In this final episode of Season 2, I'm "opening up my office," which is currently covered with my kids' toys and an interesting but good smell of fresh-cut peonies and coffee. Have a seat and get cozy as I share what’s next for the Broken to Beloved podcast and respond to a few questions I received from the audience. During our break, you can look forward to tuning in to some of my favorite recap episodes and archives from this year’s Summit. And before you know it, Season 3 will be here in five short weeks, starting off with our friend Dr. Hilary McBride, the author of Holy Hurt and The Wisdom of Your Body.

The questions I cover:

• How can we discern when to go back to church?
• How can we reconcile the Old Testament God with the New Testament Jesus?
• What’s the extent and impact of sexual abuse in the church?
• How can reconciliation happen if the perpetrator feels they have done nothing wrong?

Get the full show notes and books mentioned here. 📄

Guest Spotlight ✨ 

Brian Lee is a pastor, coach, and speaker. In his 20+ years of experience in vocational ministry, he experienced three instances of spiritual abuse and toxic leadership. After living with an identity of brokenness for too many years, he learned to recognize and embrace his belovedness.

In 2023, he founded Broken to Beloved, a nonprofit organization that exists to provide practical resources for recovery from and safeguarding against spiritual abuse and religious trauma.

He is a certified Trauma-Informed Coach (Centre for Healing) and holds a certification in Religious Trauma Studies from the Global Center for Religious Research.

Based in Richmond, VA, Brian loves to go on mini-adventures with his family, exploring their neighborhood, community, and city with his family. As a coffee snob and addict, he could always use another cup.

Links & Resources 🔗

Website | Instagram | Substack 

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Spread the Word. Leave a Rating and Review. It would mean the world if you would leave us a rating and review on Apple or on Spotify. They’ll help us share these conversations and resources with more people, and let us know how we can better serve you.
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Broken to Beloved is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that works to provide those wounded by spiritual abuse and religious trauma with practical resources moving toward healing and wholeness, and to provide pastors and church leaders with resources to grow in trauma awareness and implement safeguarding practices. Get more information or give a tax-free donation here.
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As an Amazon and Bookshop.org affiliate, I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Very few victims of abuse seek out a lawyer for money—most are looking for something else. They want safety, justice, and agency over an impossible situation.

In this episode, I speak to Melissa J. Hogan, attorney, advocate, and author in the field of trauma and abuse, about the legal options available for survivors. She shares where her passion for medical and spiritual trauma comes from, along with several practical tips about how to safely tell your story, collect evidence, and bring abuse to light. This is an excellent conversation for anyone wanting to know how attorneys can accompany you in your healing.

Get the full show notes and links here. 📄

Guest Spotlight ✨ 

Melissa is an attorney and advocate in the field of trauma and abuse, and co-author of the 2021 book, Afraid of the Doctor: Every Parent’s Guide to Preventing and Managing Medical Trauma. She received her J.D. with an emphasis in health law from the University of Pittsburgh and went on to clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, practice as a corporate/healthcare attorney, and teach legal writing and health care regulatory law.

In 2014, she founded and for many years led the nonprofit Project Alive, a research and advocacy foundation for Hunter syndrome, a rare genetic disease that affects her youngest son. In that season, she developed and patented patient outcome measures, consulted on clinical trial designs, was a featured speaker at industry and FDA conferences, and won numerous awards for her advocacy.

Links & Resources 🔗

Website | Instagram | Substack | TikTok

Boz Law

Project Alive

Afraid of the Doctor by Meghan L. Marsac and Melissa J. Hogan on Bookshop | Amazon

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Spread the Word. Leave a Rating and Review. It would mean the world if you would leave us a rating and review on Apple or on Spotify. They’ll help us share these conversations and resources with more people, and let us know how we can better serve you.
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Broken to Beloved is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that works to provide those wounded by spiritual abuse and religious trauma with practical resources moving toward healing and wholeness, and to provide pastors and church leaders with resources to grow in trauma awareness and implement safeguarding practices. Get more information or give a tax-free donation here.
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As an Amazon and Bookshop.org affiliate, I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you.

How do you restore a relationship with God after spiritual abuse?

It makes sense that you might struggle with the idea of being held and loved by God after experiencing spiritual abuse, or any other form of abuse, for that matter.

In this episode with Michael Cusick, author of Sacred Attachment: Escaping Spiritual Exhaustion and Trusting in Divine Love, helps us understand the safe love available through God and how we might go about receiving it.

We cover everything from dancing nuns to adult bookstore floors to the holiness of wholeness. Listen and learn about living in belovedness and allowing our brokenness to be the bridge that leads us there.

Get the full show notes and links here. 📄

Guest Spotlight ✨ 

Michael is a licensed professional therapist, spiritual director, speaker, and author. Having experienced the restoring touch of God in a deeply broken life and marriage, Michael’s passion is to connect life’s broken realities with the reality of the gospel.

