I was a Teenage Fundamentalist. An Exvangelical podcast.

Dan Barker served as an evangelical Christian preacher and composer for 19 years before leaving Christianity in 1984. He and his wife Annie Laurie Gaylor are the current co-presidents of the Freedom from Religion Foundation , and he is co-founder of The Clergy Project . In this fascinating chat, he shares his journey out of faith and why he identifies as an Atheist today.  You can connect with Dan...

Catherine Quiring describes herself as a reformed people-pleaser, Exvangelical and an aspiring advocate for anti-oppressive spirituality. She is a licensed Mental Health Counsellor, and Self-Trust Coach. Catherine tells Brian and Troy why she believes the Evangelical god is a narcissist and that the symptoms experienced by those who have experienced covert narcissistic abuse are extremely similar...

Picking up where he left off in Episode 79 - Troy Deals With His Religious Trauma in Korea , Troy journeys to Singapore in search of his next adventure. In this episode, he continues to unsuccessfully park his religious trauma and finds himself in a very glamourous scene in Singapore. He falls hard for a Chinese woman and they return to Australia to start a new life, but Troy is soon confronted by...

After Troy and Brian appeared on Stephen's podcast, Cult Hackers back in 2021, Stephen now brings his expertise to talk about cults from an organisational psychology perspective. He shares how organisational models help us understand cult leadership, coercive control dynamics and why people join and stay. You can find Stephen's podcast here: Cult Hackers and his website here: culthackers.com   ---...

Krispin and D.L. Mayfield are a husband-and-wife team and hosts of the Prophetic Imagination Station . Both were missionaries and published Christian writers who have recently been very public about their deconversion from Christianity. Brian and Troy talk with them about their deconversion journey and its impact on their careers and marriage. --- Transcript of the episode is here. Podcast links:...

Marc Fennell is an award-winning Australian journalist and documentary maker who was once a teenage fundamentalist...but he claims he was not a very good one. He has just released a documentary about Australian Pentecostalism called The Kingdom where he confronts his own past spent in church. Brian & Troy talk with Marc about why he left and why he’s remained largely silent about his religious pas...

Picking up where he left off in Episode 64 - Troy Story II, Troy left the Church & his Christian marriage and headed off to live & work in South Korea. In this episode, he recounts his largely unsuccessful attempts to deal with his religious trauma by parking his religious issues and indulging in the maladaptive coping strategies of casual sex and alcohol abuse. --- Transcript of the episode is he...

Ross Blocher and Carrie Poppy have a hugely popular podcast where they join religions, undergo alternative medical treatments, and hunt for ghost, goblins, demons, and deities...so you don't have to! If it has an extraordinary claim attached to it, they'll check it out and report on it. In this episode, Brian and Troy talk with them about their teenage fundamentalism and what they have discovered...

Brian and Troy used to be loyal Christian megachurch leaders. They’re not anymore. This honest and often hilarious podcast peeks behind the curtain at the weird, the worrying, and sometimes traumatic world of Evangelicals & Pentecostals. Shortlisted for the 2022 Australian Podcast Awards. Find out more at iwasateenagefundamentalist.com/   --- We're on YouTube here. Want more? Check out our exclusi...

Clare Heath-McIvor is an exvangelical blogger and podcaster who has been operating under the pseudonym 'Kit Kennedy' since a dramatic and shunning-esque exit from her pastor father's church in 2016. In 2022, she and her ex-husband (a gay conversion therapy survivor) became whistleblowers for a 60 Minutes Australia political and religious expose on her father's City Builders Church and its tactics...

Following on from Episode 072 Was Keith Green a Cult Leader?, we interview Sharon Madere. She was 'led to the Lord' by Keith and experienced the 'baptism in the Holy Spirit' experience with Keith in the 1970s. She lived at the Last Days Ministries commune in California and later in Texas in the 1980s. In this episode, Sharon tells her stories and claims Keith Green arranged her teenage marriage to...

Following on from Episode 53 - The Cairns Christ , Brian recounts the breakdown of his marriage and the end of his faith in Jesus. Ladies and gentlemen, Brian has left the building.  --- Transcript of the episode is here. Podcast links: https://linktr.ee/iwatf   Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone and Recovering from Religion is here to hel...

