The Reality of Healing Part 1

The Reality of Healing Part 1

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.  Resources and Mentions:  * Ashton's Substack All of It [https://ashtonfaulkner.substack.com/] * Share your story at Anonymous.Church [http://www.anonymous.church] * Follow us on Instagram [http://www.instagram.com/anonymousdotchurch] or Facebook [http://facebook.com/anonymousdotchurch]

Between Hope and Harm

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 * Find a Licensed Professional Counselor in your area at Psychology Today. [https://www.psychologytoday.com/us] * Good Boundaries and Goodbyes [https://a.co/d/jgbpUco] by Lysa TerKeurst * Submit your story at Anonymous.Church [http://www.anonymous.church] * Follow us on Facebook [http://facebook.com/anonymousdotchurch] or Instagram [http://instagram.com/anonymousdotchurch]

Endings and Exits and Everything Else

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.

Will You Make Me Brave?

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. Links from this episode: * Follow Anonymous.Church on Instagram [http://instagram.com/anonymousdotchurch] or Facebook [http://facebook.com/anonymousdotchurch]. * Share your story anonymously at anonymous.church [https://www.anonymous.church/]. * Telos Studio [https://www.telos.studio/]  * The Place We Find Ourselves [https://adamyoungcounseling.com/podcast/] – podcast by Adam Young * You Make Me Brave [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Hi-VMxT6fc&list=RD6Hi-VMxT6fc&start_radio=1] – song by Amanda Cook & Bethel Music

Indoctrinate a Child in the Way He Should Go

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.