Pastor Karen is a 2005 graduate of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary earning a Master of Divinity Degree. She grew up on a dairy farm in Denmark, South Carolina, and graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1980 earning a Bachelor of Science Degree from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

She is a second career pastor, entering seminary after more than nineteen years in the computer software industry. Pastor Karen married Sandy Gibson, a Lieutenant Colonel in the South Carolina Air National Guard, in 1980. Pastor Karen and Sandy have two children, Seth and Victoria.

The Gibson family loves the beach and cooking out.