Other

Story One: "It was Uber pushy and freaked me out so I stopped going"

Did home church a few times as a friend had invited me when I was down on my luck. It got weird when the group leader was almost begging me to tell him that “I accept Jesus Christ in my heart”. I adamantly refused lol even tho I was raised Christian. It was Uber pushy and freaked me out so I stopped going.

The members texted me every week begging me to come back but I was “busy”. Then they said they got me a bday present so at least come to pick it up... okay I love presents so I went

Sure enough it was a bible! Signed by each and every one of them telling me they will pray for me and are worried about me blah blah blah.

I cut them all out then and there. It was only after my experience I started to hear horrible stories from other former members....

Thanks for making this page and the site exposing this group. [ . . .]

Story Two: "For a long time I thought I was only one who had bad experiences with the Xenos church."

I know you get this a lot but I wanted to say thank you for making this page. For a long time I thought I was only one who had bad experiences with the Xenos church. I’m happy other people are sharing their stories.

Of course. They need to be exposed for what they really are i appreciate you

Story Three: " i was ridiculed by friends who were completely brainwashed because I was Muslim."

I’ve been familiar with xenos since middle school. Was tricked by friends in to attending several events that were disguised as hangouts (until a propaganda minister who was a random young adult Male showed up to “play a movie) i was ridiculed by friends who were completely brainwashed because I was Muslim. I have many stories also involving breach of privacy by means of monitoring internet history.

Story Four: "I also watched as the manipulate relationships to futher their mission."

This is great to see I had my share if dealing with xenos. Everything youve stated happened to me. The real you in with a pretext relationship. Then butter you up when youre low. Then try to bring you in as much as possible. And once you dont follow along with their plan. They keep pushing to get you to fit back in line. As much as they say they care they drop you like you never existed.  And any solid relationship you thought you had created is completely over. People i thought i would

Still be close with i dont ever see or talk too. And that was the worst part because I'm the type to build long lasting meaningful relationships and for them to not exist hurts. I also watched as the manipulate relationships to futher their mission. Its very inside dating. I was interested in a girl who was new and was only coming out to meetings every once in a while but they kept pushing me to get her to visit more often.

I fell out because my job had me working on the days of meetings and when they finally stopped reaching out for me to return i felt like i had lost everything. I met up with a friend who had also left at the same time and we would just talk about everything that happened. We felt kind of alone. And just having someone there who knew what you felt or went through was amazing.

Story Five: "That they don't seem to be open to being friends for the sake of friendship. That you have to be part of Xenos to be their friend."

Hey there. I messaged you from Instagram (literally created an account just for this) basically saying you are a badass for calling out Xenos. Thanks so much for creating this Mark. You are seriously awesome for that and this is definitely going to help a lot of people that feel trapped in Xenos. It is honestly about time someone did because they are so out of hand and crazy. Sorry this is so long in advance. I know you are busy and if you don't get to my story, it's alright. I hope I didn't miss any errors. I proofread but I am pretty tired.

So my story may be a tad different as I never actually joined the cult, but still a typical Xenos encounter nonetheless. I don't want to get into great detail about how I met them and what not, but I met a few out and about town on the  OSU campus of course. They invited me over to hang out and because they were young college age kids, why not? But I had no idea they were part of any church at first. When I first got there, I got a frat house vibe so I didn't really question how many people lived in the ministry house. I wasn't even sure and didn't think about it too much. I remember being loved bomb and thinking it was just college kids trying to get to know me. It wasn't until I started having casual conversation with one person who became a close friend for about a year. She suggested I can come to bible study if I want. I didn't say anything as I reject all gods. I didn't want to mention that because I got the vibe they are religious. But because they seemed really chill, APPEARED very secular, and I didn't really have friends nearby, I figured I'd hang out anyway. At first, when I did mention I was an atheist, they said it was ok. I thought 'oh! well this great!' They aren't bothered by that. BOOOYYY was I totally wrong...

