Shaun & Beth LePage (Birthdays: 4/18 & 6/3)

Children (birthdays): Hannah (6/29/1999), Abigail (12/16/2000), Josiah (11/25/2002), Lydia (4/4/2005), Mary (2/15/2007) and Elijah (10/12/2009; not pictured).

Links

• Shaun’s email address: shaun@community-bible.org
• Beth’s email address:
• Family website
• “Our Pastor” page
• Shaun’s Blog

A Little About Beth

(coming soon)

A Little About Shaun

I grew up Roman Catholic—very Roman Catholic: 12 years of Catholic School, altar boy and Notre Dame fan. My whole world was Roman Catholic—my family, my extended family and all my friends. But, while I was in high school, I met a college basketball player named Larry who was dating my sister Mary. Larry and Mary started sharing Christ with me.

Now, I knew about Jesus, but Larry knew Jesus. He spoke about a personal relationship with Jesus that started by faith.  He challenged me to read my Bible and some other books about the Bible that really got me thinking. I also watched him. His relationship with God was much different than my religion. I watched my sister’s life change.

As a Catholic, I had always known that Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I also knew I was sinful—believe me, Catholics know sin better than anyone! But, I realized something I had not heard in my years as a Catholic: that I needed to personally put my faith in Jesus Christ to be saved from sin. Again, I knew about Jesus. I even believed He was/is God and that He died on the cross for the sins of the world. But I realized—by reading my Bible—that I needed to make a choice myself. The Bible says forgiveness of sins and eternal life are given through Jesus as a “gift”. For example, Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The Apostle Paul reports that the Corinthians “received” the gospel and therefore were “saved” (1 Corinthians 15:1-11). He reminded the Ephesians, “…By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9) The Apostle John wrote, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12)—equating “received” with “believe”. It makes perfect sense: In order for a gift to be yours, you must receive it. If you don’t—if you leave it sitting on the table and walk away—it’s not yours. For this gift to be mine, I must receive it.

April 9, 1982, during a Russ Taff concert at Memorial Hall in Joplin, Missouri, I knew I had a decision to make. I knew I needed to trust Jesus—to put my eternal destiny in His hands in order to receive forgiveness of sin and eternal life. I did. I knelt down with Larry, Mary and Russ himself and I told God in prayer that I was now trusting Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sin and eternal life.

As a Catholic, if you would have asked me if I was going to heaven when I died, I would have said, “I hope so.” Now, when people ask me if I’m going to heaven, I say, “Yes!” Not because I’m such a good person. Not because I’m keeping the sacraments faithfully. Not because of any of my works. I know I’m going to heaven because of the fact that Jesus Christ died for my sins and rose from the dead, giving eternal life to me as a “free gift” when I believed.

The Apostle John wrote in 1 John 5:13, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” I no longer do good works to “do my part” in getting to heaven, or out of guilt. I now do good works out of gratitude for what Jesus has done for me.

A Little More About Us

We both grew up in Joplin, Missouri – about four miles away from each other. But we didn’t meet until college (Missouri Southern State College). This was a good thing because Shaun is five years older than Beth and didn’t become a Christian until college. Beth grew up in a Christian home and trusted Christ as a little girl. Shaun grew up in a Catholic home and trusted Christ at the age of 19.

We met through a talent contest and discovered that we had some mutual friends. Before long we were dating and then married in 1990. This was an important time for other reasons as well. Beth had come to the conviction that she should use her singing and musical abilities only for the Lord. Shaun came to the conviction that he was being called into full-time ministry – probably as a senior pastor.

In 1991 we moved to Dallas where Shaun entered Dallas Theological Seminary. We fell in love with a small church there (Coppell Bible Fellowship in Coppell, Texas) and stayed for 14 years. Shaun led worship for 12 of those years and we had a wonderful time ministering together. Shaun led the singing and played guitar. Beth sang and played bass. We also started a youth ministry and an in-home Bible study/fellowship group (much like our Community Groups). It was a wonderful time of enjoying the life God has given us together and gaining the experience we needed in order to be useful to Him in local church ministry. We were married for nine years before God blessed us with children. We began to believe we weren’t going to have any, but to our great joy, God said “yes” to our prayers for children—several times now!

Shaun became the senior pastor of Community Bible Church in October of 2005. We feel so blessed to be here, serving in Lawrence with our brothers and sisters at CBC.

Some of our favorite Bible passages:

Psalm 127; Lamentations 3:22-23; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8; Ephesians 5:21-33.

Contact Information