Episode Details

🎙️ 8. Rev. Darrell Goodwin (UCC) — The God of Our Wildest Dreams (Spotlight Re-Release)

There are conversations that inform you… and conversations that do something to you.
This one did something to me.

After speaking with Rev. Darrell Goodwin, I felt blessed—my soul filled, stretched, challenged, and hopeful. His words carry rare pastoral tenderness and prophetic clarity. This conversation is profound not because it is loud, but because it names what so many people have lived and rarely hear spoken with this much truth and compassion.

This episode is for every person told “not you,” and for anyone who still longs for Jesus but doesn’t trust the building anymore. It is for the wounded, the deconstructing, and those discerning faith after church harm.

Rev. Goodwin explores how faith can expand—not by abandoning God—but by releasing versions of God rooted in fear, shame, or exclusion.

He challenges churches and progressive spaces alike: if we say “come as you are,” we must mean it—and create space for people to heal enough to believe us.

If your early faith trained you to fear God, he offers a liberating invitation: sometimes you must stop believing in the God of limitation to encounter the God of your wildest dreams.

💡 Key Takeaways
• Queer people often carry profound spiritual gifts—and the church wounds them early
• Deconstruction often begins in heartbreak and can lead to freedom
• Scripture invites wrestling, not control
• “Come as you are” must be practiced, not performed
• The Church needs both welcome and depth
• Liberation is lived through right relationship—with self, God, and others
• God knocks—God does not kick the door in

👤 About Our Guest
Rev. Darrell Goodwin is the Executive Conference Minister for the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ (UCC), overseeing 600+ congregations. He is the first openly queer Black person to serve in this role within the UCC and is completing doctoral work at San Francisco Theological Seminary.

His ministry focuses on liberation theology, racial justice, LGBTQ+ inclusion, and healing from religious harm while reconnecting people to life-giving faith.

🔗 Connect + Learn More
Rev. Darrell Goodwin — IG: @revdgoodwin
Southern New England Conference (UCC) — IG: @sneucc
United Church of Christ — IG: @unitedchurchofchrist

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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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