Megachurch Pastor Turned Agnostic - Todd Phillips Pt. 2 | Ep. 2191

From Mormon Stories Podcast by Dr. John Dehlin

September 7, 2026 · 1h 60m

About this episode

Dr. Todd Phillips shares his journey from being a megachurch pastor to navigating religious deconstruction and his evolving beliefs.

What happens when a pastor can no longer believe the message he has spent his life preaching? In Part Two of our conversation with Dr. Todd Phillips, former megachurch pastor and creator of “The Deconstructed Pastor,” Todd continues his journey out of evangelical Christianity. After years of building his life around the Bible, he began confronting difficult questions surrounding his faith in the Bible, Jesus, and even God. Eventually, he reached a point where he could no longer reconcile what he was discovering with the beliefs he had once preached. Todd shares what happened as his faith unraveled following the conclusion of his nonprofit work. He describes the devastating experience of losing his relationship with God, and realizing he could no longer preach. His journey eventually led him to TikTok and social media, where he began sharing his story as “The Deconstructed Pastor.” Today, Todd hopes to help other “ex-vangelicals” navigate religious deconstruction and “shorten the pain curve” for those going through it themselves. Todd and John also discusses his changing views on hell, divine hiddenness, faith vs truth, religious psychology, morality without religion, and whether…

People in this episode

Host: Dr. John Dehlin

Guest: Todd Phillips

Topics covered

religious deconstruction
evangelical Christianity
faith and doubt
psychology of religion
morality without religion
personal journey

Keywords

megachurch
agnostic
faith
evangelical
deconstruction
religion
psychology
truth
community

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: McLean Bible Church, Lakepointe Church, The Deconstructed Pastor