Two Brain Bleeds, And Still He's Thankful
20 September 2026
20 September 2026
Kelly Green was knocked out officiating an American football game and woke up with two brain bleeds. Then came skin cancer, a brain tumour, the loss of his mum and surgery after surgery, the year his wife nicknamed the Year of the Dragon. We hear how this pastor of 40 years found himself more grateful and closer to God in the middle of it all, and what he means when he says our wounds don't get to write the final chapter of our lives.
01Talk notes
The first play of the game had barely finished. A runner reversed field and came back towards where Kelly Green was standing, fifteen to twenty yards behind the action, watching. He was an official, not a player. The only thing he had on was his uniform and a hat. Two fully padded football players collided into him, and everything went dark.
Kelly is a pastor from Zanesville, Ohio, who has spent forty years in ministry. He was refereeing an American football game, the guy they call the "white hat", the crew chief who makes sure everything runs the way it ought to. He remembers holding his hands up, as if he could somehow stop what was coming. Then nothing. The next thing he knew, someone was telling him they were loading him into an ambulance.
He woke to two brain bleeds and the hardest year of his life.
02Forty years in, and still figuring people out
Before we get to the hospital, it helps to know a little of Kelly's story.
He wasn't raised with a personal faith. He grew up Lutheran, went through catechism, served as an acolyte and sang in the choir. He admits he "didn't really understand the catechism process". He liked wearing the robes and the whole regal look of it, enough to wonder if he might become a pastor one day, until someone told him how many years of college it would take. He hated school. So he set the idea aside.
Faith found him later, at twenty-four, in the military. He describes standing in front of a mirror one day, looking at the person staring back, and thinking: "you're worthless. You have no value. Why are you living?" Not long after, reading a Billy Graham book, something clicked. He realised he didn't just want to know about God. In the quiet of his bedroom, he got on his knees. "Lord, if You'll save me, I'll do whatever You want," he prayed. "And He did. And I did."
Four decades of pastoring followed. He's honest about what that's been like. "Trying, challenging. People are people." The money in his denomination was never great, so like a lot of pastors, he's bivocational, substitute teaching in schools to top up his income. He looks at the people he serves, he says, "through the lens that Christ looked at me. And I thought, man, if God could save me, wow, what could He do with anyone else?"
That's the man who got knocked out cold on a football field on 17 October.
03Waking up to two brain bleeds
At the hospital, a CAT scan found two small brain bleeds. Kelly didn't know what that meant, or what it would take to recover from it. He couldn't remember walking off the field, though a crew member later told him he had. He couldn't remember the doctor asking him questions.
What he does remember is the phone call. They handed him a phone, and somehow he recalled his wife's number, which surprised him because he never dials it, he just taps her name. "The first thing I said is, please don't freak out, but I'm in the hospital."
If that had been the whole story, it would have been enough. It wasn't.
In December, a spot on his face wouldn't heal. A punch biopsy found skin cancer. The surgery left a wound the size of a silver dollar and took thirty-eight stitches to close. In February, his mother died, almost ninety-six, after years with dementia. Somewhere in there, doctors also found a benign tumour in the front of his left brain, a meningioma, the kind you monitor with MRIs to make sure it isn't growing. And then, almost as an afterthought, he had to have his teeth removed.
His wife gave the year a name. She called it the Year of the Dragon. "I've been draggin' you from one doctor's appointment to the next," she told him.
"It's not the major things in our lives, the major trauma, that takes us under," Kelly says. "It's all the small things stacked on top of each other." Matt Edmundson, who was hosting the conversation and whose own wife came through skin cancer last year, had a phrase for it. Death by a thousand cuts. One hard thing on its own, you weather. Ten in a row, with no let-up in between, is a different kind of test.
04Thankful in the middle of it
Here is where Kelly says something that tends to stop people.
"I tell people, I'm thankful for my injury. And they're like, I've never heard anybody say they're thankful for being injured."
He is not saying the suffering was good. He is careful about this. What he means is that in the middle of all of it, closer than he's ever been in forty years of ministry, he found God. "Never have I experienced the type of relationship and the type of desire that I have in my heart now," he says. He talks about lying in that hospital bed and realising how serious it could have been. Two large men in full pads, and him with a hat. He could have died on the field. He didn't. And the question he found himself asking wasn't the bitter one.
"Why not me?" he says. "Who am I? I'm not special. God can do what He's always done without me. But I'm thankful that He invites me on the journey with him. I get to do this. I don't have to do it. I get to do it."
