Blessed Are the Canceled

Blessed are the Canceled — Official Trailer

Brenna Blain & Josh Butler — Fri, 15 May 2026 08:13:20 -0700

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: https://brennablain.substack.com/
Josh Butler: https://joshuabutlerpdx.substack.com/

📚 Books:
Brenna Blain: https://brenna-blain.vercel.app/
Josh Butler: https://joshuaryanbutler.com/books/

📱 Instagram:
Brenna Blain: https://www.instagram.com/bunonmyhead/
Josh Butler: https://www.instagram.com/joshuabutlerpdx/

🎧 Soundtrack:
Spotify Playlist: Coming soon

Edited by Ryan Biermann
Music by Orchid Rainbow

STORM: When Your World Falls Apart

Brenna Blain & Josh Butler — Tue, 26 May 2026 00:01:00 -0700

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 potential pathway into the presence of God.

Your storm doesn’t have to be the end of your story.
It can become a place where God meets you.

Blessed Are the Canceled is a podcast about how being rejected, mocked, and discarded can become a pathway into the presence of God.

Through personal stories, Scripture, and theology, the show explores shame, betrayal, forgiveness, exile, and spiritual formation.

🎧 Listen:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033hheN3Kko4W76zRWXqxv?si=nX1kLMUKSMSokNVUDBp3bg
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/blessed-are-the-canceled/id1896762098

📬 Substack:
Brenna Blain: https://brennablain.substack.com/
Josh Butler: https://joshuabutlerpdx.substack.com/

📚 Books:
Brenna Blain: https://brenna-blain.vercel.app/
Josh Butler: https://joshuaryanbutler.com/books/

🎧 Soundtrack:
Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/24mOo6kVrgnOlKCJBnKvEj?si=1-wnL72_SJ-VwnobCa8sIg&pi=XLyMtzbvTfmqh

Edited by Ryan Biermann
Theme music by Tents
Intro music by Orchid Rainbow

If you found this episode meaningful, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who might need it.

#BlessedAreTheCanceled #ChristianPodcast #FaithInSuffering

CONTAGIOUS: Why No One Wants to Be Around You

Brenna Blain & Josh Butler — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:01:00 -0700

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 something unsettling and surprisingly helpful about the social mechanics of cancel culture.

We’ll name four marks of contagiousness from the psychology of disgust, so you can understand why public shame doesn’t just wound you. It isolates you.

But there’s good news: You are not contagious to Jesus. He moves toward you.

You can’t make him dirty. He can only make you clean.

Several of the insights and illustrations in this episode were inspired by Richard Beck’s book Unclean: Meditations on Purity, Hospitality, and Mortality.

Blessed Are the Canceled is a podcast about how being rejected, mocked, and discarded can become a pathway into the presence of God.

Through personal stories, Scripture, and theology, the show explores shame, betrayal, forgiveness, exile, and spiritual formation.

🎧 Listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts
📬 Read along on Substack
🎧 Season One Soundtrack Playlist on Spotify

Edited by Ryan Biermann
Theme music by Tents
Intro music by Orchid Rainbow

If you found this episode meaningful, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who might need it.

#BlessedAreTheCanceled #ChristianPodcast #FaithInSuffering

SCAPEGOAT: How We Try to Save the People We Love

Brenna Blain & Josh Butler — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:01:00 -0700

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 didn’t just experience scapegoating, he participated in it himself.)

We’ll see how Jesus meets us in unique and powerful ways when following him becomes costly.

Blessed Are the Canceled is a podcast about how being rejected, mocked, and discarded can become a pathway into the presence of God.

Through personal stories, Scripture, and theology, the show explores shame, betrayal, forgiveness, exile, and spiritual formation.

🎧 Listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts
📬 Read along on Substack
🎧 Season One Soundtrack Playlist on Spotify

Edited by Ryan Biermann
Theme music by Tents
Intro music by Orchid Rainbow

If you found this episode meaningful, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who might need it.

#BlessedAreTheCanceled #ChristianPodcast #FaithInSuffering

UNDERWATER: When God Lets You Drown

Brenna Blain & Josh Butler — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 00:01:00 -0700

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 absent.

And we’ll discover how God can do some of his deepest formation in the very places that feel God-forsaken.

There is hope when you feel hopeless. It may be that God is most powerfully present precisely where he feels most absent.

OUTRAGE: How to Feed the Machine

Brenna Blain & Josh Butler — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 00:01:00 -0700

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, and why mobs are a terrible vehicle for justice.

And we’ll dig into a theology of anger. Why does God get angry? When is anger good–and when does it become destructive? How do we learn to use it well?

Your anger can become fuel to build up God’s world rather than to burn it down.

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Blessed Are the Canceled is a podcast about how being rejected, mocked, and discarded can become a pathway into the presence of God.

Through personal stories, Scripture, and theology, the show explores shame, betrayal, forgiveness, exile, and spiritual formation.

BETRAYAL: When a Friend Wields the Knife

Brenna Blain & Josh Butler — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:01:00 -0700

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 the wound comes from friends you trusted.

We’ll explore a theology of betrayal: How do you grapple with friends who turn on you? Who gossip about you or misrepresent your story? How do you recover from broken trust without becoming cynical or jaded?

Jesus knows the sting of betrayal firsthand, and he can help you rise beyond it toward healing and hope.

APPEASE: Why Good Leaders Fail

Brenna Blain & Josh Butler — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 00:01:00 -0700

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 and an author, a shepherd and a public figure.

