Shawn Bowman was born and raised in North Dakota on a small farm near Maddock.  He graduated from Maddock High School in 1987 and received a Bachelor in Science specializing in Agricultural Education from North Dakota State University in 1993.  Much personal distress, including the loss of both of his grandparents, who had raised him, prompted deep spiritual yearning late in his college years. 

By 1995, Shawn came to understand his lost condition and surrendered to the Lord's calling for discipleship.  He attended the Lutheran Brethren Seminary during the 1996-1997 school year and then over the next four years worked as an agricultural consultant in Devils Lake, North Dakota.  He used his seminary training almost daily as he witnessed to hundreds of clients and people of the community.