SRF Library at Iuka.

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[pvitartas]

I likely have only vague memories of Larry Pile and the Library he started at IUKA in Solid Rock (Ohio State) days.

I remember Greg K showing me around the well ordered library.  He told me Larry started it, but Larry's not really involved anymore. 

The room had the makings of a fine library.  I relished being there.  The library's demise was one of the subtle turning points in my mind that was part of my finally being asked to leave SRF during the great purge in 1978.  I was not part of the 13th Str. fellowship - I wish I had been.

[Linda]

What was the great purge of 1978?

[pvitartas]

Hi Linda - I like to refer to it as the night of the long knives.  As I remember it, the entire congregation was called to the Ohio Union, where Solid Rock was meeting at the time, to hear M Keator read a rather lengthy list of people who were being shunned, disciplined, etc. 

This was the 13th Ave Fellowship Days.  Larry Pile writes about this time period specifically in his book.

It was an ironically sad yet humorous time - one began to wonder who was going to get the ax next.

[EverAStudent]

Shunning (which they incorrectly called "church discipline" because they pointed to Matthew 18 as their prooftext but did not implement either the letter or the spirit of discipline as detailed by Jesus) was their principle tool for silencing any and all criticisms, valid or otherwise.  They used shunning in place of teaching, coaching, and counseling. 

They wielded shunning as a political weapon of fear and division to excommunicate those who expressed differing opinions for church functions.  They should have been using biblical "church discipline" as a means of correcting and restoring actual sinners.  What shameful abuse of and by authority, and all in the name of evangelism.

[TaylorJoy]

This thread made the whole "Oh, CRAP, I was in a CULT!!!" realization hit me a bit harder.

I lived two blocks away from Iuka for years.  It's still there, with lots of guys rooming together.  One of them is still called "Uncle So-And-So" by my kids, even though we haven't lived there for three years, cause he half-lived at my house. 

I know this is a thread-jack, but hear me out---I have no family.  I've disconnected from my family of origin, because they were addicts, mentally ill, and all-around dangerous people. I WANTED so much to have a family of choice, a family of believers....but I seriously couldn't fit in at GCM.  I wanted so much to.  I felt constantly on the outside, and now, I wonder if it was God's provision.  I love those people.  But I was just...weird, different, whatever.  I just don't fit the GCM mold.  I can be thankful for that now. 

It's so hard to imagine Iuka as once holding so many broken hearts.