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Presiding Elder - Biography
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- Published on Tuesday, 06 September 2011 21:23
- Written by Sharon Kimbrough
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Welcome to the Chicago District CME website. We hope you find this site helpful in conducting business for the Chicago District. Please be sure to view the District Calendar and News for information.
Rev. Karen Walker-McClure is the Presiding Elder of the Chicago District.In2004, Rev. Karen Walker left Chicago and her home church, Carter Temple CME Church, when she received her first appointment from Bishop Paul A. G. Stewart, Sr. to pastor Russell Chapel CME Church in Columbia, Missouri. This appointment came only 2 months after earning a Master of Divinity Degree from McCormick Theological Seminary. Later that year, she married John McClure from Chicago. At the Kansas-Missouri annual conference in 2007, Rev. Walker-McClure was appointed the first female Presiding Elder of the Missouri District.
While in Columbia, in addition to serving as a Pastor and Presiding Elder, she started a nightly telephone Bible Study with her Chicago family and friends to read through the Bible in a year. Adding to her busy schedule she accepted the responsibility to create a new ministry. Walker-McClure organized “I’m Every Woman: Pastor and Wife” to strengthen clergy women who faced the challenging demands of full time ministry and caring for a home and family. Walker-McClure said, “While serving as a married female pastor, I found that we have the unique challenge of being minister and wife.”
At the 2010 Southeast Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin Annual Conference, breaking the stained glass ceiling once more, Elder Walker-McClure was appointed the first female Presiding Elder of the Chicago District. “I am humbled to be serving in my home district,” says Elder Walker-McClure. She is excited about her new position. Plus, she’s back home with her 95 year old mother Sadie Walker, a member of Carter Temple; her children and grandchildren. In this role, her goals are to provide ministerial and discipleship training. “Training is essential if we want to grow in the ministry,” says Elder McClure. “Serving God needs to be done with a spirit of excellence. God and God’s people deserve our best.”