– A POWERFUL INVESTIGATION INTO AN AUSTRALIAN DOOMSDAY PASTOR EXPOSES VIOLENCE, SEXISM AND RACISM –
Listeners will be taken into a secretive religious group where every aspect of members’ lives are tightly controlled by their hardline pastor in the new season of LiSTNR’s podcast docuseries Secrets We Keep.
Secrets We Keep: Pray Harder, a new nine-part investigation hosted by award-winning Australian investigative journalist Richard Baker, reveals the sinister truth about the pastor who led the Geelong Revival Centre (GRC), a regional Victorian church with tentacles across Australia.
Survivors and ex-members bravely blow the whistle on abuse, violence and sexism from inside the group, which operated under the late Pastor Noel Hollins.
Available now exclusively on LiSTNR, the series exposes how Pastor Hollins led the GRC, which has affiliated assemblies around the world, blended the racist doctrine of the “British Israel” movement with doomsday predictions that Armageddon would soon be upon us.
Pastor Hollins dedicated his life to the movement and convinced followers he had a direct line to God. Under his leadership, members were encouraged to use physical punishment to discipline their children, women and girls were routinely oppressed, and abuse was not reported to authorities.
Secrets We Keep: Pray Harder showcases exclusive audio obtained by Baker as part of his two-year investigation of Pastor Hollins’ teachings. Baker also secured testimony from ex-members who share intimate details of their lives growing up in a highly controlled environment, where a culture of intense surveillance meant everyone reported on each other and normal human urges such as affection and attraction were suppressed and replaced with rules, judgement, fasting and prayer.
According to Pastor Hollins, the answer to any hardship, ailment, fear or desire was simply to ‘Pray Harder’.
“It’s astonishing what these former members have shared with me,” said Richard. “The amount of human wreckage, particularly within families, is shocking and I’ve come away from several interviews kind of numb and in a daze.
“Celeste is a voice you’ll hear in the series. She first came to the church as a vulnerable young girl and later returned as a single mother looking for solace having escaped a world of drug addiction and gang violence. However, the oppressive and controlling nature of the ‘church’ under Noel Hollins meant it didn’t feel like a place of solace, and she became increasingly concerned for the wellbeing of her young autistic son after he fell victim to the church’s practice of using physical violence to discipline children. Now in her early 30s, Celeste has left the church and reconnected with other ex-members to speak out.”
LiSTNR Head of Factual, Clair Weaver, said: “While the podcast is shocking and revelatory, I hope it drives real change. We have strong principles that accurate journalism, combined with powerful and immersive audio storytelling, can have a lasting impact on society.
“Our goal with LiSTNR’s Factual docuseries is to use our audio storytelling skills to enable great journalists like Richard to publish their investigations in an impactful way that engages audiences and motivates them to call for change.”
All allegations and experiences in this podcast pertain to those under the control of the assembly of Pastor Noel Hollins. They do not relate to or represent the church under the current leadership of the Geelong Revival Centre.
Pastor Hollins died at age 93 earlier this year.
All nine episodes of Secrets We Keep: Pray Harder are now available exclusively on LiSTNR. Download the LiSTNR app and sign-up to listen for free.
Notes to editor:
This is the first owned and original LiSTNR podcast to be mixed in Dolby Atmos. While listening on regular headphones, Dolby Atmos creates a 3D sound environment, offering listeners a next-level sonic experience as they are immersed in the world of Secrets We Keep: Pray Harder.
Regarding the Dolby Atmos sound mixing technique, Head of Audio Production and Sound Design – LiSTNR Original Podcasts, Darcy Thomson said: “Mixing in Dolby Atmos has opened new possibilities for our creative audio storytelling at LiSTNR and enables us to work with spatial effects, atmospheres, and ultra directional sound to create unique, dynamic audio environments. Speaking in tongues has never sounded more real!”
About LiSTNR:
LiSTNR is a curated and personalised, free app offering radio, podcasts, music, and news, creating a new audio destination for all Australians. Featuring a fun and intuitive onboarding process, LiSTNR delivers an audio destination that is built for individual listeners’ routines and preferences. Highly personalised, it provides listeners a new world of audio entertainment, with their own daily feed of audio and easy discovery of new content through curated recommendations. Available across a large array of devices including both iOS and Android, CarPlay and Android Auto, Google Assistant and Alexa and Android TV, LiSTNR enables a fantastic listening experience, anytime and anywhere. Open your Ears to a new world of audio – download the free app today. LiSTNR.com
About Richard Baker:
Multi-award-winning journalist Richard Baker has partnered with LiSTNR’s in-house Factual team to develop new original investigative documentary series, continuing his reputation for compelling, narrative content. A long-time The Age and Sydney Morning Herald journalist, in recent years Baker has become renowned for his critically acclaimed podcast series, including Secrets We Keep: Baghdad Nights, Phoebe’s Fall, Wrong Skin, The Last Voyage of the Pong Su and The Confession, which sat at number one on the Australian and NZ podcast charts for several weeks in late 2022. Baker’s podcasts have garnered worldwide audiences, along with accolades at the New York Festivals, the Kennedy journalism awards and the Melbourne Press Club. Baker has won five Walkley Awards, Australia’s most prestigious journalism honour.
