I feel certain God loves me just the way I am, and I have a huge sense of calling to communicate that to young people. The Church's teaching was the reason that I lived in so much shame and isolation and pain for all those years. But rather than abandon it and say it's broken, I want to be part of the change.

Look at your ministry as a marathon not a sprint - build deep foundations of intimacy with God and never let your public schedule get fuller than your time alone with God.

I want to be a worshiper with that heart-desperate to be as close to my Savior as possible, and following his every move and step.

Thirty-five is half a life. I can't lose the other half. I've lost so much living as a shadow of a person.

I feel certain God loves me just the way I am, and I have a huge sense of calling to communicate that to young people. The Church's teaching was the reason that I lived in so much shame and isolation and pain for all those years. But rather than abandon it and say it's broken, I want to be part of the change.

What Jesus taught was a radical message of welcome and inclusion and love. I feel certain God loves me just the way I am, and I have a huge sense of calling to communicate that to young people. When I think of myself at 13, sobbing into that carpet, I just want to help anyone in that situation to not have to go through what I did, to show that instead, you can be yourself – a person of integrity.

We need to be skilled into knowing God and His Word, then act as excellent translators of these things to the people in our churches.