Meet Shawn and Tanja

Shawn has been in full-time ministry for over 20 years serving in many areas such as youth pastor, college pastor, evangelist, missionary, professional sports chaplain and a church growth consultant.

In the late 90’s, Shawn went to the Brownsville Revival School of Ministry in Pensacola where he earned an associates degree in ministry and served full-time on the prayer team at the Brownsville Revival. He went on to become a youth pastor in Texas and Iowa. His youth ministry, Reality, experienced amazing growth going from 4 students to several hundred students in less than 2 years with outreaches topping over 1,000 students.

In 2004, Shawn founded Teen Unite, an evangelistic parachurch ministry uniting youth ministries together in cities across America for a united evangelistic event. Teen Unite reached thousands of High School students across the United States. Simultaneously, Shawn served as a professional sports chaplain, working with teams such as the Dallas Cowboys, Texas Rangers, Dallas Desperados, Allen Wranglers, Texas Revolution and several other professional indoor football teams between 2000-2011.

In 2013, Shawn went on staff at Gateway Church in Southlake, TX as an Associate Pastor and Dean of Students at The Kings University. At the same time, Shawn and Tanja started Ignite Europe. Although The Kings University was experiencing amazing growth, going from a start-up branch campus to a main campus university with over 500 students, Shawn and Tanja made a life move in 2016 by leaving everything in Texas to oversee Ignite Europe full-time from Zurich, Switzerland where they now live. 

Shawn has several earned degrees including an Associates of Practical Ministry, Bachelors in Biblical Studies, Master in Business Administration (MBA), Master in Practical Theology (MPT), and a Master Degree in Divinity (MDIV). He is also an entrepreneur and small business owner.

Born and raised in Switzerland, Tanja moved to the USA when she was 19 years old to attend Master’s Commission in Phoenix, Arizona under the leadership of Pastor Tommy Barnett. After graduating, she youth pastored at a church in Arizona. During this time, she met her husband, Corey, who was working as the television producer for Kenneth Copeland Ministries in Fort Worth, Texas. 

Tanja and Corey married in 2006. Tragically, on their honeymoon Corey ended up in the hospital with a seizure due to a brain tumor. His health quickly declined and in less than three years, Tanja was a widow at the age of 24.

After Corey’s death in 2009, Tanja went on staff at Tammy Lane Productions as a project manager and a few years later as a project manager at Gateway Church in Southlake, TX.

Shawn and Tanja married in 2011 and in 2013, started Ignite Europe. 

Tanja is passionate about seeing women become who God has designed them to be and seeing a generation discover their destiny and walk in victory. Having been a widow herself, her messages of life, purpose and victory in the midst of adversity are encouraging and are rallying a generation to reach the lost and brokenhearted.

Tanja is a wife, mother, author, and speaker. Together, Shawn and Tanja, have two children, Bailey and Zoé.