This is a transcript excerpt from a June 2023 YouTube interview/talk in which Joshua Broome addresses people who feel "disqualified" because of past sexual sin or addiction. He grounds his response in Scripture (notably 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Romans 8:1) and Christian examples (Peter, David, Moses), arguing that genuine repentance and humility lead to restoration and leadership. Broome shares his own testimony — moving from pornography and sexual brokenness to marriage, fatherhood, and ministry — and offers practical steps: honesty, community, sustained effort ("long obedience"), and reliance on Christ rather than identity shaped by past failures. The tone is pastoral, hopeful, and exhortatory.
Okay, so, man, it's so clear to me that you must have felt this, especially getting into the church. And I know I personally have felt this way, and so many have who struggled with pornography, with sexual addiction, that they're disqualified from, I mean, you name it. Ministry, from having an impact, from being someone that's lovable, from someone who can actually get married, be a pastor. Right. You carry so many of those things that label. What would you say to them? And how have you overcome that old way of thinking that, you know, this is just who I am. Like, I can never be any of these things. What did it look like for you to overcome that? And then what encouragement would you give to people in overcoming that?
I would say, again, I'm always going to look to the bible, right? So second Corinthians 5:17 says that that person that I used to be is dead, and I'm a new creation. And then Romans 8:1. There's therefore no condemnation for those who were in Christ Jesus. So I've been, you know, renewed. I have a new heart, a new mind, a new purpose. I'm alive. I. I was dead when. When I was in that point in my life. But the reality is there's people who know Jesus that are struggling with this. And, you know, to your point, like, what does that look like to be restored? I love looking at the, you know, the story of Peter's life. You know, Peter. Peter said, you know, Jesus asked Peter, you know, who do you say that I am? He's like, well, you're the Son of God. He's like, awesome. You know, you're. You're going to be Petrosh. You're going to be in the rock that I built my church on. And then very quickly, you know, I think like five verses later, he's calling him Satan because Jesus crucified.
Yeah.
And, you know, he's rebuking him. And then he says something really interesting. He says that he's going to sift him like wheat. And when. And when not if. When you. When you turn back, strengthen your brethren. You know, when you turn back, strengthen your brethren. And then Peter goes on to deny Jesus one, two, three times. And then we see this really amazing, you know, this story unfolding on the beach where Jesus is making them breakfast. And you see this really neat moment where there's. There's this Jesus bringing Peter back to this moment. So there's two times in the New Testament where we see this word anthrachia, and it means these burning coals. And we can talk about the, you know, the neuroscience of how your. Your brain and memory is connected to smell. But there's two times where we see burning coals. Number one, we see it the first time that Peter denies Jesus. We. We see it again when he's brought Peter to the shore and he say, hey, do you love me? You know, do you agape me? And Peter says, I filo you. And then Jesus says, do you agape me? And then Peter says, I filo you. And then Jesus says, do you fileto me? And Peter says, yes, I filet o you. I'm. I'm not willing to go to agape because I tried that before and I know what it cost me. I can't live up to that. And Jesus is like, well, I'm willing to meet you where you are if you're willing to be honest, and I'll take you to a place that you never would have got to if you wouldn't have trusted in me and surrendered all yourself to me. Then we go from that scene to Acts 3, where Peter's preaching a message of repentance, saying, you denied Jesus, you crucified Jesus. And he's preaching with such zeal and passion.
Amen.
Because he knows what it cost. And so, so, so that's. So that's. That's what I would say. I would say that through repentance, through a genuine repentance and an adoration for Christ, you can fall mightily and you can fail forward because you will understand what it cost. You look at. You look at David. You know, he, he, he. You know, he. He saw Bathsheba. He looked once, he looked twice. He did something he never should have done. And instead of clearing his browser history, he killed Uriah.
Yeah.
And Right to cover it up.
That's right.
And then you look at Moses, you look at leader after leader after leader who is perfect. No one other than Christ, but a broken person who repents and is restored and redeemed in. And understands that their identity is not built on what you do, your failures, your victories. It's not built on any of those things. If you understand that you are created in the image of God and he's prepared you for good works in advance, and there's gifts and talents and abilities that you have, but they're not to glorify yourself, they're to glorify Him. And if your life is dedicated to that and you can rest in that, however you end up there, it honestly doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how you end up there. It Matters that you get there. So for me, you know, Eugene Peterson, I had to do the long obedience, right? I had to do the hard work over a long time. Like, how did I get from, you know, being someone who was in porn to someone who. I've been married for seven years, I have three kids, and I lead a ministry. How did I get there? Well, a lot of schooling, a lot of, you know, free labor, a lot of volunteer work, a lot of reps, but also a lot of repentance and a lot of time spending on my face calling out to God and telling people the truth when I didn't want to. And it sucked because I was committed to not being who I used to be because I knew what it cost me. And. And I didn't want that. So anyone who is willing to humble themselves under God's mighty hand, be honest with people, surround yourself with community, put in the work to become the person that God created you to be. That's how you end up in leadership. That's how you end up in the position that, like each and every person, you have this passion to pursue the thing that God has put in you. And. But we are our own, you know, worst enemy. Like John 10:10. Like the. The enemy wants to kill still and destroy your calling. He wants to kill still and dest your passion. He wants you to believe that, you know, you are your worst mistake. You are, you know, the porn addiction, you are the abuse, you are the trauma, whatever it is. But realizing that there's something so much greater than anything you can ever do. And what happened on the cross, if that is the thing that defines you, God will take you to somewhere you could never get on your own. So just knowing that.
Let me, Joshua, I just want to ask, the girl that you went on the run with, is she now your wife?
Yes.
Let's go.
Okay. So here's what's cool, though, here's what's awesome, is that's one of the first things that she said to you, was that you're not defined by the worst thing that you've done or the best thing. And so it's so cool to now hear that coming out of your story that it was almost. And I, you know, anybody who knows me, this isn't normally my language, but almost like a prophetic word over the ministry that you had. That's amazing.
Yeah. And it was almost like the trinity of hope, because her name is Hope. The church was Hope Community Church. And it was there where I found about the hope that is found in the person of Jesus. That's awesome.
That's awesome. Yeah. Your words there, Josh, about Joshua, who we really are, are so awesome and inspiring. And if someone listening isn't encouraged and inspired by that, it's like, check your pulse. Because I think this is the truth that we all need. The enemy does try to remind us of our past and name us by that. And God and Christ identify us the way I see it, through our perfect future. Because if we're in Christ for all eternity, we will be made whole and righteous before God. And that's, I believe, how God knows us, because he's not bound by time like we are. He knows us in our perfected state, like he created us. And when he sees us, that's what he sees. And so it's. It's kind of this choice between, am I going to listen to the voice of my past, of the enemy, and shame? That is just a tiny snippet of my story, or embrace this huge reality of my eternal presence in God and in Christ and live out of that identity. And I think you've given amazing words to that, Joshua. So.
