The benefits of deconstruction, moving beyond trauma, and defending the role of those exposing hypocrisy were the highlights of the concluding sessions of this past weekend’s Restore Conference at Crossroads Nazarene Church in Chandler, Arizona.
The sessions included author and pastor Scot McKnight, therapist Leslie Vernick, and The Roys Report (TRR) founder Julie Roys.
Megachurch finances set to be exposed in docuseries, app
Restore attendees got a sneak peek at The Religion Business, a docuseries focused on the financial issues of evangelical megachurches and Christian-based media empires.
Filmmaker Nathan Apffel spent 12 years researching and four years filming the project, although his gonzo, in-your-face approach has sparked some pushback.
“I got called the Antichrist and Satan this week,” he told Roys onstage.
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“Welcome to the club,” she replied dryly. “But you love the church?”
Apffel nodded. “I love the church . . . but the church today is not what it was 40 or 80 years ago. Only through recent precedent do churches no longer disclose their finances.”
The Religion Business, which spotlights figures such as televangelist Kenneth Copeland and Houston pastor Joel Osteen, is set to premiere in April.
Apffel told TRR that the distributor for the seven-episode series—reportedly a major streamer such as Netflix or Prime Video—should be announced in the next six weeks.
Citing stats that Christians give $1 trillion in annual donations, Apffel is also launching an app over the next two months.
“After the series examines the problem, this will help create solutions,” he predicted.
The app, called Broken Shepherds, reportedly will provide a searchable database of every major church and religious nonprofit.
Apffel said the app is “the first to scrape both federal and state databases” to provide an accurate picture of religious nonprofits, giving easy access to IRS 990 forms and other data.
“The more accountable and transparent you are, the higher you rank in the app,” he said, adding a beta version will roll out in two weeks.
Finding safety after abuse
Attorney Melissa J. Hogan discussed the importance of finding safety within the “cocoon” of the abuse survivor community, but also urged survivors to break out of the cocoon and accept risk.
She has previously shared allegations that her former husband—Chris Hogan, a longtime radio personality at financial guru Dave Ramsey’s company—had engaged in multiple adulterous affairs. For the first time, she spoke at Restore about the abuse also experienced by her and her children and the devastating impacts of it.
Hogan addressed the aftermath of reporting what she knew to human resources.
The company “tried to silence me with phrases like, ‘Let the Holy Spirit do something,’” she said. It took Ramsey Solutions three years to fire national radio host Chris Hogan.
At Restore, Melissa Hogan spoke of “peeling ourselves out of the tentacles” of abuse, and setting “strict boundaries” with an unsafe person.
Displaying images of a cocoon, she shared how the survivor community has been a place where she can be “held, protected, and allowed to grow and change.”
“This room is full of hurting people,” said Hogan. “This world is full of hurting people; frankly it’s not surprising that sometimes we bleed all over one another.”
She urged attendees to “emerge from the cocoon” and relate to the wider, messy world.
“We cannot find a completely safe life, but we choose to live it anyway.”
Setting the record straight about ‘failure porn’
Investigative journalist Julie Roys opened her talk by playing several clips of detractors.
Landon Schott, pastor of Mercy Culture Church in Fort Worth, called her a “purveyor of slander and gossip” in a recent video. Daystar TV co-founder Joni Lamb referred to Roys on air as a “bottom-feeder” and “low-level blogger.”
And Malachi O’Brien, a former vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention who has defended IHOPKC founder Mike Bickle, said Roys is “producing failure porn” with “demonic, evil content.”
Roys recounted studying at Wheaton College, where she asked Paul Fromer, faculty advisor for the campus newspaper, what to do about negative reader pushback.
He told her, “Julie, if you’re not getting some hate mail, then you’re probably not saying anything.”
“I think we’re saying something,” said Roys. “Truth telling has never been popular . . . (And) holding leaders accountable, and exposing them when they’re not, is very biblical.”
She summed up key investigations that launched TRR, including of Chicago-area megachurch Harvest Bible Chapel and her former employer, Moody Bible Institute, whose radio network produced a national radio program hosted by Roys.
