Hi, I'm Susie Larson. Thank you for listening to Susie Larson Live. Faith Radio podcasts are only possible because of your support. So thanks for giving and thanks for sharing with a friend.

It's only just a matter around. It's what I'm saying. So the black row is you glide because walking just won't do dance you don't have to know how to

ever since ever since we've got you late welcome to Susie larsen live always so honored to get to spend this time with you

in fact i look forward to bringing you conversations every single day

that hopefully inspire you in your faith walk, that deepen your understanding of God's Word,

and that heightens your awareness of his very real presence in your life. When we've been working

behind the scenes to start a new series that we're starting today called We Are the Church.

So about once a week, we're going to explore different aspects of our life as the body of Christ.

You know, it's easy to stand back and critique the church, but if you are in Christ, you are the church.

So we want to look at ways God is actually moving into the church today.

We'll maybe explore the difference between toxic leadership and

shepherd leadership. We'll talk about church hurt and how to process our wounds in a Christ-like way,

how to navigate the culture in which we find ourselves. Well, today, we're going to talk about the

power and the importance of confessional community, what it is and why it matters.

A while back, I mean, I don't want to say a couple weeks ago, I was talking to one of my

key intercessor friends, and she was saying, it's interesting how, and this is not meant to be

a gender statement, but she just said, so many of these public failures of Christian leaders

are men. And she said, I wonder if it's because oftentimes men aren't

always in confessional community. Where women, we've been that way, we kind of, we gravitate

towards honest confessional community. I just thought that was an interesting thought. I'm going to

ask my guest about that today. Dr. Kurt Thompson joins me today for a fascinating conversation on being known,

being vulnerable, learning to persevere, and the importance of creating beauty in the middle of

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