In the year 2003, Darlene and I started attending a local Baptist Church because our son Daniel had been participating in their youth group. In April 2003, during a church-wide reading of a book called, The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, I was drawn to follow the Lord. I do not attribute my salvation to this book, however, the Lord did use it to bring me to repentance and faith.
After reading that book I began to read the scriptures daily and I prayerfully sought to follow the Lord in obedience. It was when reading the word of God, particularly, the Gospel According to John, that the blinders came off and the Lord gave me a new heart. I was literally born again through the testimony of the Holy Spirit (inward call) and the testimony of the prophets and apostles (outward call). The early church Pastor, Irenaeus of Lyons (130-202 A.D.) said that God guides His sheep with His two hands: His Word and His Spirit.1
My given name is Michael Brian Peek, but people call me Mike. I am the eldest son of Richard and Carole Peek, I was born May 4, 1968 in Richardson, Texas. I am husband to Darlene, we were married June 30, 1990 in Mansfield, Louisiana. I am father to Daniel James Peek whom the Lord gave me to adopt on November 4, 1992. I am father to Bethany Rachel Peek, born to us on July 20, 1993.
Since 2012, Darlene and I have fellowshipped at Sylvania Church in Tyler, Texas. We are a Reformed Southern Baptist Church (SBC). We are Particular-Baptist; we believe in the sovereign grace of God in the salvation of man.
I graduated North Garland high school in 1987. I spent the first 5 years after high school, before going to college, in the U.S. Army. I was stationed in the country of Panama, Ft. Knox, KY (where I meet Darlene), Ft. Polk, LA, and lastly the country of Korea. After discharge from the Army I went to college. I graduated in 1997 and became a Registered Nurse. My profession for the past 20 years has been cardiovascular-critical care (ICU) nursing. I am currently in graduate school at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary working towards a Master of Theological Studies.
Now why would a Registered Nurse want to take seminary classes? When someone hears that I am taking seminary classes they ask, “Are you going to be a pastor?” This is not the reason that I am taking seminary classes. Why then?
At the beginning of the year 2010, I was lead to share my faith in Jesus Christ with others, but did not know how. I began reading about others who were sharing their faith in Jesus Christ. One of the books that I read was, Give ME A J! by Author Blessitt, but his methodology amounted to getting someone to repeat a prayer. I then came to read The Way of the Master by Ray Comfort and became interested in Ray’s teaching on how to share your faith with others. This eventually lead me to open-air preaching and my first Super Bowl outreach with Sports Fans Outreach International, January, 2013 in New Orleans, LA.
I could have continued as I was doing; reading the Bible daily, listening to preaching on Sundays and reading other books during the week. However, I understood that if I am to truly tell people what the Bible is saying about God (Father, Son and Spirit), about man, about salvation, about the church and about the judgment; I must undergo a formal-structured discipleship program which is what seminary is.2
I believe that God’s justification of man is declared in scripture alone.3 Justification is a gift, you cannot earn it.4 Justification is given by the grace of God alone (God did not have to give it to anyone). God said to Moses, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.”5 Justification is received through faith alone, in Christ Jesus alone, and is for the glory of God alone.6 The apostle Paul said, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”7 Therefore, I am compelled to go out and preach the gospel.
I spent a three-year period, 2012-2015, memorizing the entire Gospel According to John word-for-word. I now use my memorization of it to publicly promote the reading of the Gospel According John. I do this by reciting 1-3 chapters in open-air, then I give copies of the book away to passersby’s. I do this for three reasons, all of which comes from the Gospel According to John:
1. It is the Word of God who draws His sheep and gives eternal life to them. Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” (Jn 10:27-28, NASB)
2. There must be both an inward-call (testimony of the Holy Spirit) and an outward-call (testimony of the apostles) before faith occurs. The apostles were the ones who witnessed Jesus life, death and resurrection; therefore, it is their witness that must be proclaimed. Jesus said to His disciples, “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.” (Jn 15:26-27, NASB)
3. The Gospel According to John is an eye witness testimony about Jesus, written by the disciple whom Jesus loved. (cf. Jn 21:20-24)
My Sunday school teacher, Paul McClung, D. Min, in his practical commentary on Jonah said, “Men of God today must preach Jesus. Jesus means ‘salvation is of the Lord.’ If salvation depends solely upon God, only God is able to save and accomplish what is needed for salvation. Man can only be saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.”8
1 Justo L. González, The story of Christianity (New York:
HarperCollins, 2010) 85.
2 Jason Duesing, A Conversation with Dr. Jason Duesing, Vimeo, accessed January
2017, https://vimeo.com/116191698.
2017, https://vimeo.com/116191698.
3 Cf.
Romans 3:21-26.
Romans 3:21-26.
4 Cf.
Romans 3:10-20.
Romans 3:10-20.
5 Exodus 33:19, NASB.
6 Cf.
Romans 3:21-26.
Romans 3:21-26.
7 Romans 10:17, NASB.
8 Paul D. McClung, Jonah: Salvation is of the Lord, (Paul D. MClung, 2016) 75.
