Grace Community Church Pastor to Retire

After serving multiple generations of local families and guiding local parishioners through some of life’s most difficult and most joyous moments, Grace Community Church Pastor Don Shoemaker is retiring.

Shoemaker’s ministry spans four decades. This week, he told The Press-Telegram he plans to spend his time traveling and writing and continuing on as the senior chaplain of the Seal Beach Police Department.

While many in the community know him as the face of Grace Community Church for his 27 years of service, others came to know him more recently as the a voice of calm and comfort who counseled the grieving in the aftermath of the Salon Meritage shooting that left eight people dead. As the police department chaplain in the aftermath of the county’s worst mass murder, Shoemaker took on a public role, putting the community’s grief into words as well as its spirit of love and healing.

This Press-Telegram article has more on Shoemaker’s 43-year ministry.