The Counter Culture Mom Show with Tina Griffin

What are the red flags of abusive leadership? Anna Vaughn survived years of spiritual abuse while working for a charismatic but narcissistic ministry leader. After walking away from that ministry with the rest of the interns following her, she went through a period of time when she was angry at God and even questioned His character. But God was good, and He brought her through that season. Now, Anna is the director of Stirred Up Ministries and the author of Caught in the Crossfire. Anna details how she escaped past spiritual abuse, how she felt in the fallout, and how God healed her in the eventual aftermath. Anna was called to continue to work in ministry, but with new eyes and an open heart to help others heal from past spiritual abuse as well.

TAKEAWAYS

Wounds from childhood are often a catalyst for why adults end up with destructive behaviors

Many people get hurt by pastors or churches and blame God

God is not responsible for the sins of fallen humans; we must separate Creator from creation

Once something demonic is exposed, it fights you even harder

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BARK (get 10% off with code TINA): https://bit.ly/CCMBARK

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Website: https://www.stirredupministries.com/

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Anna Vaughn was excited to begin a new chapter of her life - working in a new job running a ministry’s internship program at just 19. Unfortunately, what ensued was several years of major spiritual abuse from the leadership of this church - an experience that has led her to where she is today: healed, whole, and transparent. Anna is now the founder of Stirred Up Ministries and the author of Caught in the Crossfire, a book that exposes spiritual abuse by recounting not just her experience, but also the experiences of others who have experienced the same abuse. Unforgiveness and bitterness hold us in bondage, but not the person who has hurt us, she shares. Anna is a testament to what it looks like to expose toxic leadership without being burdened by anger.

TAKEAWAYS

Unforgiveness does more damage to ourselves than anyone else

Spiritual abuse signs may look like: fear, intimidation, and isolation

Sometimes very charismatic leaders hide their red flags really well, but that shouldn’t stop us from exposing the abuse

Spiritual abuse often goes hand-in-hand with a cult-like culture at church

🛠 TOOLS AND RESOURCES FROM EPISODE

Kerusso T-shirts (get 15% off with code TINA): https://rstr.co/kerusso/tina   

Valued video: https://bit.ly/4z6ZBk2

Caught in the Crossfire book: https://amzn.to/4qsl2YM

🔗 CONNECT WITH ANNA VAUGHN

Website: https://www.stirredupministries.com/

YouTube: https://bit.ly/45z6IEv

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What do Christian leaders do in the seasons of life where they find themselves in the wilderness? What did John the Baptist do? What did Jesus do? These are the questions that Jason Jensen, the author of Formed to Lead, faithfully addresses. He focuses on the beginning of Luke 3, when the Word of God came to John in the wilderness. Why is the wilderness important? How does it cultivate growth and maturity? How can we not just survive, but thrive during those moments and learn to lean totally on God? We need to pay attention when we’re experiencing those seasons of life, cultivating that time by implementing spiritual disciplines that will help us slow down and learn important lessons God wants to teach us. Jason calls this “creating a wilderness space” to allow the Word of the Lord to arrive and bless.

TAKEAWAYS

God taught the Israelites in the desert that they needed to totally rely on Him

Listen quietly and daily to the voice of the Holy Spirit

Create spiritual disciplines and don’t be afraid to listen to your fellow believers’ experiences and insights

Rest is so important; it allows us to give our leadership burdens to God

🛠 TOOLS AND RESOURCES FROM EPISODE

Donate to Counter Culture Ministries: https://bit.ly/4g9uqgz

Formed to Lead book: https://amzn.to/4xT8NHr

The Pastor’s Sabbath: https://bit.ly/4hFUTnd

🔗 CONNECT WITH JASON JENSEN

Website: http://www.formedtolead.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jason.jensen.507027/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jensenjason/?hl=en

X: https://x.com/jjensenivcf

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Leadership may look a little different for everyone, but for a Christian, our leadership style should be modeled after Jesus Christ. What better way to learn about the leadership approach of Jesus than in the Bible? Jason Jensen is the Vice President for Spiritual Foundations for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. He is also the author of Formed to Lead, an important book examining Jesus’s leadership style, especially in the first chapters of Luke. Jason explores the connection between spiritual discipline and strong leadership qualities. Jason urges leadership toward reframing their assumptions about what leadership should look like: it’s not about getting a position of power; it’s about creating a positive culture and influencing others in all the right ways.