I hung out with them often but refused to go to their bible studies and all that. I'd come afterwards or spend time with them if they went out to eat, watch movies, etc. I genuinely enjoyed hanging out with them. But every now and then, someone would ask me about my stance on religion. Nearly everytime it would lead to some unnecessary argument and I'd go home feeling annoyed. It hardly happened at first, but as time went on it only got worse. My closest friend that I made within their group always mentioned over and over again despite me refusing many times. She'd follow up with 'ok, but if you ever change your mind you know you can come to our meetings.' No matter how many times I said no she'd ask me again whether it be the next time we hang out or a month later. 

We became really close friends despite that (love bombing at work and she was a fuckin expert). I really thought she cared for me as she stopped harassing me to join. Then I swear when she stopped, others started. I swear almost every time I came to hang out a different person was asking me to join and bringing up god despite being irrelevant to the conversation. Why didn't I just stop hanging out with them you ask? As I mentioned earlier, I didn't really have friends as I was struggling to make some as a transplant. Plus, I got along with them and they loved my company. Or so I thought.

One time I came over, and this was the straw that broke the camel's back. I was hanging out as usual and someone dude (new dude as they move groups around every year which I didn't know of until around the time it happened) asked me what I believe in. I tell them I am atheist, and at first they talk like they actually respect people outside their comfort zone. It then got into an actual argument. What's worse is that other people joined in and I felt attacked. My close friend actually defended me basically saying I don't have to do anything I don't want to do. It ended there. 

 I had been hanging out with them for a year at this point. Strangely enough, they have no issue confronting you about religion but can't say 'you aren't welcome unless you join' to your face. That was when I started to see that they probably do not care for me as a person. It was hard to believe and I didn't want to at first. We had been friends for so long now. Surely if they had an issue they'd tell me to leave, right?  

I didn't see them for a few weeks because of that argument despite a few of them asking where I had been. Th close friend I made said I could still come if I want to because it was obvious I didn't really feel welcome and said I wouldn't. I did later on and then she is asking me why I am coming. So I stop coming and you say I should anyway, but then I come back and you say I don't have to be here? Her and I talked in private about it and I basically said that they give off a 'one of us' vibe. That they don't seem to be open to being friends for the sake of friendship. That you have to be part of Xenos to be their friend. I basically called her out. She acted like she didn't know what the hell I was talking about. She asked me to be more clear but I couldn't have been clearer. She was so not used to someone eventually seeing through them and telling them to their face so she just straight up pretends to be confused. Bullshit. Despite never coming back as we both agreed on that, we stayed friends as she was the only real friend I had there. We agreed we can just hang out with each other rather than me come back to see the others. Or so I thought.

She only texted me a handful of times and we never hung out. Anytime we were supposed to hang out, she'd 'forget'. Yeah sure. I actually thought despite how crazy they were, that she was the one person who valued our friendship. Told me we'd always be friends. I actually believed it at one point. But after some point, I let it go and realized she was never a friend. After all the private and deep conversations we had about our lives, my struggles, hanging out on a weekly basis..it was all a lie. They went out of their way to lie to me for a whole year because they were still holding onto the idea I'd join their goddamn cult. I am 25 years old. I know who I am by this point in my life and don't need Xenos to "help" me figure out who I am or some shit. I am not a lost teenager like a good chunk of them seem to be trying to fill a void at the expense of others. 

This was late last year when I stopped hanging out with them so I have since emotionally recovered for the most part. Although, I am still frustrated I never called them all out once when I noticed red flags. But I am doing much better these days. :)  

Stay far far away from hardcore religious nutcases, especially Xenos. Be an individual. Think for yourself. Embrace your inner wolf instead of willfully ignorant sheep. 

Story Six: "We have a list, and you are now on it."

