Randall Murphree
AFA Journal editor
Above, Clark Shaw
March 2018 – Six-year-old Brooks Shaw, with dad Clark’s help, built a lemonade stand, Lemonade for the Lord, outside the family restaurant in Jackson, Tennessee.
“Over the next several years, Brooks went on to raise about $10,000 to support the work of AFA/AFR,” Clark told AFA Journal.
That was some 25 years ago. Today Brooks sells more than lemonade with his dad at their Old Country Store Restaurant. And they have remained great friends to AFA.
“Don Wildmon is one of the most courageous men in America,” Clark said. “He’s one of my great heroes of the faith.”
Family reunion
It was like a family reunion when Clark and his wife Juanita came down to Tupelo one day last April, bringing lunch for the whole AFA family. They’re used to cooking big – they still own and operate the Old Country Store Restaurant.
They brought more than plenty for more than 100 AFA staffers plus visitors in the house for American Family Radio’s spring sharathon. AFA was celebrating its 40th anniversary, and the Shaws were celebrating 25 years of being affiliated with AFR.
In the early 1990s, Clark and friends wanted to bring Christian radio to their hometown, but no station was available for purchase in Jackson. Aware that AFR was going on the air in 1991, Clark called AFR founder Don Wildmon for advice.
Hardly a year later, AFR was ready to select a site for its first translator station.
Guess where – yes, the Old Country Store Restaurant. Within a few months, AFR engineers had installed equipment in the landmark restaurant, and it became the prototype for a 180-station network airing the programming initiated at the flagship station in Tupelo. It’s still in the restaurant.
“Today it broadcasts nearly 60 miles in every direction with great teaching, music, and news from a Christian perspective,” said Clark.
“In this post-Christian culture, people need to hear that there is a place where hope, love, forgiveness, and a new life can be found in Jesus Christ.”
Further impact
Clark’s parents founded the Old Country Store in 1965, and in its 52-year history, it has grown into the Casey Jones Village, a go-to family and tourist destination. One would think that with the restaurant, the railroad icon Casey Jones home and museum, the Village Church, the Wellwood Store, mini-golf course, and Providence House event venue, Clark would stay pretty busy. He does.
But that’s not enough for a man committed to Christ, community, and country. Clark is a bold, self-professed activist who subscribes to AFA email alerts and AFA Journal, often following through by speaking up on various cultural issues.
“I write my congressional delegation on social issues,” he said. “I picket our local Target Store, telling them it’s not OK for men to use women’s restrooms. I’ve met with the editorial board of our local newspaper to discuss the horrors of abortion.”
He’s active in his church, the Family Action Council of Tennessee, and countless other Christian and conservative arenas, local to national.
“What God designed for His creation, and what our founders intended for our country are slowly but surely being erased from our history,” Clark said. “We must stay strong, ask God for a fearless heart, speak truth, and finish well.” 
The Clark Shaw Challenge: What Christians must do
▶ Wake up and see what’s happening to the family in our culture.
▶ Admit the culture hates what followers of Christ stand for.
▶ Ask God to turn the tide in this culture war.
▶ Be active in a church that preaches and teaches truth in love.
▶ Run your life – family, work, personal – as a ministry.
For more information, visit caseyjones.com.
