{"id":6138,"date":"2025-04-15T08:39:16","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T13:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/?p=6138"},"modified":"2025-04-15T08:40:56","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T13:40:56","slug":"the-simple-life-pastor-janice-marshburn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/2025\/04\/15\/the-simple-life-pastor-janice-marshburn\/","title":{"rendered":"The Simple Life:\u00a0Pastor Janice Marshburn\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

If Pastor Janice Marshburn could use one word to describe her life, it would be \u201csimple.\u201d This simple life is one that many people would recognize, and others might dream about. Pastor Janice was born and raised in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and she has a deep love for her family, calling them \u201cintertwined.\u201d She has two sisters, both still living in Jacksonville, with one just a stone\u2019s throw away.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Sisters: Judy, Joyce, and Janice<\/p><\/div>\n

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Pastor Janice was raised by Godly parents: \u201cMy heritage is rich in the church. It\u2019s my favorite place. We were those children who never asked if we were going to church. Wednesday or Sunday, that\u2019s where we were gonna be. Church came first.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Rev. and Mrs. James Hansley with Joyce, Judy, and Janice<\/p><\/div>\n

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Pastor Janice\u2019s Parents: Rev. and Mrs. James Hansley<\/p><\/div>\n

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Pastor Janice as a Child<\/p><\/div>\n

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Pastor Janice describes her father as \u201ca simple grease monkey,\u201d a mechanic, and her mother as a \u201cdomesticated woman,\u201d a homemaker. She said she wouldn\u2019t call her family poor, but there were no \u201cfrills.\u201d When she was a teenager, her father was called into ministry and began serving bi-vocationally at a small church, Sneads Ferry PH Church, in a fishing village located about 40 miles from their home. Here, her family would love on and serve congregants in a small church with no air conditioning or indoor plumbing. It was at Sneads Ferry PH Church that her father called on her to preach her first sermon in 1970.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pastor Janice married her high school sweetheart during her senior year. After their wedding, Gary was drafted into the military during the Vietnam War and sent to Korea. Gary and Janice\u2019s families supported them during this time, and she lived in her parents\u2019 home, and sometimes in Gary\u2019s parents\u2019, as she awaited his return.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Janice and Gary Marshburn<\/p><\/div>\n

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Janice and Gary Marshburn<\/p><\/div>\n

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Once back stateside, Gary left the military, but he and Janice both worked as civil servants on the military base at Camp Lejeune, from where they eventually retired.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Janice and Gary Marshburn<\/p><\/div>\n

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Pastor Janice shares that while they never had biological children, they do have two spiritual children, both missionaries with IPHC: Melanie Ross in Kenya and Al Argo in the Philippines. She explains the benefits of having spiritual children in this way: \u201cI didn\u2019t have to go through the birthing process, the terrible twos, or put braces on their teeth!\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Pastor Janice with Her Spiritual Children, Missionaries Melanie Ross and Al Argo<\/p><\/div>\n

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Pastor Janice has been working in ministry for many years, focusing on women\u2019s ministries. She began working with the Women\u2019s Auxiliary at the conference level in 1980, when Mrs. Faye Leggett, wife of former Bishop James Leggett, invited Janice to join her. Since then, she has continued working with women\u2019s ministries in many capacities at the local, conference, and national levels. In the local church, she has worked as the Women\u2019s Ministry Director, Sunday School Teacher, VBS Director, Music Coordinator, and Praise & Worship Team member.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Pastor Janice\u2019s Ordination Service<\/p><\/div>\n

