About Me

I’m all about empowering people to fearlessly be their most authentic self!

I am a survivor of ex-gay therapy.  Some call it conversion therapy, reparative therapy or just plan counseling, but the goals are the same: To eliminate or reduce homosexual desires and actions.  Needless to say, it didn’t work.  

I am a recovering fundamental Baptist.  If you don’t know what a fundamental Baptist is, I can explain: We thought the Southern Baptists were liberal.

I was a Baptist pastor married to a woman living the midwest raising our three children.  Yes, I spent over 15 years in ministry before exiting that line of work to focus completely on becoming fixing myself so I could save my marriage and live as a straight man.

I always knew I was gay, but being gay wasn’t an option in the world I lived in so I kept trying to make it go away through church, prayer, scripture, and the pursuit of godliness because everyone told me that being gay was a sin and probably just about the worst sin anyone could commit.

Today I am happily married to my husband of over a decade.  I share my colorful story with audiences everywhere to encourage them to live each day as their authentic, powerful and beautiful self.  A life that isn’t motivated by fear.  It is my goal to encourage people to LIVE.  I hope to build bridges of understanding between what may seem to be opposing communities such as the LGBTQ community and religion.

Click here to see more of Joel’s colorful story.

What others are saying…

A great and interesting way of teaching by telling personal stories!  Loved it!

Thank you for being so honest, it’s people like you that help people like me. – JK

I appreciate his transparency about his journey and how conversion therapy affected his life.

Thank you for telling your important story. Praying that you continue to find peace and love, and happiness. – MC