Folk Music 

Marsha was born in Pikeville, Kentucky – in the eastern Kentucky Appalachian
mountains-- as the youngest of three children. From childhood to early
adulthood, her hobbies were sports and music.
Upon graduation from high school, Marsha became a Division 1 scholarship
basketball and slow pitch softball player at Eastern Kentucky University. After a
serious back injury during her sophomore year ended her collegiate sports
career, Marsha transferred to the University of Kentucky, where she obtained her
B.A Business Education in 1985 and then followed with an MBA in 1990.
Raised in a rural Southern Baptist Church, Marsha became interested in studying
biblical scripture and theology in an effort to reconcile messages of exclusivity
and rejection that she had heard for many years as an extensively involved
member of the First Baptist Church of Pikeville. As her faith developed, she had
deep questions about how God works in the world and in the hearts and minds of
believers and seekers alike.
In August of 2006, after a 20-year career in accounting and human resources and
after the untimely and tragic death of her oldest nephew to a drug overdose,
Marsha began asking herself some existential questions about life’s purpose. It
was during this time that Marsha answered the call to ministry that she first felt
as a teenager. In Fall of 2006, she enrolled at Lexington Theological Seminary,
and in May of 2010, she graduated with an Masters of Divinity degree with honors.
Marsha’s unprecedented journey into ordained ministry was necessary because
at the time, the Kentuckiples of Christ Region would not ordain an openly gay
candidate—so Marsha was accepted into the Northern California-Nevada Region
of the Disciples of Christ and spent the summer of 2010 in San Jose, California
serving as Student Minister to both the First Congregational Church of San Jose,
California (a United Church of Christ (UCC) congregation) and United Disciples
Fellowship (a Disciples of Christ (DOC) congregation), who then co-sponsored
her ordination in June of 2010 with Woodland Christian Church (DOC) in
Lexington, Kentucky. Her mentoring pastor, Rev. Dr. Bill Kincaid gave the
message for her ordination service as Marsha credits Bill with bringing her out of
a 7-year spiritual wilderness after she had been kicked out of her childhood
church and she heard Bill speak at a local fairness ordinance debate in FAVOR of
that ordinance.
Currently, Marsha holds dual ministerial standing with both the Disciples of
Christ and the United Church of Christ. And, as a result of her complicated—and
many believed to be an unfair path to ordination, the Kentucky Region of the
Disciples of Christ has since changed their policy to now allow ordination of
openly gay candidates.

In August 2010, Marsha was called by the Kentuckiana Association of the United
Church of Christ to provide pastoral leadership for a new church start in
Lexington, Kentucky. She served as Senior Pastor until her retirement on June
13, 2021. During Marsha’s tenure as Senior Minister, the church experienced
significant growth, was instrumental in planning and coordinating regular
interfaith encounters in the city, participated in many social justice events where
Pastor Marsha was asked to be a guest speaker, and delivered over 100,000
meals to elementary students just down the street from the church. Bluegrass
UCC became known as one of the most radically welcoming and progressive faith
communities in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and was a model for new church
starts in the national United Church of Christ community.

Marsha continues to compose music, although she doesn’t actually read music
and composes and plays both piano and guitar simply by ear. She has recorded
over 20 of her original songs in Nashville, Tennessee with some incredibly
talented studio musicians, sound engineers and background vocalists.
Currently, Marsha lives in Lexington, Kentucky with her wife of 17 years, Brenda
(who is a retired elementary school teacher) and their fur baby, Winnie. They join
the other ‘snowbirds’ by spending most of the winter months in Southeast
Florida.

Marsha currently manages her own accounting and client relations company, is a
part-time licensed realtor, and fills some pulpits and shares her original music
around the area from time to time. She welcomes opportunities to share her
musical compositions which focus on progressive theology and secular love
ballads that can be used for any couples.