#233 Nathan Apffel - Inside the Dark World of Megachurches and Corrupt Pastors

The Shawn Ryan Show

Shawn Ryan Show

Society & Culture, Philosophy

4.9 • 38.1K Ratings

🗓️ 4 September 2025

⏱️ 174 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Nathan Apffel is a Christian, filmmaker, entrepreneur, and director of The Religion Business, a multi-part docuseries that exposes the financial practices and lack of accountability in Western religion, particularly Christianity. Drawing from personal experiences with church scandals and abuse, Apffel investigates how religious institutions accumulate vast wealth, estimated at $2 trillion in the U.S. alone, while often prioritizing internal spending over community impact, with 94 cents of every donated dollar staying within church walls. Co-produced with Chris Ayoub, the series features interviews with experts like Joel Osteen and highlights issues like the religious exemption from financial reporting. Apffel is developing tech solutions to promote transparency and community-driven reform in religious organizations. He advocates for ethical governance, victim support, and redirecting resources to solve global issues like poverty and homelessness. Based in the U.S., Apffel blends storytelling, technology, and faith to challenge the status quo and foster meaningful change in the "nonprofit Goliath" of organized religion. Shawn Ryan Show Sponsors: ⁠https://blackbuffalo.com⁠ ⁠https://prizepicks.onelink.me/lmeo/srs⁠ ⁠https://americanfinancing.net/srs⁠ NMLS 182334, nmlsconsumeraccess.org. APR for rates in the 5s start at 6.327% for well qualified borrowers. Call 866-781-8900, for details about credit costs and terms. ⁠https://tryarmra.com/srs⁠ ⁠https://betterhelp.com/srs⁠ This episode is sponsored. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/srs and get on your way to being your best self. ⁠https://bunkr.life⁠ – USE CODE SRS Go to https://bunkr.life/SRS and use code “SRS” to get 25% off your family plan. ⁠https://shawnlikesgold.com⁠ ⁠https://hillsdale.edu/srs⁠ ⁠https://ketone.com/srs⁠ Visit https://ketone.com/srs for 30% OFF your subscription order. ⁠https://rocketmoney.com/srs⁠ ⁠https://ROKA.com⁠ – USE CODE SRS ⁠https://simplisafe.com/srs Nathan Apffel Links: The Religion Business Website - https://www.thereligionbusiness.com IG - https://www.instagram.com/nathan_apffel IG - https://www.instagram.com/religionbusiness YT - https://www.youtube.com/@thereligionbusiness Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Nathan Appel.
0:07.0	Nice to meet you.
0:08.0	Thank you for having me.
0:09.0	You're welcome. You're welcome.
0:11.0	So I'm very nervous about this interview, by the way, but I think it's important.
0:16.0	But, you know, I'm nervous about it because we're going to expose a lot of corruption within the churches.
0:24.1	And, you know, my fear is I never want to, you know, I prayed about this.
0:29.2	I've thought a lot about it.
0:31.1	And I don't want to drive anybody away from Christianity because of what's about to be revealed. And so this was a, this was a big
0:39.8	decision for me to do this. And, you know, I'm curious, you know, before we dive too far into it,
0:45.8	I mean, do you feel like that's happening? Do you feel like you're driving people away from
0:49.9	Christianity by exposing this stuff? No. No. Quite the opposite. I get to present, which I hope
0:59.6	to do today, the authentic Christ. And if you're Christian Christ is the head of the church,
1:06.5	your Savior, I get to present the authentic Christ. I'll say unencumbered and pull the way from the
1:14.1	machine that we have built on top of Christ's message. There are two completely different things.
1:18.8	So I'm here today to separate the two. One is the head of accountability, which is Christ,
1:25.0	and then one needs to be held accountable. So that's what I'm
1:28.3	here to discuss today. Okay. Okay. I mean, what, what kind of response are you getting from
1:36.3	the documentary and all the stuff that you are exposing? Lots. I mean, is it, what kind of responses? Well, it's, it's, it's bifurcated right down the
1:47.4	middle. Everybody who, who has the marbles to watch the show, every Christian that, that is,
1:55.6	I'll say, humble enough and interested in taking a hard look at the system, once they watch it, they message
2:04.5	us through DMs or they'll see me in an airport or whatever, and they just come up and give me a
	...

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