Ministry Overview

GospelFest Ministries

GospelFest Ministries is a comprehensive music ministry that offers many different services including concert production, publishing, arranging, typesetting, a nationally syndicated radio program, recordings and general music production services. All these different facets work toward spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ both directly, through personal contact with people at concerts and via the radio program, and indirectly, by helping equip others to share the gospel through the publishing and arranging of gospel music.

Shawn Degenhart

Shawn was born and raised in central Illinois, attending Highvew Church of God in Washington, where he became a believer at the age of 9. His exposure to gospel hymns and the songs of Bill & Gloria Gaither laid a very important foundation for what the future held for Shawn. Piano lessons in junior high along with musicals and choirs in high school led him to the music program at Illinois State University where he received a bachelor’s degree in music theory/composition and music history.

While intending for a career in musical theatre or collegiate teaching, that changed forever when he attended his first Gaither Homecoming concert in February of 1997. It was there that he was introduced to names like Speer, Goodman and Hess, and it was there he fell in love with southern gospel music. That fall, he attended the National Quartet Convention in Lousiville, where he met many people, including Ben Speer, who talked with him about the Stamps-Baxter School of Music.

As a college graduation present from his parents, Shawn attended the Stamps-Baxter School of Music in the summer of 1998 where he met many people involved in the southern gospel industry: the Speer Family, Jake Hess, Glen Payne, Vestal Goodman, James Blackwood and many others.

In 2004, Shawn became a faculty member at the school, teaching music theory, sight- singing, ear-training and advanced part-writing. It was through these experiences that Shawn saw God leading Him to full-time music ministry.

While in the graduate music program at ISU, Shawn met his future, wife, Anne Twitty, also receiving a master’s degree in music. After graduation, Shawn began working at Grace Presbyterian Church in Peoria, IL. For two years, he served as a video editor and graphic designer before becoming assistant music minister.

In the summer of 2004, while expecting their first child, Shawn and Anne felt the call to full-time ministry and in January of 2005, joined Hands of Love Ministry as Director of Programming. While with Hands of Love, he cultivated his GospelFest concert series as well as began a daily, hour-long southern gospel radio program on Peoria’s local Moody affiliate.

Shawn and Anne left Hands of Love in the spring of 2009 to form “GospelFest Ministries.” They live in Metamora, IL, with their 2 daughters, Clara and Eliza. In addition to the ministry, Shawn also serves as music director at Grace Evangelical Church in Morton, IL.