BITE Model Applied to GCC

Welcome to De-Commissioned, a place for former members of the Great Commission movement (aka GCM, GCC, GCAC, GCI, the Blitz) to discuss problems they've experienced in the association's practices and theology.

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[Rebel in a Good Way]

I submitted information about GCC to the Freedom of Mind website.  They use the BITE Model in regard to undue influence and mind control: https://freedomofmind.com/bite-model/   There is a link for a detailed handout that would have been helpful (I only utilized the main bullet points easily seen).

I used this link to submit the information about GCC and anyone else can easily do so.  I did include my information but you can be anonymous other than needing an e-mail address: https://freedomofmind.com/submit-group-information/ to submit the following summary of GCM using the BITE Model

When I typed up the document, I was able to use italics and other formatting that made it easier to distinguish material from GCC and my own words.  I apologize that the formatting does not transfer to this forum.  I used capitals to distinguish the B-I-T-E categories, * to identify the tactic I was describing, and quotation marks around every quote from their material.  It will be a little laborious to read here.

BEHAVIOR

*Obedience, Submission, and Dependence

All quotes from this section on authority are taken from the link: http://ae32b6f7a6ad6f5ae1f0-a966d7fcbad4fbcd7d1dccf3fbabbb92.r98.cf2.rackcdn.com/uploaded/g/0e4793197_1490123351_gcli-2017-b1-s2-9-god-honoring-authority.pdf

Obedience & submission are a huge priority in this movement.  It is taught and mentioned repeatedly. They emphasis the authority of pastors and elders, and their leadership training materials (all internal training & education) contain the following types of attitudes (repeated over and over, I have just chosen a few).  These are internalized by leadership and then taught and internalized by members:

“The Bible likens believers to sheep, one of the most helpless and dim-witted of farm animals. We need direction and protection, primarily from God, but also from those humans whom He has commissioned to lead us.”

From my personal experience in the group, member internalizes: We cannot be trusted to discern our own path and make our own choices (direction).  We are unsafe and vulnerable without our leaders (protection).  God has given these leaders to me for my own benefit (commissioned).

“Our response to our human authorities is one of the clearest and most practical indicators of our heart attitude towards God….Whether we grumble and rebel or respond with joy, honor, and obedience, indicates either a heart of disobedience or of faith and humility toward God. In this way, God can use human authority to develop Christ-like character in us in a very practical way—by revealing the true nature of our hearts before the Lord and bringing us to repentance and growth in our faith.”

Member Internalizes: Obeying leaders is basically the same as obeying God.  If we resist human leadership it is because we are in sin, not because they are wrong.  If we have a problem with a leader’s authority, what is required is repentance and growth on our part.

“Thirdly, our culture tends to discount and belittle the need for authority. In some relationships, such as the marriage relationship, even loving, godly authority is viewed as oppressive, selfish, and ‘patriarchal.’”

Member internalizes:  One more example of the us vs. them mentality against “culture.”  We are to be countercultural, so even though society values freedom and respect, we must reject that notion.  And an extra shout out to the women, because if you don’t enjoy having to submit to your husband, you’re just crying “oppression” and “patriarchy” like the worldly (not godly) women.

“God instituted leadership and authority to help unite a group not only around the obvious truths of the scripture, but around particular ways and approaches to living those truths out in the kingdom.”

Member internalizes: There are certain ways to live according to biblical TRUTHS and God instituted leadership, which also means there are lots of undisputable truths in the bible that my leaders must teach me. 

The following section is taken from the Values Statement (link: http://ae32b6f7a6ad6f5ae1f0-a966d7fcbad4fbcd7d1dccf3fbabbb92.r98.cf2.rackcdn.com/uploaded/r/0e4539602_1442587039_revised-core-values-paper-20142.pdf) and, as a professional therapist, is very concerning to me.  I personally know individuals who could have benefitted from therapy but the pastors discouraged it and instead said they would counsel the individual.

"7. We believe that the Scriptures combined with the local church are God’s primary system for providing pastoral care and the healing of souls. While God may lead pastors to refer certain individuals to godly, Biblically based counselors as a supplement, this works best when it is coordinated with the efforts of the church and its leaders (2 Timothy 3:16; Ephesians 4:15-16)."

