Local author spreads faith
Christy Pearce
A Maryville writer has found success with “Shattered,” a faith-based magazine headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama.
Published quarterly, “Shattered” is distributed throughout the United States and Canada.
Christy Pearce, who lives in Maryville with her husband, Jim, and their three children, said that writing has always been an interest, and she views it as a way to share her Christian faith.
“When I was young I was always interested in writing, and I wrote poems and short stories and things,” Pearce said. “I am a believer, and I try to filter everything through that spiritual point of view, through my connection with God.”
A few years ago Pearce began a blog based on her faith and daily observations. She called it “Faith Like Dirty Diapers,” because according to Pearce God speaks in everything, even a diaper change.
“I started blogging and sharing my faith and my outlook, and it wasn’t good,” Pearce said with a laugh. “The message was good, but the writing itself needed some help.”
After blogging for a while, Pearce began following a spiritual Facebook page where she found a “Shattered” article titled “9 Secrets Your Pastor’s Wife Wished You knew.”
Being a pastor’s wife herself — Jim leads the The Hub, a storefront church at 101 E. Fourth St. on the Maryville square — Pearce was intrigued.
She responded to the article via the comments section and began looking further into the magazine itself.
After visiting “Shattered’s” website, Pearce found that the magazine accepted submissions, so she sent one in.
“Maybe a month or so later the magazine contacted me and said that they wanted to use my story, but that they had some edits to suggest,” Pearce said. “The editors just took me by the hand and started training me. They helped me hone my writing skills and polish my work, and I’m still writing for them today.”
Pearce said her passion for writing stems from “sharing the gospel, and sharing the message of God for who he is and what he means to us.”
She adds: “That was the motivating vehicle for me to begin writing, and ‘Shattered’ has given me the great opportunity and liberty to share my faith and write about the word of God.”
Pearce has gained national attention for a profile on Angelia Waite, an author and theologian.
Waite lost her 3-year-old son Ramsey in a drowning accident, and Pearce wrote about Waite’s struggle to deal with the tragedy in an article titled “When Community Fails.”
“The editors at the magazine thought that I would be a good fit to write that article because we share a ministry background, and because I also have a 3-year-old son,” Pearce said.
For Waite, she said, the most difficult aspect of coping with Ramsey’s death was dealing with community members.
“Many times people just don’t know what to say to someone who has lost a child,” Pearce said. “And she got people saying the wrong things at the wrong time, people saying the wrong thing period, and people even said some downright insulting things.”
Waite herself has detailed her experiences in a book titled “Bomb Pops, Blow Dryers, and Butterfly Kisses.”
“The book has helped a lot of people, and many ministries have adopted it as sort of a how-to when dealing with grief and providing comfort,” Pearce said, “and I was so thankful I was given the opportunity to write about Angelia and her book.”
Pearce’s “Shattered” articles can be viewed at shatteredmagazine.net.
