Eva L. Clarke – Testimony

Last Updated on January 21, 2026 by Pastor Eva

My Testimony

In my immediate family, we weren’t regular church goers, but attended services from time to time. I had aunts and uncles that were believers. So, I was exposed to Christianity throughout the years, as I spent time with them during the summer. 

I can remember being drawn to God and even responding to an altar call from the preacher one summer in Chicago, and later as a teenager. But I really didn’t understand what it all meant, and in my mind, I could never keep all the rules, so it didn’t last.

One of the things I struggled with from an early age was a sense of not belonging. Another was loneliness. My father was in the military when I was a girl and he died when I was seven years old, which really disrupted our family.  We moved first to East St. Louis, IL a very troubled city in the midst of decline, and later to the neighboring town of Belleville, where we were the first black family to integrate our neighborhood sub-division. 

There was also a restlessness about me.  In college, at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), I was eager to embrace a whole new world. I attended a program for incoming freshman the summer before my freshman year and met Courtney McBath. Courtney was another incoming freshman, and witnessed to me and other students about Jesus. 

My goal at that time was to chart my own course, to make a difference in the world and most of all to be happy. But in less than two years I was anything but happy. 

I reached out to my friend Courtney for spiritual help and made a sincere commitment to follow Jesus, who died for our sins and was raised from the dead. As it turns out, Rocklyn and I both became believers, completely independently, within a couple of days of one another.

Eventually, we both started attending the same church that Courtney attended, which happened to be a Church of God, the same movement that my relatives were a part of in Chicago. They knew the pastor, Pastor Thompson, from the time he’d spent at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and were thrilled that we were saved and part of a good church. 

As a follower of Jesus, my life has been transformed in fundamental ways. My focus is on expanding God’s kingdom. Jesus is the King and his kingdom is characterized by love, peace, joy, justice and fruitfulness. Rather than simply be happy, my goal is see God’s will done, to walk in my purpose and to help other people follow Jesus, experience the kingdom and fulfill their mission as well.