They are saying that members should only access mental health services IF THEIR PASTOR FEELS CALLED and then biblical counselors, who are not necessarily thoroughly trained.  This is dangerous. This also goes along with the group mentality that medications are to be avoided, that there is a strong faith component to anxiety/depression (like when you get strong enough in your faith those things will go away). 

* Leader Influence on Major Life Decisions (informal permission)

The following is from this link: http://ae32b6f7a6ad6f5ae1f0-a966d7fcbad4fbcd7d1dccf3fbabbb92.r98.cf2.rackcdn.com/uploaded/g/0e4814926_1490127294_gcli-2017-b3-s5-9-parent-led-education.pdf

“Third, I recommend that pastors give one-on-one counseling to parents who are making educational choices, asking the question, “Is this educational option yielding the spiritual, character, and academic results you want for your child?”

“…in the case of those parents who are willing to do whatever it takes to train their children for Christ, I generally encourage them to home school their children, particularly if their children are younger”.

Homeschooling was modeled by most pastors, families and those of other leaders in the church, including the denominational leaders.  No one said directly that you must homeschool, but it is the choice I as a member understood godly families should make.

Decisions about homeschooling are one example of pastors being directly involved in life decisions.  As a young person, so many people would not be sure of their next steps and would say “I’m going to meet with Pastor _____.”  That’s how you knew it was a big decision for them, when they went to seek his counsel.  It was encouraged to seek out “godly wisdom” from older people, but in reality it was like getting permission.  To do something without the blessing of mentors took a lot of strength.  Time and time again, Pastor ____ would give very specific counsel instead of teaching decision making by encouraging young people to examine pros and cons, talk to their families or other mentors, listen to their instinct, or try to find guidance in their own personal faith walk, or other decision making techniques. 

Examples of specific, definitive counsel given by the pastor as experienced by myself or close friends:

•   No, you shouldn’t move out of state for a job opportunity because you should remain committed to this church family.
•   No, you should not discuss the possibility of a relationship with that young man because men need to initiate the relationship and be leaders.
•   You should not marry that man/woman. (Several relationships were broken due to his direct counsel)
•   You should end that friendship.

 * Money

The following excerpt is from: http://ae32b6f7a6ad6f5ae1f0a966d7fcbad4fbcd7d1dccf3fbabbb92.r98.cf2.rackcdn.com/uploaded/g/0e4793196_1490123382_gcli-2017-b1-s2-10-not-loving-the-world.pdf

“So too, we Christians must conclude that this world and its values and entertainments are at best suspect, and often diametrically opposed to the health and well-being of our souls. As an example, do we ever pray before we go shopping? It seems a little odd to even ask the question. But maybe we should. And if we do not pray, at least ask a few of these kinds of questions, “How would the Lord have me spend my money? What would the Lord think of this CD? That new outfit? This bracelet? That purse? This movie ticket?” If we do not ask ourselves these simple questions - do not be deceived dear Christian - there is coming a time when our Lord will ask these kind of questions.”

“And what do we often do with our ever increasing wealth? We spend it on our pleasures! We sure don’t give it away. On any given Sunday, the giving that occurs in the churches of America has, over the last twenty years, hovered at the abysmal two to three percent range of our weekly incomes.”

This is just one example of how the group teaches about money.  They teach a 10% tithe of gross income to the local church specifically, and then often request offerings above that to support church plants or other Great Commission projects.  It is taught in weekly sermons, special seminars about finances, and in personal counseling and budgeting sessions.  It is not taught as an option or allowed any discretion based on a person’s personal financial situation.  Many very young couples with a low income sacrificed much to meet the church’s percentage mandates. 

INFORMATION

* Discourage access to non-cult sources of information

From the Values Statement:  "8. While God can use outside authors, teachers, and seminars to supplement the ministry of the Word in each local church (1 Corinthians 4:15), God desires the local church to be the primary source of preaching and teaching of the Scriptures for the building up of believers (2 Timothy 3:14)."

