The Rev. Kenneth E. Marcus, senior pastor of Turner Chapel AME Church, had a head for numbers and was also a talented singer, musician and athlete in his native Trinidad.
His greatest gift, however, was sharing his love of God.
“Faith was very important to him,” said his boyhood friend, the Rev. Keith Donaldson D. Lawrence, pastor of Global Empowerment Ministries in Stone Mountain.
Growing up in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Trinidad, “we were steeped in the faith. We knew God played a major role in our lives. The core of our existence was the notion that God is the sustainer and keeper of us all.”
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Marcus, senior pastor of the Marietta Church, one of the oldest churches in the city, died Jan. 12 after an illness. He was 63.
He was one of the most influential AME pastors in metro Atlanta.
A service of praise and thanksgiving will be held at 5 p.m. Sunday at the church, 492 North Marietta Parkway. The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday.
Marcus became pastor of Turner Chapel on June 12, 1988. Under his leadership, the church expanded its membership and physical footprint. The church grew from a few hundred members to more than 4,000.
Marcus believed that God had given him a vision that showed how the congregation could grow - both in size and spirit, said his wife of 37 years, the Rev. Cassandra Y. Marcus, who also serves as co-pastor of the church.
He wasn’t nervous to take the helm of the Marietta church. “He was not a nervous person when it came to the ministry,” she said. “He was confident in what God had called him to do. His approach was to share the vision that God had given him and to help prepare the people for what growth was going to look like.”
Kenneth Marcus, one of five children, was always interested in helping youth. As a young man in Trinidad, Marcus formed a choir called the JCs. He played lead guitar and was also a singer, recalled Lawrence.
His sister, Lydia Davis, who lives in the U.S. Virgin Islands, became one of the JCs’ biggest fans.
“They were good,” she said. “They did an album called “Joyful Noise.” He was just an excellent singer. He was very humble, but he excelled in just about everything he did. He was a brother that I could always look up to as a good example.”
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Take preaching, for instance.
She said when she heard her brother preach, she “could almost feel the presence of God. It stirred up in you. You knew he had a connection to God.”
Marcus received the call to preach as an undergraduate student at Morris Brown College, where he would later serve on the board.
Lawrence remembers talking with Marcus about that moment.
His friend’s plan, he said, was to pursue a higher education in the United States, then return to Trinidad to work in the oil industry.
But while at Morris Brown, “he had a very powerful encounter with the Lord,” he said. “He sensed that God was calling him to preach. He said there was a worship service or prayer meeting and he felt God’s presence. It fell so powerfully on him that he started speaking in tongues. He knew that it was not an ordinary encounter.”
In 1979, he was ordained as an itinerant elder of the AME Church.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Morris Brown; a master’s degree in business administration from Atlanta University; a master’s degree in divinity from the School of Theology at Emory University; and a doctorate degree in ministry from United Theological Seminary.
Marcus served three congregations during his pastoral ministry: the St Luke and Nimno Circuit, the Greater Smith Chapel AME Church and Turner Chapel.
His faith was so strong that when his mother died and Marcus returned to Trinidad for the funeral, he assumed the role of comforter, said Lawrence.
“He relied on his faith and on God,” Lawrence said. “Even after that experience, he said he didn’t know how he could live through another Mother’s Day. The manner in which he handled it was extraordinary. It didn’t matter how hurt or pained he was, he knew that God was going to see him through this process.”
When he wasn’t involved in church activities, Lawrence said Marcus liked to travel, play golf and listen to calypso music.
Hanley-Shelton Funeral Directors is in charge of arrangements. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Kenneth E. and Cassandra Marcus Scholarship Fund.
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