She pointed to the Moody board’s failure to back up faculty who raised ethical and financial concerns.
“If boards were doing their job, we wouldn’t have a job,” she said. “We’re not a first resort at The Roys Report; we are a last resort.”
Perhaps surprising some attendees, who know Roys from her hard-hitting reports, the journalist expounded on several passages of Scripture.
She discussed when Matthew 18 is relevant—“for personal offenses”—versus when to apply 1 Timothy 5:20. “When they’re a public figure, reprove them publicly.”
Turning to Judah’s example in the Old Testament, she spoke of how the prophet Jeremiah called the sinful nation to account, warning Judah that God would punish them if they continued to misrepresent Him. Drawing parallels to what’s happening with sinning pastors today, Roys warned, “God will humiliate us before He will allow us to humiliate Him.”
Plus, she confronted those like O’Brien, Lamb, and Schott who attack those who expose hypocritical Christian leaders.
“God’s name is not being blasphemed right now to the rest of the world because of the whistleblowers and advocates and allies,” she said. “It’s being blasphemed because of the hypocrites, and it’s about time that we put responsibility for what’s happening back on them.”
McKnight explores benefits of deconstruction
Scot McKnight, an author and New Testament scholar, opened the afternoon session by speaking about the benefits of “deconstruction,” which he redefined as shedding those things that don’t align with Jesus or his kingdom. (Typically equated with the exvangelical movement, deconstructing has often been associated with leaving the faith).
McKnight recently wrote a book with musician and pastor Tommy Preson Phillips called Invisible Jesus, which explores the topic in depth. He said he has learned a great deal about faith by listening to those who are deconstructing.
He’s discovered the reasons people leave and deconstruct, including abuse, political partisanship, hypocritical leaders, insensitivity to social justice issues, and the silencing and suppression of women.
Day Two of #restore2025 featured @scotmcknight delivering a riveting address on the benefits of deconstructing:
“We are re-centering Jesus in this Deconstruction Movement.” pic.twitter.com/OXka3ZQ2e6— Julie Roys (@reachjulieroys) February 8, 2025
Research shows, he said, that 86% of those deconstructing remain in church. And many that choose to leave do so because they are disillusioned with the institution, not with Jesus.
“The idea that these people are all deconstructing their faith and wandering off and don’t believe anymore so they can have sex all the time is just false,” McKnight said.
Deconstructing has several benefits, according to McKnight, because it includes sifting through what’s important, recentering Jesus and rethinking what it means to live like Christ.
“Deconstruction is not something that’s going to go away anytime soon,” McKnight said. “You and I have a responsibility to listen to these people.”
Vernick promotes choosing virtue over feelings
Social worker and relationship coach Leslie Vernick spoke about “Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story,” offering practical steps for moving beyond a traumatic event to take agency for what comes next.
She said it’s easy to get stuck wondering why something happened, but asking other questions, such as what can be learned or what matters most, can help.
Vernick said there are several ways to move forward after trauma. She stressed the importance of being “courageously committed to truth,” even when it’s hard, and said acting on virtues instead of feelings is ideal when making decisions.
“You don’t become a hero because you feel like it,” Vernick said. “You become a hero because you have character (and do) heroic things, whether you feel like it or not.”
She acknowledged that sometimes feelings will win.
“You don’t ruin your story in one day,” she said. “You have a chance to redo it.”
Maybe YOUR story will be a part of GOD’s story that changes history! – @leslievernick #ezer #tellyourstory
— Mimi Caban (@MeemerBeamer) February 8, 2025
Conference concludes with reminder of God’s presence
The Restore Conference concluded with communion and worship.
Before Crossroads Nazarene Church Pastors Brett and Tara Smith led attendees in the Eucharist, TRR founder Roys shared about key moments when God changed the trajectory of her family and herself.
She said God’s redemptive work was evident in the life of her grandfather, who was born into a situation so abusive that he remained unnamed for eight years. But thanks to a sister, who refused to renounce her new-found faith, despite her abusive father’s insistence, Roys’ grandfather also found Christ.
