Gatesville Lions Club welcomes youth pastor Jeffrey Shonkwiler as new member

The Gatesville Lions Club added Jeffrey Shonkwiler to its membership roster at a weekly noon meeting at the Junction on Route 36, reinforcing a local service network that still depends on neighbors showing up, not just institutions.

Shonkwiler serves as youth pastor for Coryell Community Church, and his sponsorship came from Eric Moffett, the church’s lead pastor and a Lions Club member. The connection linked two of Gatesville’s most visible community circles, faith and civic service, at a time when both continue to carry a share of the county’s day-to-day volunteer work.

The induction had been expected earlier in the year, but the timing shifted after Shonkwiler and his family welcomed their first child. That detail gave the moment a familiar small-town rhythm: community commitments often move around family life rather than the other way around, especially in places where the same people are asked to lead in church, school and civic organizations.

The club meets every Wednesday at noon at the Junction on Route 36, and the new-member welcome was part of a broader pattern. The Gatesville Lions Club has also inducted new members in recent meetings, including April 15 and Oct. 29, showing that recruitment has remained active rather than episodic. For a club built around service, that continuity matters because it keeps the volunteer bench deep enough to support projects as they come up.

That ongoing membership growth matters in Coryell County, where volunteer groups often help fill gaps that local government, schools and other institutions cannot fully cover on their own. Clubs like the Lions create a place where residents can turn a willingness to help into practical action, whether that means organizing charity efforts, supporting local projects or simply keeping a dependable network of service in motion.

Shonkwiler’s own background reflects that kind of local continuity. Coryell Community Church identifies him as Student Pastor and says he grew up attending the church. The church also notes that he is serving as interim Youth Pastor while working on a degree in Exercise Physiology from UMHB, a combination that keeps him tied both to the church and to the younger families it serves.

The Lions movement itself stretches far beyond Gatesville. Lions Clubs International was founded in 1917 and now counts about 1.4 million members worldwide. Texas Lions still frame that identity in the old motto, “We Serve,” and in Gatesville that service now includes one more member ready to take part in the work.