When Churches Protect Powerful Pastors: Boz Tchividjian on Abuse, Accountability & When to Leave

What should you do when a church protects a powerful leader and silences the wounded?

In this premiere episode of Project:Healed, Bob and Erica Hazlett sit down with Boz Tchividjian, Esq., attorney, former prosecutor, founder of GRACE, and one of the leading voices on abuse prevention, institutional accountability, and survivor advocacy in faith communities.

This conversation is direct, hard-hitting, and deeply needed.

Boz explains why working at a church is not a life sentence, why leaving a toxic or unsafe church can be a wise and faithful decision, and how unhealthy church cultures often protect charismatic leaders while isolating the people who come forward with concerns.

We talk about what happens when survivors or parents bring allegations forward, why communities often rally around the accused leader, what the legal process can look like, and why simply being believed, represented, and defended can become part of a survivor’s healing.

This episode is for church staff, pastors, parents, survivors, advocates, and anyone who has ever wondered whether speaking up will cost them their community.

Bob Hazlett is an author, speaker, church leader, and co-host of Project:Healed. With more than three decades of ministry, teaching, and leadership experience, Bob brings biblical insight, pastoral wisdom, and a deep desire to see the Church become healthier, safer, and more whole. His heart behind Project:Healed is not to tear down the Church, but to help create honest conversations that lead to healing, accountability, and restoration.

Erica Hazlett, MSW is an advocate, speaker, and co-host of Project:Healed with a background in trauma-informed care, survivor advocacy, and anti-human trafficking leadership. After years of walking alongside survivors and witnessing the impact of spiritual harm, Erica brings a compassionate and justice-centered voice to conversations about abuse, healing, and healthy faith communities. Her heart behind Project:Healed is to help people feel less alone, more believed, and more empowered to move toward wholeness.

Together, Bob and Erica created Project:Healed as a space for honest, trauma-informed conversations at the intersection of faith, pain, accountability, and restoration. They are not approaching these topics as people with all the answers, but as leaders who care deeply about survivors, the Church, and the possibility of real healing. Their hope through Project:Healed is to help make room for truth without shame, accountability without cruelty, and healing without silence.

This conversation is for educational, prevention, and healing purposes. We are discussing patterns, systems, and lived experiences, not making allegations against any specific unnamed person, church, ministry, or organization. Please do not use the comments to speculate about or identify of private individuals.