They came to L.A. for the Hollywood dream, then shot to stardom as ‘Girls Gone Bible’

Angela Halili was having a rough day. But that did not keep the former actor from arriving to her weekly meeting with her best friend, Arielle Reitsma, also a former actor and model, in a West Hollywood recording studio.

Nearly every week for the past two years, the two have convened there to share heart-to-hearts that are at the core of “Girls Gone Bible,” an evangelical podcast with millions of listeners. And this week, Halili’s personal struggles were in focus.

“You want to talk about your heart a little bit?” Reitsma asked Halili. Halili nodded.

“It’s just like, growth is so uncomfortable,” she said, holding back tears. “Transition is so uncomfortable. And someone stole my Erewhon delivery today.”

Reitsma and Halili, both honey blonds with impeccable makeup, burst out laughing.

“He’s probably so disappointed with your plain chicken with the carrots,” Reitsma quipped.

Then Halili returned to the subject their discussions always come down to: Jesus.

“When you really enter into a really deep relationship with Him, He doesn’t let you get away with anything anymore,” Halili said, her eyes filling with tears again. “There’s no masking. There’s no numbing. So it just feels like it’s all the time, you know?”

Their exchange displayed the unique mix of vulnerability, humor and faith that has captivated their audience, including many young women who see Halili and Reitsma as role models for how to follow Jesus in a modern world often at odds with the Bible’s message of purity, self-sacrifice and humility. Episodes often intersperse common female-focused lifestyle topics like relationships, body image and gender roles with evangelical-informed discussions of faith, chastity and literalist interpretations of the Bible.

Their faith-based banter is resonating. Launched in 2023, “Girls Gone Bible” is now at the top of the religious podcast charts on Spotify, with more than 20 million listens in just two years. Meanwhile, they’ve amassed 990,000 followers on Instagram, 723,000 on YouTube and 687,700 on TikTok. They went on a national live speaking tour last May, and their first book, a devotional called “Out of the Wilderness,” will be published in June.

As even devout Christians spend less time in the pews and more time on social media, Christian influencers like Halili and Reitsma, with no formal training in ministry, have become unlikely religious authorities to a fan base larger than that of many of the nation’s most popular preachers. Call it a two-microphone megachurch speaking to the nation’s evangelical tween and teen girls.

Angela Halili at Balboa Theatre on the For God So Loved the World tour.

(Armond Feffer / For The Times)

“You’re reaching more people than I’ve probably reached in my entire 25 years of ministry,” Will Hart, a pastor and director of Iris Global, a church with missions all over the world, told Halili when she appeared on his podcast in January. “Is that weird for you? It’s weird for me. But it’s beautiful.”

Others have taken note. In February, Justin Bieber’s pastor, Judah Smith, cried on the podcast and said, “What God has done using your voices is nothing short of miraculous.” In January, Halili and Reitsma landed on national television after being invited to deliver the opening prayer at a pre-inauguration rally where they thanked God “for choosing President Donald Trump as a vessel for your nation” and prayed for, among other things, the restoration of Los Angeles after the fires. An interview on “Fox & Friends” followed.

There’s plenty that contributes to their appeal. Both Reitsma, 35, and Halili, 29, have a background in modeling and acting, making them easy to watch. The podcast name — a humorous nod to the “Girls Gone Wild” franchise of the 1990s, complete with the same logo design — piques interest. Both women also have an innate social media savvy. But their fans say they’re most drawn in by the pair’s unique backgrounds: Though both raised Catholic, their journey to faith began with alcoholism, OCD, panic disorder, depression and anxiety — all of which they discuss on the podcast.

Fans watch Angela Halili and Arielle Reitsma at the Balboa Theatre in San Diego.

(Armond Feffer / For The Times)

“You don’t feel judged watching them,” Issa Fernandez, 42, said. “Other Christians on social media do make me feel judged. I’m like, ‘If I wanted that I’d be talking to my mom right now instead of on TikTok.’”

‘BUCKLE UP, SISTER’

Ministry was not on their minds when Halili and Reitsma came to L.A. to pursue the Hollywood dream.

Halili, an Albanian immigrant, arrived in the U.S. at age 2 and spent her high school years in Clearwater, Fla. After graduating in 2014, she moved to L.A. to study acting. In between the occasional role — which included small parts in the 2024 horror film “Spin the Bottle” and the 2025 drama “Tyler Perry’s Duplicity” — she supported herself waiting tables.

Angela Halili poses for a portrait at Melrose Podcasts.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

Reitsma also hightailed it to Los Angeles right out of high school, driving across country from her home in Weymouth, Mass., a small town outside Boston. After a rough start sleeping on a blow-up mattress in a small apartment off Hollywood Boulevard, she found an agent and began acting in theater productions and modeling, becoming the face of a clothing line called Naked Wardrobe. She also developed a social media following and started doing brand deals to pay the bills.

