BIOGRAPHY

Shawn Maassel
Email:  smaasselflc@chesapeake.net

Mrs. Maassel graduated from Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Indiana in 1986 with degrees in psychology and pre-physical therapy.  She continued on to the University of Maryland at Baltimore and completed a bachelor’s degree in physical therapy in 1988.  Shawn worked as a physical therapist in the St. Mary’s County, Maryland school system full time for almost two years before she and her husband had their first child.  She spent the next 9 years raising three children, volunteering at their schools and at church (First Lutheran) and doing home care physical therapy part time.  In 1998, when First Lutheran sought additional ministerial staff, Shawn prayerfully and enthusiastically took the opportunity to apply for the position of Minister of Family Life, Youth and Education.  She officially joined the staff at First Lutheran in this capacity in September of 1999.  In June, 2006, she completed a Director of Christian Education colloquy program with Concordia University, St. Paul, Minnesota.

Our Minister of Family Life oversees the family and youth ministries of the congregation as well as advises the education ministries and Little Lambs Preschool Board. She teaches our middle school confirmation program and finds joy in sharing a message with the youngest children of the congregation each Sunday during the services.  Shawn is an aerobics and strength-training instructor with Body & Soul Ministries (see “activities” at First Lutheran.)  

Shawn is involved in the local community through the Calvert County Interagency Council for Children and Families, Success By Six, the American Red Cross, and various leadership opportunities such as community “study circles” and most recently the Leadership in Action Program (LAP).

Shawn and her husband Paul reside in St. Leonard, Maryland with two sons and a daughter.