He'll be the first to tell you it isn't tidy. "I'll readily confess to you that I've broken down several times," he says. He's more emotional now than before. Things reach him deeper. He still has the traumatic brain injury, still has his moments of doubt and fear and anxiety. "This is not just a one time," he says. "This is an everyday journey."
05What the scars taught him
Kelly has written about all of this in a book called Scars Beyond the Surface. The back cover puts it plainly. "Some wounds leave scars no one else can see."
That's the part he most wants people to hear. You can see the marks on his face and neck. You can't see his heart. And most people, he says, walk around wearing a mask. Someone asks how they are and they say "I'm fine", because they've decided nobody really wants to know. "I want to minister to that area of their lives," he says, "by telling them, listen, let God go deep and let Him heal from within."
If he could only ever preach one more message, this would be it: "We can be wounded, find healing, and be sent, because our wounds do not get to write the final chapter of our lives."
He wants to give people a reason to keep going. "It's easy to give up," he says. "But if we give up, where would we then be?"
06What it means to be thankful in the suffering, not for it
Kelly isn't asking anyone to be grateful for the worst thing that ever happened to them. He's describing what he found when he stopped fighting the question of why me and started asking why not me instead. Gratitude in the middle of the mess, not for the mess. For a man who spent a year being dragged from one appointment to the next, that's not a slogan. It's a hard-won discovery.
07Listen to the full story
In the episode, Kelly opens up about the story he tells from the boat on the Sea of Galilee, and the exact prayer he now prays when the storm doesn't calm. It's an honest, warm conversation about finding God in a genuinely brutal year. Hear the whole thing at whatsthestorypodcast.com.
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Transcript (plain) — Kelly Green — What's The Story Interview. Matt Edmundson = host, Kelly Green = guest (pastor, author). Cleaned for agent use.
Matt Edmundson: So welcome to What's the Story podcast. My name is Matt Edmundson. It's great to be with you today. We've got another great conversation coming up where we're going to learn all about someone's story, their journey with God through the ups, through the downs, through the ins and the outs, and all those kinds of things. And it's great to actually to have today's guest. I've been looking forward to the conversation we've had. It's fair to say, Kelly, we've had a bit of a trial getting you on, but here we are now.
Kelly Green: We are, uh, having troubles, but, uh, God's greater. And if this is the worst thing that happens to us today, we're gonna have a great day.
Matt Edmundson: That's so true. Uh, hashtag first world problems when you have technology issues. Uh, but yeah, it's great. If you're new to the podcast, basically, uh, What's the Story is brought to you by Crowd Church. And we just love hearing stories from Christians all over the world, not necessarily part of Crowd Church, just from Christians from the bigger church, the body of Christ, from the wider church, and just digging into some of the things that they've learned, some of the things that God's taught them on the way. And we love to share those stories because stories are real. None of this is theoretical. Everything is real. And so we love to get into that. So if you want to know more about the podcast, if you want to see any of the previous episodes, um, check out whatsthestorypodcast.com. You can find everything there, including the show notes from today's podcast with Kelly. But Kelly, welcome to the show, man. How are we doing?
Kelly Green: Thank you. I'm doing great. Uh, God's good, and so, uh, life is, uh, is a joy.
Matt Edmundson: Good. It's better that way around.
Kelly Green: Yes, sir.
Matt Edmundson: Definitely better. For those that don't know you, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Kelly Green: Well, I am a pastor. I have recently become an author as God has given me a story to tell. And so, I'm enjoying this journey of sharing what God did through a very serious injury that I had last year on the football field. That's actual football, not soccer.
Matt Edmundson: Just to clarify terms for the British audience, American football. Let me just translate. Yeah.
Kelly Green: Anyway, I was run over by a couple of players, was knocked out, taken to the hospital, discovered I had 2 brain bleeds. And so, I've spent this last year Recovering, but then God showing me how this injury has actually been a blessing in my life. It has brought me so much closer to him. And I tell people, I'm thankful for my injury. And they're like, I've never heard anybody say they're thankful for being injured. But through that, God is teaching me valuable lessons. He's laid a deeper burden on my heart to share with others, and and so this past year has been painful, but it's been joyful.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, well, it sounds like it. I mean, I how did you? So you got the injury playing football. Is that American football, as I would call it? Right? Have I have I understood that right?
Kelly Green: No, I was officiating.
Matt Edmundson: Oh, sorry.
