Why Former “Healing Evangelical” Pastor Who Started 300 Person Church Now Has Regrets

What a joy to be on your show! You do a phenomenal job pulling information from me, thank you! Sharing all this from my life is recent, so this interview was very helpful in my formulation as my cult adjacent journey unfolds! You-all are doing great work, keep it up! ❤

We live in an incredible moment. The fact that we can freely talk about our experiences, is the key.

(side comment, his plants are wonderful 😅💜)

I too am a recovering radical Pentecostal evangelical Christian, I attended a Bill Gotherd IBLP seminar at 16 with my boyfriend in 1983.

I'm a Christian who loves your channel and had no issues with this conversation. We do exist! :)

Excellent interview!! Went to a Pentecostal church when I was growing up and felt certain things were off. Married a pastor’s son in my early twenties and divorced ten months later because he wasn’t what he pretended to be (realized that he didn’t really love me, he opened my eyes). I woke up after my divorce and I had to undo a lot of teachings (and the world didn’t end because of it). I’ve been on a journey and found a loving husband that has stood by my side finding myself. I’m much happier NOW than I was before.

I am so happy to see someone well a pastor at that speak out about the cult I grew up in and the trauma it has caused me. Thank you so much for having him.

Break the silence. Break the cycle.

Glad he realizes his church was a cult, sounds like he learned a lot. ❤ great interview

Simply put: Being a Good Samaritan is easiest without any religious bias ❤️

Totally. As soon as I opened the video, I was like, I'd follow him! 😂

I remember in Bible college we had a "holy spirit" weekend retreat where the whole goal was to be baptized by the holy spirit and speaking in tongues by the end of the weekend. So much pressure, especially when I didn't grow up in a church where speaking in tongues was really a thing and I'm thrust into this very overwhelming room full of my professors and classmates. There was the additional pressure of you need to be baptized by the holy spirit, recieved the gift of tongues to be truly a good Christian and saved 🙄

Woah. I am so excited for this one!!! To hear a cult story for the OTHER side. I’m ready!!!!

I relate to this 100% after 60 plus years in the church I am way more free now that I am agnostic .I love others, much more accepting, and just the weight of living for eternity Rewards has been lifted.

So excited to see this perspective! Just started, but this sounds like this was someone who had the power to control and manipulate people, but left it all behind... Soooo cool! 👏🏻

Thank you for this. I was indoctrinated in a fringe Pentecostal church by my grandmother. Parents were unaware of how bizarre these folks were. Several of them had links with the snake handlers further south, but fortunately I never saw that. I spent my childhood terrified I wouldn't get to heaven because, try as I might, I couldn't speak in tongues. The judgmentalism was horrible, and I was constantly bullied. The religiosity and performance aspect -- clapping, yelling, speaking some unknown language, was just a bridge too far. (I am now a language instructor, TESOL/ESL, fluent in another language and can function in others.) Nothing I heard sounded like a known language -- it was gibberish. That said, I heard what I can only judge as genuine glossalia ... from a 13-year-old girl. I'd already started studying Spanish and grew up around folks from "the old country" speaking various languages. I actually recognized what she was saying in a couple of them and understood she was praising God and thanking him. It was amazing, and that girl was joyous and ... transported. To this day I still get goosebumps thinking about it.

Wow when Tim is talking about being a better Christian after not being a Christian reminds me of a time when I was working. I was a point of contact for auto body shops for the insurance company I worked for. I talked to body shops all over the west. It was fun helping shops get paid and any other issues they may run into. One day one of the women I talked regularly asked if I was a Christian because I had a sweet spirit. I happily said no. She was so disappointed. She never talked to me in the same way again. She was ever disappointed. So sad. But I didn't have to judge people or situations. I could treat everyone the same.

My dad is a Missionary Baptist preacher. We were defiantly taught that the Pentecostals were not the true church. LOL It is so weird. I started questioning my family's faith when I was very young. I haven't been in organized religion since I was around 18. I have been to church here and there for my dad because I respect him. My spouse said that she will not believe in a God that allows neonatal units and child cancer. There is so much of your story that I appreciate. Good for you!!!

I went to visit my sister’s church one Sunday because my nieces were doing a performance. After the preacher gave a sermon he came down off the stage and started doing a “healing”. I had never seen anything like it before in my life. He went through the congregation. And everyone he touched fell to the floor. They had several blankets to help cover the ladies due to their dresses. So there were a few men, I suppose deacons, following the preacher around helping to cover the ladies. It was crazy that so many people were laying all over the place. Then the preacher came to a lady close to us and he touched her and said a prayer. She didn’t fall down. Then he said “well I guess you didn’t need a blessing”. I thought everyone there was being so fake, especially the preacher. I felt like he was a false teacher. It really bothered me. I think God can heal people but I didn’t feel like that was what this was. I almost had a feeling of evil and I couldn’t wait to get out of that church.

Thank you so much for this! I grew up in Assemblies of God/ Pentacostalism and I feel like it is a culty scene that doesn't get talked about a lot. I remember being terrified of other Christians who were from "dead churches" and might or might not actually go to heaven. Thank you for including this chat on your channel!