Episode Details

🎙️ 29. Pastor Josh Scott – (Non-Denominational, Progressive, Open & Affirming) The Kind of Pastor I Wish I’d Had Growing Up 

What if the pastor you grew up with had made room for your questions instead of your fear? In this episode, Pastor Josh Scott (@josh_a_scott) shares how a kid raised in conservative Free Will Baptist Appalachia—where reading the NIV was considered “progressive”—became one of the most trusted voices in today’s progressive, Open & Affirming, non-denominational Christian movement.

Josh grew up in a tiny holler on the Kentucky/West Virginia border with King-James-Only theology, fear-based sermons, and a faith built on certainty. But the loss of his grandfather inside a church conflict cracked that certainty open and launched his lifelong journey of re-imagining Christianity around justice, compassion, and Jesus at the margins.

In this conversation, we explore:

• Growing up fundamentalist and slowly unraveling that worldview
• Why his progressive convictions come from Scripture, not in spite of it
• How he teaches his kids about gender, pronouns, and diverse families with simple Christian compassion
• Why he refuses to become the “progressive version” of the fundamentalism he left
• What to look for in a safe, affirming church
• How he pastors online without losing his soul to trolls
• A prayer for anyone who hasn’t been prayed over in a long time

💡 Key takeaways
• Deconstruction often begins with grief, not rebellion
• Christianity was never meant to be about control
• A Christ-shaped faith always widens the circle of belonging
• You can hold convictions without dehumanizing anyone

📚 Resources Mentioned

✨ Brian D. McLaren – Life After Doom, Faith After Doubt, Do I Stay Christian?
Instagram: @brian_mclaren

✨ Marcus J. Borg – The Heart of Christianity, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time

✨ John Dominic Crossan – The Historical Jesus, God and Empire

✨ Rob Bell – Love Wins, What We Talk About When We Talk About God
Instagram: @realrobbell

✨ Jay Bakker – Fall to Grace, Revolution Church, One Punk Under God
Instagram: @jaybakker

✨ Vote Common Good – Faith-rooted civic engagement
Instagram: @votecommongood

✨ Doug Pagitt – Pastor, author, Executive Director of VCG
Instagram: @dougpagitt

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Where the slippery slope becomes sacred ground.
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Come explore our global, diverse, inclusive Christian faith, deconstruction, and spiritual identity in a rapidly changing world. Through conversations with clergy, scholars, and cultural voices, the show creates space for people navigating faith after certainty, church harm, or political co-option of religion.

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