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Anyone who finds themselves on the outs will be shunned completely. Questions and independent thought were discouraged. When there was a potluck, girls would bring a dish. Merritt led the church for . In the first year, almost didnt make it, he recalled. As a child you see this weird inner sanctum vibe going on, he said. "It's very comfortable, very comfortable here," said volunteer Phil Resendez of West St. Paul. Thats you having independent thinking. Eventually, we spoke at length with seven former members of the church, all of whom felt it was important for the larger community to know what goes on there. 33% of this went to "HR" costs, 11% into capitol and campus expansion, 22% to ministry and administration costs, 29% to cash reserves and future expansions, 4% to facilities. Its just a cycle of abuse.. She told him it was stuff at home that she wasnt comfortable talking to him about and he asked if there was a woman shed like to speak with. Its definitely a cult, said Esther Mandville, a 24-year-old former member who was raised in Gospel Outreach. My arms would just be bruised, black and blue, and my parents would be like, Dont antagonize him., The abuse didnt stop there. Two to three days a week that would happen.. Anytime you experience that a young child playing sexual games you can assume they were also victims of abuse. It messed with our immune systems, the stress and the amount of sleep we were getting it just wasnt good for your body.. But her just-now-stated position against a foundational Republican Party platform and principle lacks integrity. As for Todd, hes still a regular member of the church. I mean, its molestation., DeSoto had heard about Todds crimes and said the cycle of abuse expanded. And the fact that Humboldt Countys mental health services are just not enough to address the need. Which, I believe, is why it is so popular- nobody asking you where you were last Sunday, no committees and such to dodge, etc. All the music, the meetings youre hardly sleeping. It messed with your immune systems, the stress and the amount of sleep we were getting it just wasnt good for your body., As a teenager, Sarah was prone to illness and infections, which she later attributed to stress. Unfortunately, the cons are many. Perhaps Pat Anderson is smart enough to realize that those who voted her out will not let her aberrant opinions become the policy of the Republican Party. [3] In 1995, the church was renamed Eagle Brook Church. So, we've created . All of that, as a child, thats [treated as] your problem: Why cant you talk right? I have to say, It wasnt you; it was me. Its hard to work through those things., Robinson said it took her a while to realize the full extent of how Gospel Outreach affected her. Regardless, according to Robinson, Todd did go on to abuse other girls and she was one of his victims. She was told that Sczepanski had a talk with Todd and warned him not to do anything like that again or else Sczepanski would be legally obligated to report him. Ill still do certain things like constantly worrying if everyone else around you is okay. I will not be leading another church. Today, we have the advantage of learning from the conversations that followed. After that, girls were not allowed to play paintball. Instead, there are lots of blue jeans. [8] According to a church census released in 2020, it claimed a weekly attendance of 25,340 people and 9 campuses in different cities. Ah, yes, but the next statistic was even more interesting to me: 1,000 people leaveand giving stays the same? Ray DeSoto, who grew up in the church with his brothers, described Durkin as a positive character who would welcome homeless refugees from the beach into his religious commune. I was just trying to keep all the balls in the air. So over 50,000 people are watching us and listening to us every week. I would cut my legs, just places nobody would see higher up on my thighs. Females are not as respected as the church would like you to believe. Gospel Outreach of Eureka. "So we try to reduce the weird factor.". Copyright 2008-2023, Glassdoor, Inc. "Glassdoor" and logo are registered trademarks of Glassdoor, Inc. 1 Corinthians 3:4-7 (ESV) Paul sums up this section with a not-to-be-forgotten truth: it is God who gives the growth, whether in an . Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. in Fullerton, CA sometime in 1982 thru 1984 (probably closer to 1984). She and others said the phrase often employed to reinforce this lesson is come under. Anyone showing signs of independent thought would be told to come under their leader, be it a babysitter, a soprano coach or an elder. My boyfriend, Ill ask him every five minutes if he needs a drink or food. Reported to multiple ministry heads and managers with some incredibly unpleasant, borderline abusive, managers. By year 10, Merritt said the church had grown to over 5,000 people. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. And recently, she lost her national committeewoman position to someone more conservative, after serving only two years. I was at school with [the mom] that next day, and she privately spoke [to another teacher] in the kitchen. Sometimes I would have to make up a sin, like, Ive been really hating my brother or Ive been thinking about sex and thats bad.. Eventually someone cries and then we can go to choir practice it was really so predictable like that. Eagle Brook . They described the tight-knit congregation of roughly 150 people as zealous and insular and the church as a place where children are forced to spend long hours singing, arranged marriages are the norm and negative emotions are considered selfish and sinful. But beneath it, I was this man angry at everybody for not getting in line and not doing their job right or whatever it might be. At first my dad didnt think it was that big of a deal he thought it was just my hands, Abigail said. This employer has claimed their Employer Profile and is engaged in the Glassdoor community. Resendez is one of more than 20,000 people who finds weekly comfort at Eagle Brook. One night, he was told at a church board meeting that he needed to get help or he was going to be fired. My parents didnt intend on being morally wrong [or] bad parents, but they take all their issues to the church. Villareal said her stepfather regularly abused her and her mother for years, starting shortly after he married her mom, continuing during their missionary work in Mexico and following their move to Humboldt County. Eagle Brook Church Sep 2020 - Present 2 years 7 months. 