 Photo by Brad Franklin
After search, Mizpah finds pastor Clark has a connection to local church’s past
David Clark heard his calling. And it led him to a place where his family had a bit of history. Now, he’s looking forward to the future.
Clark, who will celebrate his 36th birthday next week, is the new pastor at Mizpah Christian Church in Fife. The church, according to Elder Al Martin, was without a pastor for a year until Clark was found. And in a nice twist of fate, his family has connections to the church.
Turns out, Clark’s grandfather-in-law, Palmer Patton, served as Mizpah’s pastor for 11 years during two stints between 1960-1967 and 1989-1991.
“It was pretty special to find my first church home at a place with that kind of connection,” Clark said last week.
A Richmond native, Clark grew up attending both southern Baptist and Assembly of God services. But it wasn’t until he was at Monument Heights that he started getting the feeling that he was being called.
“I just felt like I needed to dive into the Scriptures,” he recalled. “And from there, God kind of took over.”
At Monument Heights, Clark served as the youth minister. But once he was ordained this past January, he knew it was time to step out.
And that’s where Mizpah enters into the story.
Martin said the church’s search for a pastor gave the congregation a chance to have some excellent preachers bring their respective messages in the interim.
In fact, attendance at the more than century-old church actually increased during that time. The church has roughly 140 members.
“We had a lot of people who applied,” Martin said. “But when David stepped in, it just sort of fit.”
Clark, along with wife Amy and their 5-year-old twin daughters Anna and Marisa, recently moved to the area. It’s still something he’s adjusting to.
Clark describes himself as someone who loves to be active.
“I’m good with everything except for being the guy that has to put things together,” he added. “That’s not my strong suit.”
As he begins at Mizpah this month, he said his first order of business will be getting to know the members of the congregation and finding out their needs.
“My first mission here is just to love everyone,” he said. “Preaching here just felt right and just showed me even moreso that God has you at the right place at the right time.”
In the coming months, Mizpah will be holding its second annual fall family day. And though he has some visions about what he’d like to see in the future, the present is really what concerns Clark now.
“Sure, the issues that we all face may change, but there are no new sins,” he said. “Now more than ever, people are just looking for people they can talk to, people they can connect with. And we just have to have the faith that everything that needs to be said will be said.”
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