J. Drew Sheard II Discusses Being Pressured by The Church

J. Drew Sheard II, the son of Detroit mega church pastor Bishop J. Drew Sheard and 4-time Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter Karen Clark Sheard, will document his struggles growing up in the well-known family while establishing his own music career on the show. The 23-year-old Sheard son opened about how his family began their reality television show career.

“The opportunity was presented to me by one of my good friends who worked in the TV entertainment business. It’s actually a guy that I’ve known for a long time,” says Sheard . “He (said) you know it would be dope if we could do a reality show on some Christians but yet they’re still normal people and they do normal things … I got my whole family together, my mom my dad and Kiki. I asked them ‘how would y’all feel about us doing a reality show?’ They were like ‘man it would be great.’”

While Sheard’s father and mother have established their careers in the Christian community, his 24-year-old sister Kierra Sheard is also a budding gospel singer. However, Sheard says that he may be looking to take a different musical route.

“I come from the whole gospel legacy thing. I just wanted to do something different because believe it or not when I first started working on music gospel was never really my first love,” reveals Sheard. “I thought that there’s more things to talk about in life besides the main thing that gospel songs talk about. I pretty much work to really be able to relate to people and become the best at it.”

Still, Sheard admitted that he encounters some pressure as the son of such a well known Christian family.

“My dad hates when I use this term but the ‘church people’ that’s probably where the most pressure comes from because I’m a pastor’s kid and my mom is who she is. I come from this gospel background (so) everybody expects me to pretty much live a perfect life or do things in the lane of my mom and dad,” says Sheard.

“But I choose to do things outside so it’s kind of a lot of pressure because sometimes I have to watch what I say because of who my family is. But it’s just all about coming out of that box and coming out of those four walls and just being you,” he added.

Although Sheard said he recalls truly developing his relationship with God, reading his Bible and tuning into church sermons more around the age of 18, a preview of “The Sheards” shows that the 23-year-old struggles with trying to balance his life in and out of the church community.

“I really believe that when it comes to the whole being a Christian or being a true man of God it’s all about the time that you spend with God outside of church. Don’t get me wrong, going to church is a great thing. It all ties into being a Christian as well,” he says. “To kind of still be a believer and not really care too much about the stuff that goes on in church I just continue to pray to God outside of church and read my Bible and seek God. I believe that he’s with me … no matter what I do I just feel his presence with me.”

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