The founder and CEO at Restoring the Soul, Michael formerly served as an adjunct professor at Denver Seminary and full-time professor at Colorado Christian University. He holds an MA in Biblical Counseling from Colorado Christian University and an MA in Counseling Psychology from the College of Education at the University of Denver.

He lives with his wife Julianne in the foothills of Colorado where he enjoys the Rocky Mountains and a host of other outdoor activities with friends and family.

Links & Resources 🔗

Website | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook

• Sacred Attachment by Michael Cusick on Amazon | Bookshop

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Subscribe using your favorite podcast app:
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Spread the Word. Leave a Rating and Review. It would mean the world if you would leave us a rating and review on Apple or on Spotify. They’ll help us share these conversations and resources with more people, and let us know how we can better serve you.
—————
Broken to Beloved is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that works to provide those wounded by spiritual abuse and religious trauma with practical resources moving toward healing and wholeness, and to provide pastors and church leaders with resources to grow in trauma awareness and implement safeguarding practices. Get more information or give a tax-free donation here.
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As an Amazon and Bookshop.org affiliate, I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you.

CW/TW: This episode is centered largely around the topic of Clergy Sexual Abuse (CSA) and its effects. Please be gentle with yourself. If it feels like too much at any point, please feel free to stop, take a break, or skip this episode altogether.

What happens when those in church leadership become the ones who harm—and the institution covers it up? Where does one go to hold these abusers accountable?

In this episode, I talk with Dr. David Pooler, professor, researcher, and therapist, who has spent over a decade studying adult clergy sexual abuse. We talk about his landmark study with staggering data and the failure of church institutions to offer care or accountability after abuse. Dr. Pooler also shares what healing can look like and offers powerful insights on institutional betrayal, grooming, consent, and how we must center survivors in our systems of justice.

Get the full show notes and links here. 📄

Guest Spotlight ✨ 

Dr. Pooler has more than 15 years of social work practice experience with several different populations including at-risk and abused children, adults with severe and persistent mental illness, persons with addictions, and homeless men. Dr. Pooler studies social workers and the organizational contexts in which social workers are employed. A primary focus of his research is studying how social workers find great joy in their work. He is interested in social work management and leadership. As an occupational social worker, Dr. Pooler is interested in assessing and developing interventions for social service organizations so that work environments are healthy, supportive, and just. He also has a strong interest in developing healthy congregations so that they can transform communities.

Dr. Pooler is married to Cheryl who is a lecturer in the Garland School of Social Work. Their two children were adopted from China; they are Josianne (2000) and Emilie (2003).

Links & Resources 🔗

• Website  |  Instagram 
• Adult Clergy Sexual Abuse Advocacy and Research Collaborative

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Subscribe using your favorite podcast app:
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Spread the Word. Leave a Rating and Review. It would mean the world if you would leave us a rating and review on Apple or on Spotify. They’ll help us share these conversations and resources with more people, and let us know how we can better serve you.
—————
Broken to Beloved is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that works to provide those wounded by spiritual abuse and religious trauma with practical resources moving toward healing and wholeness, and to provide pastors and church leaders with resources to grow in trauma awareness and implement safeguarding practices. Get more information or give a tax-free donation here.
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As an Amazon and Bookshop.org affiliate, I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Ever wonder what it’s like to run a community solely focused on spiritual abuse?

From dealing with the regular stream of scandals and stories to the practicalities of managing the business, it helps to hear how others navigate this field. In this episode, I talk with my friend Amy Fritz, creator and host of the Untangled Faith podcast. We get really honest and a little bit vulnerable about our thought processes, how we make the decisions we do, and what we hope for our communities. 

Listen to learn how we approach best practices and navigate this space with wisdom, grace, and compassion.

Get the full show notes and links here. 📄

Guest Spotlight ✨ 

Amy is the creator and host of the Untangled Faith podcast, where she invites her listeners to join her for conversations about what it's like to hold on to your Christian faith while untangling it from all the things that should have never been tied to faith in the first place. After several years of podcasting and connecting with individuals who have made difficult and beautiful decisions, and wrestled through what they believe Amy has discovered that her most important work is to offer encouragement, community, and space to folks in this "untangling" space.