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Although Eagle Brook will still be his family church, Merritt said he is now just a church member. Our church was climbing but I was failing, personally, in every way just trying to survive, he said. Eagle Brook is one church with multiple locations. In the morning youre doing math and language, basic subjects. He never put that kind of pressure on me. Because criticism and conflict are never comfortableand often we dont know how to deal with them. She explained that the men will often talk among themselves and decide, My son will marry your daughter.. Abigail Mandville no longer cuts herself, and shes feeling better about the world and her place in it. It did take me a year to realize that, but I would definitely describe it as a cult.. In the days that followed, other former members reached out wanting to tell their own stories. What was the story? She said her stepfather would play emotional games that kept her up well past midnight. If you do something well, thats God working through you. And we never talked about it again., Sarah blames the church culture more than her own parents. Brainwashing is kind of an overused phrase, but it really is brainwashing.. And, to be honest, if you struggle with this, you probably dont think you need to tune in. Most people who leave do go a bit wild because they dont know how to function in the real world, so they [church leaders] use them as examples: Look at him; he went into sin., Esther Mandville struggled after leaving, as many do. The prior national committeewoman held her position for 22 years. I told my mom and [my parents] had him buy me a new pair of rollerblades. We're not allowed to have a female or male drive in a car alone together if one or the other is married. Why bring this up? He took the job after receiving his Ph.D. from Penn State University in speech communications. She described her stepfather as excessively controlling and emotionally volatile, often having all-out screaming arguments with her mom and regularly spanking Villareal for such transgressions as getting an answer wrong in her multiplication tables. That was one of those things that was swept very much under the rug. The more immature people on the other hand they were followers of a celebrity pastorand werent giving anything anyway. In the church, when they find out youve been touched, youre [considered] dirty. Most of us have. These were guys I grew up with. There was also a huge emphasis on music. No biology. Eagle Brook's thriving environment caught the attention of Augsburg religion professor Hans Wiersma. I also wasnt eating properly. Eating disorders were common among girls in Gospel Outreach, Mandville said. Free church at the corner of Bastanchury Rd. Ive worked a lot on that, and now Im able to pursue things I like. And until you give someone the permission to dig around in your life a little bit, you may not ever find out until it's too late.. No one is immune to it. In a phone interview, Merritt looked back on his time at Eagle Brook with fond memories, though some times were harder than others. Can doubts and faith coexist? It can ruin you, Merritt said. As punishment for shaming him, Noah curses Hams offspring to a life of slavery. No church Id want to attend or be associated with. Our history [classes] relied a lot on the Bible, Villareal said. Stelton was raised Lutheran. I mean, its molestation.. Some people left the church as well because they werent sure I was the guy. Watching. Thanks to donors, they built it debt free. Chauvin said that when she turned 16 she was told that it was time for her to be done with school, so she took the high school proficiency exam. [10]. Merritt said he plans to take the next few months to quiet his mind to figure out what God is calling him to do next. You dont think of a cult as something you see every day you think of it as, like, sister wives and all that, she said. ), Basically the culture [of Gospel Outreach], with the ultimate leadership being the men, it really lends itself to abuse, Chauvin said. I called the current E.V. She initially didnt tell her parents or anyone else about it. Wed be encouraged to brag about the spankings we got, Villareal said. At the height of her depression, she started having dark fantasies. He was failed on so many levels, but a big part was the church., Esther Mandville believes their peers were suffering just as much. Villareal holds the church at least partly responsible. Services are Sat at 4 and 6 and Sun 9 & 11. We begin with a time of singing and worshiping God, hear a message based on the Bible, and then wrap up by praying together. "I felt very alone and coming here I felt like that changed," he said. Wed all be in the classroom early before school, listening to Bastille or some other emo music. She realized after leaving the church that shed been suffering from depression for years by that point. Embarrassingly to admit, I was horrified, Chauvin said. I don't mean that they should be entertained, because I think God's word is the most compelling thing on the planet, but so often we take God's word and we just bore people with it and to me that's sinful," Merritt said. Notably, Guatemalan dictator Gen. Efrain Rios Montt became a convert and, following a 1982 military coup in that country, he employed Gospel Outreach in the notorious rural pacification program known as beans and bullets. Church members supplied food, medicine and clothing to local residents before Montts forces came in and razed their villages, killing hundreds of indigenous Mayans and rendering survivors wards of the government. Bitterness. and State College Blvd. "Churches can be so