Blessed Are the Canceled

In today’s episode, “Appease: Why Good Leaders Fail,” we go behind the scenes as Josh reflects on leadership failures he and others made in an attempt to appease a small group of leaders. Along the way, we explore how anxiety can infect a church or organization, and why being a non-anxious presence matters in moments of crisis.  We’ll also dig into the tensions that arise when you’re both a pastor...

In today’s episode, “Betrayal: When a Friend Wields the Knife,” you’ll hear Josh reflect on those who retracted their endorsements during the firestorm, and we’ll go behind the scenes of how one close friend leveraged the firestorm in ways that fractured his church community.  We’ll move from the national to the local: it’s one thing to be attacked by people who don’t know you. It’s another when t...

In today’s episode, “Outrage: How to Feed the Machine,” you’ll get an inside look at how the attack on Josh was more organized than it first appeared, driven by a particular tribe with a pattern of misrepresenting and digitally swarming dozens of Christian leaders. We’ll explore how social media got hijacked by outrage marketing, how online bullies learned to weaponize anger to build a platform, a...

In today’s episode, "Underwater: When God Lets You Drown," you’ll get an inside look at the most hidden, and most painful, part of Josh’s story: a seven-year dream he believed God had given him, and how it came crashing down in the firestorm. We’ll explore what the Christian tradition calls the dark night of the soul —what it is, what it isn’t, and how we navigate seasons when it feels like God is...

In today’s episode, “Scapegoat: How We Try to Save the Ones We Love,”  we’ll take you behind the scenes of Josh’s resignation from his church, and explore how internal leadership fractures can surface when an organization comes under the pressure of a firestorm.  We’ll unpack a theology of scapegoating and discover it’s far more complex than the way the word is usually used. (Spoiler alert: Josh d...

What happens when people pull away? In today’s episode, “Contagious: Why No One Wants to Be Around You,” we take you behind the scenes of Josh’s exit from The Keller Center at The Gospel Coalition, then zoom out to explore a theology of disgust. In Leviticus, the Bible uses language like clean and unclean—categories that can feel strange, even offensive to modern ears. But they turn out to reveal...

What happens when your world falls apart? In today’s episode, “Storm,” you’ll hear a behind-the-scenes account of the moment Josh’s world unraveled—the experience of being canceled, and what it actually felt like from the inside. This episode explores what we mean by “canceling,” why it’s more complex than we often assume, and how Scripture reframes these moments—not just as loss, but as a potenti...

What happens when your world falls apart? Blessed are the Canceled is a podcast about how being rejected, mocked, and discarded can actually become a pathway into the presence of God. Hosted by Brenna Blain and Josh Butler. Launching May 26. New episodes every Tuesday. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. 🎧 Listen: Spotify: Coming soon Apple Podcasts: Coming soon 📬 Substack: Brenna Blain:...