A TRIBUTE TO OUR FIRST LADY:
Mother’s Day 2022
Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband, also, and he praises her:
Proverbs 31:28
Several things significant in the life of the Church Of God In Christ occurred on Saturday, March 20, 2021. Not only did we get several new General Board members, a new 2nd Assistant Presiding Bishop and a new Presiding Bishop and Chief Apostle, the Most Reverend J. Drew Sheard, our eighth leader in succession, we were blessed to have a new First Lady of our Church. The lovely Karen Valencia Clark Sheard is the wife of our Presiding Bishop and Chief Apostle and became our new First Lady when he was elected to be our leader.
Renowned gospel award-winning recording artist extraordinaire, Evangelist Karen Clark Sheard is the youngest daughter of the late Elder Elbert and Dr. Mattie Moss Clark – born November 15, 1960 in Detroit, Michigan. At a very young age, Evangelist Clark Sheard was singing with the family group, the legendary Clark Sisters. We are well aware of their success.
In 1997, Evangelist Clark Sheard launched a solo career with the release of, Finally Karen. Of course, there has been no stopping her success in the music industry. The awards and recognition keep coming her way. She is still a highly sought-after concert and service minister. Certainly, she is best known for her singing, but Evangelist Clark Sheard is an anointed and dynamic speaker as well.
On June 16, 1984, Evangelist Karen Clark Sheard’s life changed forever when she married the young minister, J. Drew Sheard. In 1988, Elder Sheard was appointed pastor of a small congregation of 50 in the Detroit suburb of Highland Park. Early videos show our beloved First Lady playing the organ, leading the choir in jubilant praise. In all that she does, Evangelist Clark Sheard is a devoted wife to our Presiding Bishop and a partner in ministry. Their devotion to God and His work has evolved into a membership in the thousands, in a nearly 50,000 square foot facility in the center of Detroit at 7 Mile and Schaefer Highway.
In addition to being a devoted wife and ministry partner, Evangelist Clark Sheard loves being a mother. We were blessed to see her interactions with her children, Kierra and J. Drew II, through the successful reality series, The Sheards, on the BET network. Lately, the Sheards have done several family-style events on Facebook. Now, we get to observe her as a loving, caring grandmother to Jacob and Kallie Drew. If you go to Evangelist Clark Sheard’s Facebook page, you will see her playing the piano while her grandchildren sing their hearts out.
Sweetness just always exudes from our First Lady. During the pandemic, she made an appearance on her sister Jacky Clark Chisholm’s cooking show to make her famous candied yams. Well, someone complained about the amount of sugar the First Lady put in her dish. She politely looked at the camera and said, “If you don’t like that much sugar in your yams, you don’t have to put that much in. But this what my family likes, so I will keep making them like this.” She said all of this with a smile with Kierra, Jacky and Evangelist Dorinda Clark Cole smiling in the background. The final verdict was that the candied yams were a hit again.
If her first event is an indication of how she will lead the women of our Church, we can expect empowerment to be her focus. She held a session for women dealing with the subject of mental health and the importance of taking the time to pamper and relax.
We are certainly excited about the leadership of our Presiding Bishop and Chief Apostle and one of the reasons would be the lovely and anointed, Evangelist Karen Clark Sheard.
We honor our beautiful First Lady, the Evangelist Karen Clark Sheard, as we journey to Mother’s Day 2022.
