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Biographical
Sketch of
Pastor Jerry C. Clark ...
We,
the members of Freedom Baptist Church, are so grateful God does not
call only men who are wealthy or of high social status to pastor His
churches. Dr. Jerry C. Clark, a man of humble beginnings, is one of
God's choice servants and Freedom Baptist is blessed to have him as
our pastor.
Dr. Clark comes
from Lexington, North Carolina where he grew up with eleven brothers
and sisters. Although the family was large they were very close and
loving. His father worked as a barber and his mother had to work in a
textile mill to help with the bills. Dr. Clark lived at home with
his parents until the age of eighteen when he married his high school sweetheart, Margaret Marion.
It was shortly
after their marriage that two missionaries on furlough visited their
home. This was the first time the Gospel seed was planted in his
heart. Although Dr. Clark did not accept Jesus Christ as Savior at
that time, he gives much credit to these gentlemen for their
witness. Two years later on January 20, 1965, he did receive Christ
while kneeling beside his bed. Little did he know what God had in
store for him in the future.
The first step
after salvation was to get in church regularly and grow. This he did
and God began to work in his life. In 1971, God called him
into the ministry. Dr. Clark surrendered to preach and moved to
Lynchburg, Virginia to attend Liberty Baptist College. During his
stay in Virginia he founded Calvary Baptist Church in a small
community about seventy miles from Lynchburg, which celebrates
its thirtieth anniversary in 2001.
The Lord led
Dr. Clark to move to Greenville, South Carolina in 1974 to attend
Tabernacle Baptist College and finish his education. While in
college, he worked on the staff at Tabernacle and in the children's
home. He stayed and labored in Greenville until 1981, when he left
for a year to pastor Madisonville Baptist Temple in Kentucky. He returned to Tabernacle in 1982 and served during the next ten
years as principal of the elementary school, Dean of the Bible College, General
Manager of WTBI radio, and Co-Pastor of the church. It was not until
1991 that he felt God dealing with him about serving in another church.
The members of
Freedom Baptist voted in July of 1991 to have Dr. Clark come and
pastor their sixty-eight member flock. Since that time, Freedom's
membership has grown to approximately four hundred and twenty
people. Freedom has seen many people saved and baptized, in
addition, such ministries as Operation Saturation and Target
America Ministries. God has abundantly blessed and is worthy of all
the glory and honor for the accomplishments of our church and our
members under the leadership of our pastor Jerry C. Clark.
We thank the
Lord that Pastor Clark is a willing vessel to be used of God. He is a
fundamentalist who stands only on the King James Version of the
Bible, which is the preserved authoritative Word of God. His
ministry is summed up by his own words, "A call to pastor
also carries with it a call to counsel. In trying times, the pastor
is called upon more and more to counsel his people. I will give
myself to the people as they need me. My main ministry is preaching
and winning the lost. Personal evangelism is part of my Christian
fiber, twenty-four hours a day, everywhere I may be. I believe in an
organized visitation program with a follow-up ministry." It
was out of this belief that Operation Saturation was born and is in
force, not only at Freedom Baptist Church but in many other churches
throughout America. We, the members of Freedom, feel honored to have
Dr. Jerry Clark as our Pastor.
-- Members of Freedom
Baptist
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