Shari Stewart, DMin

Pastoral Counselor/Wife/Mother Curious about the intersection of MIND, BODY, & SPIRIT.

[Amy Smith @watchkeep]

Man Convicted of Statutory Rape Serving as Campus Director of SBC Church https://t.co/K5wWSYKXdN via @ChurchLead #thisisthesbc

[Nancy French @NancyAFrench]

Jennifer Lyell was the highest ranking female in the Southern Baptist Convention.

Until she came forward with abuse against a Baptist leader.

Now she's dead. Here's what happened.

https://t.co/mS0iEPiRxh

[Diane Langberg, PhD @DianeLangberg]

Never undermine the fact that a grown man or woman can be terrified and abused by someone with power.

[Shari Stewart, DMin @DrsStewart2]

@LePapillonBlu2 😭💙

[Anthony Bradley @drantbradley]

So true. . .

[Russell Moore @drmoore]

https://t.co/IKmHDRf97R

[Shari Stewart, DMin @DrsStewart2]

@sometimesalight @DukeDivinity Congratulations!!

[Shari Stewart, DMin @DrsStewart2]

@sandraglahn I was to hoping access this article thru CT archives but I’ve been unable to do so. Is it published elsewhere? Your title touches on the subject matter I’m interested in. I’m so very grateful for your wise and thoughtful voice.

[Shari Stewart, DMin @DrsStewart2]

Heartbreaking in so many ways.

[Russell Moore @drmoore]

The death of Jennifer Lyell @Jenlyell is devastating for all of us who loved her. She was brilliant, brave, and suffered much. She is now, at long last, safe.

Much, much more to say, but, for now, just grief and gratitude.

[Rachael Denhollander @R_Denhollander]

You know who doesn't get to just "look to the future?" Duane Rollins and Jen Lyell. Because they're dead.

Tiffany Thigpen, and Christa Brown, because the wounds, especially of betrayal, are poured out every day, and again today.

https://t.co/CkqY88ygDT

[Diane Langberg, PhD @DianeLangberg]

Clergy sexual abuse is not an affair; pedophilia is not about struggling with difficult circumstances; molesting adolescents is not about a struggling marriage. Such things must be called by their right names—the abuser needs to be held responsible for his/her abusive behavior.

[Diane Langberg, PhD @DianeLangberg]

I am grieved with the tragic loss of Jennifer Lyell. I had much respect for her. Her loss is a loss to us all. It is also a serious call to the church to continue with clarity & truth the work she was courageously doing. May the felt presence of God be near her family & friends.

[Jacob Denhollander @JJ_Denhollander]

Paige Patterson still attends the annual convention, and Jen Lyell and Duane Rollins are dead. That about sums up how sexual abuse reform and attempts at accountability are going in the SBC.

[Shari Stewart, DMin @DrsStewart2]

Infuriating. Heartbreaking.

[David French @DavidAFrench]

When people ask, "Why don't more women come forward?" I think of Jennifer Lyell. Evil people hounded her, harassed her, and relentlessly attacked her. These words, by @kkdumez are haunting:

[Shari Stewart, DMin @DrsStewart2]

@chuckdegroat 😊

[Shari Stewart, DMin @DrsStewart2]

Congratulations, friend!

[chuck degroat @chuckdegroat]

Grateful that Healing What's Within is included in the Top 6 books on Christian living from The Banner:

"Chuck DeGroat has written a masterwork of Christian inner healing books. The author of When Narcissism Comes to Church gently and compassionately guides the reader in peeling back the layers of shame and hurt to reveal their heart’s true home within. “Disconnection,” he writes, “is the tale as old as time.” How we reconnect with our wounds (a necessary process) will lead us back to home, where our curious and loving God dwells, waiting to help us process the things that harm us in this broken world.

Adam and Eve are a through-line of the book, woven beautifully into the pages from start to finish. When they disconnected from God and each other in the Garden of Eden, they stood naked and ashamed, but God pursued them tenderly and asked them three questions.

“‘Where are you?’ God asks with heartache, longing to find us,” DeGroat writes. Though we might have always heard the question as punitive and accusatory, he contends that God’s questions to our original parents were infused with love.

“‘Who told you?’ God asks with compassion, curiously pursuing us. Where are we getting our messages from?

And finally, God asks, “‘Have you eaten from the tree?’” “God … is bringing our eyes to where we’ve chosen to cope—to numb, to soothe, to avoid—instead of abiding in his care and compassion.”

DeGroat invites his reader to soak in the presence of God, our compassionate witness, whose kindness never ends and who gently helps his children attune to their inner wounds, listening for the words of belonging and purpose being sung over us.

With vulnerability, superb word craft, and deep wisdom into the heart and soul, Healing From Within beckons readers to “return and retune, to awaken to the ancient whisper of love amidst the ache of alienation.” (Tyndale Refresh)

[Nancy French @NancyAFrench]

“I sat with my anger long enough until she told me her real name was grief.”
― C.S. Lewis

[Shari Stewart, DMin @DrsStewart2]

@chuckdegroat 💙

[Shari Stewart, DMin @DrsStewart2]

“I just want for you and for me - to take good care of ourselves.”

[chuck degroat @chuckdegroat]

Some folks ask me why I don’t comment more regularly on public abuse scandals on X given my writing on narcissism, abuse, and trauma. Reality is, I’m regularly in the classroom teaching future pastors and counselors or doing counseling. My priority is to be present to my family and to those I’m teaching and caring for.

In this work, there are unique calls. I love the teaching and clinical work. But the healing work is complex and long term, and happens behind the scenes. There are countless stories many of us work within that never make an X post…nor should they. Much of the hard work goes unseen. I could tell you stories of courageous colleagues who don’t do social media but show up to the work faithfully each day.

When someone says “have you heard about the …(newest scandal)?” the answer is mostly no. I hardly have time to scroll. But I hold in the highest regard those whose calls complement mine and who shine a light in dark places. I admire your courage and fortitude.

I just want - for me and for you - to take good care of ourselves. This is hard work, and I spent many years in chronic sympathetic nervous system activation and reaction. X feeds on sympathetic storms. So, take care.

I see many of you engaged in this wearying work - in many forms - and give thanks for you. The cruciform way of Jesus doesn’t need a platform if it’s lived wholeheartedly in your work, however it unfolds.

[Beth Moore @BethMooreLPM]

God help the people who make abuse survivors regret ever coming forward for the sake of others. Oh no no no no no. Think no light thing of it.