Our pastor told us that “going to another church to hear a sermon would be like a husband going to another woman’s house to eat her cooking.” (which also reinforces their gender rules).

They rarely utilize any educational resources outside of GCC, and even when they use theological resources to write their papers, they are not academically well done and skewed toward their existing belief structure. 

When it comes to members and outside resources, what will usually happen is that the “mentors” in the church will share what they are reading, and others will think that is probably a great idea and read the same thing.  Any church or denomination-wide use of non-GCC material will be those that reinforce the group’s indoctrinated beliefs (i.e. emphasizing Love & Respect by Dr. Eggerich, which very much emphasizes gender roles and wifely submission).  Use of GCC devotionals, studies, and recorded teachings is encouraged.  Attendance at GCC conferences (Faithwalkers) is highly prioritized, especially for young people.

Pastors and leaders are all trained internally and solely through mentorship and GCLI (Great Commission Leadership Institute).

Formal education is publicly degraded (in sermons), causing a distrust of academic preparation and reinforcing the superiority of internal training.

* Deliberately withhold and distort information

When it comes to information control, they have crafted a careful paradigm that paints criticism or opposition to them as persecution.  To be honest, when I was in the group I was unaware of any criticisms and had no clue about their past troubles so I did not hear these defenses but can now read them.  In my former church they have been accused of spiritual abuse within the past year and have publicly framed it as persecution.

Following quotes are from this link: http://ae32b6f7a6ad6f5ae1f0a966d7fcbad4fbcd7d1dccf3fbabbb92.r98.cf2.rackcdn.com/uploaded/g/0e6049137_1490129986_gcli-2017-b4-s8-11-persecution-and-the-great-commission-christian.pdf

 “Consider the following stories, all of which occurred in Great Commission churches in the United States:
• A church is labeled as a cult on the Internet” (one of the examples listed)

They briefly address the most potent criticism with that short bullet point, acknowledging it but reframing it as an act of persecution.

 “Every group of churches that is serving Jesus Christ will have stories like this.”

This message normalizes any criticism—it’s not because it’s warranted for their group, but it’s part and parcel of robust Christianity.

“Although true believers will generally support their fellow Christians, it is common to receive opposition from professing Christians. In fact, oftentimes the worst persecution comes from those who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ. The most painful opposition often comes from family and friends and those who were once part of our church community.”

Message relayed: those who don’t support us may not be true Christians (at least not the way that we are).  And those who are most predisposed to see actual problems (former members and close family/friends) bring about the most painful opposition (an emotional tone that re-focuses from analyzing)

"How can we know if a criticism of a pastor is valid or invalid? Here is my answer: I assume that a criticism is invalid unless it has been established by the testimony of two or three witnesses, in a just process…Therefore, when I see a pastor being criticized I look at these three factors:

Factor #1: Accountability structure: Is there is an accountability process in place to address valid criticisms of a pastor--a process based on the Scriptures? (Matthew 18:15-17; 1 Timothy 5: 19-21). For example, in Great Commission Churches, a member with a concern can go through this appeal process:

Meet one on one with the pastor; then with one or two other pastors; then with the church board; then with a Great Commission Churches representative. The purpose of this process is to discern whether or not the criticism is legitimate and to bring correction if needed."

So, you would need 2 or 3 witnesses to come together, but there is also a widespread teaching against gossip (which is defined as saying anything unflattering even if it’s true).  The “just process” starts with going to the pastor individually (because the bible is misinterpreted to say so in Matt 18), who you have been trained to obey and submit to, and you are taught he has authority over you (even moreso if you’re a woman).  So, right off the bat there is a power differential.  Usually any problems can be soothed individually with the pastor, as he will just explain to you why you’re wrong.  I personally experienced that any concerns I ever brought up were dismissed in the initial pastor meeting and that was enough to subdue me (as a young woman especially). 

If things do escalate past those individual conversations, the other pastors, board, and GCC representative will back the pastor (I am not aware of a situation in which they didn’t anyway).  In my area, there have been two “critical incidents” that I know of, and a board member (_____  _____) was brought in as the GCC representative. Both times, the pastors were supported and the members were dismissed (and one was excommunicated for gossiping about a pastor).

