The people closest to you have a profound influence on the person you become. They shape your thinking, influence your decisions, strengthen your faith, and sometimes even determine the direction of your life.

In Part 6 of The Well-Lived Life, Senior Pastor Jeffrey Dean Smith explores the biblical wisdom of choosing relationships intentionally. Drawing from Proverbs 13:20 and other key passages, he reminds us that God never designed us to live in isolation. We need people who encourage us, challenge us, hold us accountable, and help us grow closer to Jesus Christ.

Discover why meaningful relationships require intentional investment and how the people you choose to walk beside you can help shape a life well lived.

The central truth: You cannot choose everyone who enters your life, but you must carefully choose who shapes your life.

Pastor Jeffrey Dean Smith

Donelson First

Part 6 | Relationships: Choose Your People

October 25, 2026

Words are powerful. A sentence spoken in five seconds can remain with someone for fifty years. Our words can encourage, heal, restore, and give hope. But they can also wound deeply, damage relationships, and leave scars that last a lifetime.

In Part 5 of The Well-Lived Life, Senior Pastor Jeffrey Smiths turn to James 3 to discover that the words we speak are far more than casual conversation. They reveal the condition of our hearts, influence the direction of our lives, and create an atmosphere in which the people around us must live.

Scripture reminds us that "the tongue has the power of life and death" [Proverbs 18:21]. But learning to speak life requires more than simply choosing better words. It begins with allowing Jesus Christ to transform our hearts.

What kind of atmosphere are your words creating in your home, your relationships, and your workplace? Are the people around you being strengthened by what you say, or wounded by it?

A well-lived life is not simply measured by how we spend our days, the decisions we make, or the work we accomplish. It is also revealed in the words we choose to speak - and sometimes, the words we choose to leave unspoken.

Pastor Jeffrey Dean Smith

Donelson First

Part 5 | Words: Speak Life

October 18, 2026

What if your work is about far more than earning a paycheck?

In Part 4 of The Well-Lived Life, Senior Pastor Jeffrey Dean Smith explores a biblical vision of work that reaches far beyond careers, titles, and occupations. From the opening chapters of Genesis to Paul's words in Colossians, Scripture reveals that work was not created as a consequence of sin - it was part of God's good design from the beginning. Sin distorted work, making it frustrating and exhausting, but it did not remove its purpose.

Whether you lead a company, teach a classroom, raise children, care for a family member, volunteer, study, build, create, serve, or have entered retirement, God has given you meaningful work to do. But while work is a gift from God, it was never meant to become your god. Your careers cannot carry the weight of your identity, significance, or worth - only Christ can do that.

This message challenges you to rethink not only what you do, but why you do it and for whom you do it. When your ultimate audience becomes Christ, ordinary work can become an act of worship, excellence becomes faithfulness rather than perfectionism, and even rest becomes an expression of trust in God.

The well-lived life is not primarily about doing extraordinary work. It is about doing ordinary work with extraordinary faithfulness.

Whatever your hands find to do - do it faithfully. Do it purposefully. Do it for the Lord.

Pastor Jeffrey Dean Smith

Donelson First

Part 4 | Desire: Labor With Purpose

October 4, 2026