I needed to record some truly final thoughts while actually on Best Friends property. So I recorded on my phone near a highway and you'll hear cars going by and me being reflective as I take the final step of the journey this podcast has taken

Episode 44: Grand Finale Recorded with a Live Audience

Feb 9th, 2022 56m 51s

This is the grand finale episode, recorded in Kanab, only seven miles from Best Friends. Poetic by design! And with a live, not exactly studio, audience! This is a wrap-up episode aimed to provide some closure to myself and all of you wonderfu

Episode 43: Punches Sort of Thrown and Final Thoughts

Feb 4th, 2022 57m 40s

This is the final of three long, deep episodes with my wonderful sister, Emma. You can find more of her perspective and also her excellent talents on TikTok at spicyemmapanada. We make sure we say what needs to be said, not out of malice but b

Episode 42: Kids and Siblings and Parents Healing Together... and TikTok

Jan 29th, 2022 1h 3m

My sister Emma joins me for another wide-ranging, mildly cathartic episode in which we dive into the trauma of constant instability and how that looks today. We also talk about how the cult did our parents dirty and really was a wrecking ball o

Episode 41: Another Cult Insider - My Sister

May 4th, 2021 54m 52s

The podcast is back. Not epilogues, not bonus episodes. Back with stories and more truth that needs telling. Back with my sister, Emma, for at least the next several episodes. I'm still not trying to bring down the whole thing that used to be

Epilogue 6: Reactions from Me and Others to the Religion News Service Article

Oct 31st, 2020 40m 48s

Back in January of 2020, before all the crazy, I was contacted by Bob Smietana, who was then the Editor-in-Chief of Religion News Service, a rather impressive and wonderful news outlet that reports on the religious angle of all the newsworthy s

Epilogue 5: What It's Like to Visit Best Friends Now

Sep 19th, 2020 38m 39s

You can probably imagine that visiting Best Friends now is odd. In this epilogue episode, I share stories to illustrate some of the strange and disconnected feelings I have visiting there. Spoiler: it's odd. But cool and chill. Remember to rev

Epilogue 4: My Reaction to the Documentary

Aug 14th, 2020 51m 45s

I learned a lot from watching the documentary that Neil Edwards at TwoFour Entertainment put together. It's a very good documentary with an impressive amount of primary sources, interviews, and footage and audio. Very cool stuff. I had several

Epilogue 3: Nearly Thirty Years Later - I Know What the Cult Believed

Aug 8th, 2020 41m 55s

Remember that episode I did on what the cult actually believed? Well, my knowledge was far more incomplete than it is now. I received a bunch of material from the director of a documentary about the Process. His name is Neil Edwards and the do

Epilogue 2: Finding Parts of Myself - Even Today

Jul 11th, 2020 39m 35s

Did I ever tell you I was a firefighter? Well, I was. My first call was to rescue young bulls from a truck accident. My first fire was a dumpster fire. No, literally. Also, I talked a lot about how important books were to me, but I don't thin

Epilogue 1: My Mission to Brazil

Mar 25th, 2020 44m 55s

This is the first of at least three epilogues. The way I grew up led me to a mission in Brazil and I found a home in the warmth, goodness, and welcome of those people. And I learned and was changed fundamentally. This episode shares some of the

Episode 40: Post Cult Story 3 - How I Met Their Mother

Feb 8th, 2020 51m 16s

Spoiler: I have never seen that show. Not even a single episode - and I'm a big fan of Alyson Hannigan. This episode brings the podcast full-circle from where I started: I wanted a family, to where I am now: I have a family. It's longer because

Episode 39: Bonfires, Poetry, Metallica, Girls, and not LSD

Jan 31st, 2020 32m 45s

This episode starts with me singing, moves on into me reading a very small part of a poem by Walt Whitman, and then just keeps to that epically high standard. I mean, might as well go out with a bang. But really though, this episode is all abo

Episode 38: Life Immediately After

Jan 25th, 2020 33m 37s

So it's not like the story of my life in the cult and then out of the cult is ever really going to end. I am who I am due to my circumstances and my choices and I wouldn't go back for anything. That said, we're winding up this big arc and the p

Episode 37: The Great Escape

Jan 18th, 2020 34m 1s

It's the episode you might have been waiting for! I talk about how I finally actually got out of the cult. For a guy whose bread and butter is telling stories, I recognize that this story might be somewhat anti-climactic, but it's not. It's tru

Episode 36: The Promenade and Easing In and Out

Jan 7th, 2020 31m 56s

Okay friends, we're closing in on the story of my escape. But before that, some things changed for us kids. This episode focuses on all of us kids in the Dallas Branch-- also called the Children's Center. I mention a few things I've talked abou

Episode 35: Memoir Chapter 6: Are You My Father?

Dec 20th, 2019 29m 59s

I share another chapter of my memoir, in which I tell some stories about learning who my real father is, how my biological family sort of evolved, being a ring-bearer at a cult wedding, and more. I also pose some questions to you, dear listene

Episode 34: The Children's Ministry

Dec 11th, 2019 33m 40s

If I were a clickbait headline writer, this episode's title would be: Hypocrisy Made Him This. Click To Be Shocked! The truth is that the name The Children's Ministry might not mean what you think it means. And in this episode, I finally revea

Episode 33: History and Life of Brian's Bright Side

Dec 3rd, 2019 38m 52s

Given how sort of all over the place the history of the cult is being told in this podcast, I thought it might be useful to really hone the thing's evolution down into a simple explanation of facts, with my own perspective on some of the popula

Trailer

Tales From A Cult Insider (Trailer)

Nov 30th, 2019 59s

--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tales-from-a-cult-insider/support

Episode 32: Memoir Chapter 22: The Cult's Life and Death, But Not Really

Nov 26th, 2019 25m 26s

If you're a long time listener (first time caller :-) ), you know I've written my memoir. I'm revising it now preparatory to sending it to agents. I wanted to share chapter 22 with you, in which I sum up the cult's evolution, and mine as well.

Episode 31: We Were Robbed

Nov 13th, 2019 31m 2s

It's episode 31 and I'm talking all about being robbed. I also share some interesting experiences I had with old cult cronies over the last weekend and I answer a listener's excellent question about holidays. The being robbed thing was ongoing

Episode 30: Post-Cult Story 2 - Don't Cut Off My Hand, Bro!

Oct 26th, 2019 34m 12s

This title will become self-explanatory, but spoiler: this episode will especially please theater geeks. Stage acting and everything associated with it blessed my life and changed it fundamentally. My baby face might have gotten me roles, but m

Episode 29: Night Time Anxiety and Other Ailments (Like Allergies)

Oct 11th, 2019 31m 41s

Being sick in the Foundation Faith of God was not fun. Especially when it was an ongoing anxiety about sleeping. I mean, think about it. Who do you tell when you haven't slept well? Your spouse? Your parent? Your coworker or siblings? I didn't

Episode 28: What Was Our Religion, Anyway?

Oct 2nd, 2019 37m 37s

You'd think that a cult would have a single, controlling doctrine that informed every moment and every action in the lives of its adherents, wouldn't you? Something like this world is an illusion, so everything we do is an attempt to break the