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About Our Pastor
Our pastor, Ivan Schoen, trusted in Christ as his LORD and Savior at the age of fifteen at a church camp in Southern Illinois in July 1968. He was baptized at New Douglas Baptist Church in New Douglas, Illinois. Our pastor was licensed to the Gospel ministry in 1974 at Calvary Baptist Church in Edwardsville, Illinois. During that time in Edwardsville, he meet his wonderful wife, Nancy, at Southern Illinoi University. Ivan and Nancy have been married for 35 years and have three daughters and one grandson.
After graduating from SIU in 1978 with a B.A. in history, the Schoens moved to Ft. Worth, Texas where Ivan attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Our pastor graduated from SWBTS with an M.A. in religion education. Pastor Schoen also holds a Masters of Library and Information Science from the University of Wisconsin. He is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Biblical Studies in Biblical Preaching at the Master’s Graduate School of Divinity, Evansville, Indiana.
Pastor Schoen has served as co-pastor at the Highland Baptist Church of Highland Illinois, where he was ordained to the Gospel ministry in 1983. He also served as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Granite City, Illinois and he came to Maranatha Baptist Church from Westosha Baptist Church of Bassett, Wisconsin where he served as pastor.
Our pastor serves Maranatha as a bi-vocational pastor. He is presently “making tents” at Wal-Mart as an assistant manager. In the past he has worked as a reference librarian. Pastor Schoen enjoys reading the works of Charles Spurgeon, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and John Piper. He is a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals.
We invite you to come join us this Sunday for worship that includes the uncompromised preaching of the gospel of Christ and a blended style of worship music. We meet at the Bergmann Center in Poplar Grove, Illinois on State highway 173 between Route 76 and Poplar Grove Road. For directions to our place of worship, please click here.