In this first episode of a multi-part series, Audi sits down with Ashton as she shares her story. Together, they walk through Ashton's early experiences in faith, the complicated pull of church culture, the shame she carried from childhood, and the deeply painful events that reshaped her life in ministry. This conversation explores harm, silence, survival, and the long road to healing with honesty, clarity, and compassion.

Trigger Warning: This series includes discussions of trauma within church spaces, including spiritual abuse, emotional harm, childhood trauma, and sexual abuse. Please listen with great care. 

In this episode, we sit down with licensed professional counselor, Kimberly, to talk about the blurred space between pastoral advice and actual mental health care. We explore why the difference matters, how power dynamics shape the guidance we receive, and what safe, informed care really looks like. It’s a gentle, honest conversation for anyone sorting through faith, healing, and the kinds of help that can hold us or hurt us. 

Relevant Links

In this deeply personal and tender conversation, Audi sits down with her longtime friend Crissa to talk about what happens when both marriage and ministry unravel at the same time. Crissa shares her journey from serving in full-time ministry to suddenly facing divorce, the loss of community, and the quiet ache of rebuilding faith from the ground up. Together they talk about grief, identity, and the slow process of learning to trust yourself again.

From bathtub-cry nights to unexpected redemption, this episode explores what it means to keep showing up when the life you built no longer exists, and how healing sometimes looks like sitting in church with no makeup and a ball cap, just waiting for your heart to thaw.

What happens when worship stops being about performance and starts becoming a question?

This week, we sit down with Wes to talk about how faith and ministry evolve over time. From growing up in church pews to leading worship under the lights, Wes shares what it was like to move from certainty to curiosity, and how leaving vocational ministry didn’t mean leaving faith behind.

They talk about fragmented beliefs, the beauty of small community, sacred moments found in unexpected places and what it means to reimagine worship outside the walls of a church.

Together, they explore how healing happens in small, unassuming spaces and why “everything belongs,” even the hard parts of our stories.

You Make Me Brave – song by Amanda Cook & Bethel Music

This story is one of growing up in church, walking away from certainty, and learning how to raise the next generation in freedom instead of fear. In this episode we explore what it looks like to have space for science and faith at the table when we choose not to indoctrinate, but instead to model the teaching of Jesus through love, curiosity, and proximity. 

Red flags in ministry aren’t always loud. In this week’s episode with Paige, we walk through the subtle (and not-so-subtle) cues she ignored. We talk gaslighting, why speaking up gets labeled “disloyal,” and how therapy and boundaries helped her trust her gut again. 

Our guest today grew up in church, questioned everything, and found his way back to faith. but now different, quieter, and centered on Jesus. We talk deconstruction, parenting while questioning, staying in church with new boundaries, and what it looks like to rebuild belief with honesty and hope.

Episode theme: Growing up religious, questioning everything, and finding faith again, just not the same way.

Guest: Jeremy: husband, dad, drummer, quality engineer, lifelong church kid turned thoughtful Exvangelical who still follows Jesus.

Resources mentioned:

How (Not) to Read the Bible by Dan Kimball

The BEMA Podcast (context for Scripture)

Notes on anonymity & care:

Stay connected:

In this episode of Anonymous.Church, Grace shares her journey of growing up in a family deeply rooted in church life, leaving religion as a teenager, and finding a new sense of spirituality beyond traditional faith. From navigating purity culture and teen motherhood to redefining what love, family, and faith mean, Grace’s story is honest, tender, and full of wisdom. Her reflections remind us that healing often begins with asking why.

In this episode, we talk about what it looks like to leave ministry, faith, or the church "well" in a way that makes space for healing. We spend time talking about faith, identity, and the practical steps of rediscovering who you are outside of church systems. 

Welcome to the episode before the very first episode of Anonymous Church.

This podcast was created to be a safe place for real stories about faith, church, and ministry — stories of how those experiences have shaped us, helped us, hurt us, and changed us.

In this episode, we introduce the heart of the podcast:

What Anonymous Church is (and what it isn’t)

Why sharing stories matters for healing

A reminder that you are not too much, you are not alone, and your story matters

Several of the first anonymous stories that were submitted read aloud so they can finally be heard

This isn’t about tearing down churches. It’s about shifting the focus from the problem to the person. From silence to truth. From isolation to connection.

If you’ve ever carried a story that felt too heavy or too risky to tell, this space is for you.

This episode includes stories of spiritual harm, manipulation, and workplace-related trauma in church settings. Please take care of yourself as you listen.