Chris Clarke (missionary)

William Christopher Clarke, known as Chris Clarke (born December 6, 1957), is a non-traditional Southern Baptist minister and missionary in Kentucky, who carries the gospel message to people at equestrian events, including horse shows, horse auctions, rodeos, and cowboy churches.

Early life and education

Born in Salem, Kentucky, Clarke became interested in singing and guitar when young and learned both. He did his undergraduate work at Campbellsville University in Campbellsville, Kentucky. He subsequently attended the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, from which he graduated in 1988.

Marriage and family

In 1977, Clarke married the former Shelia McDowell, and they have three children: Robert, Elizabeth, and Laura.

Career

During the 1980s, Clarke used his singing and guitar practice in his music and youth ministry at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in rural Taylor County, while he was a student at Campbellsville College and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Following his seminary graduation in 1988, Clarke accepted a call to serve as music and youth minister at First Baptist Church in Earlington in Hopkins County, Kentucky, a position which he retained until 1999. He was then music and youth minister at Marion Baptist Church from 1999 to 2003 in Marion in Crittenden County, Kentucky.

The Clarkes' interest in horses grew when their youngest child Laura began riding horses and competing in youth events of the American Quarter Horse Association. Clarke realized there was a lack of ministries in the equestrian community, and noted that horse enthusiasts were often absent from church on Sundays because of competing weekend events. In October 2003, Clarke believed that God was calling him and his family to take the Gospel to those in the equestrian community. Since January 2004, Clarke has been taking his cowboy church to horse enthusiasts on the road. He is classified as a missionary through the Southern Baptist Mission Service Corps. In 2009, he organized worship services at nearly thirty equine events in Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Illinois, and Missouri. He also spoke at more than forty churches. Clarke said that horse show managers have never discouraged his ministry. Clarke and his wife minister together: they sing, preach, give testimony and devotionals and distribute New Testaments, gospel tracts, and bottled water with scripture verses attached. In the fall of 2010, they ministered at the FEI World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky.

Clarke calls his ministry "Happy Trails Ministry," which he established in 2004 in Burna in western Kentucky. He adopted the name from the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans song, "Happy Trails". During the week, he operates a riding stable with his sister, Lori Clarke. Clarke ministers at the various horse shows/events on the weekends.

In 2010, as the Happy Trails Ministry horse show calendar slowed, Clarke joined Clay Campbell, the owner of the Kentucky Opry, a country music theatre in Draffenville, to establish the Kentucky Lake Cowboy Church. The facility on Kentucky Lake is patterned after similar theaters in Branson, Missouri. It may draw people from the larger city of Paducah. "We are doing things the cowboy way here and expecting God to do great things at Kentucky Lake Cowboy Church," said Clarke. Services are held each Sunday morning at the Kentucky Opry Theatre on U.S. Highway 641 in Draffenville. The country/bluegrass/gospel praise band kicks things off at 10:30 a.m. with some exciting worship music, followed by Clarke who brings a Bible-based message packed with illustrations straight from the horse barn. Kentucky Lake Cowboy Church, where the motto is "Connecting people with Jesus... the Cowboy Way".