Kelly Green: I am. Yeah, I am what they call the white hat. I'm the crew chief, the guy that kind of makes sure everything's running the way that it ought to run. And the first, very first play of the game after the kickoff, the team that had the ball ran to the, to my right. And I thought he was being tackled. Next thing you know, he reverses field and instead of going more towards the line of scrimmage, He started coming back towards where I was, and I'm 15 to 20 yards behind the play, uh, watching and observing. And next thing you know, uh, I was caught and couldn't move anywhere. And, uh, the tackler hit him and both of them hit me. At least, uh, that's what I think happened because I don't remember.
Matt Edmundson: Wow.
Kelly Green: And, uh, next thing I know, I was being told they're Going to transport me to the hospital.
Matt Edmundson: Wow. And so, and okay, this is— sorry, it's making a bit more sense. No, uh, no disrespect intended. I was like, okay, well, you're still playing football. That's, that's quite impressive.
Kelly Green: No, not at my age. No.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, just my misunderstanding. So you, uh, let's just rewind a little bit. We'll get into the injury and the impact that that's had because I'm, I'm super curious. I want to dig into that. Um, we were talking actually last yesterday at church about how these kind of things cause you either to press in or, or bug out, right? So, um, I definitely want to get into that a little bit with you. But before we do, just, um, how did you— how did your journey to faith begin? Were you, were you brought up in a Christian home? You've sort of always been a Christian, or did something else happen? I'm just kind of curious there.
Kelly Green: Okay, well, I was raised in the Lutheran Church, um, went through catechism, uh, didn't really understand the catechism process. And of course, in the Lutheran Church, they don't stress a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It's more of when you get confirmed, that's you taking responsibility for your spiritual growth. And up to that point, your parents had that responsibility. And so, during that time, I served as an acolyte in the church and sang in the choir, loved wearing the robes and having the regal appearance. So, I thought maybe I would want to get into being a pastor.
Matt Edmundson: Hmm.
Kelly Green: And I met with our pastor at the time and he said, oh, you got to go so many years of college. And I hated school, so I thought, well, I'm not going that path.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fair enough. I'm with you. Yeah, yeah.
Kelly Green: Yeah, yeah. And so, you know, I kind of set that aside. But when I entered the military, I was in boot camp. I was like the platoon chaplain and led in the spiritual things. And And that's what kind of reawakened my desire to, you know, serve the Lord in whatever capacity. And I'll tell you the truth, one day I was standing in front of the mirror looking at this image of whoever this person was staring back at me and thinking, you're worthless. You have no value. Why are you living?
Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
Kelly Green: And man, that just smacked me hard. And then through a series of events, I started reading Billy Graham's book, How to Be Born Again, or You Must Be Born Again.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
Kelly Green: And in reading that, I realized that I don't need to just know about God. I need to have a personal relationship. And so in the quietness of my bedroom, I got on my knees and I asked Christ. I said, Lord, if you'll save me, I'll do whatever you want. And he did. And I did. So that's kind of how I took the long road.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah. Yeah. Right. Fair play. How old were you when this happened?
Kelly Green: Um, 24 years old.
Matt Edmundson: Okay.
Kelly Green: And so been a long time.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's interesting. So obviously you, you subsequently became a pastor. Um, did you do the whole college thing to do that, or did you just, um, do it your, your sort of your way, I suppose?
Kelly Green: Well, um, I was in the Nazarene Church, and they had a process where, uh, the road to ordination began with a local preacher's license. Uh, I did that for a little over a year. And then when I was in Memphis, Tennessee, I attended Mid-South Bible College and began taking courses. And then I served as a pastor for about a year and a half. And then I was discharged and out of the military and moved back to Ohio where I attended Mount Vernon Nazarene University and completed my degree there.
Matt Edmundson: Mm-hmm.
Kelly Green: I didn't go on to Seminary, I was like ready to pastor, and so I bypassed that aspect there.
Matt Edmundson: Fantastic, fantastic! And how have you found it all these years pastoring?
Kelly Green: Trying, challenging. People are people.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Kelly Green: You know, I I just have to, and we have to as pastors, I think, remember. That we are like everyone else, sinners saved by grace. And I always said, I look at Paul's words where he said he felt he was the cheapest among all sinners. And I said, don't bet on that, Paul. I'm kind of, I'm kind of there myself.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
Kelly Green: And, and so I look at people through the lens that Christ looked at me. And, and I thought, man, if God could save me, wow, what could he do with anyone else?