weird," he said. I can only speak for the first year, and Im not sure howI heard this (maybe a contact in the Free Church) but I always found it interesting. [9], The Church has a Baptist confession of faith and is a member of Converge. Abigail Mandville began cutting herself around the time she turned 17. All of us were just constantly sick. The church was founded in 1948 as a house Bible study group called the First Baptist Church led by Sam and Ethel Hane in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. She was staying with him in Tumwater, a suburb of Olympia, when he raped her and another woman, Mandville said. The school is extremely emotionally abusive and taxing, she said. There wasnt any pressure from him. [4] In 2005, it inaugurated a new building at Lino Lakes, Minnesota, with a caf, a bookstore and a 2,100 seat auditorium. I remember as children being told that being grumpy because youre tired because youve been practicing choir for four hours, plus school and then choir for two hours after is not an excuse. The strictly enforced insularity of Gospel Outreach acts as a containment mechanism, a way to keep members dependent and submissive, DeSoto said. If the elders decided he qualified, theyd recommend someone to him for marriage, she said. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Roger's reflections on grace, God and other grand topics. I couldnt believe it. If your homework assignment was late you werent allowed to go to choir practice or play on the weekend. It was not a large pool, she said. Additionally, Eagle Brook staff are not allowed to have lunch alone with somebody of the opposite sex if one person is married. It starts with spanking but leads to much more and reporting it is considered uncovering your fathers nakedness., Sarah said she was beaten and molested by a younger church member. Well, the Apostle Paul knew a thing or two about immature believers and celebrity pastors, and he wrote about them in 1 Corinthians 3, For when one says, I follow Paul, and another, I follow Apollos, are you not being merely human? [2] In 1991 Bob Merritt became the senior pastor of the 300-member church. About this app. I started making changes in my behavior., But eight years after that, the church board said I still had some cracks and wanted me to go back and see the counselor. There was this sort of false positivity you have to maintain all the time, which can be taxing.. MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Religion is evolving in Minnesota. We've all been thereyoure in school, the teacher asks a tough question, and all you can do is avert your eyes and pray not to be called on. "The first message that I heard the day I walked in I felt like I was the only person in the room," she said. Merritt spends more than 30 hours on his weekly messages and has several people review them. Its a lot more subtle.. Villareal confided in her, telling her about the abuse shed been suffering at the hands of her stepfather, including his habit of taking her clothes. She was a proponent of pro-abortion, pro-gay rights Republican Arne Carlsons campaign for governor in the early 90s. Please enter valid email address to continue. Shed make fun of how I dressed. (Though the school is only accredited through 10th grade, Villareal said, The boys generally continue taking classes until grade 12, [and] the girls will only take select classes if any at all past age 16, as theyre generally placed in teaching positions. Watch Featured Messages Series Teaching Pastor Category 2023 Eagle Brook Church . I was like, What do you mean? She said, If you have to think about it, it probably wasnt., She told me if I became virtuous then the Lord would give me a husband and take me away from all the abuse.. Pat Anderson is a big tent Republican. Quite often that reason is just made up.. I would be willing to talk to you about the abuse I witnessed and received. She asked to remain anonymous to protect younger siblings still in the church. She told me if I just put my head down and come under, if I became virtuous, then the Lord would give me a husband to take me away from all the abuse.. Merritt said the church graciously hired a counselor to serve as his leadership coach. There are no pews at Eagle Brook, nor are there any stained glass windows or choir robes. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. On Easter Sunday, Eagle Brook broke an all-time attendance record, with more than 51,000 people showing up at services, and 10,200 people watching online. Although it was unusual when compared to her traditional faith experiences, she loved the music and energy. We love THE Church. Sounds like something your grumpy neighbor struggles with, right? He told me there were four godly young men waiting in line to marry me. That failed to convince her to return. "It's just less formal.". He wrote a book on leadership, but he may be even more famous for the person he followed in pastoral ministry. Maybe he has a specific bride in mind. His messages are also posted online, with viewers in all 50 states seeing them. the Christian hippie commune at Lighthouse Ranch, the hippie utopia that was Lighthouse Ranch, registered with the California Department of Education, employed by Christian slavers as justification for human bondage, PARTY COMPLAINT 400 Block of BAYSIDE CT, Animal Hazard at Hillcrest Dr and Humboldt Hill Rd. From the moment youre born you start memorizing catechism. She means Martin Luthers Small Catechism, a book published in 1529 to teach kids about the Ten Commandments, the Sacrament of the Eucharist and other elements of Lutheran faith. Then there were the fines. He advises pastors not to even get close to a line they are not willing to cross. We exist to reach people for Christand that's the heart behind everything we do. A self-proclaimed introvert, Merritt speaks from Lino Lakes. The best Podcast API to search all podcasts and episodes. It's just dangerous. He would abuse us both, but instead of banding together, we would turn against each other, Villareal said. Perhaps the most unconventional part is the way the sermon, or message, is delivered.