His Face like Mine

Have you ever tasted true freedom? Russell Joyce was born with a rare craniofacial disorder called Goldenhar syndrome, where the left side of his face was not formed. Years of patchwork surgeries made him more outwardly presentable, but not without deep pain and physical and emotional scars. But a life-changing encounter broke through to him with a power he never thought possible, in the very place he never thought to look-his broken face. This set Russell on a journey to understand what was hindering him and others from experiencing the power of God's grace and being truly set free. During a season of starting a new church in Brooklyn, New York, he learned how the broken places of our lives can be transformed when Jesus meets us in the realities of our woundedness. God doesn't love us despite our wounds but through those very wounds. By his scars we are healed, and we can find new depths of freedom in Christ, scars and all. A warning: this journey will not be easy. A promise: it will be well worth the risk.

Russell W. Joyce is the director of Foursquare Multiply, the church planting movement of the Foursquare denomination for the United States, while also serving as lead pastor of Faith Center, a historic church in the Foursquare movement. In 2017 he planted a church in Brooklyn, New York, with the Hope Church NYC family of churches before transitioning in 2021. He cohosts the Same Jesus Podcast and currently calls the Pacific Northwest home with his wife, Anna, and two sons.