weeks, and is 50 days after Easter.
Marshall has an affinity for languages. He studied Hebrew and Greek in seminary, earning an “M-Div”, (master of divinity) degree in pastoral ministry, with an emphasis in biblical languages. He loves theology and history, and teaches Greek and theology via Zoom at the Awakening School of Ministry as part of the Texas school’s ordination team.
To improve his language skills, Marshall starts each day reading a verse from Corinthians in Greek, he said, then translating it into English, followed by a prayer time and reading scriptures.
Marshall had always been aware of God speaking to him, but didn’t always listen. The grandson of a Church of God minister, Marshall was six years old and sitting at the dinner table when he accepted Jesus Christ into his life. Both he and his mother, who was doing the dishes, felt the presence of Jesus in the room, he said. The family lived on a soybean farm in Louisiana until Marshall was 6, then moved to Natchez, Mississippi, where he remembers riding his bicycle on the nearby Natchez Trace before it was developed into a parkway.
When Marshall was 15 or 16, he was attending a Baptist convention on the Gulf Coast when God called him to the ministry.
Knowing of the call, his minister put Marshall in the pulpit a few times to preach, he said, but it wasn’t a success. Marshall’s thoughts: “I’m bad at this, and the call must have been a mistake.”
A fan of LSU baseball and football, Marshall started college there, and thinking he wasn’t cut out to be a preacher, bargained with God.
“I told God that I would be an excellent lay person, become a doctor and a strong supporter of the church,” Marshall said. “I wasn’t living in His will, but living in my will.”
Knowing that he wasn’t what God wanted him to be, Marshall made a course correction in his life. He has been a pastor for 20 years, and has served in five other churches, including seven years in Gloucester, Mississippi, and in Ocean Springs.
He didn’t know much about the Nazarene Church, but learned that is part of the Wesleyan-Arminian theology, Marshall said, which includes Methodist and Assembly of God churches.
“Nazarenes are the spiritual great-grandchildren of John Wesley,” Marshall said.
It was on an impulse, he said, that he attended a General Assembly of the Nazarene Church in Indianapolis, where a door literally opened for Marshall to come to Clinton
“I was walking in a door and the district superintendent for this area was walking out of the door,” Marshall said. “A friend introduced us.”
The D.S. offered him several churches, but Marshall knew which one he was supposed to accept.
“God would not let me get away from Clinton,” Marshall said.
Marshall has been corresponding with a former member about its history about the history of the church, which shares a corner with Henry Elementary and was probably built before it. He does know the church was started in 1945, so next year there will be an 80th anniversary party. The sanctuary was added about 40 years ago, Marshall said, but you can tell from the way the lights down the sides of the wall of a side room lead to the east wall that it was used for services.
The current sanctuary has arched windows with stained-glass panels suspended over them, with a video screen in front displaying the words of the hymns. Marshall starts the Sunday morning service with an informal time of sharing at 10:30 a.m., followed by the service around 11 a.m. He’s preaching on the book of Jonah.
“Nowhere in the book, with the exception of maybe once, does Jonah ever listen to God and follow what God tells him,” Marshall said.
Since moving to Clinton three months ago, Marshall has dealt with flu and the death of his grandmother. He and his family, who live in a parsonage near the church, are still settling into life in Clinton. Marshall and his spouse, Ashton, who is from Georgia, were married on St. Simon’s Island by Marshall’s grandfather in 2010. They have three children, ages 6, 4 and 1. Ashton has a degree in mission work from Asbury University, and has gotten connected to the home-school community and MOPS.
Marshall said he is interested in getting connected to the service community — police officers, fire fighters, ex-military, teachers and other ministers in Clinton. He’s also worked in prison ministry, and is interested in working with the local Celebrate Recovery group.
Marshall shared his path to the ministry at a career day at Lakeland Schools. Being a pastor is a 24/7 job, he said, living life alongside people he meets.
“I see behind the curtain of people’s lives,” he said, “so that I can participate in what Jesus wants to do in their lives.”
The Clinton Church of the Nazarene family is also participating in the Door of Hope’s “baby bottle” drive to provide financial support for the crisis pregnancy center, starting on Mother’s Day and continuing through Father’s Day.
For information about services and celebrations, go to the Clinton Church of the Nazarene Facebook page or call Marshall at 228-327-6209.
