Grieve, Breathe, Receive. Embracing Grief and Finding Healing: With Steve Carter

Steve Carter was next in line to pastor Willow Creek Community Church, but as scandals arose around Bill Hybels Steve walked away in order to heal and care for his family. He talks about the trauma of that season, the faith it required of him and how he experienced restoration and you can too. This is a GREAT episode to share with anyone who has experienced church hurt in any facet. We need more hopeful stories like this of people who have journeyed well and done the work. Pick up his brand new book Grieve, Breathe, Receive on Amazon.

About Steve Carter

Steve Carter is the best selling author of The Thing Beneath The Thing, host of the Craft and Character podcast, a coach to communicators who are looking to find their unique voice or take their next step of growth in speaking and teaches regularly at churches, conferences, and various businesses around the country. He is the former lead teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church and currently serves as a teaching pastor at Forest City Church. He lives outside Chicago, Illinois, with his wife and two kids.

Takeaways

Embrace grief and learn to sit with the pain in order to find healing and renewal.

Forgiveness is a powerful gift that allows us to release bitterness and anger and experience freedom.

Finding a sense of place and belonging can be a significant part of the healing process.

Leaders often struggle with grieving and celebrating, but both are essential for personal growth and maturity.

There is hope and a surprise waiting for leaders who are hurting, even in the midst of difficult circumstances.

Quotes

"Grieve what is, grieve what I thought it was gonna be, grieve how key people let me down, breathe in the new mercies, exhale all bitterness and resentment and anger, and receive what I need to learn, receive what I need to own, receive who I need to become."

"Go to the desert and wait for instructions because I am... I was trying to achieve my way out of it. I was trying to figure out, okay, like, where can I go? What's a bigger city? What's a better opportunity? Because that's how I'd always handled my sadness and stress was just look to go do something more. And I thought the desert was metaphorical, but I took out my journal and just started to write similar to the donut shop and... I just wrote down the line, you can't achieve your way out of this, you can only grieve your way through it."

"Trust is a mathematical formula. Safe plus consistent, again and again, over and over on repeat, makes you worthy of trust. Unsafe, consistent, again and again, over and over, makes you unworthy of trust. And safe but inconsistent, again and again, over and over on repeat, makes you unworthy of trust. The question is, are you worthy of trust?"

Connect with Steve

Website: https://www.stevecarter.org/

Book: https://amzn.to/3x87cnc