No one had as profound an impact on Troy's deconstruction as Dr Bart D. Ehrman, the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. An expert on the New Testament and the history of Early Christianity, he has written or edited thirty books, numerous scholarly articles, and dozens of book reviews. Six of his books have been on the New York Times Bestseller...

Shane Clifton taught Theology and Ethics at one of Australia's leading Pentecostal Bible Colleges from 1999 to 2018. During this time Shane had an accident that left him with a C5 spinal cord injury (quadriplegia) which radically altered his life and his faith. After a lengthy and traumatic fight over academic freedom and his support for LGBTQI+ inclusion in the church, he left the college and his...

Keith Green was one of CCM’s most revered and loved music superstars of the 1970s and 80s. Spoiler alert! Tracey Phalen thinks he was a cult leader! She was a member of Keith and Melody Green's Last Days Ministries in the 1980s. She joined as a teenage fundamentalist and left after five years of living and serving on the Texas ranch. In this episode, Tracey shares her story and helps Brian and Tro...

In this first episode of Season 4, Brian & Troy unpack some of the most problematic and ridiculous aspects of the doctrine of eternal torment, aka Hell. They also give some suggestions on how to overcome your fear of Hell. The resources suggested in this episode are: Christian That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation : Hart, David Bentley Grace Saves All: Christianity and Uni...

Elgen Strait is the host of Falling Out , a podcast about and for people who grew-up in, and later left, abusive cults. Elgen was born and raised in the Unification Church, a.k.a. the Moonies. Elgen invited Troy & Brian on to his special Christmas episode, where they swapped stories and examined the similarities and differences between the Pentes and the Moonies. They also talked about how both gr...

This is it, the end of Season 3! Troy & Brian reflect on 2022 and some of the milestone episodes they released. They also field listener questions from social media and reveal what they have planned for Season 4 in 2023. In this episode, Brian suggested the following from one of his favourite podcasts, Oh No, Ross and Carrie . How the Ross Stole Christmas: Jesus’ Birth Narrative Edition :  https:/...

David Ames is an American secular humanist who hosts a podcast promoting the idea of 'secular grace' after deconstruction and deconversion. An Assemblies of God Bible College graduate and a former AOG youth leader, David now gives a platform to others to tell their stories of transition from a life-altering faith to doubt to deconstruction to deconversion. David's  Graceful Atheist Podcast is avai...

This is a special crossover episode with Molly & Rachael of the Cheers to Leaving Podcast . They are both children of the house church movement, purity culture survivors, ex-Jesus Freaks and now Exvangelical podcast hosts. Join us as we swap stories and compare scars. Trigger warning: This episode touches on issues concerning depression and self-harm. If you are in Australia and require support, p...

When journeying through the Progressive Christian scene, Brian was deeply impacted and influenced by Chrisitan Anarchist, Dave Andrews. Dave is particularly interested in radical spirituality, incarnational community and the dynamics of personal and social transformation. He is also the author of many books and articles. In this chat, Dave shares how he was excommunicated from YWAM in the ealry-19...

Tara Jean is the creator and host of one of Troy and Brian's favourite podcasts, Heaven Bent . She has just released Season 3 which is a mix of religious history and true crime. She gives a behind the scenes look at the new season and a sneak peek into Season 4. She chatted here back on Episode 22 where she talked about the Toronto Blessing. Find Heaven Bent here: https://frequencypodcastnetwork.c...

Following on from our previous episode, Troy Story , Troy recounts leaving his Christian marriage and his final exit from Church and Evangelicalism. It's a really heavy episode, so be warned. Trigger warning: This episode touches on issues concerning depression and suicide. If you are in Australia and require support, please reach out to 1800RESPECT by phone or online at www.1800respect.org.au/ or...

In this episode, Troy continues to recount his journey away from Pentecostalism. He remembers packing up his church-plant and joining a self-proclaimed post-modern inner-city Church of Christ. --- Transcript of the episode is here. Podcast links: https://linktr.ee/iwatf   Email: hhandhillsong@gmail.com   Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone...

In this episode, Brian & Troy catch up with Andrew, a fellow traveller from their time at Great Big AOG. Andrew recounts his struggles being deep in the closet at church and how he later came to accept his sexuality and then live openly as a gay man.  Trigger warning: This episode touches on issues concerning depression and suicide. If you are in Australia and require support, please reach out to...