Xenos' main focus is outreach, inviting new people out to the meetings in hope of converting them. It does not sound too sinister when you hear their pitch: "Hey man, I am part of a bible study, we meet on Thursday nights. It's super laid back, a bunch of college aged people. We even drink a beer or two after the meeting, would you want to check it out?" If you do not have many friends/are bored and think the Xenos member is cool, you might go check it out. They did not tell you all that is hidden beneath the floorboards. Imagine if they had said: "Hey man, would you like to come out to a bible study on Thursday? I have been telling the members in my group about you, and praying that you would come out during our weekly prayer group. Also, we will pre-plan who gives you a ride, who talks to you after the meeting, and who gets your number to follow up with you. Then, after you come out Thursday I will meet with my group on Friday and tell them all about what you thought of it, and everyone will share what interactions they had with you the previous night. We have a list, and you are now on it. You will be prayed about, and we will continue to bug you to come out again." No one in their right mind would go to that, they would call you a psycho. This is what Xenos does, this is not made up.

Story Seven: "I left and they came to my house asking where I was"

So every year Xenos does a trip down to the beach it’s either north or South Carolina and 2 people died 2 years in a row. That’s pretty suspicious to me

Also I was part of the group [ . . . . ] ran by joe Botti for about a year. I started to feel weird going and they tried to isolate me from all my friends outside of xenos.

I left and they came to my house asking where I was

Story Eight: "judge you over everything little thing then ask about you behind your back like it's nothing."

Hello I went to this so called church for a few years with a few friends of mine that still go, I'm a quiet person so I never really talked to them and they thought that was a problem and would ask my friends about me instead of asking me themselves. Well one day I don't remember how it got brought but but the fact that I've already had sex was put out there and for two weeks straight all they would talk about if that it was a sin and I need to stop that lifestyle to get back on track. I didn't

Really care because it's not there life, but the most mest up thing that they did was tell me I needed to leave my job because I wouldn't make it to CT but I could make it out on sunday's. Then my "leader" told me that she didn't like the fact that I liked a guy that I worked with and that it was a problem because he has a gf. Well I never tried to get with him I just said I liked him. Then I gave them money to go to epic and they didn't even come get me to go to epic. They lied to my friend

That went and tod her that "if I wanted to come I should've made more of an effort to come out" well news flash you guys aren't paying my bills and I got the week off of work to go just to be woken up at 7am by my friend asking me why I'm not on the bus. They are asswholes that judge you over everything little thing then ask about you behind your back like it's nothing. They even get married just so they can have sex without feeling bad about it. I hated that "church" my second year in

Story Nine "I just want others to know that they aren’t alone and I’m sure I’m not the only story like this as I’ve read hundreds."

I was in a relationship for almost four years, it was amazing. We never had any issues, and we always supported each other in anything we did. Long story short, she started getting distant with me when she started hanging out with this new friend. The new friend is an active member of the Xenos Church. I never saw it coming but she broke up with me just a week after meeting this new friend, and days after went on a church retreat to the beach with all these new friends. This girl was my absolute best friend, and she literally fell off the face of the earth and acts like I don’t even exist anymore. The whole thing was extremely shocking and the most painful experience of my life. I had planned to marry this girl, and had absolutely no doubts about our future together at the time. She never once told me she didn’t think we would last, or gave any signs as to why. This girl was in a vulnerable state, she had just failed her final exams, switched her major for the 3rd or 4th time, and was basically lost in life. Felt she needed to find a purpose... so now she’s got all these new people she’s with, and it’s terrifying to think what will happen when she wakes up one day and realizes what she has done. Anyone that knew us thought we would last forever, no doubt. The bad part is her family is heavily involved in the church as well so even if she got out of it, they would have to wake up as well. I’m Afraid it’s a lost cause now, I just want others to know that they aren’t alone and I’m sure I’m not the only story like this as I’ve read hundreds. I hope this cult is totally dismantled and I support this website 100%.

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