Some McCotter questions

Snoopy’s second question (or third: the one numbered “2” on the blog) was, “How concerned should people be that McCotter videos are being shown, that his books are being republished and distributed, that tapes are still available, that his video has been shown to leadership in the last week, and that he showed up at a Faithwalkers conference a couple years ago?” Personally, I find this _very_ disturbing. When Paul Martin and I met with Bovenmyer, Hopler, Schroeder, and Keator in January 1991 (and with the national leadership of GCAC at the close of their annual pastors conference in Columbus in July 1991), they told us that Jim’s departure was at _his_ initiative. The official story is that sometime in late 1987 Jim told the other leaders that he wanted to “step down” from overall leadership to focus on his business interests, namely two radio stations in MD which he and fellow GCIer Rogers Kirven bought from GCI through their corporation named Profit Group, Inc. The following spring (1988) McCotter and Kirven relocated to Orlando, FL, and out of formal association with GCI. At the July 1991 meeting, after bringing up McCotter’s departure from the organization, Tom Short made a comment to the effect that “this was an answer to prayer for a lot of us.” I wish I had followed up on that remark, but it was so surprising I didn’t have the presence of mind to do so.

Later that summer, however, I met with a couple who had left Linworth Road Community Church only a month or two earlier (i.e., _after_ the “Weaknesses” paper came out, and _after_ Paul’s and my meetings with the GCAC leaders). The husband (call him “Deep Throat” :-)) told me that Tom Schroeder had told him a different story. According to DT Tom gave an ultimatum to the other national directors, to wit, “Either Jim goes, or I go.” Well, Jim went — but eventually (several years later) so did Tom. So what’s the truth? Possibly a mixture of both stories.

One more thing. At the July 1991 meeting Herschel Martindale said something I will never forget — it was burned into my brain, I was so flabbergasted by it. He said, “Jim McCotter is the most godly man I’ve ever met.” How he could say such a thing is beyond me. If any of you have ever had the misfortune to work for Jim you know how callously he treats those under his authority. Some of this is brought out in “Marching to Zion” in the sections entitled “_Today’s Student_: The Rest of the Story,” “Slick 50 and L.E.I.” and “Back to the Future” (about Profit Group’s departure from the radio business and into the suburban tabloid business — till it went bust). It was also detailed in an article entitled “The Mysterious Citizen,” published in the New Zealand magazine _North & South_, and further in e-mails I’ve received from former employees of his ill-fated media empire in New Zealand, and also former employees of his Maverick Jets aircraft company (that’s another sorry tale!).

Bovenmyer, Hopler and company kept asking us what we thought they needed to do to convince us that GCAC has changed and is now a healthy organization. One thing I’ve repeated to them is that they need to make some sort of public or semi-public statement acknowledging the errors in Jim’s teaching and his abusive handling of people. Even though Bovenmyer, Hopler and Co. have said as much to us in our private meetings, they have consistently been unwilling to say so publicly. Could it be that they still revere Jim as Herschel does? Which also makes me wonder how far they have really distanced themselves in teaching and practice from Jim’s errors. The fact that Jim’s books are being republished, his tapes are being distributed, etc., seems to support the notion that GC has not really moved all that far from “the bad old days.” Either that, or it is moving back to those days and Jim is being “rehabilitated,” to borrow a term from the Communism of old.

The follow is from a letter I wrote to Dave Bovenmyer on December 3, 1991:

“I was recently retyping for the computer the transcript of the meeting at the Cornerstone at which Gary Henke’s excommunication was announced in February 1985, and came across some remarks by Jim which seem to call for a response by you brothers who are currently directing the movement. At one point, in discussing Hebrews 13:17, Jim said:

“You know this verse applies to me–I’ve got leaders over me: Dennis and many other men that I labor with. And you know, I spend most of my waking hours in the work of the Lord pleasing those men. Most of my waking hours. I do not spend most of my hours preaching and teaching in conferences and churches. I spend most of my waking hours in the work of the Lord, serving my fellow leaders, bringing them joy. And I know, and I think, by God’s grace, as they report to me again and again, ‘Jim, I appreciate you so much.” That encourages me. And I know it’s going to go well with me. ’Cause I have leaders just like you. And above everything else I make sure those leaders, I’m bringing them joy. I may displease some saints in the flock, but I wait, I’ll never step past the line where I know I’ll displease my leaders.

“Dave, the implications of this statement are extremely significant. I hope you will forgive me for stating the case bluntly, but if what Jim said is true, then ‘Dennis and many other men’ with whom Jim labored were never displeased by anything he ever did or said. Hence, if that’s true, there are many others now in leadership who must be regarded as participants in the things he did and said that were unethical, unbiblical, or hurtful to others, as well as in those things that were not. If, on the other hand, at least some of the men to whom Jim referred were displeased by at least some of his actions, then Jim was not being truthful when he made this statement and you brothers have to come to terms with the fact that he was prevaricating. In other words, to boil it down, either Jim was lying, or you brothers were his accomplices.

“It is conclusions like this that many people have made, and will continue to make unless the present GCAC leadership takes the difficult step of making a forthright and fairly public declaration acknowledging Jim’s wrongdoing, along with your/their own involvement and/or collusion in Jim’s blameworthy deeds. And this declaration must also be fairly specific–not just referring vaguely to ‘things that might have caused some people to be hurt,’ but naming names, dates, places, events, etc. After all, this is the sort of confession required of the numerous individuals who have been excommunicated from GCI over the years on charges of ‘faction,’ ‘slander,’ etc.

“Tom and John kept asking us at our July meetings what GCAC needs to do to satisfy us that things are different now. This sort of public statement would certainly be a major step towards that goal.”

The above is also in partial answer, at least, to “The Clone”’s question of November 22 (#7). I agree with Sam Lopez that Jim had gotten bored “with same old thing” (though I find it hard to describe building the church of God as “the same old thing). None of Jim’s enterprises seems to have lasted longer than about 3-4 years. This includes _Today’s Student_, Profit Group’s radio syndication business, PG’s tabloid fiasco, and the _Christchurch Citizen_ (and the entirety of McCotter’s New Zealand Media Group). Sam is correct that Jim is a “pioneer” (though that’s a more charitable way of saying it — I would simply call him an idea man). He comes up with big ideas (not necessarily grand or even good ones), but doesn’t have the perseverance to see them through to success. As Sam said, Jim is a starter, not a maintainer. And when he loses interest other people suffer, namely those who have quit good jobs to work for him.