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, yeah, that's, that's so true, isn't it? It's so true. I, I heard this stat, Kelly, the other day, and it scared me a little bit, if I'm honest with you, um, about, uh, 1 in 2 pastors in the States would quit their job And do something else if they could be sure of the income. Um, in other words, half the people running a church are doing it because of money, irrespective of calling. Um, have you— have you— I don't even know if that's true, but it's an interesting idea, isn't it? This, whether it's true or not, that actually you can— pastors, like anybody, can get trapped into something just because of the money. whether it's pastoring a church or a job, right?
Kelly Green: Yeah. Well, in our denomination, the money's not great. And often that we find ourselves bivocational.
Matt Edmundson: Right.
Kelly Green: I myself substitute teach in the schools to supplement my income. And And so, uh, you talk about statistics. The latest statistic that I heard was that most people entering ministry today, uh, last 5 years or less.
Matt Edmundson: Oh, wow.
Kelly Green: And so they get in, and I think the reason for that is back maybe when you were younger and I was younger, uh, we knew what a calling was. We knew what it entailed. We knew the sacrifice. Involved. And today I think a lot of the younger pastors are going in with the mindset of, if this doesn't work out, I can always do something else.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah. Yeah.
Kelly Green: I had somebody say to me when I first considered going into ministry, they said, if you can find anything else to do, and be happy, do it. Yeah. But if you can't, then you have to pastor. And I was at that point where I, I, I didn't think I would be happy doing anything else. And so that kind of led me into ministry.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, I, I totally get that. I think like you, I'm, I, I pastor, and I, but I'm, and I'm bivocational. Um, more out of choice, I think. I, I, I just— I didn't— I never wanted to be a burden on the church, you know. I read Paul talking about that and thought, actually, if I could create my own income, that's great. Or if God rather could create an income for me in a different mechanism, that would be super helpful, right? But I wonder today whether, um, people look at pastoring a church and what they're comparing it to, I think, was different to when, say, you Started out in the ministry, or when I started out, because now we have celebrity culture. And so you think like, well, if I've got to pastor a church, I've got to have a big Instagram account. I've got to like do what I mean. There's all these things in modern culture which people tag on to it. I've got to be like this amazing preacher. I've got to have a big YouTube channel, and so on and so forth. And I, I kind of get the feeling—not everybody—and I hate stereotype—but I, I wonder how much of this celebrity culture has infiltrated. the church and this idea of calling, this idea of, well, if God's called me to do it lest I die, I— why, why would I stop? You know, I think of the old missionaries that would take coffins with them because they're like, we're never coming back. And I, I, I wonder how much of that has impacted us. I don't know if you've got any thoughts on this.
Kelly Green: Um, There might be a degree of that. And I think that, you know, people look at, as you said, some of these different social media forums and they see how other named pastors get recognition and everything. I've come to the point where I realize it's not about me.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
Kelly Green: It's all about God. And so, uh, if people know me, if they recognize me, um, what benefit is that to them? Uh, but if they know Christ, it's all the benefit in the world, uh, to them.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, yeah. And I'm— I, I get it. I get it. I, I really do. It's a— it is an interesting one, isn't it? So here you are serving all these years, right, as a pastor faithfully. Um, not getting paid a shedload of money, in fact having to supplement your income, um, as so many pastors do. And then this, um, I don't want to use the word tragedy, but this event, uh, occurs on a football field doing something that you love, um, and this, this horrible accident. Uh, tell me about that. So you wake up, you're in hospital. What's the, what's the fallout? What's the impact? Straight away of, of the injury?
Kelly Green: Well, of course, when I was taken there, I didn't realize what extent the injury was. Amazingly, one of my crew members on the officiating said, hey, he said, you walked off the field on your own. And I'm like, I did? I didn't realize that. And as I'm walking off, the doctor says, does he always drag his leg like that. And, and of course, Scott told him no. And then he said, the doctor was asking you questions. I asked you questions about, you know, where are your keys? Because we had ridden together in my car and he needed to take my car back home. And, and so I don't know any of that conversation.
Matt Edmundson: Right.
Kelly Green: The only thing that I really remember is right before They were coming at me. I held up my hands like this as if I could prevent that from occurring. And anyway, they hit me. I woke up on the sideline again to the EMS saying, hey, we're going to load you and take you to the hospital. I got there and they took me for a CAT scan.
Matt Edmundson: Hmm.
Kelly Green: Discovered 2 small brain bleeds. And I wasn't sure what that meant. You know, what did that mean and what would it entail? They did allow me at that point. I said, hey, can I call my wife and let her know? Oh yeah. So they gave me the phone and miraculously I remembered her number. Oh wow. Because in my cell phone I just push my wife's name.