There is no real accountability.  The whole process is rigged from the beginning.  However, they do also include in their written materials the necessity to be humble and open to examine whether the criticisms are true, etc.  This manipulates people in to thinking that concerns are taken seriously and examined, when usually they are just defended from moment one.

"Factor #3: The willingness of the critic to work through the accountability structure: If the critic is aware of the accountability process, is he or she willing to submit his or her concerns to that process? Or does the critic choose instead to defame the character of the pastor through private or public communications (such as blogs)?

Honorable people with valid concerns will pursue an honorable process. But if a pastor is submitted to his church accountability process and his critic ignores that process, it raises serious questions about that critic, not the pastor. The legitimacy of the criticism is especially in question if the critic ignores the established accountability process and instead spreads negative characterizations of that pastor, one-on-one or through blogs."

This means any criticism that doesn’t go through their “just process” is automatically dismissed as invalid. And any outside information found online is dishonorable. 

They did write a lengthy correction statement, http://ae32b6f7a6ad6f5ae1f0-a966d7fcbad4fbcd7d1dccf3fbabbb92.r98.cf2.rackcdn.com/uploaded/e/0e4539571_1442587016_errors-weakness-final.pdf
but later minimized it by writing: “Even though we believed that many of the criticisms were unfair, exaggerated, or based on false reports, some were valid, whether universally or in specific churches.”
Link: http://ae32b6f7a6ad6f5ae1f0a966d7fcbad4fbcd7d1dccf3fbabbb92.r98.cf2.rackcdn.com/uploaded/p/0e4539600_1442587037_project-care-website-statement-4-3-12.pdf

Unfortunately much of their correction items are still happening.

In my former church, the leaders held meetings about specific people they were in the process of excommunicating (or who had accused them of being abusive) and told direct lies about the individuals, or distorted the truth i.e. “So and so was invited to attend this meeting because we want to be transparent and include them, but they declined,” without mentioning that the invitation had been extended less than 24 hours prior.  The pastor would write extensive documents about their interactions with those individuals that were not completely false but definitely slanted the narrative, i.e. “We met with so and so on 11/14/2011” when it would have been more accurate to write “We showed up and so and so’s house unannounced on 11/14/2011.”

From what I have seen in former member groups, meetings like this are not isolated to my specific former local church but happen elsewhere in the denomination.

THOUGHT

* Thought Stopping/Rejecting Critical Thinking

Criticism is reframed as persecution (see previously linked document on “Persecution and the Great Commission Christian.”) 

Bible verses were twisted to block analysis.  While there is an element of truth in their explanations, they used them to manipulate and exploit.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)  This verse is a good one to shut down questioning their interpretation of biblical instructions.  Me: “I don’t understand why God would give me leadership skills but then strictly forbid me from being a leader because I’m a woman.”  Pastor: “Well, God’s ways are higher than your ways…”   

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ (Matt 25:21). Our constant work for and obedience to the group would surely be rewarded. My former pastor often referenced this verse as his life goal, to get to heaven and hear these words, so that any current inconvenience (in reality a boundary violation) could be overlooked for future reward. 

Lots of biblical words: humility, obedience, pride, etc. were taken out of context and used for means of control.  This is confusing because those words ARE in the bible but their application was warped.

* Us vs. Them
The persecution paradigm sets up the us vs. them mentality, even among other believers. Previously linked documents such as “Not Loving the World” create the perspective that only things inside GCM are good and the world is full of evil to be feared.

* Change Your Identity

It’s harder to pinpoint this one other than I changed a lot when joining the group and feel like I have “changed back” to some of my core identity (it’s hard since we’re talking about 20 years and subsequent life changes).  The one thing I can definitely identify is that I was a feminist, or at least someone who was raised to believe that women did not have restrictions.  But I was willing to take on the “submissive Christian woman” role that the group taught.

