Joshua Broome | Porn Star to Pastor | 144

Joshua Broome | Porn Star to Pastor

Joshua Broome | Porn Star to Pastor

Joshua Broome at one time was a star in the porn industry, but now he is a dedicated husband, father, and pastor who is telling his story of God’s mercy and kindness.

Joshua Broome joins Amber to discuss how his dream to be an actor led to becoming a porn star and how that career left him filled with shame and emptiness.  He walked away and encountered the grace and love of Jesus Christ, where His true identity lies.

Questions Joshua and Amber Discuss:

  1. (3:40) Take us back and share a bit about your childhood, teen years, and your aspirations of becoming a famous model/actor.
  2. (8:22) What led you to move to Hollywood?
  3. (11:36) What led to you signing a contract to work as an actor in porn films?
  4. (21:40) You worked in the industry for a little over 5 years and were one of the top 5 male porn stars.  Will you share a bit of your emotional journey during those 5 years?
  5. (29:45) You were questioning why you felt so empty when a bank teller asked you, “Joshua, is there anything I can do for you? … Joshua, can I help you?” Share what those questions led you to do.
  6. (43:35) For two years, you worked to rebuild your life before eventually meeting a girl who asked you another 2 questions: “Do you know who God is?” and “Do you have a relationship with him?” What happened next?
  7. (50:17) What were those first few years like learning to walk with Jesus?
  8. (1:00:35) If you stood in a room with young women and men who were longing to “make it” as a model/actor, what advice would you share with them?

Quotes to Remember:

“But I started modeling when I was 13 or 14. My life was about basketball, modeling and acting.”

“That’s just who I am. Whatever I do, I want to be the best at it. Whatever I’m doing, for good or bad, I’m going to give it everything I got.”

The Beginning of Working as A Porn Actor

“In walked four girls…I went over [to] them and within five minutes they said, ‘Hey, have you ever considered acting?’ I said, ‘Well, actually, I am an actor.’… But I didn’t see the curveball saying, ‘Oh, we’re talking about porn’.”

“He [porn agent] asked me a few questions, and he spoke to every insecurity I had.”

“That was one of many times where I justified doing something, because I told myself a lie.”

“The director waves me over and to be completely honest, I walk over and as soon as I step into the light, I don’t remember a thing. Then next thing I know, I have a check in my hand, and I’m on my way home. And I feel dirty and disgusting.”

Emotional Toll of Working in the Porn Industry

‘In Genesis 2 Adam and Eve are walking, they’re naked, and  there’s no shame. In Genesis 3 sin enters the picture and then they’re hiding from God, because they’re guilty and ashamed. That was me…I felt guilty. I felt ashamed, so I started to pull away from my mom, I started to pull away from anyone that knew me in an authentic way.”

“The deeper I got in, the more fame I got, the more detached from reality I became, because I hated what I did….but it was so close to what I wanted to be doing.”

“I felt so alone and so depressed that I found myself saying, ‘God, I don’t really know if You’re there, but if You are, I just want to die.”

Called by Name

“It’s like I created this plausible reality that I was living in and when she [bank teller] said Joshua, it shattered….I had felt guilty and ashamed, but I never felt convicted. I went home. I remember looking at myself in the mirror, and I had no idea who the person was looking back at me.”

“I’m either gonna die or run. I pick up the phone, and I call my agent and I say, ‘I quit.’ And I call, the company that had contracted me and I quit.”

Meeting Jesus

“[Hope asked], Do you know God?….Do you have a relationship with Him?’…She started by asking me all these questions, but not in the most gentle, sincere way…Then we walk for three hours.”

“I walked in those doors, and I walked out a very different person. I heard the gospel.”

“He looks up at the soldier, and he believes that he deserved death. But instead, he offers him his hand and a place at the table. Not for a day, now for a week, but forever, and not the worst place the table, the best place the table. [Summary of the story of Mephibosheth]”

“Jesus loves me so much that He was willing to die, so that I can know Him. Not for a day, for a moment, but forever.”

“He [Andrew] taught me how to read the Bible and he taught me how to teach people how to read the Bible.”

Walking With Jesus

“Salvation is instantaneous and sanctification is a process. We had to walk through a lot of really difficult stuff, because the mental and emotional trauma I had was real. Absolutely, Jesus changed my life. Second Corinthians 5:17 is real, that old person was dead and gone. I’m this new creation. But now that I’m no longer wounded, I still had a few scars and I wanted to deal with those.”

“I love 2 Timothy 316, all Scripture is God breathed and is good for teaching, rebuking and all this stuff, but reproof was the word that I latched onto, because reproof means to dismantle and destroy. God wanted me to dismantle and destroy the idea of who I thought I was, who I thought He was, and how I thought I was supposed to appropriate myself in this world. And all of a sudden, I started to allow this truth to make its way from my head to my heart and I started seeing myself differently, I started seeing God for who He was, I started seeing people for who they were and that changed my life.”

“He wants to set boundaries in our lives to protect us…and obedience flows from us trusting God. If you can switch your mindset from I need to do what He says, so I don’t get in trouble to I want to do what He says, because I believe that He loves me enough that I truly believe that His way is best.”

“Your identity is not what you do, or what you’ve done, your identity is in the person of Jesus.”

Scripture References

Resources Mentioned:

Related Episodes:

The deeper I got in, the more fame I got, the more detached from reality I became, because I hated what I did.... but it was so close to what I wanted to be doing.
God wanted me to dismantle and destroy the idea of who I thought I was and who I thought He was... I started to allow this truth to make its way from my head to my heart and I started seeing myself differently, I started seeing God for who He was, I started seeing people for who they were and that changed my life

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