Links & Resources 🔗

Website | Instagram | Threads | BlueSky | Substack

• Untangled Faith Podcast | Apple & Spotify
• “Responding in Reactionary Times” on Substack
• Get your own “Bad Church Ladies” t-shirt
• Posture Shift Ministries

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Subscribe using your favorite podcast app:
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Spread the Word. Leave a Rating and Review. It would mean the world if you would leave us a rating and review on Apple or on Spotify. They’ll help us share these conversations and resources with more people, and let us know how we can better serve you.
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Broken to Beloved is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that works to provide those wounded by spiritual abuse and religious trauma with practical resources moving toward healing and wholeness, and to provide pastors and church leaders with resources to grow in trauma awareness and implement safeguarding practices. Get more information or give a tax-free donation here.
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As an Amazon and Bookshop.org affiliate, I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Many people who have read The Parable of the Sower interpret it as: You have to be the “good soil”, or else.

However, in my conversation with Jeff Chu, he reframes what good soil actually means and how it’s made. Pulling from his latest book, Good Soil: The Education of an Accidental Farmhand, Jeff guides us through a beautiful discussion on the theology of compost, returning to cultural roots, embracing diversity, being attentive to beauty, befriending the dark, and more. Perhaps even withered plants, thorns, and rock-laden soil can be used for our flourishing. I hope you’ll listen.

Get the full show notes and links here. 📄

Guest Spotlight ✨ 

Jeff Chu is an award-winning journalist and editor-at-large at Travel+Leisure. He is the author of Does Jesus Really Love Me? and the co-author, with the late Rachel Held Evans, of the New York Times bestseller Wholehearted Faith. Chu is a former Time staff writer and Fast Company editor whose work has also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and Modern Farmer. In his weekly newsletter, “Notes of a Make-Believe Farmer,” Chu writes about spirituality, gardening, food, travel, and culture. He lives with his husband, Tristan, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Links & Resources 🔗

• Website | Instagram | Substack
• Good Soil by Jeff Chu Amazon | Bookshop
• Othered by Jenai Auman Amazon | Bookshop
• A Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church by Wil Gafney Amazon | Bookshop

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Subscribe using your favorite podcast app:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube
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Spread the Word. Leave a Rating and Review. It would mean the world if you would leave us a rating and review on Apple or on Spotify. They’ll help us share these conversations and resources with more people, and let us know how we can better serve you.
—————
Broken to Beloved is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that works to provide those wounded by spiritual abuse and religious trauma with practical resources moving toward healing and wholeness, and to provide pastors and church leaders with resources to grow in trauma awareness and implement safeguarding practices. Get more information or give a tax-free donation here.
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As an Amazon and Bookshop.org affiliate, I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Are there communities that support survivors of religious trauma without being…religious? Spiritual abuse doesn’t only happen in churches. It can happen anywhere and to anyone, but there’s rarely space for all voices and experiences to be heard.

I recently spoke with the four founders of the newly launched Religious Trauma Network. These four are creating a place that proves you can have a community of healing without believing the same thing—and they want to help others find this for themselves.

In our conversation, they each share what led them into this career, how they met, and what the Religious Trauma Network is all about. My favorite part, though? They share what healing means and how it doesn’t have to look spiritual for it to be true.

Get the full show notes and links here. 📄

Guest Spotlight ✨

The Religious Trauma Network’s mission is to offer comprehensive information, resources, and support for individuals recovering from religious trauma while raising awareness and equipping professionals and organizations to create safe, trauma-responsive spaces inside their faith or healing communities.

Website | Instagram | Facebook

Books/Films/Resources Mentioned:

• Religious Trauma Network Blog (open to public submissions)
• Trauma in the Pews by Janyne McConnaughey  on Amazon | Bookshop
• What Lies Inside: Healing in the Face of Trauma film by Luke Renner

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Subscribe using your favorite podcast app:
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Spread the Word. Leave a Rating and Review. It would mean the world if you would leave us a rating and review on Apple or on Spotify. They’ll help us share these conversations and resources with more people, and let us know how we can better serve you.
—————
Broken to Beloved is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that works to provide those wounded by spiritual abuse and religious trauma with practical resources moving toward healing and wholeness, and to provide pastors and church leaders with resources to grow in trauma awareness and implement safeguarding practices. Get more information or give a tax-free donation here.
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As an Amazon and Bookshop.org affiliate, I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you.

When your true face has been hidden for so long, what is it like to finally reveal it?

In this episode, we dive into connection, community, relationships, and what happens when it all falls apart. How do you save face in the presence of such incredible loss?

We explore memory and story work, and how it helps us to unveil present realities by examining our history.

Join us for a more introspective trip into Aimee's path as a writer, mother, daughter, wife, and a woman caught in the crosshairs of church leadership.

Get the full show notes and links here. 📄

Guest Spotlight ✨ 

Aimee is an author, speaker, blogger, podcaster and former coffee shop owner. Aimee is the author of several books, including Saving Face, The Hope in Our Scars, Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and Sexual Reformation. Her articles have appeared in First Things, Table Talk, Modern Reformation, By Faith, New Horizons, Ordained Servant, Harvest USA, and Credo Magazine and she has been interviewed and quoted in Christianity Today and The Atlantic.

