Today, we have a Modesty Files first as we welcome mother and daughter duo, Kathy and Christine to the show. Kathy and Christine journeyed through IBLP together throughout her daughter, Christine’s, formative years. Through their time at IBLP, both Kathy and Christine interacted with Bill Gothard, and in this episode, they detail the strange way Gothard interacted differently with mothers and their teen daughters. Kathy and Christine have an honest conversation about their differing...

On today’s “Where are They Now” special episode we’re speaking with April, one of our Season 2 guests. While her episode was released in 2021, we recorded with her in 2020. Since chatting, April has quit her job for good at a white evangelical church and is finally ready to share an additional piece of her story that she wasn’t ready to speak about at the time. We recommend relistening to Episode #20 - Girl, You're a Missionary: April's Divine Calling to Study at the Masters Commission so...

Today we’re speaking with Sarah, who left the Church of Christ about a decade ago. After having an abortion at age 19, she felt so guilty that she vowed that the next person she would date she would marry. However, she ended up trapped in an abusive marriage. Their relationship started with love-bombing and eventually turned into heavy verbal abuse and manipulation. Her pastors encouraged her to remain married because, “you can’t divorce your husband just because he’s mean to you.” Sarah...

Content Warning: We spend a fair amount of time in this episode discussing suicide and abuse, which may be upsetting, so listener discretion is advised. We have a very special show for you today. In Season 2, we released an episode featuring Julie and the Pentecostal Community she grew up in. Julie’s congregation was run by a female pastor who members referred to as “Granny.” She encouraged adult men to get vasectomies and forced teenagers to clean offices at night. Well, today we are...

Today, we are speaking with Anne Jisca, a Canadian woman and former evangelical missionary. She participated in short-term mission trips as a teenager, and after getting married at 22, she and her husband, Josiah, pursued full-time missionary work all over the world. During that time, Anne Jisca gave birth to five children, and the pressure of being the perfect missionary started to build up. Her mental and physical health suffered, and in 2019, Anne Jisca and Josiah decided to leave...

In this episode we discuss physical child abuse, sexual assault, suicide ideation, and other topics that may be upsetting, so listener discretion is advised. Today we’re speaking with Clarissa, who is here to share with us the fundamentalist teachings that were enforced in her home. Her parents were primarily influenced by Michael and Debi Pearl, writers of the 1994 book “To Train Up a Child.” This book encourages parents to use corporal punishment and has sold hundreds of thousands of...

On today's episode, we're speaking with Allie, who is here to share with us her experience growing up influenced by the Advanced Training Institute. She spent most of her childhood focused on perfection, like following her parents' rules or protecting her purity. Her interactions with the organization’s leader, Bill Gothard, left her feeling uneasy and confused about her relationship with faith. But as she grew older, she started to question why following human made rules supposedly led to...

Today, we are speaking with AnnaMarie, a woman who has recently left the Mormon church. The Mormon church is one of the newest Christian denominations and also has one of the most unique origin stories. AnnaMarie was born into and grew up in the Mormon Church and accepted its customs as ordinary until she went off to college. She was committed to her role and the expectations of her church, but when she tried to leave quietly she was stalked by missionaries in the group. She’ll get into the...

On today’s show, we’re speaking with Alex, a woman who was raised in United Pentecostal Church International. She attended an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist school whose practices were heavily influenced by its neighbor, Bob Jones University. She frequently visited the campus for sports and music recitals, and had to follow all of the required rules. Alex is going to share with us what religious practices she followed growing up and how breaking away from the church allowed her to embrace...

Today we’re continuing our conversation with Lindsey. Last week, she shared with us was it was like growing in ATI culture and working with Bill Gothard at Headquarters for the Advanced Training Institute. If you haven’t listened to Part One, we highly recommend going back to hear Lindsey's story from the beginning. Lindsey is going to share with us how she ultimately left ATI, fell in love, and started a new life for herself outside of the church. Topics in this episode include mature adult...

Welcome to SEASON THREE of The Modesty Files! On today's episode, we're speaking with Lindsey, a former member of Advanced Training Institute, the infamous homeschool curriculum created by Bill Gothard. While we know our guest as Lindsey, for those on TikTok, you may know her as at @cultchronicles. Looking for something to do at the start of quarantine, Lindsey decided to re-read her old journals and document her re-exploration of the past on TikTok. She went viral, and people were fascinated...

On today’s “Where are they now” special episode we’re talking with one of our season 1 guests, Lydia. She was the first one to introduce us to Christian purity culture and Josh Harris's book “I Kissed Dating Goodbye.” Lydia shared with us last year that she had yet to have her first kiss, and while we’ll let Lydia share with us what she has been up, let’s say it’s almost as perfect as a hallmark movie. We highly recommend going back and listening to her episode in season 1, episode 8 to...

