Servant Zero

Who I am

I'm a survivor of church hurt, and of something worse than hurt. I gave years of my life to a church. My kids grew up there. It was not some fringe group; it was a very ordinary, very respected place, which is exactly why it was so hard to believe what happened when we finally left. People we loved stopped speaking to us. Some days I still hear my old pastor's voice in my head. Some days it's still hard to pray.

And here is what I need you to know: it wasn't God. God saved me from the chains of religion and gave me a relationship with Him. That's the only reason I'm here.

Why "Servant Zero"

Zero means no title, no platform to protect, no church to sell you, no donations, no "partner with my ministry." After what you've been through, the last thing you need is one more personality standing between you and God asking for your trust.

Servant means not Pastor, not Bishop, not Apostle. Deliberately the lowest title there is: a servant of God and of the hurting.

I'm also a Christian rap artist. Music is how I first heard my own story told back to me, and it's how I survived it. One of those songs, and a book I'm still writing, is called Church Hurt, Heart Open.

What Sunday Scars believes

• Church hurt and spiritual abuse are two very different things. We name which one we mean, every time. Here's the difference.
• The church is God's design. Gathering with believers matters, and good pastors are a gift. We will never tell you that church is the enemy.
• A good pastor won't always tell you what you want to hear. Correction spoken in love is biblical. Being offended by truth is not abuse.
• Getting hurt by imperfect people is normal. It's real, it's painful, and the answer is grace and forgiveness.
• Abuse is never acceptable, and Scripture says so. Shepherds must not be "lords over God's heritage" (1 Peter 5:3). No one is called to submit to abuse.
• Forgiveness is commanded, and it means releasing people to God. It is not reconciliation with an abuser, and it never means going back under abuse.
• Whatever happened, it wasn't God. Come home to Him, and in time, find a healthy church. The answer to a bad church is never no church.

How we write

• King James Version only. Every quotation of Scripture on this site is checked word for word against the KJV text before it is published.
• No names. We never name a real church, leader or denomination. Stories are composite and non-identifying. This is a safe space, not a place to bash anyone.
• Encouragement, not therapy. I'm not a counselor, and nothing here replaces one. Where abuse or trauma is involved, we point you to licensed, trauma-informed help.
• Corrections. If something here is wrong, or a verse is misapplied, tell us. We would rather be corrected than be wrong about God.

Where this is going

Sunday Scars is becoming a place where survivors tell their own stories, how they came out the other side stronger and still holding on to God. If that's you, share your story. Until then, every video and every answer here has one goal: that no man, no pastor, no church and no organization makes you walk away from Him.

Start here if you don't know where to begin.