Shawn Clarke was born on November 3, 1979 in the small town of McPherson, Kansas. No, he never met Dorothy or Toto, but he did chase a number of tornados around the farmlands of central Kansas! He was “delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the Kingdom of the beloved Son, Jesus in whom he has found redemption, the forgiveness of his sins.” This happened on June 8th, 1996 going into his junior year of high school. With a desire to serve the Lord in His Kingdom, he packed up his belongings and headed to downtown Chicago to study at Moody Bible Institute. Upon arrival, amidst the skyscrapers and restaurants not named McDonald’s or Burger King, he had “a feeling that he was not in Kansas anymore!”
While in Undergraduate school, he met his best friend in the world and eventually she became his wife. Suzanne and Shawn married in Suzanne’s home state of Alaska on July 16, 2004. Wanting to remain in Chicago, he continued his studies and finished his Masters of Divinity from the Moody Graduate School in the spring of 2006. He is ordained as a minister of the Gospel in the EFCA (Evangelical Free Church of America) and is a certified biblical counselor with ACBC (Association of Biblical Counselors).
He started ministry in the fall of 1999 and was on staff at Bethel Community Church in Chicago since 2004. While there, he served as the Student Ministries pastor from 2004-2011, then transitioned into being the Pastor of Music and Worship in 2011.
Suzanne and Shawn were blessed a hundred-fold in the summer of 2013 when their son Elijah Philip Clarke was born on August 5. They were blessed again on May 30, 2016 when their second son, Asher Lewis was born.
Here is everything you would never care to know about Shawn Clarke. Shawn likes guitars, music and singing. He finds joy in acting like a little kid and hanging out with them. He has a tendency of yelling at the television when watching the Kansas City Chiefs or the Chicago Bears play football. He makes sure to take at least one day off every year…the opening day of the March Madness Tournament. He thinks that Jack Bauer is like the coolest person in the world because basically he has saved it 8 times now and he could listen to Andrew Peterson on repeat for the rest of his life. He burns candles in his office and leaves his Christmas decorations up way after Christmas. He has been seen walking around barefoot in the office and barefoot in the snow when he takes his garbage out to the curb. He used to take bags of Doritos and smash them into tiny pieces, dump them in a bowl and eat them with a spoon! Nothing out of the ordinary with this guy, just the typical stuff you look for in a pastor.
2 Corinthians 4:5 (ESV)
For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
Blessings!