
I was a Teenage Fundamentalist. An Exvangelical podcast.
Brian and Troy used to be loyal Christian megachurch leaders. They’re not anymore. This podcast explores life in and after fundamentalism.
Latest episodes

Jul 20, 2023 • 1h 18min
082 - Cult Hacking with Stephen Mather
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
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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 help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/
---We're now on video on YouTube here.Want more? Check out our exclusive Patreon episodes here.Our blog is here.Join the conversation and connect with others here.The transcript of this episode is here.All our other links are here. Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone, and Recovering from Religion is here to help.

Jul 6, 2023 • 1h 25min
081 - I was a Published Christian Author with D.L. and Krispin Mayfield
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.
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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 help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/
---We're now on video on YouTube here.Want more? Check out our exclusive Patreon episodes here.Our blog is here.Join the conversation and connect with others here.The transcript of this episode is here.All our other links are here. Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone, and Recovering from Religion is here to help.

Jun 22, 2023 • 1h 19min
080 - Marc Fennell Wasn’t a Very Good Teenage Fundamentalist (Leaving Part 18)
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 past until now.
You can learn all about Marc here: marcfennell.com
The Kingdom is available to stream in Australia here and will be available to international audiences soon.
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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 help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/
---We're now on video on YouTube here.Want more? Check out our exclusive Patreon episodes here.Our blog is here.Join the conversation and connect with others here.The transcript of this episode is here.All our other links are here. Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone, and Recovering from Religion is here to help.

Jun 8, 2023 • 1h 12min
079 - Troy Deals with His Religious Trauma in Korea (Our Stories Part 30)
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.
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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 help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/
---We're now on video on YouTube here.Want more? Check out our exclusive Patreon episodes here.Our blog is here.Join the conversation and connect with others here.The transcript of this episode is here.All our other links are here. Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone, and Recovering from Religion is here to help.

May 25, 2023 • 1h 27min
078 - Oh No, Ross & Carrie Were Teenage Fundamentalists
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 about some of the wild claims of Christianity and other religions.
You can connect with Ross and Carrie through their website: ohnopodcast.com and their podcast: Oh No, Ross and Carrie.
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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 help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/
---We're now on video on YouTube here.Want more? Check out our exclusive Patreon episodes here.Our blog is here.Join the conversation and connect with others here.The transcript of this episode is here.All our other links are here. Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone, and Recovering from Religion is here to help.

May 11, 2023 • 51sec
Trailer: I was a Teenage Fundamentalist. An Exvangelical Podcast.
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 now on video on YouTube here.Want more? Check out our exclusive Patreon episodes here.Our blog is here.Join the conversation and connect with others here.The transcript of this episode is here.All our other links are here. Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone, and Recovering from Religion is here to help.

May 11, 2023 • 1h 14min
077 - I Blew the Whistle on my Dad’s Church with Kit Kennedy (Leaving Part 17)
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 in Australian conservative politics.
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 Lifeline on 13 11 14.
You can connect with Clare at www.unchurchablepodcast.com. If you want to explore her whistleblowing story, then see the links below:
60 Minutes Australia - Praying For Power: Caring church or crazy cult
The Age Newspaper #1 - Liberal Party Candidate Agent for Ultra-Conservative Church, Family Says
#2 - Speaking in Tongues, Exorcisms and Control: Life in City Builders
#3 - Inside City Builders, the Pentecostal Sect with Lofty Political Goals
#4 - Ultra-Conservative Candidate won’t sit in the party room if elected
#5 - Shame on you: Liberal Party figure caught using fake 007 pics and fake identity for dirty tricks
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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 help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/
---We're now on video on YouTube here.Want more? Check out our exclusive Patreon episodes here.Our blog is here.Join the conversation and connect with others here.The transcript of this episode is here.All our other links are here. Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone, and Recovering from Religion is here to help.

Apr 27, 2023 • 1h 27min
076 - Keith Green Arranged My Teenage Marriage (Keith Green Part 2)
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 Martin Bennett, one of the three elders of LDM.
Correction: In this episode, Sharon says she remained with LDM until 1985. She wishes to correct this and state she stayed with LDM until early-1987.
You can find their podcast here: Feet of Clay—Confessions of the Cult Sisters and follow Tracey & Sharon on Instagram.
Melody Green's biography of Keith Green and memoir of life at Last Days Ministry, No Compromise is available here.
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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 help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/
---We're now on video on YouTube here.Want more? Check out our exclusive Patreon episodes here.Our blog is here.Join the conversation and connect with others here.The transcript of this episode is here.All our other links are here. Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone, and Recovering from Religion is here to help.

Apr 13, 2023 • 1h 2min
075 - Brian Walks Away from his Marriage...and Jesus (Our Stories Part 29)
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.
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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 help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/
---We're now on video on YouTube here.Want more? Check out our exclusive Patreon episodes here.Our blog is here.Join the conversation and connect with others here.The transcript of this episode is here.All our other links are here. Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone, and Recovering from Religion is here to help.

Mar 30, 2023 • 1h 23min
074 - Armageddon Isn’t Coming with Bart Ehrman
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 list. Brian and Troy talk to Bart about his own teenage fundamentalism and his upcoming book, Armageddon: What the Bible really says about the end. In this conversation, Bart delves into the most misunderstood—and possibly the most dangerous—book of the Bible, Revelation.
You can connect with Bart via his blog: The Bart Ehrman Blog, his website: Bart D. Ehrman, and his podcast: Misquoting Jesus.
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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 help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/
---We're now on video on YouTube here.Want more? Check out our exclusive Patreon episodes here.Our blog is here.Join the conversation and connect with others here.The transcript of this episode is here.All our other links are here. Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone, and Recovering from Religion is here to help.
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