Pastor Caleb Suydam has been Park Church’s solo pastor and head of staff since 2017. Caleb was born and raised in Farmington, Illinois, where he grew up as part of First Presbyterian Church there. He graduated from Northern Illinois University, and after many years of running from the sense of call he had been feeling, finally admitted that God was calling him to pastoral ministry, and he enrolled in the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary. After graduation, he married his wife, Jennifer Suydam (a fellow UDTS student), and began serving as the pastor of Central Presbyterian Church in Nevada, Iowa, where he served until being called to Park Church.

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“There is often this misconception that pastors are somehow ‘Super-Christians.’ Like they’ve got a more direct line to God than anybody else, and like they’ve got this whole faith business totally figured out.  But the truth is, we’re people like everybody else, and we are oftentimes struggling through our faith like any other person trying to follow Christ. The only real difference is that we’ve had more education and training in theology, etc. I think one of the great privileges of being a pastor is getting to struggle and work through this alongside other Christians who are trying to do the same thing and being able to use your training to help others along the way.”