EMOTION
* Phobias

When I was in GCC, there was definitely us vs. them, good vs. evil training.  I thought we were the only ones living life correctly, and that by our shining example we would bring people out of darkness to Jesus (but really to our wonderful way of living).  Even though I had lots of exposure to secular activities, I thought I had to be careful not to contaminate myself with things that were sinful or not edifying. 

And regarding black and white thinking, it was very legalistic with rules.  There was a right way and a wrong way of doing most things (and if you didn’t learn the unwritten rules you should just do what the leaders did).

The following are from: http://ae32b6f7a6ad6f5ae1f0a966d7fcbad4fbcd7d1dccf3fbabbb92.r98.cf2.rackcdn.com/uploaded/g/0e4793196_1490123382_gcli-2017-b1-s2-10-not-loving-the-world.pdf

"If we are going to try to warn ourselves, guard our soul, protect our spirit from this world and its values; we first need to recognize that there is something to be scared of, something that can hurt us; that we live in a hostile environment. Everything, and I mean everything, is under the control of the evil one who was given mastery over everything from the mountaintops on down. This is where he lives and this is where we live."

The next example below shows how every little decision one should make in life needs to be over-spiritualized and scrutinized.  That everything (including going shopping) has intense significance.  This caused paralysis, mistrust of instinct (natural decision-making), and fear or making the “wrong” choice.  I wasted much emotional energy agonizing over minor decisions in this environment.

"Here are seven suggested guidelines that have been helpful to many Christians when called upon to make decisions such as, “Should I do this?” “Should I watch this?” “Should I listen to this?” “Lord, help me!”

1. Is there any clear teaching about the area in the Bible?
2. What would Jesus do in this area?
3. Is my heart attached to it?
4. What is the spirit or the atmosphere of the thing?
5. Will this help or harm my Christian life and walk?
6. How will this influence and affect others?
7. And if there is doubt, “Don’t.”
Please don’t!"

From: http://ae32b6f7a6ad6f5ae1f0a966d7fcbad4fbcd7d1dccf3fbabbb92.r98.cf2.rackcdn.com/uploaded/g/0e4814926_1490127294_gcli-2017-b3-s5-9-parent-led-education.pdf

"My opinion is that too many Christian children have been negatively influenced in the government school system. In my dialogue with Great Commission pastors, a large number of them have said that they were naive as to the negative effect that public schools had on their children and on the children of church members."


* Emotions as evil, Guilt & Shame

Women were especially degraded as being “too emotional” for leadership and were often encouraged to “control their emotions.”  These exhortations gave the message that normal human emotions are negative, ungodly, and interfere with dedicated Christian living.  Emotions were never regarded as warning system, justified in response to certain actions, or part of what makes humans God’s image bearers.

Any “emotion” that came across as questioning/disagreeing/doubting was re-labeled as rebellion or defiance.

Going to church became a chore, because every week we were given 3 points of things that we needed to work on.  It was never good enough, we were always to be striving.  Our particular pastor taught often on pride, always encouraging humility, encouraging us to make ourselves smaller, allow ourselves to be used, pour ourselves out for the benefit of others. Perhaps his hard heart needed that reminder, but for someone who lacked confidence, this message was the opposite of what I needed for healthy spiritual growth.

Framing every choice as a moral issue, so that everything we did (shows we watched, did we buy coffee from a coffee shop, how late did we stay up at night, etc.) became either sin or obedience.  I never felt like I was good enough.  Being a woman was even worse—my leadership skills were treated as rebellion.

* Love Bombing

“It is a common practice in churches in our association for members to be “best friends,” sharing their lives together, in community, throughout the week.”

From: http://ae32b6f7a6ad6f5ae1f0-a966d7fcbad4fbcd7d1dccf3fbabbb92.r98.cf2.rackcdn.com/uploaded/r/0e4539602_1442587039_revised-core-values-paper-20142.pdf

This is one of the things that attracted me to the church—people were welcoming, took an interest in me, and desired to mentor me as a new Christian.  As I was in a transition graduating from college, this was desirable.  I lived with roommates from the church, as did most college age and post-college young adults.  I spent most of my time with friends from church, most of my activities were church-related.  Sunday morning service, Friday evening service, Tuesday evening small group, and then planned social activities.  Don’t get me wrong, I did have a lot of fun with these people.  But looking back my social circle was limited.

