Pastor of the Week: Tim McClellan

By: Dezaray Barr

Tim McClellan is the Senior Pastor at Lakeview Wesleyan Church in Marion, IN. Pastor Tim was honored as pastor of the week when the series first began, but no article was published about him. He graduated from Milligan College in 1973 with a degree in religion. He also attended Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis.

Although McClellan never attended Indiana Wesleyan University, Dr. Wilbur Williams is one of his favorite people. “I brought him to our church at Cedar Valley Community Church in Waterloo, IA many years ago to do some presentations for our congregation. In the years following, we went to the Holy Land a couple of times under his leadership.  From that church, we also connected IWU with one of our members who later became the Chairman of the Board of Trustees at IWU for a number of years and who significantly impacted the World Changers program.”

McClellan’s father was a pastor as well. “I was always proud of his calling and thankful to be his son. He became a role model for me early on, and I wanted to be like him and do what he did just because I respected him so much,” McClellan shared. “As I entered my high school years and began thinking about my future as most young people do during those years, I thought much about how I would serve God.  As I prayed and meditated, I was never ever able to find peace in my heart doing anything else than building up the local church as a pastor. I had peace about that decision back then and still do today after beginning to serve local churches since 1970.”

As the pastor of Lakeview, McClellan has spent a lot of time rebuilding the church financially, in their credibility and in the vision. “Thanks be to God we are well underway, but it has been a journey of patience and persistence. God is good and the people courageous,” McClellan said.

The church also hosts Lakeview Christian School, which is Kindergarten through 12th grade. It hosts a Pre-School Childcare ministry which ministers birth through Pre-School and Lakeview Counseling Center which ministers to nearly 1,000 clients each month.  “These ministries, along with the church, proper provide tremendous spiritual influence to hundreds and thousands of people in Grant County throughout the year,” McClellan said.

McClellan claims Psalm 126:5-6 as his favorite passage. “It calls me over and over again to work at sharing my faith and encouraging others to do the same,” he said.

McClellan encourages IWU students to, “Pay little attention to the ‘highs’ and ‘lows’ in your service to Christ. It’s the long view in loving and serving Jesus that you need to keep in view. Never give in to the enemy of your faith and always love and support the local church.”

McClellan is especially grateful for his wife and partner in ministry, Cynthia, who has been with him since 1970. They have four children. Their son, Peter, graduated from IWU and earned his M. Div. at Southern Baptist Seminary. He now lives in Louisville with his wife Karrie and daughter Charlotte. McClellan’s oldest daughter Christians, lives in Champlin, MN with her husband and three children where she serves as a nurse. Their youngest daughter, Liz, graduated from IWU earned her M. Div. at Asbury Seminary. She and her husband Michael, along with their daughter, are serving the Lord in Newberg, OR. Their oldest son, David, went to be with the Lord at age 14 in 2001 after fighting bone cancer for a little over a year.

 

 

Written by Dezaray Barr, PR Specialist for the Alumni Office. Dezaray is a junior Strategic Communication and Honors Humanities double major at Indiana Wesleyan University in the John Wesley Honors College. At IWU, Dezaray runs both the JWHC Blog and her own blog. Visit Dez’s website at www.dezaraybarr.weebly.com.