Marikay Green has been with Broadway since October, 2019.
Marikay is the oldest child of James and Marilyn Sainsbury, who are both retired United Methodist Pastors from the Greater New Jersey annual conference. She has spent her entire life in the denomination and felt called into the ministry through the Disciple Bible Study program. Having grown up as a “Preacher’s Kid”, she did not want to answer a call to go into ministry. She knew first-hand how challenging it can be to be part of the clergy family. However, God has a sense of humor when we say “No” and so here she is.
Marikay grew up in New Jersey. However, as a PK, she got to experience 3 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, and 1 high school. She graduated from Long Branch High School in Monmouth County. The next day she moved to Penns Grove. She lived in 7 different communities before going off to college, attending Hiram College in Hiram, Ohio. When she graduated, she returned to NJ living in Vineland at first, and then eventually settling in Penns Grove.
Marikay worked for one year out of college for a workshop training women with mental learning limitations, providing coaching to these ladies on how to do packaging work. After one year, she was hired by the Salem County Office on Aging, in 1993, to be an Assistant Program Coordinator utilizing her undergraduate degree in sociology.
Marikay has now worked at the Salem County Office on Aging and Disabilities for 26+ years. She helps our senior residents and those with various disabilities connect with available resources and services. Two years ago she was promoted to the title of Assistant Executive Director.
Marikay met her husband, Joe Green, while she was in college. He was from Cleveland, Ohio and his family still lives there. They married on December 16, 1995. Their daughter, Eilisse, joined the family on January 24, 1999. Joe and Marikay’s time werecut short on January 7, 2002 when he passed away from organ damage caused by a staph infection. She suddenly found herself a widow, and a single mom of a three-year-old little girl. Eilisse is now 20 and a junior in college at Mississippi State University.
In 2003, Marikay heard God calling relentlessly into ministry again through others speaking of their recognition of the call to ministry on her life. She enrolled at Palmer Theological Seminary in 2004 in Wynnewood, PA on City Line Ave. For the next 9 years, she attended school part-time, going nights and weekends, completing her Master of Divinity degree in May 2012.
Marikay became a licensed pastor in 2007 and was appointed in July as the pastor of Repaupo UMC where she served as their pastor for 11 years. In July 2015, she was also appointed as pastor of the Aura UMC church and she served there for 3 years. In July 2018, she was appointed to serve Colonial Manor UMC in West Deptford and Westville UMC where she served until she was appointed to Broadway UMC and Mt. Hope.
Personally, Marikay likes to laugh and have a good time with people. For fun, she likes to travel, to read, to camp, to go to the movies, go to the theater or concerts, to shop, to help people, and smile. She plays the piano, having taken lessons for 10 year. She has a 7-year-old Chihuahua named Marci who is her protector and companion.
Her hopes and dreams for Broadway are to dream together about the future God is calling us into as the church. This isn’t a dream of wishful thinking, but what is the future God is calling us into as the Church. Who are we to be as the Church? Who are we to serve? Our limits are of our own making for if we trust God to lead us into a future filled with possibilities bringing others to Christ through how we serve and love one another.
Marikay understands her role as pastor is to be the preacher, teacher, spiritual adviser, mentor, dreamer of God sized visions, cheerleader/encourager, and equipper of the Church to fulfill the ministry Christ is calling us to do. She will be spending at least one evening a week at the church- either to attend meetings, lead/participate in discipleship ministries, or general church work.