b u t // h e // w a s // p i e r c e d

f o r // o u r // t r a n s g r e s s i o n s,

h e // w a s // c r u s h e d // f o r 

o u r // i n i q u i t i e s;

t h e // p u n i s h m e n t // t h a t

b r o u g h t // u s // p e a c e

w a s // o n // h i m, // a n d 

b y // h i s // w o u n d s

w e // a r e // h e a l e d.

I s a i a h  // 53 : 5

Who are you!? Introduce yourself to our people!  

My name is Curtis Gilbert and I’m the Senior Pastor of the Journey Church in St. Louis, Missouri. I’m husband to Shelly and dad to our two boys, Caden and Chase. I’m an Enneagram 8, an avid reader, and a big fan of all sour candy.

How did you get connected with Dwell?

Dwell co-founder, Vera Schmitz, is a member of our Tower Grove church and reached out to me. Prior to that, I first heard about Dwell from one of our pastors, John Chung, who spoke highly about their resources and how they could serve our people.    

Why do you love this verse? 

I have always loved how this one verse conveys such seismic truth, in that it captures both the weightiness and wonder of the gospel.  It both expresses the excruciating reality of Christ’s death, in being pierced through, crushed and bearing the consequence of our sin, yet, also leads us to the still waters and green pastures of peace, healing, and forgiveness.  You can’t help but marvel over Jesus when reading this verse.      

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What’s one personal story from your life that speaks to the concepts in this verse?

When I was new to Christianity, I happened upon these prophetic words pointing to all that Christ chose to do for me.  As someone who spent years not having a care for Jesus or the gospel and then radically rescued by and to Him, I was overwhelmed that he was willing to do that for me—that, he was willing to truly suffer for me, that I would have life.  And the peace that it spoke of was an acute reality for me, for my life up to that point was sinfully chaotic and overwhelmingly dark.  I broke in tears of joy and have carried it with me to this day. 

Tell us one fun thing about yourself.

I am a HUGE Marvel fan, who can’t get enough of the movies and tv shows.  I have watched hours upon hours of videos that discuss the many Easter eggs (hidden references) and various theories about the show.  Not sure if this is fun or that I’m simply a nerd.

Be sure to check out the Dwell podcast to hear more from Curtis this month! Thanks for reading!