Olivet Nazarene University announces Antonio “Tone” Marshall ’13/’16 M.A. as the university chaplain. He has already assumed his new responsibilities as the start of the fall semester approaches.
Since fall 2021, Tone has held the position of associate chaplain in the Office of Student Development at Olivet, but his connections to the University date back to 2007. As a freshman, he was excited for the opportunity to play basketball under the leadership of the late Coach Ralph “Tres” Hodge. The college experience provided a great foundational experience for Tone to grow. He was influenced by chapel speakers and the comradery of a team atmosphere. Before going into his super senior year, he accepted the love and grace of Jesus as his Savior.
“I have a lot of gratitude and loyalty to this place,” Tone says. “I came here as an undergraduate student who only came to play basketball, and God changed that within five years and has changed me over the last 10.”
After completing his undergraduate degree, Tone stayed in the Olivet area to be a student assistant coach and then volunteer coach while teaching 7thgrade language arts at a local school. Then from 2014-2016, Tone worked as the graduate assistant for the men’s basketball team while working on another degree.
“I began to feel a call to ministry as I participated in the Masters of Arts program in Christian Ministry. In 2016, I accepted the call to be the Family Pastor at a church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was here that I pastored for five years and started a non-profit called MANonFIRE, which engages youth through basketball training by connecting them to local churches in West Michigan and Kankakee County.”
The MANonFIRE ministry was developed after tragedy struck close to home. While he was still in college, Tone’s family house burned to the ground. Though no one was injured, the experience gave him a new understanding of the importance of connections and community for surviving times of trial and hardship as well as celebrating success.
“The word community means everything to me — primarily because I would not be where I am if it wasn’t because of a community of believers and people who have poured into me over the span of the last 20 years of my life,” he says. “When I think of community on the campus I think about the word belong. My definition for what it means to belong is a mutual possessing of each other for the purpose of authentic community. It is my hope and goal that the Office of Spiritual Development would assist the student development in creating an environment where our students realize that they belong to each other in God and are pursuing authentic community.”
Along with the Shalom Project team, a facet of spiritual development, which coordinates chapel services, discipleship groups, ministry trips, student ministries and community engagement, Tone set “His Story, Our Story” as the theme for the fall 2022 chapel series, which kicks off on the first day of undergraduate classes, August 31.
“I think I am most excited about the opportunity to partner with God in developing leaders that will leave this place and transform the world,” Tone says. “When it comes to chapel, my prayer is that students would experience God, fall in love with the process of learning and growing in that setting and find that it is an oasis they can have throughout each week. I am humbled and honored by the opportunity to be a chaplain and privilege to partner with God back at this place.”
Tone and his wife O’Malley (King) ’12 have three sons: Daxton Peter Marshall (4), Barrow Anthony Marshall (2), and Haynes Matthew Marshall (4 months).
For more information about life at Olivet, contact the Office of Admissions at admissions@olivet.edu or 800-648-1463.
Published 8/9/2022
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