The severe lack of empathy in some of these reviews is staggering. Someone’s spiritual and religious journey is deeply personal, and organizations that exploit that do immeasurable harm to religious adherents. It’s wonderful to hear Noemi’s analysis of a church like Hillsong as well as their painful retelling of how leadership handled their own coming out. Pastors like to think of themselves as “counselors,” but they have no mental health training. The “help” they offered Noemi was akin to the CEO of a dietary supplements company attempting to perform surgery on someone simply because they sell health-related products. Thank you so much for sharing, Noemi. This podcast was much needed as Hillsong is not the only church led by grifters and con artists, and it’s so important that we learn from these mistakes.

You went to a Christian church, volunteered too much of your time knowing you wouldn’t be paid and they didn’t accept your gay lifestyle sooooo that means life or death? You grew up a Christian you know what the church believes, it’s not a surprise. As a grown adult, you also don’t need to volunteer so much of your time without being paid. It’s so unfortunate that you’re blaming others for your own mental struggles. As a Christian myself I would never attend a Hillsong church so I’m not saying they’re perfect by any means. But saying they should be paying your therapy bills for not paying you for your volunteered time and not accepting your gay lifestyle (clearly stated in scripture) is ridiculous. I’m not sure how this was podcast worthy.

Good “panel”, well produced. Interesting subject. The goods never really show up. The whole thing winds up being “these people are gross, here’s the references on that, and they treated me and my friends poorly”. There’s nothing terribly new about Hillsong, nor investigations or thought into how and why. That’s not to negate the experience of Noemi and her guests, it’s just not what I thought this podcast would be.

Came here for the scandal and what I got was a minister’s child who has an emotional support dog because a church didn’t change its theological framework to suit there needs. I’m sure some bad stuff went down at Hillsong, but according to this podcast, about the worst thing that happened is people were underpaid for babysitting.

Hillsong was/is a false Church focused on profits. What I hoped to hear was your stories about that & instead so far, I am hearing about people who are living alternative lifestyles that want the church to bless it. The Bible is not a la carte & it sounds like these people wanted a church that just supported whatever they were “feeling” & when this church actually stepped up to defend the word of God they are now “scarred for life”. Being a Christian is following what the Bible teaches & It’s clear these people are not reading it.

Noemi, I just wanted you to know that everyone reading these reviews can tell that the negative ones come from a place of pettiness. I haven’t even listened to the podcast yet but I know that you are amazing and strong. I’m so sorry that you had to read those horrible words from mean spirited individuals. You are worth more. I admire your bravery and vulnerability. I choose love.

A personal testimony of their experience. Its very telling that church members come on here to leave bad reviews.

This podcast is not really about Hillsong and their scandals and more about this persons journey and the pain they experienced being gay at a church. A lot of lacking of understanding of the actual Bible and focused more on the want of what they ideally wanted to happen.

I listened to the entire thing, hoping I was wrong and it would get better. It never did. The podcast lacks actual substance. It is predominantly made up of people talking about how individuals at Hillsong hurt their feelings or they didn’t feel valued enough. Very little was objective or displayed any actual wrong doings. They just came across as cry babies who are upset they weren’t told they were special enough. This is a black eye to iHeart Radio. I can’t recommend enough that you not listening to this.

“Im gay and went to a Christian church and now I’m mad that they wouldn’t change their religion for me”

Hillsong is money-grubbing, prosperity gospel trash. Anything that shines a light in that should be celebrated

This whole podcast just to say the church didn’t accept her because she’s queer? Come on! I could have told you that would happen. I don’t understand why people are so surprised. Everyone and their mamas know that most Christian (most, not all) churches do not look kindly at the LGBTQA community. I’m not going to get into if that’s right or wrong. I’m just saying her story is the story of soooo many. Why are you trying to change a religion when there are religions that don’t mind the queer community. The time I spent listening to this is time I will never get back. Wished I would have listened to my inner voice and skipped this podcast. Cheerio!

Very little about factual things Hillsong did wrong and more about making assumptions and blaming others for bad things happening. I was really excited about this podcast at first bc I thought it was going to be like real behind the scenes or new info (more like the doc that came out). It more so sounds like it’s full of hurt from someone that wants Christianity to accept them but doesn’t want to accept Christianity for what it is.

Don’t waste your time.

Not Really about Hillsong. This podcast is more about a very misguided young lady who is very confused as to what it means to be a Christian.

Very little actual testimony about Hillsong experiences. Mostly just a few people’s testimonies. Needs more interviews and deeper research

The answer is no and the Australian accent is a bit much

Very annoying and repetitive adds ruin the listening experience

With the amount of allegations that came out about the church, I was expecting some concrete evidence. But two episodes in there is very little of that. It’s mostly people complaining that they weren’t paid to volunteer, how they are seeing all their experiences through a different lens now that they’ve ruminated on it for years, how keeping music to 20 minutes is complete control, and other very vague inferences about how they ’felt’ instead of real evidence. The court cases will not go anywhere if this is all there is.

I like this show, I really do, but there are WAY too many ads. They’re advertising three other podcasts twice during a single episode. Also the episodes feel more like book chapters, with no introduction or refresher between episodes. I don’t remember what I ate for breakfast, I definitely don’t remember what was happening in your podcast a week ago.

Love the testimonies being told. I’m so happy that they are given this platform to expose all the abuse and illegal things Hillsong has done. Great work and keep it up!

I didn’t know much about hillsong before this! Whoa. What a great start to an important story.

Thank you so much for speaking out and helping to end these abusive institutions. Your stories are so important, and your bravery will help so many.

Am done after the first 15 minutes. Slow; needs serious editing for impact. I am sure hillsong is jacked up, but no way I can commit to listening at this pace. Feels amateurish and self-indulgent.

If anyone has attended church before, they will notice that many of the things that the narrator posts in a negative light can be equally seen in a positive light (as they shed light on multiple times throughout the episode) for example: “we covered the ATM’s because we didn’t want it to be money centered” and then her interpretation is that is because they wanted money to be more of a subtle demand. You can’t assume people’s motives and she has to admit several times that there are a lot of well-intentioned and good people there. To me, this just wreaks of someone being hurt because the church disagreed with her lifestyle so she turned everything she once liked about the church into a negative. Yes, if Hillsong had been up front about their adherence to certain biblical views, this might have been avoided for this host. At least she would have known what she was choosing to be a part of instead of hoping her lifestyle was accepted since it wasn’t openly addressed. The church worship has to be 20 minutes. You can view that as honoring someone’s time (as she once did) or as this is just a production (as she now does). Both have equal validity. So I guess my question is- how does this podcast help anybody heal who has been hurt by the real hurt Hillsong has caused? It doesn’t. It just breeds negativity, assumes the worst about everyone involved, and magnifies someone’s feelings over what could be truth, though we will never know that since this isn’t real reporting, it’s someone’s personal story. I mostly just found it to be a waste of time.

I’ve heard about this podcast because it was being advertised on stuff you should know. It peaked my interest because I have heard of Hillsong church in pop-culture in the news. The problem that I have with this podcast is that it doesn’t contain any actual content. It sounds like it was made by a bunch of disgruntled ex church leaders who are really stretching to find some kind of justification for turning their backs on their friends. The podcast didn’t even have a central narrative. It just seemed like a bunch of accusatory, audio clips stitch together. The whole tone of the podcast is preachy and accusatory without presenting any facts.