“You Can’t Punish Pain Away”: Brett Knight Shares Message of Hope, Healing and Redemption in New Book

For Brett Knight, one of those images is a stack of laminated obituaries sitting inside his conference room.

Each obituary represents someone he knew. Someone he fought for. Someone whose battle with addiction ended too soon.

“I don’t keep these obituaries as some kind of morbid decoration,” Knight writes in the introduction of his newly released book, From the Gavel to Grace: Setting People Free From Addiction and Guiding Them Into Healing. “I keep them to remind myself of the all-out war we’re fighting against addiction in our country.”

That deeply personal image became one of the defining moments of a recent interview at ShineCast Studios, where Knight sat down with Herbert Williams to discuss the book, addiction recovery, faith and the growing need for healing across communities in the Upper Cumberland and beyond.

Knight, a Cookeville attorney, pastor and recovery advocate, has spent years standing inside courtrooms watching the same cycle repeat itself, arrest, incarceration, release and relapse.

But somewhere during those years working both in the justice system and in ministry, Knight realized punishment alone was not changing lives.

“What we were trying to do was punish the pain rather than try to heal it,” Knight said during the interview. “You can’t punish pain away.”

That realization became the heartbeat of From the Gavel to Grace.

Knight explained that addiction often grows from deep trauma, shame and unresolved pain rather than simple rebellion or moral failure.

“Once I began seeing the pain, it changed everything,” Knight shared.

Throughout the interview, Knight repeatedly emphasized that while the justice system serves an important purpose, courts were never designed to heal emotional wounds.

“Our system was never meant to heal people,” Knight said. “It was built on punishment.”

Instead, he believes healing happens when accountability, grace, structure and hope work together.

“Grace is not about having no boundaries or no consequences,” Knight explained. “It is about how we view people and their worth.”

One of the strongest themes throughout the interview, and throughout the book itself, is the role churches and faith communities can play in recovery.

Knight believes churches cannot stand on the sidelines while addiction destroys families and communities.

In one portion of the book, Knight speaks about the importance of “breaking chains instead of forging new ones,” a phrase that stood out during the discussion and reflects the larger mission behind the book.

During the interview, Knight spoke candidly about churches welcoming people before they have their lives fully together.

“I don’t care if the needle falls off your arm before you walk into the church,” Knight said. “If I’m preaching there, you’re welcome.”

Knight said he believes churches should be places where broken people encounter grace instead of rejection.

“That is where God will encounter them,” Knight said.

Knight acknowledged accountability is still necessary, but said healing cannot happen without compassion and grace.

“Come as you are, but don’t expect to stay that way,” Knight said.

One of the most emotional moments of the interview came as Knight shared the story of a young woman he once represented in court.

He helped her enter recovery. He watched her surrender her life to Christ. He personally baptized her.

Then addiction pulled her back.

After a relapse and another brief stay in jail, she overdosed and died only days after her release.

“I preached her funeral,” Knight said quietly. “That haunts you.”

Knight said shame often becomes one of addiction’s deadliest weapons because it convinces people they are beyond redemption.

“The biggest lie of addiction is that you’ve gone too far,” Knight said. “That you can’t be redeemed.”

Despite the painful realities discussed throughout the interview, the conversation repeatedly returned to hope.

Knight shared stories of people who rebuilt relationships, restored families, earned diplomas, bought homes and rediscovered purpose after years of addiction.

“We talked about the haunting things,” Knight said, “but then there’s those people who years ago were in addiction and now they’re buying homes, raising families and living the life they were meant to live.”

Knight said he wrote the book with three primary goals in mind.

First, he wanted people battling addiction to see hope and understand recovery is possible.

Second, he wanted families to better understand what addiction does to a loved one emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

And third, he hopes the book opens doors for honest conversations inside churches, courtrooms, civic organizations and communities that may not yet know how to approach addiction and recovery.

“I wanted this book to open up doors to have conversations in places where these conversations about addiction and recovery aren’t happening yet,” Knight said.

Knight believes no community is untouched by addiction, but he also believes no person is beyond redemption.

Throughout the conversation, Knight repeatedly returned to the idea that addiction does not have the power to permanently erase a person’s identity or purpose.

“Your purpose and identity is God given,” Knight said. “It can be obscured, but it cannot be taken away.”

From the Gavel to Grace is available May 26, 2026 in paperback, hardcover, Kindle and Audible formats.

Purchase the book:
 From the Gavel to Grace on Amazon

Watch the full interview:
 ShineCast Studios Interview with Brett Knight