This week, we’ll hear from two influential voices in the Christian community, Joe Dobbins and Aimee Byrd. Joe Dobbins, pastor of Twin Rivers Church in St. Louis, Missouri, and author of Hope After Church Hurt, shares he and his wife's painful experiences with their church and the healing process that followed. His insights provide a roadmap for those struggling with similar wounds, offering steps toward restoring faith and re-engaging with the church. Following Joe's story, our next guest is speaker, blogger, and podcaster Aimee Byrd. Aimee opens up about her lifelong journey of searching for belonging in the church, and how she learned through trials and painful hurts that God wants us to ask questions, and even though we might be scarred by those who twist truths to facilitate how they think we should live, we can find our way back to God and what He says about how we were meant to live. 

Links, Products, and Resources Mentioned:

Jesus Calling Podcast

Jesus Calling

Jesus Always

Jesus Listens

Past interview: Levi Lusko

Upcoming interview: Adrien Lewis

Jesus Calling commemorative edition

Joe Dobbins

Twin Rivers Church 

Luke 6:28 NIV

Romans 8:29 NIV

Psalm 103:13 and 14 NIV

Hope After Church Hurt

Aimee Byrd

Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

John 12:24 NIV

www.aimeebyrd.com

The Hope In Our Scars

Interview Quotes:

“The season that followed that painful experience was one where we physically attended church, but we withheld our hearts, and the rejection we felt caused us to lose confidence in leaders. It created a distrust for people, and it did cause us to question our place in the community…God is omnipresent, meaning He's everywhere that we are at all times. But just because you are in His presence doesn't mean you have entered His presence. To enter God's presence, meaning to receive Him, your heart has to be open. And pain had caused my heart to close.” - Joe Dobbins

“Healing begins by knocking your feelings off the throne of your heart and allowing Jesus to retake His proper place.” - Joe Dobbins 

“Forgiveness is never a one-time event. It's a daily exercise, that every time you remember how they hurt you, you're going to have to decide to release it and forgive it again. And eventually what happens is that practice causes the decision in your head to move into the feelings in your heart. And if you'll do it enough, you'll eventually find the pain you've been carrying from rejection is replaced with God's peace.” - Joe Dobbins  

“Jesus said, ‘Follow me,’ not follow my followers. And I believe that a lot of church hurt is wrapped up when our expectations are not met from a person we esteem, or see that they should be further along in their journey.” - Joe Dobbins 

“I think it's interesting today how Christians are really known more for the points they want to make. But yet Jesus was known for asking questions…the church would do well today to remember listening is loving, because often we too quickly jump to trying to tell people what they need to do before we understand the pain they've been through.”