Let me introduce you to my new book, Broken Under Rising Above.

This blog is of course a promotion for my new book, but I wanted to share some of the journey and the heart behind my writing of the book because I believe it will be helpful in understanding its heart, and that of Broken Rising Ministries.

 

Broken Under

We all know someone who has been wounded by the spiritual and emotional abuse at the hands of senior church leader who is leading out of their own insecurities, lack of leadership ability, or thirst for legacy. Maybe you’re the one who has been wounded? I call being spiritually and emotionally abused by a senior church leader being “Broken Under.” That’s because you as a staff pastor, lay leader, or church volunteer were broken and wounded spiritually and emotionally by a senior leader whom you served under. As a staff pastor this happened to me twice, and both times I had to deal with the hurt and shame that those leaders authored. The most important part was journeying out forgiveness towards those leaders, and to learn how to not propagate those leaders’ unhealthy leadership principles to those whom I lead in the future. The first step is the most crucial and it’s the step where most leaders who have been spiritually and emotionally abused fail. The shaking off of the shame, bitterness, cynicism and embracing the journey of Christ’s forgiveness to the point where you can say “I forgive you,” either directly or indirectly, to the leader who wounded you. Too many leaders, gifted and called in the Lord are left sitting in the dust bins of church history because the weight of the pain of shame and bitterness of being broken under by a senior church leader holds them back. Broken Under Rising Above is a road map out of the wilderness of that pain back to the love of the Father, a soul filled with joy and the weight of that pain being lifted.

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Rising Above

Being healed of the deep pain and wounding you experienced at the hands of a senior church leader is only the first part of the journey that Broken Under Rising Above will take you on. The second step is reinstatement, that’s where you learn to walk in wholeness and healing, shedding off offence and cynicism and walking back into the place of intimacy with the Lord. It’s the stage where the wounding of last season doesn’t taint your leadership in the next. Rising Above means you not only rise above your own pain and wounding to Christ’s freedom, it’s the stage where after being reinstated to your gifts, calling and purpose in Christ, you will set in place a biblical kingdom atmosphere in the next place you serve the Lord. Shedding off the unhealthy leadership atmosphere you were once wounded under, you will instill a kingdom leadership culture wherever you serve next that is based on love, respect, honor and the Godly valuing of people who give their gifts to the Lord.

 

You are Not finished.

After a breaking under one of the biggest lies a kingdom leader deals with is the issue of being completely finished. Either because we vow to never again allow ourselves to be found in a position where we could be wounded again, or because the wounding has caused us to feel inadequate and discarded by the church, or even the Lord Himself. Broken Under Rising Above will equip you to fight the temptation to think you are finished, no matter what was said to you in your wounding. You are not finished, you may be hurt, struggling to deal with the pain authored in your heart by a senior church leader, or others, but you are not finished. Jesus is just getting started in you. To heal you, and to set you up for greater seasons ahead.

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If you, or someone you know, has been broken under by a senior church leader they served, Broken Under Rising Above will be a great resource to help you journey from wounding to healing to restoration in Christ.