Shawn Stewart - Designer

Being the Student Pastor of an all-Arab church, rooming with two Kuwaiti-born friends in Orange County, Calif. and working as an art director in downtown Los Angeles is a long way from the small town, Baptist church world of rural Ohio where Shawn was born and raised. After graduating high school Shawn left the pasty whiteness of small town America for the multi-ethnic, Latin flavored Fort Lauderdale, Fla. and the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale.

In 1996, Shawn migrated yet again to an entirely different culture—Nashville, Tenn., where he worked in the midst of the Christian culture as a graphic designer for Provident Music Group. This time, which included two missions trips to Eastern Africa, became a defining moment in Shawn's life and is what brought him to attend Bible college and plant a church with his longtime pastor and friend, Jeff Hamilton, in yet another culture: Southern California.

Until recently, Shawn pastored around 50 Arab American students with church backgrounds ranging from Coptic Orthodox to Pentecostal and was affectionately named "Buta Beta" or "White Duck". Shawn is a student of cross cultural communication, Arabic, contemplation and authenticity.

Shawn is the creative director for Personality™, a Los Angeles based agency that specializes in cause marketing, publishing, and design.

Shawn is married to the most beautiful woman he knows, Valerie.