I myself love bombed people by inviting them to anything I could, taking an immediate interest in them for the sake of recruitment, hosting events purposely to get people incorporated.  Being hospitable and friendly are not bad things, but it was artificial.

* Shunning

My former church has written formal excommunications of families with specific instructions on how to act out their “loving discipline.” The following is from a letter distributed to the local church regarding one couple’s excommunication.  The letter was from Spring 2011 and I have removed the names of the shunned.

“We are encouraging anyone who has had contact with the ______ to cease that contact.  Here’s what that looks like:  Don’t talk on the phone; don’t email; unfriend them on Facebook; don’t read their blogs or posts; don’t baby-sit their kids; don’t write them letters.  In short, have no contact with them at all.  If you do see them and engage them, let it be only to encourage them to work out their differences with the pastors. 

This is very difficult.  It hurts, but we believe strongly that God knows what is best, and we believe that our most helpful, healing and good response is to agree with God and obey Him” 

[Linda]

This is excellent and filled with so much helpful information. Thank you for taking the time and doing the research to bring this to the attention of "Freedom of Mind" in an intelligent and organized way.

I haven't had time to read and process everything, but one thing that stood out (that relates to a comment you made on Scout's post about MD) is the part at the end about the excommunication (s?) and the letter of "shunning" from 2011. I am astonished that this is still going on.

Do you have a sense as to how many people were "excommunicated" while you were there? Is it still happening? Is anyone reading this who experienced excommunication?

I'm assuming the reasons were stated to the congregation. I'm curious. Were they things like "continuing in the sin of adultery" or were the reasons more nebulous. Things like "slander", "division", you know, the old school reasons for removing someone who challenged the accuracy of the teaching.

The letter you posted is classic. Right out of the McCotter play book.

All this brings me to your comment on the other thread about Mark Darling heading over to you church to help out with excommunications. WHAT IN THE WORLD?!

GCC reminds us on their web page that: Each church in our association is self-governing and has final authority over its own affairs.

8. What is the relationship between Great Commission Churches and member churches? [-]

A church in GCC is a voluntary member of the association for the purpose of advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Each church in our association is self-governing and has final authority over its own affairs.  The local church (rather than GCC) appoints and oversees its own elders and staff.  Also, GCC does not own any church buildings or have any control over church budgets.  Great Commission Churches serves member churches by providing them equipping (through conferences, literature and counsel), opportunities for cooperation in mission efforts, and doctrinal accountability.

If that is the case, what business does Mark Darling have helping out with an "excommunication". Of course, we all know the truth, GC churches are beholden to the GCC national board. The National board of GC has more influence over a local congregation than the members of the congregation. Since this is the case, it makes perfect sense to them to send MD over to help out with "church discipline".

Also, the letter is classic cult milieu control. Restrict members contact with the outside world. And the sad thing is that when brainwashed people see the words, "don't read their blogs or posts" they obey their leader and thereby miss out on perhaps seeing the truth. Thus, the lies continue.

That letter is stunning. And frightening.

[Rebel in a Good Way]

Linda, I'll try to answer your questions in order.

I think this formal excommunication from 2011 was the last one.  I was not attending anymore at the time but the person is a friend.  I was a young adult during my involvement and there could have been discipline going on in the wider church but I was focused on my age group and wasn't aware of anything else.  Some families left because of this particular excommunication, and their peers were verbally instructed not to ask them about it and not to talk with them other than to encourage them to submit and come in to agreement with the disicpline.  A friend of mine was later approached by a member who said "I was warned not to talk to you but I don't understand why.  You seem like a good guy."  So numbers for formal excommunications are probably not high, but the number of people who were strong-armed out and unofficially shunned is higher.

I'm assuming the church leadership has gotten smarter and are just doing the same thing but without the official documentation.  Although they recently held a meeting about a family that included handouts discussing the family. 

