Show Notes
What happens when a pastor can no longer believe the message he has spent his life preaching?
In Part Two of our conversation with Dr. Todd Phillips, former megachurch pastor and creator of “The Deconstructed Pastor,” Todd continues his journey out of evangelical Christianity. After years of building his life around the Bible, he began confronting difficult questions surrounding his faith in the Bible, Jesus, and even God. Eventually, he reached a point where he could no longer reconcile what he was discovering with the beliefs he had once preached.
Todd shares what happened as his faith unraveled following the conclusion of his nonprofit work. He describes the devastating experience of losing his relationship with God, and realizing he could no longer preach.
His journey eventually led him to TikTok and social media, where he began sharing his story as “The Deconstructed Pastor.” Today, Todd hopes to help other “ex-vangelicals” navigate religious deconstruction and “shorten the pain curve” for those going through it themselves.
Todd and John also discusses his changing views on hell, divine hiddenness, faith vs truth, religious psychology, morality without religion, and whether humanity needs religion. He reflects on valuing truth over community comfort, and his relationship with believers he once influenced.
Dr. Todd Phillips is a former evangelical pastor who served at McLean Bible Church in Washington, D.C., and Lakepointe Church in Dallas. He also ran a nonprofit called The Last Well, which worked to bring clean water and Christianity to the people of Liberia. Today, he works in AI consulting while building his platform as “The Deconstructed Pastor.”
Todd's donations links and social accounts can be found here.
Also, as a special gift for Mormon Stories listeners, Todd has offered 2 FREE gifts - his "Deconstruction Guide" and "You Don’t Need to Fear Hell" course. Together, these resources are usually $34, so we are grateful to Todd for sharing these with our audience! https://stan.store/drtoddphillips/p/deconstruct-without-fear-2-free-guides ___________________
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At Mormon Stories we explore, celebrate, and challenge Mormon culture through in-depth stories told by members and former members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well as scholars, authors, LDS apologists, and other professionals.
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