Local Church Welcomes New Pastor

After two years of searching, a Zanesville church has installed a new pastor.

Fair Oak Baptist on Woodlawn Avenue held a special service today to welcome Reverend Mark Shoemaker as its pastor. Shoemaker said he’s had a great relationship with Fair Oaks for a while, and the service today just made it official.

"I came here to initially serve as their interim pastor and I was planning on doing that until they got a new pastor and then maybe even considering retiring, but they decided they wanted me to be the pastor and I’m very pleased."

Shoemaker came from Newark, Ohio where he served 16 years as chaplain of the Licking County Justice Center. Shoemaker said in his experience, there’s not much of a difference when it comes to serving others.

"It wa a little different audience, but the process is about the same. I’m enjoying this a lot. Somebody once asked me the difference between people in church in the jail and the people in church out of jail and I said ‘Those are the ones that get caught’."

Shoemaker also served as the chairman of the Newark Area Ministerial Association.