Journey of Shawn Peoples' Walk in Grace!

Today is Caleb’s 13th birthday! 13 years ago, I anticipated his arrival with great expectation and desire. As much as I loved our daughter Haleigh, I wanted a son to share my likes and hobbies, to lead and train into a man, and to be a companion one day as he would begin manhood and have a family. In the last 13 years, I have not been disappointed with Caleb for a minute. He is everything I desire to be in a man; calm, caring, gentle, strong willed, steady, loving, and intelligent. In many ways, Caleb is like me and in many other ways he is not. We share a common love for analytical challenges. When he was under a year old, people would think he was mad because he would carry this scowl about him, however it wasn’t his emotion showing but his mental process showing while he attempted to analyze the people interacting with him and the situations he was experiencing. I could see in his eyes then, and still see today, a man engaging the world before speaking, and loving...

         This morning, my wife thought it would be a great idea to recount and remember the past year of pain, joy, prayers, and how God has answered every challenge with our children tonight. As she and I have taken today to reminisce, God continues to remind me of His faithfulness in our journey with Him. When I resigned last year as the pastor of Faith Community Church Lakeside and then restarted a degree I should have finished 22 years ago, my only hope was God providing and not leaving us to flail about dying from pain brought on by an uncertain future. Even thought today, that future is as uncertain as it was when I resigned, I am more hopeful that God is able to carrying us through and cause us to thrive as he has these last 9 months. With every resume I send to churches I can hear the enemy tell me how unqualified I am and how no church is going to hire someone not currently at another church. I am met with doubts and tempted to give up the idea of m...

     First, I am incredibly grateful for those who have been praying for my family and I, as I finished something that should have been done 22 years ago. Yes, 22 years in the making and I can finally say that I am a college graduate. I completed 14 classes in 8 months and I am exhausted. I finished with a 3.62 GPA and will have made the Dean's List twice (I would have made it three times but they didn't count the fist term back because I wasn't full time at that moment, but who is bitter?). Okay, I think the humble brag is done ... did I tell you I finished with a 3.62 GPA after starting with a 3.5 GPA in March?      I cannot take credit for one ounce of what has happened the last 8 months. It has been God's Grace that has kept me from giving up when times were hard or money was scarce. It has been His strength that got me alone three-four days a week to read and write. I didn't think I was going to make  that last week with three of my harder class...

     Last night, like many of you, I stayed up into the late hours of the morning to watch the election results with a curious anticipation of what might be next. When I finally went to bed at 3:30 A.M., I wondered what a Trump presidency would mean to the church. However, it is the rest of the country that I woke up with on my mind. Like many of us also, we are becoming more and more aware that Christianity is not the norm. I believe too many of us believe that the results were a collective, "We are a Christian nation again" to the rest of the world. I worry about many of us thinking this will fix the decisive division within our country, remove the rejection of God's moral standards (which is Himself, in case you didn't know it), and make America great again. I worry because we have tried this before and the rate of those rejecting Christ continues to increase. I worry because more and more of our students are leaving the church and will continue to as long as we at...

     Just a few minutes ago, I got off a phone call from a great friend. He is the kind of friend that you could have not talked to in years, then find yourself right back in a great conversation which lights up your heart! I am very thankful for friends like that, which I am fortunate enough to have a couple of. We have not talked to each other in over a year, so we took our 25 minute call and squeezed a year's worth of life into that moment.      Well, let me catch you up on the last few months and also challenge us in an area that is all too relevant to my life.      As many of you know, I began the process of taking 18 classes in nine months to finish my degree. There have been times that I really wanted to quit. Being 42 is harder than being 22 when it comes to college and life. I have had times of great frustration with busyness (because of school and family needs) and with my lack of rest (oh how I love a good nap). But God is usin...

     Right now, I am in the battle of my life ... well not really, but going back to school is kicking my butt. While heading to the local watering hole (aka Starbucks) a few days ago to write a paper, I listened to something that has disturbed me for a while. This episode not only disturbs me but also reveals my self exalting desire, which I will get to in a minute.      For years I have been leading people to engage their culture. I have had long discussions with other pastors about what are the best ways to interact with a culture that is becoming more and more hostile to Christianity. I have argued with fellow Christians when we are called to boycott people for being, well, not a Christian. I have to admit that there are lines that are probably crossed by me over and over in the hope to share Jesus with people. I am constantly asking God and myself if what I am embracing or participating in will bring glory to Jesus or will bring me into sin. I don't ...

I have to admit to you, I am beginning to dislike moving. Packing boxes, turning off and on services, selling my kids toys and old clothes is wearing a little thin on me. Michelle feels the same way to. There are days when I think all would be better if we could have just lived in Tennessee all our days and not move from state to state. Today is one of those heavy days, as I say goodbye to relationships that probably will not carry on past Facebook or a text every once in a while. Today is beginning to become emotional for me, but God has been good to show me what I would miss if we stayed in TN years ago. There are tons of people that we would not have had the honor to know, pour my life into, have their lives poured in us and fight with, if we had stayed put all those years ago. There are too many people who we would not have hurt for, prayed for, longed for if we would have stayed put. Although the pain of leaving so many people we love is hard, there is a joy in having been their...