Colleagues and community members are remembering their beloved friend and pastor, Dr. Marion D. Lark, who died late Saturday, Aug. 19. Lark came to The First Baptist Church in Henderson in 1973 and was minister there for 29 years.

“It’s a sad day for First Baptist Church and for our community,” remarked Senior Minister Ron Cava as Sunday’s worship service began. “Our beloved senior minister emeritus …entered his rest last evening.”

A memorial service will be held at First Baptist Church Henderson, Wednesday, August 23, 2023 at 3 P.M. by Dr. Ron Cava, Dr. Glenn Phillips and Dr. Phil Young.  A private interment will be held for the family.  

“He will be sorely missed,” Cava told the congregation Sunday morning. “His impact in this congregation, in this community…cannot be quantified.”

Dr. Phil Young, First Baptist’s longtime minister of music, remembered his friend fondly. “We remained close friends after our retirement,” Young said Monday on TownTalk. “I will miss him terribly…how often I have thanked God that we were able to work together and what a blessing he has been on my life. He was a great preacher and a great pastor and we will miss him.”

Mark Hopper, FBC’s minister of music until 2022, expressed sadness and disbelief. “He has been such a constant North Star in my life for 22 years,” Hopper wrote in a statement to WIZS News.

“Marion Lark was integrity personified,” he said. “He was first and foremost a pastor in the way of Jesus: feeding the hungry, caring for the sick. He was completely devoted to his wife Jean in good times and bad.  He loved his congregation like his own family, and he saw First Baptist’s role in making Henderson a place where Christ was shown and not just talked about.  He commanded respect through humility and through modeled action and servant leadership. He was a fine musician, was unbelievably well-read, and was the definition of wisdom.  The loss to First Baptist, to Henderson, and to the Christian community is immense.”

The Rev. Dr. Paul Baxley remembers his time learning from and alongside Lark. Baxley, now executive coordinator for Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, was 23 years old when he was selected to be associate minister at First Baptist. “He offered trust, encouragement, patience, grace and support to me in really definitive years of my ministerial life,” Baxley said of his fellow pastor and friend.

“Dr. Lark created an environment at The First Baptist Church in which the colleagues who were called to serve with him could use their gifts, grow in ministry and thrive. I was by no means the only person who benefitted richly from the freedom he provided and the trust he extended,” Baxley said in a statement Monday to WIZS News.

One of those individuals was Amy Russell. When she came on staff at First Baptist, Lark was retired and simply a member of the congregation. But Russell, now associate pastor of children and families at First Baptist Greensboro, said he supported her growth and development as a minister.

“After each sermon he would give feedback,” she said in a statement to WIZS News, “from ‘that one really made me think’ to ‘I struggled with that text, too’” Russell said.

“He was unafraid to share the truth of the gospel and it was always a privilege to get to hear him preach. He built a legacy at First Baptist Church of Henderson that shaped the congregation and the community. But he didn’t build a legacy for himself. He built a legacy as an outgrowth of his deep love for the church and for Henderson and Vance County.”

Henderson City Council member Garry Daeke shared a memory that he said resounds with him to this day. There was some discussion about downtown development – not a heated debate, but the topic had everybody involved and working hard to find a compromise and move forward.

It was Lark’s advice that Daeke tries to keep in mind with every decision he makes: “‘If we are to err, let’s err on the side of grace.’”

Daeke called Lark a “consummate gentleman who loved his community.” Lark always had time to discuss issues in the community, he added. “He would always thank me for my service.”

“Dr. Lark simultaneously embodied what it meant to be a deeply committed pastor to a congregation while also working actively for the well-being of a much larger community. He gave his life and his gifts for almost 50 years to Henderson/Vance County and to The First Baptist Church. In these ways, he was an embodiment of what it means for a pastor to be a community leader,” Baxley said.

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