meet the pastor
pastor dave shaw
Being a pastor is a second career for me. I experienced a call to the gospel ministry in the early 1980s, but for several years could not discover a way to be trained for that calling. I studied part-time at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando. Until 1998 I was a financial manager. Then I was ordained as a pastor at Northland, a very large multi-site church in the Orlando area. There I served on staff for five years before coming to DeLand with a team of people to plant Covenant Community Church. I have continued my theological studies at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago through both on-campus classes, concentrated seminars at conferences, and distance learning.
My wife, Bonnie, and I are the parents of ten children. Eight of them are adopted, and one of them has special needs. Our children are of various racial and ethnic backgrounds. Eight of them are grown and living close by, and they are involved in our church.
We have also been temporary foster parents to many children
In prior years, we served as a family at Restore Orlando, an urban ministry engaged in Christian community development. We lived in the Holden Heights neighborhood as part of our ministry, and I was a community leader and treasurer of the board.
I have led quite a few mission trips, including a project in Namibia in southern Africa that enabled more than 300 people to go and minister over a five week period in public schools, on college campuses, and in business and government settings.
I serve as the Chairman of the Southeast Conference Executive Board for the Evangelical Covenant Church. I am also the Treasurer of the DeLand Ministerial Association. In addition to serving as pastor of the church, I am employed as the Chief Financial Officer for the Volusia Flagler Family YMCA.