Halili’s religious awakening happened first. She found evangelicalism after her mother introduced her to a 70-year-old Greek pastor named Socrates. At the time, Halili said, she was struggling with severe panic attacks, anxiety and alcohol addiction. Socrates prayed for her every day and encouraged her to read the Bible. She resisted at first but ultimately followed his advice. She likes to say that she was saved on Thanksgiving of 2019, when she believes she was supernaturally delivered from alcohol addiction and quit drinking for good.

Reitsma, who also struggles with anxiety and depression, found Jesus after the collapse of her career and a devastating breakup with her boyfriend. In the depths of her despair, she would spend hours at a small church near her house, crying in the pews.

“I was so lost. I was going through the worst heartbreak of my life, dealing with so much mental and emotional health, but that’s when I encountered Jesus,” she said. It’s also when she met Halili.

Arielle Reitsma poses for a portrait at Melrose Podcasts.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

Halili and Reitsma often tell the story of how they met: In November 2022, on Reitsma’s birthday, they both were booked on a shoot modeling wedding dresses. Reitsma, who was at her lowest, stood crying in a corner, tilting her head back to keep from ruining her makeup. Halili went up to her and took her hand. “I don’t know what you’re going through, but we’re going to get through it together,” she said.

Soon they were best friends, praying and reading the Bible together and sharing their love for Jesus with anyone who would listen. Halili had already started making evangelizing TikToks that were getting tens of thousands of views. The podcast was her idea, although she originally envisioned it as a YouTube channel called “Girls Gone God.” (Their producer countered with the suggestion of “Girls Gone Bible.”) And their media brand was born.

Reitsma was afraid that she didn’t have the credentials to tell other people about God. “I was like, ‘I have just started reading the Bible, what am I doing?’” she said. “I look at her and I go, ‘Ang, go find another co-host. I can’t do this.’”

“It was so cute,” Halili said.

They never aired their entire first episode, but Halili posted a few clips on TikTok. The response gave them the encouragement to record another episode and post more clips. One clip — of Halili talking about how she doesn’t love God because her life is perfect but because he pulled her out of the trenches when life was unbearable — garnered 20 million views.

“It was a day I will never forget,” Reitsma said. “I’m looking at our Instagram and I’m seeing 5,000, 10,000, 20,000 — in minutes. I couldn’t quite believe what was happening, and I was like, ‘Well, buckle up, sister!’”

They were thrilled and terrified.

“The fear of God hit us so quickly and we were like, ‘This is not fun, this is not entertainment,’” Halili said. “God wants to save people, as weird as it might seem, through a podcast.”

Scenes from Angela Halili and Arielle Reitsma’s live show at Balboa Theatre in April, just one of many U.S. stops on their For God So Loved the World tour.

UNLIKELY PREACHERS

Each 90-minute “Girls Gone Bible” episode generally follows the same format. The first few minutes feels like a slumber party with Reitsma and Halili catching up and joking around, perhaps about a new haircut, before launching into the topic of the day, which might be shame, singleness, doubt or modesty. They read relevant passages from the Bible aloud and occasionally will interview a guest. Throughout it all, they constantly remind their fans, whom they call “GGB,” that they are their best friends and they love them so much.

Politics don’t factor into their discussions, but their interpretations of the Bible make their socially conservative values clear. Halili and Reitsma believe the Bible is the word of God and they take it literally — including lines like Ephesians 5:22, which states, “Wives, submit to your husbands, as to the Lord.” One of their most popular episodes was on purity and the wisdom of refraining from sex before marriage, which Reitsma once called “the most dangerous and harmful thing you can do to yourself.”

Halili said that perspective comes from their own experiences of having lived a different way. Before they found Jesus, both women favored tight, revealing clothing and considered the idea of remaining chaste until marriage ridiculous, she said.

“I’ve leaned into using sexuality or looks as a means of fulfillment only to find myself deeply, deeply disempowered,” Halili said. “The world tells you this is what’s empowering, and we come to find out that it’s not.”

In rhetoric like this, Tia Levings, author of “A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape From Christian Patriarchy,” hears traditional conservative talking points and a patriarchal worldview that endorses female submission and male dominance.

“You have to have a familiarity with where it’s coming from and where it’s going,” said Levings. “Otherwise it just seems like these are two positive, friendly young women who are beautiful and talking about sweet, kind things, and it’s easy to wash over with makeup the message of it.”

Although many evangelical leaders have publicly applauded the podcast’s success, there have been grumblings on Reddit and other platforms about Halili and Reitsma’s authority to preach the Gospel, especially after coming to the faith so recently.

