Episode

Jonathan Merritt on Compassion, Creativity, and Coming Out

Podcast
Curiously with Ericka Graham
Published
Apr 17, 2025
Duration seconds
1990
Processing state
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https://curiouslywitherickagraham.simplecast.com/episodes/jonathan-merritt-on-compassion-creativity-and-coming-out-N9_zKCPx
Audio
https://afp-810258-injected.calisto.simplecastaudio.com/d919a8ff-cea3-44ad-9698-74c92e2764dd/episodes/b68776a7-e1b9-4b0b-b2e3-ee50e6860502/audio/128/default.mp3?aid=rss_feed&awCollectionId=d919a8ff-cea3-44ad-9698-74c92e2764dd&awEpisodeId=b68776a7-e1b9-4b0b-b2e3-ee50e6860502&feed=IdlQW_pJ
JSON
/v1/public/podcasts/curiously-with-ericka-graham-6477170/episodes/jonathan-merritt-on-compassion-creativity-and-coming-out
Markdown
/podcast/curiously-with-ericka-graham-6477170/jonathan-merritt-on-compassion-creativity-and-coming-out.md

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Summary

In this episode, Ericka sits down with Jonathan Merritt as he talks about growing-up as the son of a Megachurch pastor while being gay. He recounts the harrowing experience of being publicly outed and how these early experiences shaped his life today. Jonathan discusses how difficult it is to trust again after trust has been broken, and he also shares how his communication and preaching styles often place him as a person struggling in his stories—not as the hero. When Jonathan creates he often has his audience in mind, and from this interview it is clear that he is someone who lives his life honestly so that others might have the courage to do the same.