Faith and Ministry After a Mental Health Breakdown with Jesse Lusko

In this episode of Pursuing Faith, Dominic sits down with his friend Jesse Lusko, a pastor in Portland whose life and ministry were reshaped by a mental health breakdown that cost him the church he planted and nearly his life. They talk openly about childhood trauma, bipolar disorder, and the months of despair that followed his collapse, including stepping away from ministry and leaving the city he once loved.

Years later, Jesse returned to Portland with clarity and hard-won self-knowledge, planted a new church, and now leads a thriving community in one of the most secular cities in the country, baptizing people who once identified as atheists. This conversation explores mental health in the church, faith after breakdown, and the quiet work of return. It’s an honest and hopeful look at what can remain when certainty collapses but faith endures.

Podcast Links:
Pursuing Faith