Matt Edmundson: And yeah, I wouldn't actually know my wife's name. I know, I get it. I would not know my wife's mobile. I don't even know my kids' mobile number. I just about know my own and that's about it. So well done.
Kelly Green: Right, right. So anyway, uh, uh, I called her and the first thing I said is, please don't freak out, but I'm in the hospital. Yeah. And, uh, okay, where are you? You know, how do I get there? And because we live, um, East of Columbus, uh, in a town called Zanesville. And Columbus is about, oh, 45 minutes to an hour away. And so, uh, I needed to tell her, you know, it's Grant Hospital, go here, go there. And, uh, and then I just, uh, after we hung up, I waited for the results. And that's when they came in and, you know, told me about the brain bleeds and what they were gonna do. And that they were going to keep me in the hospital. So that's kind of where I was left. My wife showed up and they couldn't have been more kind to us and helpful, asking us constantly, do you need anything? Do you need anything? And they gave me such great care.
Matt Edmundson: Mm-hmm.
Kelly Green: But I testify to them.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, yeah, no, it's great. I mean, staff make all the difference. My wife had, uh, skin cancer. She was diagnosed with skin cancer last year, and she had to have quite significant surgery, and the staff were unbelievable. I mean, just some great people. One lady in particular, the anesthetist for my wife, was a Christian lady, and, um, she'd been praying in that morning for all the people going into surgery, of which my wife was one. And my wife saw her and instantly said, you're a Christian, aren't you? And she's like, yes, I am. And they prayed together and she was sweet. And when, um, my wife went under, she was singing worship songs over her. And so I think staff make a massive difference, don't they? And, uh, the, the, the team there at the hospital. So I totally get that. But how are you doing at this point? Are you like, are you nervous? Are you scared? Are you like confused? What, what's going through your head?
Kelly Green: Where I'm at right now is, in fact, I prayed before we came on this podcast. My wife prayed with me. And I told her last night, I said, I have a fear about going on this podcast. And she said, why? And I said, because I want more than anything that The story is about God and not about me.
Matt Edmundson: Hmm.
Kelly Green: You know, there is an insatiable desire that I have to have more of him, to know more of him, to want to do more for him. You know, I mean, I've served for 40 years in the church and never have I experienced the type of relationship and the type of desire that I have in my heart now, it's exciting to me. It's interesting, isn't it, how—
Matt Edmundson: and again, my wife would say the same thing. I think when she— as much as I hated seeing her go through the cancer, one of the things that came out of it was I was watching my wife in effect have her own mini revival, you know, with her relationship with God. It was one of the most beautiful things to see in the oddest Of circumstances, right? So you don't want the circumstance, but you do want her to experience the presence of God, I suppose, in the in the way that she did. How if I go back to the hospital and your wife turns up? You've been told you've got a bleed on the brain. What happens at this point? To cause you to dig deeper into the things of God or to the presence of God rather than draw away?
Kelly Green: I think I realized His protective care and how serious that injury could have been. So imagine, if you can, 2 rather large football players Fully equipped with shoulder pads, helmets, the pants, you know, the whole, the whole thing. And here I am, and the only thing that I have on is my officiating uniform and a hat. And so I can imagine that when I hit the ground, that my head kind of whiplashed and hit against the ground, causing me to be knocked out.
Matt Edmundson: Hmm.
Kelly Green: If I allow myself to consider all the possibilities, I could have died right there on the field. I mean, I could have literally lost my life. And I realized that once again, God had spared me.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
Kelly Green: And I think the reason, the sole reason is that I might give glory to him And tell others of the hope that we have, and how God can heal us not only physically but emotionally and spiritually. My journey has been more than just. I wrote a book called Scars Beyond the Surface, where you can see probably on my face and. on my neck area, physical scars. You can't see my heart.
Matt Edmundson: Hmm.
Kelly Green: You can't see the damage that was done deep inside. And truthfully, people all over the world, I don't care where you are, what your circumstance is, people wear a mask. And when they're asked many times, How are you? Oh, I'm fine. Because they feel that people really don't want to hear what's really going on. And I want to minister to that area of their lives by telling them, listen, let God go deep and let him heal from within.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah. How did he do that for you?
Kelly Green: He really just kind of opened my heart to the possibilities of what might have been and what could be if I didn't allow him to do those things in my life. You know, I would not be where I am today. Had I chosen a different path? Had I become bitter? Oh, why did this have to happen to me?
Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
Kelly Green: And I'm like, why not me? You know, who am I? Good question. Yep. I'm not special. You know, God can do what he's always done without me, but I'm thankful that he invites me on the journey with him. And I get to do this. I don't have to do it. I get to do it. It is an absolute privilege that I have.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, that's really powerful, isn't it? And I, I mean, what you're talking about here is, and again, it's something that I noticed with Sharon, my wife, in the sense that how she viewed God in the midst of the pain. Changed in a in a in a way that transformed her. I don't I don't know if you I don't know if that makes sense, Kelly. I don't know if you experienced the same.
Kelly Green: It does. It makes absolute sense to me. Can I just share with you? Okay. So October 17th, I had my injury. In December, I had a spot on my face, and I went in. to have a biopsy. And they said biopsy's fine, there's nothing wrong. And yet, the spot never healed.
Matt Edmundson: Hmm.
Kelly Green: And so, a couple months later, I went back and they did what they called a punch biopsy where they go under the skin and they found cancer. Just like with your wife, I had skin cancer. I went through the surgery. I Uh, was cut open from here down to here. And, uh, uh, what started off as a small hole ended up being, uh, probably the size of a silver dollar or larger. Uh, they took, uh, 38 stitches to stitch me up. Uh, and so I had cancer surgery. Uh, before that, in February, we lost our mother. Um, Mm-hmm. She had dementia, and at the age of almost 96, she finally succumbed to that. But, you know, God had to help me deal with that as well. So, I had, you know, my injury, the loss of my mom, and then cancer surgery. And oh, by the way, I have a tumor in my left brain. In the front, it's called a meningioma. It's not cancerous, or yeah, it's not cancerous; it's benign. And yet that still causes problems, and I have to have MRIs done to make sure that it's not growing. And so, you know, I had all that, and then on top of that, I don't know, but I got some new pearly whites that I'm sporting now. I had to have. my teeth removed because they were bad. And I'm like, so I told my wife, I said, you know, it's not the major things in our lives, the major trauma that takes us under. It's all the small things stacked on top of each other that really is kind of like, you know, when I see a new spot, maybe your wife's like this, you know, you see a new spot and you wonder, Oh, is that cancer?
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, yeah. It's easy for your brain to go the wrong way, isn't it? I suppose. And for your thoughts to go—
Kelly Green: It really is. Yeah. Down that.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah. But I, I, I, I agree. I, I, I've seen this quite a lot actually, sort of. I could— it's the phrase, isn't it? Death by a thousand cuts. And I think one isolated event on its own, you kind of think, well, that's never gonna impact my faith. I'm— that's never gonna damage my faith. But one, when you have 10 of those in a row and there's no letup in between, that can be, that can be exhausting, I suppose. How did you, how did you experience God in that time? Because like, how did you avoid the death by a thousand cuts?
Kelly Green: Uh, by his grace and by his mercy. I'll readily confess to you that I've broken down several times. In fact, I told my wife just last night, I said, I've become more emotional. Things affect me deeper than it would, say, a person that's not been through this.
Matt Edmundson: Mm-hmm.
Kelly Green: You know? And You know, even last night I had a moment where it just kind of overwhelmed me. And in those times I turned to God. And I also, I'm thankful, so thankful for my wife. She is just a precious jewel and has walked with me through this whole thing.
Matt Edmundson: Mm-hmm.
Kelly Green: She said, hey, she said, what a name this year. And I said, "What do you mean?" She said, "We're gonna name this the Year of the Dragon." She said, "I've been dragging you from one doctor's appointment to the next." I like that. I like that. The Year of the Dragon.
Matt Edmundson: Oh, bless your wife! That's really cool. I'm reminded of something the late Queen Elizabeth said. She she had a really bad year, and she called it an annus horribilis. Um, uh, the horrible year, the, the, you know, the dreadful year kind of thing, um, in Latin. And I— it is, it is interesting, isn't it? Quite often in life, um, and you would have noticed this yourself and, and certainly with people in the church, there tends to be seasons, doesn't there? And it's like you, you go through these seasons in life and some are not great and some are excellent and quite often, you know, they're boring. Um, And having someone walk with you by your side in the Year of the Dragon where they were just literally dragging you along, um, I mean, what an amazing— what an amazing wife. What an amazing privilege to have someone alongside you that can do that with you, right?
