Father Clark," or the Pioneer Preacher

This is the remarkable true story of a man who sailed the seas before finding God on the frontier. Rev. John Clark was born in Scotland to a devout mother and a reckless father, a boy who dreamed of ships and adventure rather than pulpits. Young John indeed went to sea, serving aboard vessels during times of war, wrestling with questions of morality and violence before falling into the morally murky world of privateering. But a spiritual awakening transformed this rough sailor into one of early Methodism's most beloved pioneers. John Mason Peck, himself a frontier missionary, tells this story with the vivid detail and earnest faith of someone who understood the punishing realities of pioneer ministry. Clark's journey took him through the newly settled territories of the Mississippi region, where he built churches, converted sinners, and became known as Father Clark to generations of settlers. It's a window into a vanished America, where Methodist circuit riders rode horseback through wilderness to bring the gospel to isolated communities, and where a man's past could be forgiven and redeemed.