Broken to Beloved was born out of personal experience.

As a staff pastor and worship leader for over 20 years, I experienced 3 different environments with toxic and abusive leaders, and finally chose to leave vocational ministry in July 2021.

After lots of therapy and lots of reading, I (and my counselor) felt like I was ready to help others move through their own stories of pain and hurt. And so, in October 2022, the THROUGH Cohort was born. Since then, over 40 people from 20 states and 7 countries have participated, walking through a 6-week process of releasing their old identity of brokenness, naming their pain, gaining practical tools to claim agency and move toward healing, and embracing their true identity as Beloved.

Having received a great response from the cohort, it felt like there was a need for something else. All the resources I had and read offered great definitions, terms, and validation, but few offered a clear “what now” for how I could move toward healing and wholeness.

So, I launched the Broken to Beloved Summit in April 2023. I had the distinct honor of creating 26 sessions and asking our speakers, therapists, authors, and creators the simple question, “What now?” Over 1200 of you registered for the first Summit, and many received lifetime access to the sessions.

Now, I’ve been hosting live monthly Continued Conversations with Summit speakers and a few new friends. Oh, and I’ve been trying to keep up on the algorithmic machine of social media.

To be honest, I'm tired. So, I decided to stop doing it alone.

Broken to Beloved is now a nonprofit with a Board of Directors who will assist and advise me in spreading the word about our work, and helping to keep me in line and in good health. Together, we’ll get to build and model a community built on transparency, accountability, safety, trust, goodness, and more. We’ll improve current programs and offerings, and dream up new ones. And, we’ll create a way to offer these resources in ways that everyone can afford them.

🐍 A Snake

One thing I recognize is that many who experience spiritual abuse and religious trauma often leave their jobs and ministry positions, whether due to forced termination or Constructive Discharge.* When I left all three of my positions, it was due to Constructive Discharge.

Because of these common circumstances, I recognize that far too often, those who need help the most often can’t afford it. Maybe your story is like mine: my (pregnant) wife and I felt like we had no choice but to leave the church I was serving at and took the severance. By God’s grace, we stretched the severance farther than it should have lasted, and had our first child on COBRA. (Did you think this was going to be about a literal or metaphorical snake? Be honest.)

This is not how working at a church should be, or how a church should leave people.

🌟 A Dream

I believe in the THROUGH Cohort. I’ve seen it have a profound impact on the lives of those who have completed it. As far as I can tell, the Summit was well-received and illustrated a desire for more experts to speak into practical ways we can move toward healing and wholeness.

Beyond these two offerings, there are plans for more.

More than anything, my dream is to provide these resources at little or no cost to all who need or want it, regardless of financial ability. I want to create quality materials in a sustainable manner. I want to see awareness grow around these topics, and to go into our churches and faith communities to share with leaders to show them how to create healthier cultures and put safeguards in place.

There are big dreams and ideas for 2024.

And I want you to be a part of it.

💌 An Invitation

As a nonprofit organization, we are now able to accept your support and donations! By partnering with us, you’ll be funding scholarships, providing resources to create new programs and cohorts, and enabling us to operate in a sustainable way that ensures our work continues for years to come.

If you’d like to be one of the first to support Broken to Beloved, give today! You can choose to give once, or to become a sustaining donor by choosing a monthly amount. No amount is too small (or dare I say too large?), and every donation makes a difference.

I’m truly grateful for your support and for your voice. Without you, there would be no Broken to Beloved Community. Without you, there would be no one to serve and resource. Thanks so much for being here.

I’m looking forward to partnering more actively with you in the near future, and for this next season for Broken to Beloved.

Toward healing and wholeness,

Brian

*I learned this term from A Church Called TOV. Constructive Discharge refers to situations in which an employer forces an employee to resign by making the work environment so intolerable a reasonable person would not be able to stay.