Associate Pastor/Director of Community Ministries
The Reverend Ms. Susan A. Clayton came to Independent Presbyterian Church in July of 2001, as Associate Pastor and Director of Community Ministries. Susan was born in Birmingham, Alabama and grew up at South Highland Presbyterian Church. She graduated from Mountain Brook High School in 1980 and received her Bachelor of Arts from Emory University in Atlanta in 1984 with a major in Religion and a minor in Theatre Studies. Immediately after college, she entered seminary at Yale Divinity School in New Haven, CT. and received her Master of Divinity Degree in 1988. In 1987 she did an intern year away from seminary as a Chaplain Resident at Baptist Medical Center, Princeton in Birmingham.
After graduation from Yale Divinity School in 1988, Susan was hired as a Resident in the Pastoral Care and Counseling Department of IPC. During these two years, Susan received Pastoral Counseling training through Baptist Medical Center and worked in the office at IPC doing pastoral care with the congregation, teaching, worship leadership, and pastoral counseling with groups and individuals. In 1990, after completing this residency, Susan went to Ensley- Highland Presbyterian Church as the Stated Supply during the time that congregation was in the process of dissolving the church. She was then called to serve as Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Childersburg, Alabama. In November of 1992, Susan accepted the call to serve as the Associate Pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, serving in a generalist position with a special focus in the area of local and global mission. She came to IPC from that position at First Presbyterian.
