Trigger warning. This podcast contains descriptions of various abusive situations.

Listener discretion is advised. My name is Eric Skrinski. As a former religious fundamentalist,

I'm shedding light on the dark side of the church, from the pulpit to the pews. But I'm not

doing it alone. Each week, I'm sitting down with survivors,

advocates, authors, and more to uncover the inner workings of these abusive religious groups

to give tactical tips on how to escape and to find out what we can do to take them down.

You're listening to the Bridge Boys podcast.

2025 marks five years since I started this

podcast talking publicly about abuse in fundamentalist Christian environments. And five years in,

unfortunately, the stories have not stopped rolling in. Today I'm going to be sharing two

stories that stood out to me this past month. The first involves a Baptist pastor

stealing from Hurricane Relief donations, and the second involves a Baptist pastor and karate

instructor who prayed on his students. I'll get to those stories in just a moment, but first,

if you're new around here, my name is Eric Skorsensky, and I grew up in the independent

fundamental Baptist movement. On this podcast and YouTube channel, I cover stories of mental, physical, and sexual abuse

within that denomination and similar fundamentalist religious sex.

Be sure to hit the subscribe button to be alerted when I drop new episodes and take a look

at some of my past conversations with abuse survivors, bestselling authors like Tia Levings,

and former One Tree Hill star Bethany Joy Lentz, psychologists like Hillary McBride, cult experts like

Stephen Hassan, historians like Beth Allison Barr and Kristen Neumay, and even former U.S.

Congressman Adam Kinsinger. I'm also currently working on a massive four-part series about a singular church

flooded with predators that I'll be releasing on YouTube very soon. So stay tuned. And remember,

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