Pastor Ivan L. Cornwell
LCA Administrator & Technical Director
Pastor Ivan L. Cornwell was born in Ely, MN on July 22, 1959. Pastor Cornwell’s father was a logger in the process of building his own logging company when he was tragically killed in an unrelated accident in 1961. Pastor Cornwell’s mother remarried in 1964 and the family moved to an old farm home outside the small city of Horicon, WI. Pastor Cornwell’s stepfather worked as a machinist and his mother worked part-time as a caterer and cake decorator. A sister and brother were added to the family and they attended a United Methodist Church.
In 1971, at twelve years old, Pastor Cornwell gave his life to the Lord at a Billy Graham film and received a call from God into full-time ministry. In 1974, at a Sunday evening service at Christian Life Fellowship in Mayville, WI, Pastor Cornwell responded to an altar call and was baptized in the Holy Spirit. He eventually joined that church and became active in the youth group. In 1975 Pastor Cornwell met Lisa Claflin at a church potluck. The two of them became close friends and their relationship grew.
Pastor Cornwell was an active musician in high school. He was also an outspoken Christian, leading a Bible study and a morning prayer group at the school. During his high school years Pastor Cornwell held several jobs. He worked on a farm, delivered newspapers, worked at a restaurant, and did light mechanic work at a local car dealership. He graduated from Horicon high school in 1977.
After attending North Central Bible College and the University of Wisconsin for one year, Pastor Cornwell discontinued his education and formed a gospel band called the Sonset Express. He took a position as a car salesman to pay the bills and eventually worked as a maintenance mechanic for a tool company. In 1979 Pastor Cornwell and his high school sweetheart, Lisa, got married and moved into a mobile home on an acre of land next to his parents. Pastor Cornwell and Lisa were active in the church. In addition to the band’s ministry, Pastor Cornwell served on the church board and was a lay youth pastor. Lisa served as the mission’s secretary. Lucas was added to the family in 1981.
In 1982, God made it clear that the family should pull up stakes and return to college. They moved to Springfield, MO where Pastor Cornwell attended Central Bible College, majoring in music. Sam was added to the family in 1984 and Pastor Cornwell graduated with honors in 1985.
Pastor Cornwell and family moved to Philadelphia, PA where he served as youth and music director at Calvary Temple and the music director at Calvary Temple Christian Academy. Alexandria was added to the family in 1986. After four years of successful ministry he was appointed as the school administrator. As the children got older Lisa worked closely with her husband serving as a bus driver, care giver, substitute teacher and eventually the administrative secretary. During his 13 years in Philadelphia Pastor Cornwell was ordained as an Assemblies of God minister, served on the Penn-Del District youth committee, served as the District Fine Arts Coordinator and received his master’s degree in education at Philadelphia Biblical University.
In 1998, Pastor Cornwell took the position of Headmaster at Calvary Academy in Lakewood, NJ. He served that K – 12 grade school for 5 years. Lisa taught computer to students in grades 6 – 12. During this time Pastor Cornwell was appointed to the MACSA advisory council, served as an accreditation chair for the Middle States Association, and became the ACSI representative for southern New Jersey.
In 2003, Pastor Cornwell took the position as principal of Pittsburgh East Christian School where he served for a brief time during a transitional time for that school. He began his doctoral studies at Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA in 2003.
On July 18, 2004 Pastor Cornwell joined the pastoral staff at Bethel Assembly of God to serve as the Administrator of Littlestown Christian Academy and to serve in a newly created role as the Technical Director for Bethel Assembly. Pastor Cornwell is in the process of writing his doctoral dissertation which will deal with pastoral leadership as it applies to Christian schooling. As the Technical Director he oversee the audio/visual and computer aspects of the various Bethel ministries.