Because of God’s transformative work, Roys’ grandfather didn’t become an abusive alcoholic like his father. Instead, he became a physician, first Wesleyan missionary to Sierra Leone, author of the best-selling book, “None of These Diseases,” and a good and loving father to Roys’ mother.
Roys also pointed to God delivering her from years-long depression, during which God felt distant, and she began to doubt His existence.
“I want you to know, not only did Jesus not die for systems; He died for people,” she said. “Jesus is not a system. He is a person. He is God. He wants to meet with us personally.”
Roys ended the conference by reminding attendees about God’s eternal presence.
“He is with us,” she said. “And someday He will heal all of our diseases and wipe away every tear.”
Correction 2/13: This article has been updated to accurately reflect details of ‘The Religion Business’ and Ms. Hogan’s story.
Ann Marie Shambaugh and Josh Shepherd report stories for The Roys Report.
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4 Responses
The chic deconstruction movement that gains ground every day is absolutely not benefitial. Most of these people are simply jettisoning anything that hinders them from doing something they want to do, or opens them up to ridicule from the secular world. They call it deconstruction but most deconstructionists are straight-up apostates. They may stay in church but it will be a progressive church that dismisses sin as an issue to be dealt with. They seem to feel that Jesus is just “love” and no behavior is out of bounds as long as you are using Jesus’ name as a magical talisman. They cheapen Jesus’ death on the cross and eschew being reborn in His image. And they seem to have no clue as to just how dangerous the game is that they play.
Do you know anyone personally going through the process? As a former pastor and missionary, I have spent the last 15+ years intentionally desconstructing from toxic evangelicalism. I don’t resonate with ANY of your descriptions. I have many friends and acquaintences who are in different places along the deconstruction journey as well, and none of them could be accurately placed into the box you have labeled as “deconstruction.” It seems by your tone that you are somehow threatened by the movement, but I could be misinterpreting. The danger, imho, is not in deconstructing, it is in remaining stagnant and refusing to question beliefs/hermenuetics that are harmful to the world (women, poor folks, LGTBQ+ folks, the evironment, immigrants seeking asylum, etc.). I hope you meet some Jesus-following desconstructionists who can widen your perspective.
In today’s public square there is much discourse that would qualify for the description of “painting with a broad brush”. You sir, wield one of the broadest I have encountered. Your dissertation brings to mind the old saw about a river being a mile wide and an inch deep. Many having an affinity for Reinhold Niebuhr resonate with his observations regarding those who think differently that we do: “Toleration of people who differ in convictions and habits requires a residual awareness of the complexity of truth and the possibility of an opposing view having some light on one or the other facet of a many sided truth”. He also left us with “Frantic orthodoxy is never rooted in faith but in doubt. It is when we are unsure that we are doubly sure”.
Wow, Julie – We had no idea that you are the granddaughter of the physician S. I. McMillen, M.D. who authored in 1963 the great “None Of These Diseases!” We have been SO blessed and helped immeasurably by the insights and truth from this book – even on the mission field in Ecuador. We have bought and shared many copies with others through the years and currently have not one copy upon the shelf, but we remember one of the most stunningly remarkable and truthful facts that he shared: that there are exactly 39 medical classifications of disease known to all physicians around the world, and condemned prisoners back in the time of Yahshua’s physical presence on the earth and beyond were given 39 lashes, stripes, upon their bodies before execution – in Yahshua’s Body, one stripe for every medical classification of disease – AMEN. “By His stripes, we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5b and “By His stripes, we were healed.” 1Peter 2:24b HallelluYAHSHUA! We serve and adore this Risen Savior Who Is our Hope from every trauma, abuse, lie, sin, disease, destruction, and ruin. He truly liberates us, His Bride, His Body. He Is Jealous for our Restoration to His Father YHWH our Creator, and to Him Self, as our Bridegroom FOREVER. He calls us Hephzibah, for His delight is in us, and His Land He calls Beulah, for He is married to The Land of Yasharal: “Upright one of Alahim.”