What happens when personal pain becomes public platform?

In this candid conversation, Tara Beth Leach and Mark Quanstrom reflect on Tara Beth’s widely shared Substack essay, When the Wounded Take the Mic. They explore the rise of “wounded influencers,” the temptation for pastors to preach from fresh wounds rather than healed scars, and how leaders can discern the difference between prophetic truth-telling and reactive venting.

Read the article here: https://tarabethleach.substack.com/p/when-the-wounded-take-the-mic

🎙️ In This Episode:

• Why woundedness has become a new form of credibility in the church
• The danger of confusing deconstruction with discipleship
• Lessons Tara Beth learned from preaching with fresh wounds
• How pastors can lead from scars instead of unhealed pain
• Why the church—flawed and fallen—remains God’s chosen place of healing

⏱️ Timestamps:

02:00 – The rise of wounded influencers and the pull of platform

06:00 – When honesty and rawness aren’t the same as holiness and wisdom

10:00 – Tara Beth’s personal reflections on preaching while wounded

15:00 – How the church itself became a place of healing

20:00 – The danger of binary thinking: victim vs. villain

24:00 – Family systems theory and the culture of shared anger

27:00 – Mark’s reflection: preaching while angry and what changed

28:00 – Pastors will always lead while wounded—the question is how

Every pastor carries wounds, but not every wound should be amplified. Ministry rooted in healing scars—rather than raw pain—creates space for true discipleship, renewal, and hope in the body of Christ.