Do you have any gay Christian role models or mentors? On today's episode, I'm joined with Dr. Mike Rosebush who describes himself as somewhat of a gay Christian Yoda. In this first part of our conversation, Mike will share how his wild journey of his 'most unusual gay Christian life' got started. In Part 1 of our conversation Mike talks about: growing up with 'John Wayne' as a father being top of his class in the US Air Force Academy speaking life, for the first time, at age 30, to a homosexual person Coming out while in the US Air Force Coming out to his pregnant wife Going into conversation ..read more

By finding the courage to ask for the help I desperately needed I slowly started to understand that I wasn’t broken.  I slowly started to understand that I was not alone.  I slowly started to let go of holding onto the control that I thought was keeping me safe.  I slowly started to understand that childhood trauma doesn’t simply disappear.  Trauma morphs, transforms, and continues to inflict harm until we start to face the root of what harmed us. I’m excited to have you join me for Season Two where I’ll share parts of my recovery journey after hitting b ..read more

I always dreamed that there would be peace on the other side of the rainbow.  I thought that once I was fully out to my family, there would be no more secrets, and everything would be good.  I had always been so terrified and fixated on coming out to my family, that I never really looked beyond that point.  The years that followed were some of the loneliest of my life Coming out of the closet with my family simply meant that I was no longer hiding one aspect of my life.  People talk about having a huge weight lifted from their shoulders after coming out, for me, my anxiety ..read more

Hello and welcome to Episode 25 of This Little Light Of Mine.  My name is James Powell and I’m glad that you’re able to join me for today’s interview episode, ‘Not defining’. On today’s episode I’m joined with orientation advocate Mark Smith and his wife Victoria.  Mark runs a support site for anyone struggling with their orientation.  He has an expanded heart and focus on humans who may be questioning, undefined, changing, Bi+, or fluid.   Before we jump into our conversation with Mark and Vic let’s pause, for a few minutes to reflect on the topic of ..read more

Hello and welcome to This Little Light of Mine, my name is James Powell and I'm so glad that you are able to join me for today's special episode entitled PAUSE. This episode is special to me because I'm trying on some of the things that I've been the learning and sharing this season. I'm taking time to listen to my body, being gentle with myself, and giving myself the time and space to allow the natural ebbs and flows of life. I'm thankful to be surrounded by a loving community that helped me reflect and following through when I asked myself the question "What do I need right now?" I'm abou ..read more

Hello and welcome to This Little Light of Mine, my name is James Powell and I'm so glad that you are able to join me for today's story episode entitled Grief, Loss, Hope, Love One of the more surprising things I discovered during my time in rehab was the duality of recovery. Yes, recovery is learning to stop or let go of behaviours and actions that may no longer be serving you. AND, recovery is also about remembering behaviours and actions that I had almost given up hope for.  For me, my recovery journey has been a twisting and winding road where I am being reminded and retaught th ..read more

It’s 2021… we made it!  Hello, and welcome Episode 22 of This Little Light Of Mine.  My name is James Powell and I’m glad that you’re able to join me for today’s story episode, ‘Validate me’. It feels good to be here and to share more of an upbeat and lighter story episode with you today.  And that’s what this episode is all about, validation and feeling good. In today’s story episode I’m shedding many of the awkward, scared, small and unwanted masks of my school years.  This period of my life is my coming out and reinvention.   And man, d ..read more

Your perceived challenge with addiction isn’t the problem.  You are not the ‘problem’.  It’s what happened to you that has caused this ‘problem’. The Adverse Childhood Experience Study (ACEs) is population-based clinical evidence that shows that the major factor underlying addiction in adults is childhood trauma.  It is proven that those who suffer from addiction in their adult life are those who had adverse childhood experiences when they were younger.  Have you been introduced to the work of Dr. Vincent Felitti and his Adverse Childhood Experiences Study? Do you know what ..read more

Well... it's Christmas Eve and we can finally see the finish line for 2020. What a strange year... did any of our futurists or experts predict this one? As we head into this break I wanted to put together a quick episode to share Holiday survival tips for LGBTQ2S+ Christians or for anyone who might have all the happy joyous feelings that we're 'supposed to' have at this time of year. I'll be home for Christmas this year and I want to acknowledge how hard that's going to be for me. To be honest, the break between Christmas and New Years is usually one of the loneliest and lowest times of the y ..read more

By sharing his own personal experience with religious trauma and evolution towards leaving fundamentalism behind, Andrew Pledger was fired from his campus job and expelled from Bob Jones University.  Join our conversation as Andrew shares how his art gave him a unique opportunity to explore how religious trauma has impact his life and how he started his own journey of healing, spiritual growth, and listening to God to become his own hero. Resource List: This I know: A Simple Biblical Defence for LGBTQ Christians, by Jim Dant My Gay Church Days: A memoir of a closeted evangelical pastor w ..read more