And we’ll see why appeasement doesn’t work, theologically or practically, and what healthier ways of leading through crisis can look like.

Jesus doesn’t die to appease the mob. He dies to atone for your sin, to fight for you and bring you back. You are not discarded; he will not let you go.

TRAUMA: How Your Body Keeps the Score

Brenna Blain & Josh Butler — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:01:00 -0700

In today’s episode, “Trauma: How Your Body Keeps the Score,” you’ll hear Josh reflect vulnerably on the tremors, sleeplessness, and suicidal ideation he experienced in the year following his cancellation, and the painful childhood memories it brought to the surface, memories God gradually began to heal.

We’ll explore a theology of trauma and the body: How are the body and mind connected? What does a biblical, holistic approach to mental health look like? How do we heal from painful memories and cultivate resilience?

We’ll also reflect on the role trauma played in the firestorm itself, and the unique ways it can surface in the life of a leader.

And we’ll discover how facing the pain of your past can become a pathway to a deeper layer of belonging than you’ve ever known.

Jesus is out to heal the whole you–not just part of you--body and soul, heart, mind, and strength.

INHERITANCE: When God Is All You Need

Brenna Blain & Josh Butler — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:01:00 -0700

In today’s episode, “Inheritance: When God Is All You Need,” Josh reflects on how he began to reconcile the haunting sense that God had moved on–that he had been discarded, and his future handed to someone else.

We’ll explore a theology of inheritance: What is our inheritance in Christ? Can it be taken away? How does God form and provide for us in seasons when it feels like we’ve lost everything?

Discover what it means to say, “the Lord is my inheritance.” Because when you have him, you truly have it all.

Blessed Are the Canceled is a podcast about how being rejected, mocked, and discarded can become a pathway into the presence of God.

Through personal stories, Scripture, and theology, the show explores shame, betrayal, forgiveness, exile, and spiritual formation.

🎧 Listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts

📬 Substack:
Brenna Blain: https://brennablain.substack.com/
Josh Butler: https://joshuabutlerpdx.substack.com/

📚 Books:
Brenna Blain: https://brenna-blain.vercel.app/
Josh Butler: https://joshuaryanbutler.com/books/

🎧 Soundtrack Playlist on Spotify

Edited by Ryan Biermann
Theme music by Tents

If you found this episode meaningful, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who might need it.

#ChristianPodcast #FaithInSuffering #CancelCulture #spiritualformation #ChurchHurt #TheologyPodcast

CATHOLIC: Where My Wife Found Peace

Brenna Blain & Josh Butler — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:01:00 -0700

In today’s episode, “Catholic: Where My Wife Found Peace,” you’ll hear Josh share a part of his family’s story that he hasn’t told publicly until now. It’s the story of his wife Holly’s entrance into the Catholic Church, a journey that culminated in the year following his cancellation.

This wasn’t a reaction to the firestorm, and it wasn’t a sudden change of direction. It was the fruit of a long, quiet pull, more than a decade of prayer, formation, and a growing love for the liturgy, the sacraments, and the life of the Church.

Josh and I will reflect on Holly’s experience, how she lived through the firestorm alongside him, what it was like to watch it unfold from the inside, and how, in the year that followed, she found a deep sense of peace within the Catholic tradition.

We’ll also speak honestly about the challenges and gifts of being a Protestant pastor and a Catholic spouse: how Josh and Holly have learned to navigate family life, church life, and shared faith across real differences.

This episode is about celebrating faithfulness, honoring conscience, and living into Christ’s unifying love for marriage and for the church.

🎧 Listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts
📬 Read along on Substack
🎧 Soundtrack Playlist on Spotify

Edited by Ryan Biermann
Theme music by Tents
Intro music by Orchid Rainbow

If you found this episode meaningful, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who might need it.

#BlessedAreTheCanceled #ChristianPodcast #FaithInSuffering

FORGIVENESS: How to Move Forward

Brenna Blain & Josh Butler — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:01:00 -0700

In today’s episode, “Forgiveness: How to Move Forward,” you’ll hear Josh reflect on his own slow, costly process of letting go of bitterness and resentment toward those who wronged him. You’ll also hear how he learned to forgive himself for mistakes and regrets he wished he could take back.

We’ll explore a theology of forgiveness: How do you move forward when real harm has been done? What’s the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation? What role do healthy boundaries play when someone you’ve forgiven is still unsafe?

We’ll also get practical, talking about how to practice forgiveness when you don’t feel you have it in you.

Forgiveness is central to the heart of Jesus. Bitterness binds us to the past. Forgiveness opens the door to freedom.

RESILIENCE: Turning Your Past Into Power for Your Future

Brenna Blain & Josh Butler — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:01:00 -0700

In today’s episode, “Resilience: Turning Your Past Into Power for Your Future,” you’ll hear Josh reflect on how he slowly rediscovered confidence in the voice of God, and how the experience of being canceled, while deeply painful, became something God used over time to bless and strengthen him.

He’ll also share his dreams for the future—both literal and figurative—and how the image of a tsunami has become a way of naming what God can do with the force of what we’ve been through.

We’ll explore a theology of resilience: How does God meet us in hardship and form strength over time? What role does courage play in allowing crisis to shape character? And how can you move beyond survival toward hope and a future that feels possible again?

This season has been about storms and dark nights—about loss, grief, and costly faithfulness. But it’s also been about a quieter truth: even overwhelming experiences can be redirected into something life-giving.

There is hope. What you’ve been through does not have the last word on your story. The God who loves you does.