Website  |  Instagram  |  Substack

• Saving Face by Aimee Byrd  on Amazon | Bookshop
• Othered by Jenai Auman  on Amazon | Bookshop
• The Critical Journey by Janet Hagberg & Robert Guelich on Amazon
• Till We Have Faces by CS Lewis  on Amazon | Bookshop

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Spread the Word. Leave a Rating and Review. It would mean the world if you would leave us a rating and review on Apple or on Spotify. They’ll help us share these conversations and resources with more people, and let us know how we can better serve you.
—————
Broken to Beloved is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that works to provide those wounded by spiritual abuse and religious trauma with practical resources moving toward healing and wholeness, and to provide pastors and church leaders with resources to grow in trauma awareness and implement safeguarding practices. Get more information or give a tax-free donation here.
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As an Amazon and Bookshop.org affiliate, I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you.

CW: marriage and sex (not explicit)

If you grew up in the evangelical Christianity of the 80s and 90s like me, we likely hear or read much of the same marriage advice. What if it was bad advice?

Most of the popular marriage books are written by those with no relevant education or professional credentials and include no research, data, or peer-reviewed evidence for their claims.

Sheila Gregoire and her team are committed to work that is healthy, evidence-based, and biblical, and her latest book, co-written with her husband, Keith, is proof of that. Packed with data, research, graphs, and stories, this book debunks much of what we were taught with clear and correct information.

If you're looking for ways to improve your marriage without a side of guilt or shame, this may be the episode for you.

Guest Spotlight ✨ 

Sheila is an author, podcaster, and researcher into evangelicalism and sex. The founder of BareMarriage.com, together with her team she has surveyed over 32,000 people for her books The Great Sex Rescue, She Deserves Better and her latest book, The Marriage You Want. Her goal is to change the evangelical conversation about sex to be healthy, evidence-based, and rooted in Christ. A graduate of Queen's University, she's married to her husband Keith, a pediatrician, who writes and speaks with her.

Links & Resources 🔗

Website  |  Instagram

• The Marriage You Want  on Amazon | Bookshop

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Subscribe using your favorite podcast app:
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Spread the Word. Leave a Rating and Review. It would mean the world if you would leave us a rating and review on Apple or on Spotify. They’ll help us share these conversations and resources with more people, and let us know how we can better serve you.
—————
Broken to Beloved is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that works to provide those wounded by spiritual abuse and religious trauma with practical resources moving toward healing and wholeness, and to provide pastors and church leaders with resources to grow in trauma awareness and implement safeguarding practices. Get more information or give a tax-free donation here.
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As an Amazon and Bookshop.org affiliate, I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you.

How can the Church transform from a place of harm to a sanctuary of healing and truth? How do we learn to recognize the wolves among the sheep when it's hard to tell the difference? How can anyone hold on to faith and find hope after witnessing so much trauma?

From recognizing a real-life parable of an observing how a body that does not follow its head is very sick, to systems that preserve themselves instead of obeying Christ, Dr. Langberg addresses these questions and much more. We also get into the complexities of forgiveness and repentance, the transformative power of facing our own brokenness, and the courage required to speak truth to power.

What can I say? It's Diane Langberg—we should just all take some time to listen and learn from her years of expertise and wisdom. Join me?

Get the full show notes and links here. 📄

Guest Spotlight ✨ 

Dr. Diane Langberg is a globally recognized psychologist with 53 years of clinical experience working with trauma patients. She has trained caregivers from six continents in responding to trauma and to the abuse of power. For 29 years she directed her own practice in Jenkintown PA .

She is the author of several books, including, When the Church Harms God's People: Becoming Faith Communities that Resist Abuse, Pursue Truth, and Care for the Wounded and Redeeming Power: Understanding Authority and Abuse in the Church. 

Dr. Langberg is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumna Achievements from Taylor University, the American Association of Christian Counselors Caregiver Award, The Distinguished President’s award, and the Philadelphia Council of Clergy’s Christian Service Award.

Links & Resources 🔗

Website  |  Instagram  |  YouTube  | X/Twitter

• When the Church Harms God's People  on Amazon | Bookshop
• Redeeming Power  on Amazon | Bookshop

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Subscribe using your favorite podcast app:
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Spread the Word. Leave a Rating and Review. It would mean the world if you would leave us a rating and review on Apple or on Spotify. They’ll help us share these conversations and resources with more people, and let us know how we can better serve you.
—————
Broken to Beloved is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that works to provide those wounded by spiritual abuse and religious trauma with practical resources moving toward healing and wholeness, and to provide pastors and church leaders with resources to grow in trauma awareness and implement safeguarding practices. Get more information or give a tax-free donation here.
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As an Amazon and Bookshop.org affiliate, I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you.