Our Pastor.
Rev. Prentice D. Marsh
The Reverend Prentice D. Marsh, a third generation Lutheran, was born to the late Reverend and Mrs. Neice Marsh on August 11, 1953 in Detroit, Michigan. It was in Detroit, where Prentice received his elementary and secondary education from the Detroit public school system. Prior to his graduation, he moved to Selma, Alabama where he attended Alabama Lutheran Academy and Junior College which has been changed to Concordia Lutheran of Selma, Alabama. Prentice went on to complete his college education at Alabama State University, in Montgomery, Alabama, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education. His seminary training was received at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
During his last year of Seminary, Prentice met and married Yolanda Valerie Frazier of Chicago, IL who at that time was a secretary and student in the Interpreter Training Program at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. Prentice and Yolanda were married June 7, 1980 at Resurrection Lutheran Church in Chicago. Prentice was ordained as a minister on November 22, 1981 at Hope Lutheran Church in Aurora, IL. While serving the Florida, Georgia district in Deaf ministrie out of Atlanta, GA , Yolanda gave birth to their first and only son Prentice D. Marsh II. Prentice later accepted a call to Ephphatha Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Deaf in Chicago, IL on September 16, 1984. While in Chicago, Yolanda gave birth to their only daughter Elizabeth Marie.
Reverend Marsh and family are still in Chicago at Ephphatha where he has served on the Board of Directors for the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities, chairperson of 1994 Central Regional Conference, Board of Directors for Silent Word, and President of the Association for Lutherans Branch 0325 in Chicago. Prentice has taught sign language at Concordia College in River Forest, Ephphatha, and has given workshops on Deafness for the Chicago area and Black Lutheran Convocations. Reverend Marsh with the Lord's help has continuously worked diligently on the spiritual well-being Ephphatha and the deaf community.
During his last year of Seminary, Prentice met and married Yolanda Valerie Frazier of Chicago, IL who at that time was a secretary and student in the Interpreter Training Program at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. Prentice and Yolanda were married June 7, 1980 at Resurrection Lutheran Church in Chicago. Prentice was ordained as a minister on November 22, 1981 at Hope Lutheran Church in Aurora, IL. While serving the Florida, Georgia district in Deaf ministrie out of Atlanta, GA , Yolanda gave birth to their first and only son Prentice D. Marsh II. Prentice later accepted a call to Ephphatha Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Deaf in Chicago, IL on September 16, 1984. While in Chicago, Yolanda gave birth to their only daughter Elizabeth Marie.
Reverend Marsh and family are still in Chicago at Ephphatha where he has served on the Board of Directors for the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities, chairperson of 1994 Central Regional Conference, Board of Directors for Silent Word, and President of the Association for Lutherans Branch 0325 in Chicago. Prentice has taught sign language at Concordia College in River Forest, Ephphatha, and has given workshops on Deafness for the Chicago area and Black Lutheran Convocations. Reverend Marsh with the Lord's help has continuously worked diligently on the spiritual well-being Ephphatha and the deaf community.