Leaving Hillsong

Noemi had grown up as a pastor's kid in Mexico and was involved in church planting with her family. After returning to the US for her education continued her Pentecostal faith. She was eventually invited to a Hillsong Church plant, later, not knowing it would become infamous not too long after. In Part 1, Noemi shares a fascinating history of life as a Pentecostal in Mexico and the transition into 'white church', and away from her very cultural roots including the Brown Virgin her grandmother revered. Don't miss this compelling introduction to Noemi's experience of church, faith, and joining Hillsong this week.. Talk then!

"Reverend" Bones is an indie musician, songwriter and singer based in Canberra. He's a passionate climate change activist and a law graduate, working long hours when he's not playing with the Exvangelicals.  It's a very different life for this 30-something than ten years ago when he first ventured out of his hometown, into the city,  and the study of philosophy and law at university.  Michael, as his mother calls him, speaks strongly from his own experience and professional insights about healing, changing, evolving, and adapting to a world and a world view without Christianity or church or a hope of heaven, even when that world of Pentecostal signs and wonders has caused you endless trauma that played out with very real impacts on a young man's life.  Don't miss the Baby or the Bathwater. After all, what IS more important?!!

Yolandi Bosch is one of the handful of people who have ever spoken out in print against Hillsong's practices and ethics.  She has featured in the New York Post, Business Insider, Vanity Fair, and is rumoured to be have been interviewed for an upcoming Hollywood special.  But at what cost? Did Hillsong sue? Will they sue?  Is speaking up and 'doing the right thing' really worth it in the real world?    Join us for this very important discussion about protecting other people.    Closing track by Gospel Train

Given that 90% of Hillsong College students in Australia are international, it's kinda important to know how those students are treated and what the actual education is like.  Yolandi Bosch found out when after saving up, she applied to Hillsong College to further her skills and her relationship with God.  What she found was she had paid to be part of an entertainment machine, where students were graded according to their marketability, and if they had none, they paid to be rejected.  Far from home, seriously ill at one stage and forced to volunteer with a fever, Yolandi describes the place that had seemed so appealing and so godly. 

Lisa found spiritual homes in the AoG/Hillsong network for 14 years, for her, her husband, and family of 5... or so she thought. And while she had questions over the years, things that didn't seem right, it wasn't until a major issue during a major rebranding was treated like a minor thing that Lisa and her family fled. And then experienced the results of their hard work. Join Lisa and me for a chat about a mother's realisations from being in and finally leaving Hillsong!

Megan was 17 when she moved to the big city and started attending a big church that soon became Life in name and for her. But after guaranteeing her medical welfare during a crisis to staff, everything changed when Megan got back to church and college. And then there's the old Hillsong link. Join us for a chat about Life, the Hillsong Universe and everything

Shaun Nemorin is a therapist, mental health researcher and a leader in the torture and trauma field. He holds a Bachelor of Psychology and a Masters of Social Work and has 20 years’ experience working with people with a refugee experience, 10 of those spent in humanitarian contexts and emergencies with the United Nations. But as a younger man he witnessed and experienced first hand abusive hazing practices at the institution he called his spiritual home. Some time ago, Shaun decided to confront those responsible and he discusses all of this tonight. We urge listeners to prepare for an intense and important conversation, but one that might bring up issues that people have not recognised or remembered as harm. So please, take your time with this episode, and most of all, take care of yourself first.

Shaun Nemorin is a narrative therapist, a former UNHCR staffer, with a Masters in Social Work, specialising in trauma.  But before that, he was a boy looking for community in connection in a place he now calls The Institution. Join us for this conversation and settle in for an overdose of insight, expertise, and lived experience. 

In Part 2, Fiona leaves the revival centre movement and goes out into the big, not so bad world.  This episode looks briefly at the domestic violence model and leaving a pentecostal church, so please be prepared.  And Fiona also walks us through how she took social action and was successful! keeping kids in schools safer from the Pentecostal Agenda It's a great listen, so please do join us!

This week we hear from Fiona about a church not unlike Hillsong, but not Hillsong. Fiona grew up in Melbourne in several pentecostal churches including the Christian Revival Centres.  The experiences had a profound impact on her life as she rose through the ranks to pastor and leader and she discusses those times and what it was like to come out as gay in a place with a pentecostal agenda.  Please join us!