On today’s “Where are They Now” special episode we’re talking with Angela, who was a guest in Season 1. She comes from a Pentecostal background and taught us all about the church’s rituals, such as healing and speaking in tongues, her experience being a pastor’s kid, and what it means to take a “liberal” stance on sex education and morals. We highly recommend going back and listening to her episode in Season 1, Episode 9 to hear her complete story. Follow us on Instagram @themodestyfiles...

Today we’re continuing our conversation with Jenni, an alum from Bob Jones University. If you haven’t listened to Part One, we highly recommend going back to hear Jenni's story from the beginning. She explained to us many of the rules enforced by the school and how challenging it was for Jenni to come out as a queer. Jenni going to share with us what it was like to undergo years of conversion therapy, what led her to leave fundamentalism, and how she learned to embrace her true self as a...

Today we are speaking with Jenni, an alum from Bob Jones University, a private, non-denominational evangelical university in Greenville, South Carolina. It is known for its conservative cultural and religious positions. At Bob Jones, Jenni had to abide by strict rules enforced by the school, like a bell that rang at 11 pm and 7 am for mandatory bedtime and wake time every day. The university fostered a “tattling culture” and so as Jenni discover her sexual identity, it made coming out as a...

On today’s episode, we’re joined by Nick, a former member of the Church of the Brethren. Growing up, Nick expressed many questions about her non-denominational faith and religious practices. She had a hard time performing the role she had to play for the church community. As queer person, Nick struggle with the church’s required head covering, dresses on sunday, overall traditional femmine expectations. The Brethren openly opposed same-sex marriage and these teachings became problematic as...

Welcome back to the second episode of our Pride Month celebration series. Today we’re speaking with Martina, a queer woman from Belgum who’s going to share with us her unique experience with the Mormon church. After a traumatic incident as a teen, Martina was searching for a community of people. She encountered a group of Mormon missionaries and her friendship with them turned into a slow boil of indoctrination into the church. She fell for the love bombing, and soon enough, the church...

Today is the first episode of our Pride Month celebration series. We’re bringing to you five incredible episodes from people in the LGBTQA+ community who have left fundamentalism. We’re kicking off our series with an interview with Elizabeth Hunter, or @ThatLizHunter for those who know her from Instagram and TikTok. Elizabeth has spent the last year on social media documenting her experiences growing up influenced by Bill Gothard's homeschool curriculum, the Advanced Training Institute....

Today’s guest is Halt and he’s going to share with us his male perspective of what it was like attending a Non-denominational Christian school in Las Vegas. From Kindergarten through 12th grade, Halt was immersed in Christianized education. He received very little sex education and participated in purity banquets, pledging that they would maintain their virginity for marriage. Halt’s history courses also focused on white-washed history topics like Great Replacement Theory and used...

On today's episode, we're speaking with Kez, who joins us all the way from the other side of the world in Australia. She is here today to share with us her experience growing up in the Independent Baptist church, and how the Advanced Training Institute homeschool curriculum was implemented in her home. Growing up as a pastor's kid, Kez faced the pressures of perfection and was isolated from anyone outside her IB community. Her father even became a key player in bringing fundamentalist...

This episode involves topics of physical and sexual abuse and other mature themes. Listener discretion is advised. On April 29th, Josh Duggar, the oldest son of the TLC reality show family was arrested by federal authorities and now faces charges of possessing depictions of sexual abuse of children, some of whom were under the age of 12. In response to the varying opinions out there on social media, we ourselves wanted to understand the situation better. We reached out to someone who we...

Support us on Patreon! patreon.com/themodestyfiles Follow us on Instagram @themodestyfiles for updates and bonus content. Today we are speaking with Joanna Adams, the producer and director of “The Daughters,” an upcoming audio documentary exploring the Stay at Home Daughter movement. This movement focuses on the idea that daughters should never leave the covering of their fathers until and unless they are married. Joanna is sparking a conversation about the movement and sharing the stories...

Support us on Patreon! patreon.com/themodestyfiles Follow us on Instagram @themodestyfiles for updates and bonus content. This episode contains mature language so listener discretion is advised. On today’s episode, we’re speaking with April who was raised in the Pentecostal denomination known as Assemblies of God. After being told by a preacher it was her destiny to become a missionary, she applied and was accepted to the Master Commission, an intense discipleship training program. At the...

Support us on Patreon! patreon.com/themodestyfiles Follow us on Instagram @themodestyfiles for updates and bonus content. Today we are speaking with Charity Wottrich, a Christian author, who grew up in a homeschooled family in rural Pennsylvania and is 8th out of 13 children. Growing up, she belonged to a Branhamism Church. This institution was founded by William M. Branham, a Pentecostal pastor who gained popularity by hosting “healing revivals” in the 40s and 50s. His followers, who call...