Founder and Senior Pastor
Mark Evans considered going to law school, but as he put it, “God had other things in mind.” He worked in various positions at churches for the first 13 years of his career before founding the Church of Rock Creek in Little Rock, where he is senior pastor, nearly 30 years ago.
“I loved the concept of starting a church from scratch,” he said. “My wife, Terri, and I started learning as much as we could about what it took to start a church and then praying about locations around the U.S. to start. Doors kept closing in other cities, and doors kept opening in Little Rock. I grew up in Little Rock, so I knew the city, and we knew this is where God was leading us to start a church.”
Although his education gave him Biblical knowledge, he said learning how to work with people and help them through their problems came with experience.
“The most important thing that I can do on a daily basis is to love people, show grace and mercy, and be willing to help them if I can,” he said.
He added that he finds satisfaction in working with others to help accomplish projects and achieve goals at the Church of Rock Creek.
“I love that God has allowed me to pastor the same congregation for 29 years,” he said. “It is one of the best blessings. To go from meeting in a small hotel conference room to meeting in warehouses to the church’s
40-acre ministry campus, this has been a great ride.”
He said his two greatest mentors have been his father, David Evans, and Dale Cowling, the late pastor of Second Baptist Church in Little Rock. Evans added that he, in turn, enjoys coaching young men and helping them talk through their problems as they start their careers and families.
“In my work at Rock Creek, getting to watch a person’s life change, is still the most amazing experience,” he said. “When the Lord works in a broken person’s heart and starts putting the pieces of their life back together again is still amazing to me to watch. I hope I never get over that.”
Inspired by a lifelong love of men’s fashion, he purchased Mr. Wicks in Little Rock’s Heights neighborhood in 2017 and relaunched the business as a premier destination for the latest looks and trends.
In addition, he is the founder of Feed Arkansas Kids, a Little Rock nonprofit that provides children who qualify for school nutrition programs with food to eat on weekends. The program feeds seven meals a weekend to 1,800 students every weekend during the school year.
Evans and his wife also support a pastor in Cusco, Peru, who oversees a mission center and several churches in the region.