Kelly Green: Yes. Yeah. Uh, again, if it wasn't for God, but also for the fact that he places people in our lives who will walk with us through whatever journey that we're on and support us. And I'm thankful for that.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah. I'm reminded of a— I may have mentioned this before on the podcast, but I'm reminded of a quote by a guy called Smith Wigglesworth, who's one of my heroes of faith. And he said, Everything that I am under God, I owe to my dear wife. And I think it's a really interesting testimony, isn't it? I thank God for his grace and his mercy, and a huge part of that in my life is the wife which he so graciously convinced that I would be a worthy husband. You know, so I still think it's the greatest sales job he's ever done. But It's, it's one of those where you— I am so grateful. I am so grateful. And, you know, where would you be? These amazing people that come into your life. And one of the questions, Kelly, I like to ask people on the show is, if you could only ever preach one message the rest of your life, and this maybe will tie into your book, or maybe, maybe this is a good segue.
Kelly Green: Yeah.
Matt Edmundson: If you could only ever preach one more message, Um, what would that message contain? What would be in that message? What would you say?
Kelly Green: My message would be this: we can be wounded, find healing, and be sent because of the fact that our wounds Do not get to write the final chapter of our lives.
Matt Edmundson: I love that.
Kelly Green: And the reason I would do that is because I want to give people faith. I want to give them hope, and I want to give them a reason to keep going. It's easy to give up. It is. And, um, but if we give up, where would we then be? You know, what would be the result of us, of us giving up? Yeah. And so I want to give that hope to others.
Matt Edmundson: That's great. I love that. Our wounds don't define us. I think it's such a true, such a good truism. How do you think people respond to that in the sense of— I'm just trying to think, Kelly, of someone maybe listening to the show who is going through a hard time that annus horribilis, or annus horribilis rather, um, that, you know, they're in the year of the dragon, they're in the— something great is not going on. And they've heard people, they've maybe even said themselves, you know, when things are bad, we, we can trust God and God's got good things for us. How do you, how do you do that practically when everything around you is crumbling and people are saying, well, I've heard that a thousand times, but I, I'm, I'm still here? Um, in this mess, what do you say to people? What did you say to yourself? Or what did God say to you maybe when it was you?
Kelly Green: I think of Jesus going across the sea and the storms rose and the disciples were frightened. They were fearful that they were going to perish. And Jesus was asleep. And they went and woke him and said, aren't you worried? Aren't you concerned? And he spoke to the storm and the storm calmed.
Matt Edmundson: Hmm.
Kelly Green: And I would say to people, as I've had to say to myself, this has not been just a one time. This is an Everyday journey that I'm on. This is an everyday process where I still have my traumatic brain injury. I still have my moments of doubt and fear and anxieties, but I call upon the Lord as they did to calm the storms in my life.
Matt Edmundson: Mm-hmm.
Kelly Green: And, and I think— and friends, if you are watching this and, and you're in that situation, I would say to, to you that God understands exactly where you are. He understands what you're going through. Uh, he understands your thoughts, your emotions, everything that is pressing in upon you. He understands. And I think that if you would just surrender and say, God, I'm so thankful that you understand because I don't. I don't understand why. God does. And God is.
Matt Edmundson: That's what I would say to them. So powerful. So powerful, Kelly. I hate to end the conversation, but time is fast approaching, and it's um. But it's been wonderful to chat to you. Tell us a little bit about the book. What what the book's called? Where I can find the book? What what's in the book?
Kelly Green: Well, I actually have three three books, and I'll just hold one of them up. It's called. Scars Beyond the Surface. Again, that is, that is where the journey begins. And I'll just tell you that on the back, it says, some wounds leave scars no one else can see. They linger beneath the surface, shaping your thoughts, stealing your peace, and whispering lies about your future. And so, this goes through that. And at the end of each chapter, I offer like 5 questions for people to dwell on. This is not a book that you rush through. It is a reflective work. And so you could stay in, say, chapter 1 for a couple of days and work through those questions of, okay, God, this is what I'm going through. This is what I'm facing, and I think sometimes for us to realize what we're facing is as important to us to admit and be willing to confess. Here's where I'm at. Yeah, yeah. Wow. The other two books are called. Healing Beyond the Surface, and then Beyond the Healing, which Healing Beyond the Surface takes people through the healing process that I experienced and that they as well, because I think the whole process is universal. I'm not special. You know, God hasn't given me a special message or anything. It's just— I feel that what I've gone through, others will face as well. And then beyond the healing, and so it's a series again of wounded. You know, what areas were you wounded? With me, it was my TBI, it was cancer, it was surgeries, it was life-changing events. And then the wounded part that God met me in the struggle. And, uh, he brought healing, and that healing is a journey. And then being sent means that what I've been through now may help me reach other people. Here's the truth that I've discovered. There are people out there that are listening to your podcast that have gone through things and experienced things that you and I have never gone through. Mm-hmm. And that those people are best equipped to help others who are in a similar situation as them.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, that's the beauty of the body of Christ, isn't it? It's kind of like you encourage one another. That doesn't mean just, you know, well done, dude, you passed your driving test. Not just that kind of encouragement, but it's that I've gone through this, you're going through it. Let me, let me help you here. Let me come alongside you and let's see God do some crazy stuff in your life like he did in mine. Um, I don't know what that's going to look like. I don't know where the end, the end outcome is going to be because you can't predict that. But, um, I— that for me is one of the miracles of the church, is you have people like that who, who have gone before you, who have gone through it and share their story to encourage the rest of us. Um, and I think if you can do that, that's awesome. That is genuinely awesome. Yeah.
