Meet The Pastor
Rev. Shane L Bishop
Shane was named “A Distinguished Evangelist of the United Methodist Church” by the United Methodist Foundation for Evangelism in 2010. With his strengths of vision casting, preaching, soul winning and leadership, Christ Church weekend worship attendance has increased under his leadership from 200 in 1997 to over 2,400 each week. The Illinois Great River Annual Conference recognized the growth and outreach of Christ Church with its 2002, 2007-2019 Awards for Church Growth and Evangelism for Large Churches. Christ Church was recognized as one of the ten fastest growing United Methodist congregations in the United States over the past decade and one of the 100 fastest growing churches in the country in 2018 by Outreach Magazine.
A former history teacher and coach, Shane holds both graduate and undergraduate degrees from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. An Elder in the Illinois Great Rivers Conference, Shane graduated cum laude in 1992 from Candler School of Theology at Emory University. There he received the Rollins Scholarship Award for his academic work and effectiveness in pastoral leadership at the St. James-Manchester Charge in Manchester, Georgia. From 1992-1997 he served the Sumner/Beulah Charge in Sumner, Illinois where he was presented the Denman Evangelism Award in 1994. He was appointed to Christ United Methodist Church in Fairview Heights, Illinois as its senior pastor in 1997. Christ Church has ten weekly worship services, three regional campuses and a significant on-line presence.
Shane has traveled extensively around the world in mission and ministry. He is the author of three books, has been featured as a writer in various publications and had a single blog exceed 3,000,000 reads. Shane resides in Trenton, Illinois with his wife of 36 years, Melissa. The couple has two adult children and four grandchildren.