Youth Pastor Marvin Kirkwood

Pastor KirkwoodPastor Marvin Kirkwood was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on September 30, 1979 to Angela Kirkwood and Melvin Taylor. Pastor Kirkwood was educated in the Kansas City, Missouri school system and received his high school Diploma from Excelsior Springs Technical Institute.

Pastor Kirkwood pursued a life of gang violence and selling drugs at the early age of 13. Growing up without a father, he thought he had no other choice but to sell drugs to put food on the table and clothes on his back (What a big mistake that was!). Pastor Kirkwood witnessed drug abuse throughout his childhood. Due to gangs and gang violence, Pastor Kirkwood was kicked out of the Kansas City, Missouri School District and decided to live a life in the streets. Influenced by his grandfather, Adell Kirkwood, he enrolled in alternative school.

In 1994 it seemed like his life was going down the drain. Marvin was involved in an accidental shooting and in 1996 he witnessed the death of his cousin. He tried to accept Christ, but his heart was still like stone, but faking and acting like he was a Christian quickly got old. God sent Bishop Larry B. Aiken and Pastor Olivia C.Q. Aiken who along with others who would help to turn his life around forever. Bishop Aiken would prove to be a true father in Christ to Pastor Kirkwood. Through much love and compassion, the gift of what God wanted to do with Marvin Kirkwood came shining through. In 1999 Pastor Kirkwood was tired and fed up with life and on his 21st birthday, he heard God speak. God told Marvin to get his life together or he would spend it in jail or hell (possibly both).

Pastor Marvin took heed to the voice of God and on October 1, 1999, Marvin truly gave his life to God. In 2000 he enrolled in Faith Bible College where he studied Sermon Preparation and Biblical Studies. Pastor Marvin Kirkwood accepted his calling into the ministry in 2000 and he has been on fire for God ever since. In the words of Pastor Kirkwood, “The Fire of God Will Never Go Out”.

In 2002 God blessed him with a beautiful wife by the name of Tiffany McNeil and they united on July 20, 2002. Later, they were blessed with a precious daughter by the name of Hezekiah Monet. He and his family have been faithfully serving under Bishop Larry B. Aiken and Pastor Olivia C.Q. Aiken in the youth ministry. While in the youth ministry, God was setting him up for the next level because July 18, 2004 Minister Marvin Kirkwood was appointed to serve as Youth Pastor of the Memorial Missionary Baptist Church, Youth On Fire Ministries.

What an awesome God we serve! Pastor Kirkwood declares that “God will never use your past to determine your future”. Thank God for second chances! Pastor Kirkwood understands the importance of being faithful over the few, for God will make you ruler over the many. Pastor Kirkwood is known to be a dynamic speaker and an anointed man of God. He is forever thankful for what God has done, for what God is doing and for where God is taking him in his life and ministry. “My family and I Love God with all our heart and the declaration over our house is “For God we live and for God we die; we will serve the Lord all the days of our LIFE".