Marriage, Faith, and Same-Sex Attraction with Tony Scarcello, #607
Java with Juli - Making Sense of God and Sex
Authentic Intimacy®
4.9 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 11 May 2026
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, Juli sits down with pastor and author Tony Scarcello to hear his story of wrestling with same-sex attraction from a young age, the weight of shame and silence he carried, and how God met him in the middle of it all.
Some conversations aren't meant to be easy, they're meant to help us grow. This is one of those. Tony's story will challenge you, encourage you, and remind you how deeply we all need the grace of God.
Guest: Tony Scarcello
Online Book Studies are open. Grab your spot today!
Follow-up Resources:
Preorder Love All Our Neighbors: How Churches That Hold a Traditional Sexual Ethic Can Care for LGBTQ People by Tony Scarcello (available May 19)
Regenerate: Following Jesus After Deconstruction by Tony Scarcello
Follow Tony @tony_scarcello
Follow Authentic Intimacy at @authenticintimacy
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Job with Julie. I am Julie Slettery, the host of this podcast, and this podcast is an outreach of authentic intimacy, which is a ministry helping you make sense of God and sexuality. |
| 0:14.1 | Hey, I'm super grateful for the conversation that you're about to hear. My guest today brings honesty and hope in the midst of a topic that is |
| 0:22.7 | usually surrounded by a lot of confusion and fear, particularly within faith communities. |
| 0:28.9 | My guest is Tony Scarchello. He is an author and pastor. He has just released a new book called |
| 0:34.8 | Love All Our Neighbors, and this grows out of his personal journey |
| 0:38.9 | of following Jesus while in the midst of wrestling with same-sex attraction, navigating |
| 0:45.0 | sexuality within his marriage, and working through some deep questions about faith, identity, |
| 0:51.1 | and what it means to belong in the church. Tony shares candidly about the tension that |
| 0:56.5 | he's experienced of wanting to honor God while feeling the need to hide parts of his story |
| 1:02.0 | and how God's grace met him right in the middle of that struggle. Tony is married to his wife, Leslie, |
| 1:08.9 | and serves as a pastor of discipleship at Red Hills Church |
| 1:12.2 | near Portland, Oregon. |
| 1:14.1 | I believe this conversation is not only going to encourage you personally, but also help you |
| 1:18.9 | better understand God's heart for those who are navigating some really sensitive questions |
| 1:23.7 | around sexuality. |
| 1:25.2 | Here's my conversation with Tony Scarchello. |
| 1:31.9 | Well, Tony, thanks so much for being willing to come on Java with Julie and share a little |
| 1:37.1 | from your experience and your own story. Thank you so much for having me, Julie. I'm a big fan of |
| 1:42.9 | yours and love the work that you do and I'm just really honored to be here. |
| 1:46.4 | I learned about your story and the book that you have coming out just recently and had the opportunity to read through it. |
| 1:53.0 | And I was so encouraged by it and challenged. But I think the first thing that jumped out to me was just your level of vulnerability of your story of wrestling with same-sex attraction and shame and silence around all that for many years and then walking that out in ministry. |
| 2:11.9 | And so let me just thank you for the courage to be so open and also ask you, what has given you the courage to be so bold |
... |
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