Rob Peabody

Robert Peabody
Born (1981-09-10) September 10, 1981
Dallas, Texas
Occupation Pastor, author, director of Awaken Movement

Robert William Peabody Jr. (born September 10, 1981) is an evangelical Christian pastor, author, and the director of the American non-profit/charity, Awaken Movement. He founded the organisation in 2009 while pastoring a satellite campus of megachurch in the East Dallas area, as an effort to reach the church's surrounding neighbourhoods.

In January 2011, Peabody and his family moved from a suburb of Dallas to London, England to plant a local church in the London Borough of Redbridge. He serves as a missional consultant for several church networks, appears regularly at the Spring Harvest conferences in the United Kingdom and provides leadership for a national UK conference called The Pursuit.

Peabody is a frequent guest writer on several blogs and radio shows.

Early life

Peabody was born in Dallas, Texas and raised an evangelical Christian in a Bible church. Both of his parents migrated to Texas from Michigan in the late 1970s to assist in a local Dallas church plant.

After graduating from North Mesquite High School, he pursued a degree in Marketing from the University of Texas at Austin Business School. There he became heavily involved in Campus Crusade for Christ where he realised his calling into full-time ministry. While serving on a short-term internship with Campus Crusade in Orlando, Florida, Peabody met his future wife, Medea, and they married a few years later. Shortly after earning his Business Degree, he attended Dallas Theological Seminary and obtained his Master's in Christian Education.

Career

Peabody had a role on an internship at a megachurch in East Dallas. This developed into a full-time staff position serving in the college ministry. Later, he was ordained and asked to pastor one of its satellite campuses. During this pastorate, he felt led to begin Awaken Movement, which he used as a catalyst to launch his congregation into action-oriented faith.

Awaken Movement

The Awaken Movement began as a 501(c)(3) organisation designed to integrate music, art and worship as a catalyst to ignite church-goers into action-oriented faith. It is aimed at serving the local communities through acts of justice.

It serves as the international umbrella organisation for Awaken UK, which is the local network of communities participating in missional living. Currently, the parachurch organisation exists to resource the local church in order to inspire, educate and equip it for action. Awaken aims to do this through the mediums of worship music, personal and group studies and short films.

They are partnered with The Reset Movement, The Church of England, the International Mission Board, Compassion International, Logos Bible Software, Pulse, Association of Gospel Rescue Missions and Elevation.

www.awakenmovement.com

Projects

London

Shortly after moving to England, Peabody was commissioned by the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention to begin efforts in church planting in North East London. Additionally, his partnership with the Church of England paved the way to pioneer and lead fresh expressions of church seeking to engage a younger generation of non-churched people.

Kingdom Rise

In 2013, Peabody collaborated with Cris Rogers to create his first published resource, Kingdom Rise: Redefining a Life of Worship in the United States and the United Kingdom. A new way forward in Christian resources, this small group study combined Bible study with films and a worship album promoting issues of worship and justice.

Citizen

In 2014, Monarch Books published Peabody's first full-length book Citizen: Your Role in the Alternative Kingdom. This resource, published in the United Kingdom, United States, South Africa, and Australia, tells Peabody's journey from the corporate climb of the American megachurch into the grassroots initiative of church planting in England. A wake-up call to the Western Church, he challenges his readers by appealing to their loyalties and duties as citizens of God's kingdom. In October 2014, he and the Awaken Band traveled throughout America promoting the release of Citizen.

Fresh Expressions

In 2015, Peabody starting working with the Fresh Expressions movement. His role is to help develop a national strategy to encourage fresh expressions of church among young adults in Britain.

"I am extremely honoured and excited about the potential of this new partnership between Fresh Expressions and Awaken. I am praying that this will be the start of a long-term partnership and that God will help us to encourage a new generation of pioneers across the UK – and overseas. I am excited to play a part in helping shape and release this next generation to make kingdom living a reality in fresh, new ways."[1]

Intersect

Peabody directed a series called Intersect aimed at using the creative medium of video storytelling to start and facilitate discussions about where people's stories fitted in with God’s story. Each video involved a different individual (five in total) telling their authentic stories of circumstances that have forced them to examine how God might fit into their lives.

www.awakenmovement.com/intersect

The Pursuit

Peabody worked with Rogers on The Pursuit conference www.thepursuit.co.uk. The first conference was in May 2015 and there are further plans for another to be held in 2016.

The Pursuit is a four-day, 24/7 worship, prayer, community and justice gathering people. It is a weekend of retreat for people to engage with God and people in a real and authentic way.[2][3]

Awaken My City

Awaken My City is a smart phone application launching in Summer 2015. The idea behind www.awakenmycity.com is to bring churches, organisations and personal users together to make a tangible and lasting impact on their communities. With a map-based platform, users will be able to see what is going on around their area within a flew clicks and get involved.

Bibliography

Personal life

Peabody and his wife, Medea, lived in North East London with their three children before moving back to Texas in late 2016.

References

  1. ↑ www.freshexpressions.org.uk/news/robpeabody, May 2015
  2. ↑ churches.uk.ccli.com/2015/01/join-the-pursuit/, May 2015
  3. ↑ springharvest.org/the-pursuit/, May 2015
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