I did not realize it was a form of shunning at the time, but my former pastor advised us to pull back from people when they left our church "so that they can develop connection and relationships at their new church.  They won't be able to to do that if they're still invested in friendships from here."  So I let those people go, thinking it was in their best interest.  I now realize that people can have a wide base of friendships spanning any church.

The reason for the above excommunation (and it was either 2010 or 2011, it spanned several months and I'm not sure when it was official) was for GOSSIP.  Yep, gossiping about a pastor.  After the pastors created the definition for gossip and slander.  And when the person said that before God they didn't think they had done anything sinful so they would not repent, it was all over.

Details are a little fuzzy and I could confirm them if important, but I do know Mark Darling physically came to the church for discussions on the excommunication.  My memory is that he was present at the "trial" they had for the excommunicated couple, in which their own friends "testified" about their gossip.  The couple declined to participate.  Again, I might be mixing up details because of the time lapsed since then.  And I had left the church by that time, but had been and was walking very closely with people affected by the situation.  I do know there was a "trial/hearing."  I do know Mark Darling was the outside representative who came to the church to provide assistance.  This process is outlined in the GCLI "Persecution and the Great Commission Christian" document.  http://ae32b6f7a6ad6f5ae1f0-a966d7fcbad4fbcd7d1dccf3fbabbb92.r98.cf2.rackcdn.com/uploaded/g/0e6049137_1490129986_gcli-2017-b4-s8-11-persecution-and-the-great-commission-christian.pdf

"Factor #1: Accountability structure: Is there is an accountability process in place to address valid criticisms
of a pastor--a process based on the Scriptures? (Matthew 18:15-17; 1 Timothy 5: 19-21). For example,
in Great Commission Churches, a member with a concern can go through this appeal process:
Meet one on one with the pastor; then with one or two other pastors; then with the church board; then
with a Great Commission Churches representative. The purpose of this process is to discern whether
or not the criticism is legitimate and to bring correction if needed."

Granted, in this situation the member was not appealing anything, but the leadership just went ahead with this process.  I don't know why--to make it seem legitimate?  Well, I know it was a power play, but I don't know the official reason given.  The couple left long before they were excommunicated, but of course the pastors could not just let them go. 

The pastoral leadership had written and distributed 6 single space documents in regard to this gossip issue and even more disturbing, they cyber stalked the excommunicated.  The person created pseudonyms to be able to post anonymously on spiritual abuse recovery blogs, never named the church or pastors or anything, and someone traced the comments back to her.  Those statements were published in the documents distributed to the church as "evidence" of her continued slander of the pastors (again, the person was anonymous and never named the church or pastors).

[Rebel in a Good Way]

Also, if anyone thinks it is unwise to post these things publicly, please let me know.  Someone said GCC leadership reads this forum, and the last thing I would want to do is give them tips on how to continue to abuse people but do it more under the radar.  If they know their written words and official excommunications might make them look bad, I am concerned that they will just make their abuse more secretive.  We've downloaded everything from their website because it has occured to us they might pull it if they realize it is being analyzed by cult experts (which is happening).

Other than that, I don't care if they figure out who I am and I am not concerned about being contaced (kind of planning on it, actually).  So my concern is not for myself but I don't want to make them more skilled abusers.

[Linda]

Wow. Just wow.

Smart move to download everything (I actually did some downloading from you post yesterday, as well) because the GCC modus operandi is to remove bad teaching, but never correct it.

John Hopler (and probably others) do read this forum...hi John! His role has been to have pastors contact people who post here if he is able to identify them and try to meet privately. Thus, my recommendation: Stay anonymous. We left ECC in August of 2005. We received letters from Brent Knox and Mark Darling in April of 2012 because my husband and I post here by name. The goal was to "reconcile". What Mr. Hopler was missing from this picture is that you NEVER reconcile bad teaching. You correct it. They weren't interested in correcting false teaching, but they did remove the incriminating sermons from the archives. Fortunately, we have downloads. We don't hate anyone, we just believe they are misled and because of that are misleading people and doing harm to the Gospel.

There is so much darkness here. It's very troubling and I am so sorry for all the lives and families that have been harmed in the name of God.