Heaven Bent · Tara Jean Stevens

S1B2: The One Who Roared Like a Lion

January 19, 2026·58 min·4 clips

For a week at the Toronto Blessing, Joby John Mallett crawled through the aisles on all fours roaring like a lion — until the prayer ladies told him to stop.

The tape starts inside the Toronto Airport Vineyard Church. Tara Jean Stephens sets the scene in January 1994, while John Arnott talks as the strange phenomena around the Toronto Blessing are still happening. The mood is nearly festive. Arnott talks about the father throwing a party, angels rejoicing, and people being carried out after long nights of revival. Then the episode moves closer in. The guest remembers a place where nobody worried much about missed notes or rough musicianship, as long as the words were on the overhead projector and people could follow along. That looseness mattered. It gave him room to learn in front of people, play before a crowd, and find out he liked it. But usefulness came with a catch. When Tara asks whether he felt headhunted for his talents, he describes a church culture where ability quickly became a job. Accountants went to accounting. Musicians were pulled in because the schedule ran seven nights a week, every night, with worship, music, and preaching always needing support. He does not make the memory neat. The opportunity was real, and he is careful to say that being pushed forward was not simply bad. Still, over time, something wore on him. As he moved in and out of church, he felt the pressure of being put up front whenever talent showed. Eventually, he wanted something quieter. He says he just wanted to go and be there, without becoming useful to leadership all over again. Tara gives that tension space. The ending asks what people think now, what they would want heard, and what could have been done differently. Joe B is thanked for his vulnerability, and Tara points listeners to his podcast, 3500 Miles Between Us. The episode then returns to the Toronto Blessing’s 32nd anniversary: roughly 12 years, more than a million visitors from around the world, and a revival remembered here as a major charismatic event in Toronto’s modern history.

As heard by us

A restrained look at revival energy from the inside, and what it asked of gifted people.

This bonus chapter revisits the Toronto Blessing through Joby John Mallett, who looks back on the Toronto Airport Vineyard Church in January 1994.

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Why you'd press play

When you want the Toronto Blessing from the inside, not just the headline.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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