Have you ever had the feeling that your life, what people see, and the reality of your heart are so far apart it is like you are wearing a mask.

Chris Archuleta was faking his spirituality as a pastor, so much so, that his family didn’t even know. This went on for years, until through a series of painful events, God helped him take that mask off. He shares with us that painful, but healing process, and how His loving God captured his heart, and restored him back to ministry.

Lk 9:23- “And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me’.”
------------------------------------------
Topics Shared:

LEARNING TO LIVE A DOUBLE LIFE
He thought his ethnicity was ‘christian’
Intense Biblical upbringing
Traumatic event caused deep hostility as a teen
Mean kid, who picked on others, fights
Great academics
Living a double life, rule following at home trouble at school
Pretending to be perfect

HIS MASK COMES OFF
Changed at a teen retreat
Baseball player
Dad started a church, his brother was the youth pastor
Maybe I am next
Reading for his own, and starting speaking publicly
Out of his comfort zone, classic introvert
Nervous to speak, hiding his shyness (chewed gum)
Compromising his faith in a relationship
Let go as a pastor
Married
Fired from a bunch of jobs
Became a phony and a fake as a pastor and worship leader
His wife didn’t even know
The spirit had left him and he didn’t even know it
Combining church ministry with his family was a train wreck
Family relationships were strained

VULNERABILITY & TRANSFORMATION
Parenting changed him, his daughter is his world and his son is his heart.
Suicidal low and a call that changed him.
The death of a godly man and the birth of another.
Vulnerability with a pastor that reached out.
The mask comes off
Restored as a pastor

Links:
Your Church Friends Podcast
-Website
https://yourchurchfriends.rocks/
-Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2296825763946106

Chris Quotes:
“My marriage, all of the faking and the phoniness, I couldn’t do it and I snapped.
We were now arguing all of the time. I couldn’t carry the weight I was carrying. I
couldn’t do the things that I was doing. I couldn’t fake it any more, and I felt that I
was letting everyone down.”

“My prayers in public, you couldn’t tell that I was not praying at all. When I was
praying at churches or leadership meetings, you just couldn’t tell because I had
gotten so good at faking it.
And I had gotten really good at burying the feeling of being a phony. And I was
getting away with it. And that is the part that scared me the most.”

“That was probably my biggest mistake in ministry, that I thought I was the guy
shouldering everything went into His strengths.God. . I never went into His grace
and love to power me through it. II never said. ’God this is your ministry. It was
mine. I personalized it so much, that I never gave it to God. So when it started
crumbling, it was me. I fell apart. It was my mistake. And then I got angry at God. I
became your classic prodigal son older brother. But what about me, and I became
very angry at God.”

“You have to get the mask off, and the easiest way is accountability. God didn’t
design us to be alone. If you look at animals in nature, the one the lion gets is the
animal that is by itself. The enemy comes after us when we are alone.”

“The biggest struggle in the church today is the lack of authenticity. If hypocrisy at
its root is a lie, authenticity is the truth. If we were just more truthful at church. If
we could just remove the facades of ‘God is good all the time which isn’t a lie, but
yeah ‘life sucks, life hurts, I am struggling with this, to find someone to be honest
with, and to be honest with God.”

------------------------------------------
For more inspiring stories:
https://lettersfromhomepodcast.com/

We would love to hear how the Lord has encouraged you through this story:
lfhpodcast@gmail.com

*FREE APP* Letters From Home Podcast has its own downloadable app., with all of
our episodes in one easy place. Click on the link below. All free!
Google Play: play.Google.com/store/apps

Apple App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/letters-from-home-podcast/
id1525564599

For one splashy bright monthly Letters From Home Newsletter
https://lettersfromhomepodcast.com/newsletter/

For Bingeable Series, hover over the “Episodes” tab:
https://lettersfromhomepodcast.com/episodes/

We are on Instagram, iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Alexa, Siri, Amazon, Audible
Google, iHeartRadio and all of the places podcasts live.

Show Notes & Transcription: https://bit.ly/3SjsaWa