TAKEAWAYS

If we learn from our failures, we will perform better in the future

Tender humility should be balanced with bold faith and we need both attributes to be Godly leaders

When Jesus asks us to lead, we should expect character formation to happen next

The Holy Spirit will help us to reform our lives as we lead

🛠 TOOLS AND RESOURCES FROM EPISODE

Download the CCM App: https://bit.ly/4woLF3b

Formed to Lead book: https://amzn.to/4xT8NHr

🔗 CONNECT WITH JASON JENSEN

Website: http://www.formedtolead.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jason.jensen.507027/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jensenjason/?hl=en

X: https://x.com/jjensenivcf

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Most ministry leaders implode because they fail to pay attention to their internal struggles. Dave Wiedis is the author of The Spiritually Healthy Leader: Finding Freedom from Self-Sabotage and the founder of ServingLeaders Ministries. Whether it’s self-sabotage by acting against our self-interest, hurting others, or damaging our relationship with God, Dave explains that many people are dominated by unidentified ruling passions, like seeking success, affirmation, respect, or avoiding pain or embarrassment. Such pursuits can supplant the Lordship of Christ by becoming functional idols. To lead well and avoid self-sabotage we must repent by honestly and humbly identifying our ruling passions and submitting to the lordship of Jesus Christ in every area of our lives.

TAKEAWAYS

Whatever drives you has the capacity to control you, and human passions must never take the place of Christ in our lives

Submitting to the lordship of Christ requires humility and honesty

You must reflect on and heal from your past experiences that gave rise to your ruling passions to become a great leader

Those who are unaware of their own ruling passions pose a unique danger as leaders

🛠 TOOLS AND RESOURCES FROM EPISODE

The Spiritually Healthy Leader book: https://amzn.to/4g9kEtw

🔗 CONNECT WITH DAVE WIEDIS

Website: https://www.servingleaders.org/

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Asking questions isn’t a sign of weakness; it’s a sign of humility, curiosity, and a willingness to learn! J.R. Briggs is the author of The Art of Asking Better Questions: Pursuing Stronger Relationships, Healthier Leadership, and Deeper Faith and the founder of Kairos Partnerships. J.R. shares his perspective that asking questions is both a unique and overlooked skill. We live in a world obsessed with thinking we know the answers to everything, and hardly think about what kind of questions we should be asking to understand more. Asking questions is a step toward building relationships, strengthening connections, and increasing our own knowledge base. The Bible, for example, is full of questions that even Jesus asked. Perhaps we should take our cue from the Word of God and emulate Jesus.

TAKEAWAYS

Asking questions helps us sift through information and understand it better

Asking questions is also an act of humility, and we should serve more than we are served

Biblical community is not the absence of conflict; it is doing what Jesus would do in the middle of it

Listen more than you speak and ask more than you answer

🛠 TOOLS AND RESOURCES FROM EPISODE

Kerusso T-shirts (get 15% off with code TINA): https://rstr.co/kerusso/tina

The Art of Asking Better Questions book: https://amzn.to/4ge3Phh

🔗 CONNECT WITH J.R. BRIGGS

Website: https://www.kairospartnerships.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KairosPartnerships/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kairospartnerships

X: https://x.com/jr_briggs

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William Owens is a busy guy. You might catch him reading poetry or riding his bicycle across Taiwan or having dinner with new friends. But in all these journeys, no matter how big or how small, William is ready and willing to share the Gospel message with everyone he meets. William is a free-spirited traveler and the co-publisher of the Why Jesus book series. When it comes to leadership, William says that Jesus is the most profound example there is. Jesus would spend time with the Father, William points out, and then share that vision with His followers. Jesus listened to people and welcomed them into His presence. He wasn’t worried about pushing them into a singular denomination or church. He wanted to know them and them to know Him. As Christian leaders, we can learn from Christ’s example.

TAKEAWAYS

Jesus always expressed His deepest concerns to those He spoke with

William has written more than 5,000 poems and visited 11 countries on his bicycle

Churches sometimes try to contain God and control His behavior - an impossible task

The Why Jesus book series is a collection of Christian short essays, stories, poetry, and testimonies

🛠 TOOLS AND RESOURCES FROM EPISODE

Pop Culture Purge Tour: text TOUR to 55444

Why Jesus video: https://bit.ly/4zdIq0c

🔗 CONNECT WITH WILLIAM OWENS

Website: https://whyjesusbookseries.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whyjesusbookseries

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whyjesusbooks

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Website: https://journeybyfaith.tv/

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Website: https://oftheheartpoet.com/

Profile: https://superprofile.bio/oftheheartpoet

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What is a mighty man of God? What does it look like when Biblical masculinity collides with the softening of everyday men in modern culture? For Cody Bobay, exploring healthy masculinity and telling important stories that celebrate the God-given attributes of strength, dignity, and honor is his personal mission. Cody is a U.S. Navy veteran, actor, author, and filmmaker who is very passionate about living out and teaching leadership. Whether he is looking for the perfect role that exemplifies authentic character development or sticking to his personal and Biblically guided beliefs about honoring God in his work, Cody is committed to excellence and discipline. He draws on his personal experience and journey in his acting, which gives his storytelling a raw and vulnerable flair.

