Hey, everybody, welcome back to the Bridger Boys podcast. I'm your host, Eric Swazinski. I'm a former fundamentalist shedding light on the darker sides of the church, on the pulpits to the pews. On today's episode, I'm joined by Joshua Herner. He's the son of former Longview Baptist Temple staff member and Christian school principal, Russell Thomas Herner. In the mid-2000s, Russell Herner was convicted on multiple counts of

indecency with a child and aggravated sexual assault of a child for offenses spanning the 90s.

He's currently serving out a sentence in the Texas criminal justice system with a projected

release date of 29. Longview Baptist Temple, now Emmanuel Baptist Church, was led for years

by prominent

IFB pastor Bob Gray Sr. and was held up as a model ministry within that world.

Joshua grew up inside that system as a son of a now convicted abuser, and in this conversation

he reflects on how the culture of the church shaped his view of God, authority, and himself.

He talks about the day his father was arrested,

and he discusses his experience trying to figure out the truth behind his father's crimes.

Oh,

Oh, ain't nobody safe.

Ain't nobody safe Ain't nobody safe In a Bible moment. Oh. In a Bible moment.

In a Bible moment.

I'm glad we got to talk a little while ago and kind of get an outline of the story.

But I really want to dive in for our listeners, first and foremost, like,

just set the stage for me what Longview was like.

Like, what are your early memories there?

And what was that environment to you at the time?

I mean, everybody's got their own story.

Everybody experiences everything different.

But just kind of looking back, I just remember it being really similar to how you would herd cattle, always keeping everybody together, making sure they're doing the same thing, eating the same thing, not wandering off or anything, making sure they're all in the fence type of situation. That's kind of what just kind of a broad view of

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