I've made occasional commentary about what it was like to grow up in a pentecostal, Hillsong-style church in the Hawkesbury.
My youthful zeal was real – no one could say I was insincere. I made life-long friends, the best of whom I keep today. I even rose to be a member of my church's staff.
But I... saw things, which (to use the lingo) did not sit well in my spirit. Losing your faith is an amputation. You're never free of the yearn to believe, or to regress to a simpler worldview, even long after you've concluded you can no longer support a doctrine you now regard as risible.
29 years of life split between the Church and work in Christian schools has led me to conclude that there's good advice to be given when your idols turn out to be false, and you see evil practiced in the name of Jesus.
Advice about avoiding bitterness, or about holding on to your integrity, or about the obligation to speak out. And how to salvage the good parts of your faith and sublimate them into healthier ways of serving your fellow man.
Many of those stories couldn't be told, except as campfire chats among fellow exvangelicals.
But recently, I was interviewed by Tanya Levin, who wrote People In Glass Houses, to finally talk about that journey.
If you're one of my many friends who grew up with me in Hawkesbury Church, you're the cast of this story. It's at the Leaving Hillsong Podcast, which is on all the podcasting apps you use, so go looking (Apple Podcasts, Spotify Podcasts, Listen Notes, among others).
But here are the direct links to this two-parter:
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