Teresa Clark leaves behind legacy of discipleship and faithful service

By Julia Swain 

Entering Teresa Clark’s office, the sound of laughter echoes through the room, reverberating off of the walls as she finishes up a conversation with a colleague. When a student came in mid-interview, she did not even bat an eye before greeting him with kindness and sincerity. This  warm personality coupled with a heart for intentional interaction is what will ultimately define Clark’s legacy at Cedarville. 

Before starting at Cedarville as the head volleyball coach and professor in the Allied Health department, Clark was working as a kindergarten teacher at a Christian school in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She and her husband, Jim, who is the sports information director at Cedarville, have two kids, who were in their senior and freshman years of high school at the time. 

Clark’s daughter, Carla, participated in a program for the children of Cedarville alumni similar to what is now Cedarville’s summer scholars program. This allows students to take a general education course for credit while living the life of a Cedarville student for a few weeks in the summer. Following that experience, she was hooked on the idea of attending Cedarville herself. Unfortunately, the Clarks’ finances were not going to be enough to cover the cost. 

“We had our daughter apply for a lot of financial aid,” Clark said. “She got a lot of little scholarships. But it still wasn’t going to meet the needs that we were going to have. And so we just started praying about it.” 

At Clark’s school there was a parent prayer group that accepted faculty prayer requests. Clark, who only ever put in professional requests, decided to throw in a personal one: college finances. 

“I still remember I was teaching kindergarten at the time and I was down on my knees in the hallway zipping up the coat of this little five year old boy and the lady that was in charge of the prayer group came by and tapped me on the shoulder and just said ‘God will supply your needs,’” Clark said.

That was the reminder Clark needed to turn her worries over to the Lord and to focus on trusting Him.

“It always takes me back to Proverbs 16:9, that says ‘the heart of man plans his ways, but the Lord establishes his steps,” Clark said. “Here was my thinking, here was His plan.” 

That weekend, just a few days after that interaction, Clark traveled to campus for the annual Little Sibs event with her daughter and some friends. It was there that the Lord began to answer her prayers in a big way. 

Former cross country and track and field coach Elvin King notified Clark of a job opening as the head volleyball coach for the university, and despite her uncertainty, participated in multiple rounds of interviews. 

“To be honest with you, in that interview process, I said to Dr. Callan, who was the athletic director who was interviewing me, you need to talk to my husband, because I don’t make the decision to move my family here, my husband makes that decision,” Clark said. 

Prior to the final interview with the board of trustees, Clark’s husband told her that he was “ninety five percent sure” that they would not move forward with the decision to move their family to Cedarville.

“That totally relaxed me as I have this room full of trustees asking me questions, and I just was like, very relaxed because I’m not taking this job, so it doesn’t matter,” Clark said. 

Following the interview, Jim revealed some pretty surprising information to Clark. 

“My husband and I meet up and he goes, ‘You’re not going to believe this, but I think we’re supposed to do this,’” Clark said. “And I immediately looked at him and I said, ‘Well, I might have just blown it.’” 

Despite her doubt, Clark won the job, and she and her family moved to Cedarville that summer. 

“I still distinctly remember him [Jim] gathering our family, our daughter, our son, and saying this opportunity God has dropped into our laps, and I am convinced this is what the Lord wants our family to do,” Clark said.  

Clark shared that the decision was not easy. 

“We left 18 years of friendships, our really good church that we loved, our kids were raised there,” Clark said. “Carla was in her senior year and our son was finishing his freshman year. He played soccer and we came to Cedar Cliff, who didn’t have a soccer team. His world really had the hardest adjustment.”

Clark remembers feeling the Lord’s presence every step of the way. 

“He has provided everything we needed right in the moment that we needed it,” Clark said. “I’m talking physically, I’m talking emotionally. I was so overwhelmed with all the responsibilities as soon as I hit campus because I was teaching and coaching and trying to help a son who didn’t want to be here. At the right time, God provided everything that we needed.” 

While Clark began her Cedarville career as a professor and as a coach, ten years in, she decided it was time to retire from coaching. 

“For the first ten years of my twenty eight years at Cedarville, I was teaching and coaching,” Clark said. “The Lord made it very clear to me when it was time for me to not coach. I remember walking into the gym, and I had nothing in me. I was like, ‘I don’t want to do this.’”

With her passion gone, Clark knew that it was the Lord telling her to make a change. 

“I lost my passion, and I thought to myself, this is not good for me, and it’s not good for the young women on this team, and it’s certainly not good for the university if I’m just going through the motions and I am not doing the job to the level that God expects,” Clark said. 

Her final season was admittedly her favorite one of them all. 

“I took all of the stress of responsibility and coaching and winning and put it away,” Clark said. “I remember saying, ‘I just want to enjoy this season.’ It was the best season of all ten as far as win-loss record, and as far as opportunities to witness.”

Clark shared one area in which the Lord worked in her heart during her time as a coach. 

“I went on seven mission trips in the first twelve or fifteen years that I was here, and those mission trips really changed my perspective spiritually,” Clark said. “I started to see Kingdom work in a different light.”

In addition to coaching, Clark had a deep passion for teaching, and more specifically, the mentorship opportunities that came with it. 

“The classroom is good, I enjoy that,” Clark said. “I think I teach with passion, but it’s getting to know the students one on one. You don’t get to do that in the classroom when you’re standing in front of a whole group and you’re explaining the content.” 

Clark shared one mentorship opportunity with a student who was considering changing her major. Clark recalled being encouraged when she was able to actively see the Lord working in her student’s heart. This resulted in a change from Early Childhood Education to Biblical Studies with a plan to work in children’s ministry. 

Outside of teaching and coaching, Clark has a myriad of other interests, including planning her family’s vacations, reading, and scrapbooking, which she is excited to do more with her grandkids now that she has more free time. 

As of right now, Clark and her husband, who is also retiring at the end of this semester, do not have any retirement plans.

“I’m just not sure what ministry God wants us to be involved in, but I know when the time is right, He will guide me,” Clark said. “He will show me, He’s done that all my life. So I’m looking at a little bit of rest and then we’ll see.” 

With whatever Clark does in the coming years, she will continue to put her trust into the Lord and surrender whatever plan she has for her life for the plan that the Lord has. 

“God is faithful, you can trust Him,” Clark said. “Now you go do it.” 

Julia Swain is a sophomore journalism student and the on-campus news editor for Cedars. She enjoys listening to Taylor Swift, watching any Cleveland sports team, and hanging out with friends in her free time.

Photo by Ian Chan