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Ministry, and life in general, brings hardship and trials from time to time, but Pastor Janice\u2019s greatest battle began in 2016, in the midst of a getaway with her husband at one of their favorite places in the world: Little Switzerland, NC. Pastor Janice had just stepped outside onto the balcony surrounding a restaurant they were visiting when she \u201cfelt as though someone pushed\u201d her from behind. The fall she took resulted in a catastrophic break in her femur, \u201cthe longest, strongest, and heaviest bone in the body: the thigh bone.\u201d While she was recovering from the initial break, where her femur went through the socket, she was in physical therapy when her femur head broke off completely. This second surgery necessitated a blood transfusion, and Pastor Janice describes herself during this time as \u201ccompletely broken.\u201d Following the stint in the hospital, Pastor Janice found herself in a fight for her life, where she was combatting crippling anxiety and depression daily, even thinking of taking her own life.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This mental health battle was one that she was completely unfamiliar with. She kept thinking if she just had enough faith, she would be restored. She was adamantly against seeing a doctor or taking any medication; after all, in the past, she had looked down on those who had done so. She was an ordained minister and a women\u2019s ministry director; she couldn\u2019t take medication! Pastor Janice continued to fight her battle in isolation, with very few, except her beloved husband and a few close friends, aware of the depth of the issue.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, after 18 months or so, she was ready to listen. A special friend said to her, \u201cJanice, if this was a cancer, would you refuse medication and condemn yourself, saying, \u2018If only I had a little more faith?\u2019\u201d No. If this was cancer, she would pray, but she would also seek out the best medical help that she could find. So, she did. She saw \u201ca doctor God specifically chose to help lead\u201d her through that. Her miracle wasn\u2019t instantaneous; it came slowly over the course of two years. But during those two years, Pastor Janice learned so much about herself, her Lord, and the devil\u2019s desire to take out the ones the Lord uses.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pastor Janice says that she would not have made it through the fight of her life in 2016 if it wasn\u2019t for her husband. She tells of receiving a vision from the Lord of Gary holding back the serpent who was intent on destroying her. She is very thankful for his love and support throughout their marriage, especially in that season. Pastor Janice\u2019s beloved Gary was her very best friend, always one to stay in the background where he felt most comfortable. He loved driving Pastor Janice around to her speaking engagements, even designing and printing a business card that described himself as \u201cDriving Mrs. Janice.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Gary\u2019s Business Card<\/p><\/div>\n

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The Marshburns were married for 52 years and nine months, and sadly, in late 2020, Gary was diagnosed with a glioblastoma, an aggressive brain tumor. She described him as deteriorating quickly, and she cared for him for 17 months before he passed away.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Janice and Gary Marshburn<\/p><\/div>\n

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Pastor Janice misses Gary terribly, but she has found that she can drive to her engagements alone. She uses her “old five-speed” car to travel to various ministerial opportunities and enjoys the time spent on the road. Although she loves to preach and is confident in her calling, she often reminds herself that she can\u2019t say “yes” to every engagement that comes her way. Pastor Janice admits, \u201cI get so nervous.\u201d However, she encourages herself and others by saying, \u201cWhen the Lord calls, we have to obey, or we\u2019ll be miserable. I don\u2019t want to be miserable. I might be scared, but I \u2018do it afraid.\u2019\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Pastor Janice Marshburn Today<\/p><\/div>\n

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Whatever the Challenge, Pastor Janice Is Ready!<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u00a0<\/span>At a recent event, the National Pastors Conference, where Pastor Janice spoke to IPHC women who hold credentials, she cautioned them: \u201cWe must not be ignorant to the extent that the devil hates us.\u201d She knows this all too well, telling of the lengths he will go to silence those who love and serve the Lord. But Pastor Janice is quick to remind us that God wins in the end and that we needn\u2019t sit idly by. We have the power of the risen Son of God living within us!\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pastor Janice\u2019s \u201csimple life\u201d has been full of the goodness of God. As often as she can, she speaks to women and men across the country and around the world about all that God has done and can still do. She never would have imagined what would come from that first sermon preached in her little childhood church in Sneads Ferry, North Carolina, but she is so thankful. She will keep going for as long as she can and as long as the Lord will continue to use her. After all, in her words, \u201cI love to preach!\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Pastor Janice Preaching<\/p><\/div>\n

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