Back in 2011 we interviewed Mike Pilavachi, the co-founder and leader of the Soul Survivor charity and Soul Survivor festival. In 2023 stories about his abusive behaviour began to emerge. After an investigation the allegations were substantiated with the report concluding "that he used his spiritual authority to control people and that his coercive and controlling behaviour led to inappropriate relationships, the physical wrestling of youths and massaging of young male interns.” The report also specifically identifies spiritually abusive behaviour, defined as 'a form of emotional and psychological abuse characterised by a systematic pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour in a religious context’.  These revelations have had a profound impact on those directly affected, and also on the thousands of people who attended Soul Survivor and regarded Mike as a spiritual leader.  We hope Nomad can be a safe space for people to process their faith journey, and so we have considered deleting this interview. On reflection, whilst we're not advising anyone to listen to this episode, we have decided to leave it in the Nomad archive as part of an honest record of our faith journey, with all it’s messiness. Details of the investigation and how to report any further concerns can be found here.

Released on 10 Apr 2011