TAKEAWAYS

Check out Cody’s book: Memoirs of the Mighty Men: A 68-Day Cinematic Devotional Told by the Bible’s Mighty Men

If you can’t tap into authenticity, you won’t be convincing as an actor

If you want to be a leader of men, you must be able to lead yourself first, and the hardest person to lead is always ourselves

Little habits accumulate over time and create a positive or negative version of yourself

🛠 TOOLS AND RESOURCES FROM EPISODE

Brotherhood movie trailer: https://bit.ly/3UohwCO

Memoirs of the Mighty Men book: https://amzn.to/4wl1erJ

🔗 CONNECT WITH CODY BOBAY

Website: https://codybobay.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/codybobay/

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Kathleen Janson was the life of the party, but it was all a facade - chasing acceptance through alcohol, drugs, and sex. Then a miraculous thing happened, Jesus met her with love and grace, offering her freedom and a whole new life. Today, Kathleen and her husband are the parents of two children adopted through the foster care system. She is the author of The Gift of Desperation: The True Story of God’s Grace Alive in a Life and the president of The One Child, whose mission is to eradicate the foster care system, one foster family at a time. There are 8,000 foster care children in Tennessee, and only 4,000 foster families stepping up. However, if one family from each of the churches in Tennessee said yes to a child, the foster care system would be eradicated. Kathleen is laser-focused on making this happen through educating and equipping the body of Christ.

TAKEAWAYS

Kathleen’s organization focuses specifically on equipping local churches to get involved with foster care

The One Child’s plan consists of several phases and includes addressing the real problem of kids who age out of the system

Kids who are in the juvenile detention center are there because of past trauma

The solution for helping foster youth? The church

🛠 TOOLS AND RESOURCES FROM EPISODE

Kerusso T-shirts (get 15% off with code TINA): https://rstr.co/kerusso/tina

The Gift of Desperation book: https://amzn.to/4wMk3oI

🔗 CONNECT WITH KATHLEEN JANSON

Website: https://theonechild.org/

Facebook: https://bit.ly/4c62QhM

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the1child.toc/

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When Rachel Bruno rushed her screaming seven-week-old newborn to the hospital, they told her he had a cranial fracture and a brain hemorrhage. It was a horrifying situation, made even worse by the fact that Rachel suspected that her nanny had been the one to potentially inflict this blunt-force trauma on her son. Little did Rachel know that she was the target of an unfair CPS investigation that would result in years of polygraphs and even potential jail time if charges had been pressed. From the state kidnapping of her 20-month-old son to the trauma of watching her newborn fight for his life after such a severe injury simultaneously, Rachel is a survivor of CPS gone wrong and administrative court overreach. She is an author, speaker, and advocate who warns about the victimization that can come at the behest of the court system and the state child welfare system.

TAKEAWAYS

Administrative court is not a constitutional court - it is therefore very hard to get a fair trial because they make their own rules

In Rachel’s case, the nanny was not investigated for abuse, even though Rachel had to endure thorough questioning

Her 20-month-old son at the time was forcibly removed by CPS at 2am and given many tests and vaccines without the parents’ consent

Rachel founded a non-profit organization, The Giver Of Light, keeping parents and children protected from the corrupt child welfare system

🛠 TOOLS AND RESOURCES FROM EPISODE

Tuttle Twins (get 15% off with code TINA15): https://bit.ly/4xLpJjL

Fractured Hope book: https://amzn.to/4whb3Ho

The Giver of Light: https://thegiveroflight.org/

Adoption and Safe Families Act: https://bit.ly/4z4WmK0

Couple Kills 2 Adopted Kids: https://bit.ly/4wKPShL

Home School Legal Defense Association: https://bit.ly/3TYpYIQ

🔗 CONNECT WITH RACHEL BRUNO

Website: https://rachelbruno.com/

Facebook: https://bit.ly/3S0TAVg

Instagram: https://bit.ly/4hlmpWR

X: twitter.com/rachelbruno

📢 THIS EPISODE SPONSORED BY

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WAVwatch (get 15% off with code TINA): https://wavwatch.com/tina

Capstone Legacy Foundation: https://capstonelegacy.org/

Equipping The Persecuted: http://equippingthepersecuted.org/

🔗 CONNECT WITH COUNTER CULTURE MOM

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