Kelly Green: I agree. I agree. It is something that, you know, it takes a community. It takes everyone. And, you know, everyone's not called to be a pastor. If they were, you and I'd be out of a job.
Matt Edmundson: Fair enough. No one would be happier in many ways, Kelly.
Kelly Green: But it does take, you know, last week I preached a message about why not me? And so, and I dealt with when somebody prays, why not me? Why couldn't I pray for them? Or when, you know, needs prayer, I should say, why not me? And I asked a series of why not me? If somebody needs a call, why not me? Somebody needs hospital visit, why not me? Somebody needs, uh, someone to sit with them, uh, when they've lost a loved one. Why not me? Yeah. Love that. And it takes all of us saying, why not me?
Matt Edmundson: Yeah. Love that. Yeah. It's such a, a liberating question. Um, and challenging because you really, why not? You haven't got an answer, have you really? Uh, maybe one or two, but most of the time, no. It's gonna be one of those. Kelly, listen, man, I genuinely love the conversation. Thank you again for bearing through the tech dramas. Um, but I think it was worthwhile and I genuinely love the conversation. Uh, where do people find your books? How do people reach you maybe if they want to do that? Have you got a website? Do they go to Amazon? What's the best thing to do?
Kelly Green: Yeah, the best thing, uh, there is a, uh, a site called Substack. Uh, online, and, uh, it's kellygreen232127.substack.com, and they'll find me there. Uh, I am on Facebook, uh, under Pastor Kelly. Uh, you might want to look— Kelly E. Green is, uh, the way to find it. Uh, they can go on to Amazon, type in Kelly E. Green. Scars Beyond the Surface, and they will find my books there. And I would love to connect if they need prayer or anything. Please shoot me a message through one of those, and I will be glad to connect with them.
Matt Edmundson: Fantastic. We will, of course, put all of those links in the show notes. So if you're on a podcast app, they'll be in the show descriptions. Um, if you're on YouTube, again, it'll be in the description, or if you're on the website, uh, whatsthestorypodcast.com, the links will be there as well. Um, if you want to go get Kelly's books, highly recommend you read them, uh, or like Kelly said, just reach out to him and say, how's it? Um, I'm sure he'd appreciate hearing from you. But Kelly, listen, thank you for coming on the show, bud. Uh, loved it, and God bless you and your family. Uh, and looking forward to seeing where the next phase of your journey goes to.
Kelly Green: I'm looking forward to it too. Thank you for having me on. Please extend my best to your wife, to your family. I will definitely be praying for you as well.
Matt Edmundson: Thank you.
Kelly Green: Those of us who have faced the skin cancer, we have a community, we have a family, and so we need to support one another. But God bless you. Thank you for the opportunity.
Matt Edmundson: No worries. Genuinely appreciate it. Uh, but there you go. Uh, thank you, Lord, for a great conversation. Thank you so much for joining us. Uh, make sure, like I say, you like and subscribe and do all of that good stuff because we have a lot more of these conversations coming up, uh, over the coming months. So yeah, I hope you enjoyed it. Uh, if you need any more information from Crowd Church, go to the website www.crowd.church. Prayer requests, all of that sort of stuff, uh, can be found on Crowd. And if you've never encountered Christ before, if you've never met him or understand him, a great place to start is the Alpha course. It's a sort of like a 15-week course where we explore the basics of Christianity. We run those several times a year online, um, and we have people from all over the world. On this course, we've got people from Brazil, for example, joining in the Alpha course, and it's great. We get some great conversations, great discussions. So if that's you, you want to find out more, again, more information on the website crowd.church. Just hit the Alpha link and it will explain everything to you. If you fancy joining us, just Sign up online. Would be great to see you in there. Otherwise, that's it from me. Thank you so much for joining us. Uh, from Kelly and myself, God bless you. Have a great week. Bye for now.
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