Zachary Sheldon, a lecturer at Baylor University who has studied Christian influencers on Instagram, said that while he doesn’t doubt Halili and Reitsma’s authenticity, he understands the skepticism.

“It stresses me out that if people spend more time on social media than they do in church, the representatives of the faith they most interact with on a daily basis are celebrities who aren’t trained but understand the aesthetics of the platform and how to grow an audience,” said Sheldon, who was raised as a Southern Baptist. “They are treated like religious authorities, and the credentials don’t matter at that point.”

Halili and Reitsma also stirred up mixed feelings among their devout fan base when they agreed to give the opening prayer at Trump’s pre-inauguration rally in January. While many of their fans celebrated their appearance, others felt betrayed.

“I’ve been a listener and supporter of your podcast since the very beginning,” @sabbyandre wrote in the comments section of a video explaining their decision. “It’s been something I genuinely enjoyed and believed in. That’s why it’s truly heartbreaking to see you support and fully back someone who is not only openly racist but also has been accused of such horrific actions.”

Arielle Reitsma greets fans at Balboa Theatre.

(Armond Feffer / For The Times)

In an interview with The Times, Halili spoke carefully about their choice to preach at the Trump rally.

“Ari and I are genuinely honored to preach the Gospel anywhere we go,” she said. “Any chance we get to speak about Jesus, that’s what we’ve devoted our lives to.”

Stephanie Ike Okafor, the executive pastor at ONE LA who has been a guest on the podcast a few times, said the criticism of “Girls Gone Bible” is not surprising.

“These are two young, beautiful women and, especially in a city like L.A., what would not come to the average person is [that] these women are on a mission to spread the gospel of Jesus,” she said.

She added that the emergence of unexpected evangelizers in L.A. is not without precedent. It was here, after all, that William J. Seymour, the son of emancipated slaves, launched the interracial Azusa Street Revival that helped start the Pentecostal movement, and the glamorous Aimee Semple McPherson founded the nation’s first megachurch.

“They were not the people of their times that people would have thought would bring the wave of revival to the city, but God uses unlikely people,” Ike Okafur said.

‘LADIES AND …. MOSTLY LADIES’

On a recent Sunday in April, Reitsma and Halili were at the Balboa Theatre in San Diego for the latest stop on their For God So Loved the World tour. Just before the doors opened at the 1,339-seat theater, an usher addressed the crowd. “Ladies and … mostly ladies,” he said, scanning the group.

A few boyfriends and moms were in tow, but most of the attendees who paid $79 to $164 per ticket were young women, many wearing floral dresses and sporting flouncy hair bows like those Reitsma favors. Inside, there was no line for the bar but a long one for the merch table, where a red-and-white GGB letterman jacket would run you $65. A few girls spotted Ally Yost and Ashley Hetherington, creators and stars of the reality YouTube show “Jesus Freaks,” sitting near the front of the stage and lined up to meet them.

Fans wait in line before the For God So Loved the World tour at Balboa Theatre. (Armond Feffer / For The Times)

Fans buy “Girls Gone Bible” merchandise at Balboa Theatre. (Armond Feffer / For The Times)

After some live synthesizer worship music, Reitsma and Halili came onstage wearing dresses from Reformation. As another song began, they dropped to their knees, bowed their heads and spread their arms out wide. Afterward, they shared their life lows and how Jesus, once found, transformed their lives.

Toward the end of the show they called people up to the stage who were sick, suffering in their mental health, having suicidal thoughts and struggling with infertility. Scores of people filled the aisles. Halili and Reitsma kneeled down on opposite sides of the stage and leaned in to hear what was causing each fan anguish. Then they closed their eyes, knelt their heads close and offered their prayers. Many of the girls were in tears.

‘WE COME FROM DARKNESS’

Reitsma and Halili said most of their friends in L.A. are followers of Jesus. Even so, they often feel out of sync with a city that they say promotes sexuality, promiscuity and self-obsession.

“I think what L.A. pushes is do you, whatever you want and however you want, and that’s quite the opposite of the way Jesus wants you to live,” Reitsma said.

But they’ve prayed on it and have decided to stay. They recently found churches they like. Halili has plugged into Garden Church in Orange County; Reitsma attends Potter House’s ONE LA in Hollywood. Their friends are here, their podcast studio is here, and Halili’s boyfriend — her book agent set her up with him — recently moved here as well.

They also think that a Southern Californian Christian revival is well on its way, even spreading to the entertainment industry with religious-themed shows such as “House of David” and “The Chosen.”

“Me and Angela, we come from darkness,” Reitsma said. “We are meant to be in the darkness to bring light. That’s the journey we’re on now.”