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Author Topic: M28 Alliance  (Read 13859 times)
Linda
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« on: October 08, 2019, 11:00:45 am »

On occasion over the past few months, I have been viewing the "GCC Mountains West Region" facebook page.

About a month ago, I noticed that they had removed the words "Great Commission Churches" from the header.

Previously, it said: Mountains West Region and under that Great Commission Churches.

A month ago it just said, "Mountains West Region".

Now, when you go to that web address, you will find no mention of Mountains West Region, instead you find the page has morphed into M28 Alliance.

https://www.mwrgc.org

It is interesting to note that the Stillwater, OK church (Rick Whitney's church) is not listed as an M28 Alliance church even though they claim membership on the church web page.

https://vintagefaithstillwater.com/about-us/who-we-are

It is also interesting to note that Rick Whitney is still listed as a board member of GCC.

http://gccweb.org/about/gcc-board/

One more bit of interest is that Vintage Faith in OK is no longer listed as a GCC church.

http://gccweb.org/about/find-a-church/





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DesiringTruth
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« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2019, 01:04:20 pm »

Stillwater church (Oklahoma) now listed on the M28 Alliance site.
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Linda
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« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2019, 02:08:20 pm »

I just noticed that minutes ago and was going to come on and post about it. You beat me to it! Smiley

They must still be reading the forum! Ha! Wink

Whitney is still listed on the GCC board, however. It's all so odd.
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Linda
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« Reply #3 on: January 07, 2020, 01:48:20 pm »

FYI:

On the GCC web page under board, Rick Whitney is listed as "emeritus":

http://gccweb.org/about/gcc-board/

"Rick and Neva have been married 42 years and are helping support a Vintage Faith Church plant, at Oklahoma State University. They have raised seven children and now have 19 grandchildren (and counting) – who are all involved in Great Commission churches in Salt Lake City, UT, Lincoln and Omaha, NE, Manhattan and Wichita, KS, and Stillwater, OK. Rick serves the GC Plains region and at the national level within GCC. He also writes a little bit."

This blurb is deceptive because it refers to Rick's children being involved in GCC churches and lists states. There are currently NO GCC churches in Utah or Stillwater, OK. Those churches are now M28 churches.

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Linda
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« Reply #4 on: January 07, 2020, 02:12:36 pm »

Also, I see Bovenmyer is off the board.

Interesting that it refers to him as pastoring in Iowa, but does not list him as being a GCC pastor.

"Dave Bovenmyer - Board Member Emeritus

Dave Bovenmyer has been a pastor since 1974, serving in Ames, Iowa, East Lansing, Michigan, and Silver Spring, Maryland. He has served as editor of several of the association's publications and has helped to write many of the Great Commission Leadership Institute articles. In the late 1980s, Dave served as the initial executive director of Great Commission Ministries. He has been married to Dawn since 1975 and is the father of seven children. He currently pastors in Ames, Iowa with a ministry emphasis in counseling and theological training."

Also of interest is the fact that the newly formed "Lift Network" lists Campus Fellowship as part of the network and Campus Fellowship is part of Stonebrook Church (Bovenmyer's church) in Ames.

 https://isu.campusfellowship.com

This seems peculiar since Lift Network has yet to identify leaders or specific churches, although it does have Lift Network cities shown on the map and Ames is one of them.

One more piece to the puzzle. The Lift Network web page is done by Mere. Mere's founder is Matt Heerema.

https://mereagency.com/about-us/

Matt Heerema (along with Dave Bovenmyer) are listed as pastors of Stonebrook.

https://www.stonebrook.org/group/pastors/

The plot thickens...
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Linda
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« Reply #5 on: January 08, 2020, 09:10:30 am »

The photo Lift Network chose. Whoa! Someone just pointed that out to me.

Is that supposed to be the pastor (who was appointed by a pastor who was appointed by a pastor who was appointed by a pastor who was appointed by McCotter) in the front, doing no work, but barking out orders to the crew who is rowing on his command? What a horrible (non-Christian) image! But I think that's what they truly believe.

https://liftchurches.com/about/mission-and-vision/

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Linda
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« Reply #6 on: January 08, 2020, 09:16:34 am »

And, in case you didn't know what this picture represents, here is a description of a rowing crew.

"When it comes to deciding a crew member’s place in a rowing team, there are two types of positions that the athlete may take. One is that of a rower, of which there can be several on a large team. The rowers sit with their backs to the bow, or front section of the boat, and they provide the propulsion via their use of the boat’s oars. In a crew of eight, the rowers are further split into technical-class rowers at the bow, who keep the boat stable and balanced, the powerhouse class of rowers in the middle, who provide most of the strength and power, and the stern or stroke-class rowers, who set the timing of the team’s rowing actions. The head of the boat is the other major position, known as the coxswain. The coxswain, or cox, has the responsibility of steering, motivating, and otherwise communicating with the team and leading them during the race. The coxswain sits at the stern end and faces the rowing team, though in some cases they may sit in the bow position. The seating in a rowing crew is numbered, with the bow seat being number one, and in an eight-person crew, the rower at the stern is number eight. The coxswain, usually present in any team of four or more, is not numbered."
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Janet Easson Martin
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« Reply #7 on: January 09, 2020, 10:08:59 am »

The photo Lift Network chose. Whoa! Someone just pointed that out to me.

Is that supposed to be the pastor (who was appointed by a pastor who was appointed by a pastor who was appointed by a pastor who was appointed by McCotter) in the front, doing no work, but barking out orders to the crew who is rowing on his command? What a horrible (non-Christian) image! But I think that's what they truly believe.

https://liftchurches.com/about/mission-and-vision/




Yes, Linda, we saw this depiction first hand, didn’t we.  Me - in the 80’s, and you - more than 20 years later! Exploiting their members to follow their own manipulative plans, not God’s vision of his body working all together!  How destructive it has turned out to be.  This GCM Warning Forum site is full of the sad results of their anti-biblical, tyrannical leadership. I think their position at the “helm” tells a lot!  Their back is to Jesus and not their face. Ignoring his shepherding commands.  They were actually the ones in rebellion to Him - not US!

Looking at this picture brings sorrow and pain.  The very leaders you mentioned that were discipled by this evil shepherding imposter, James D. McCotter, are the same ones who seem to be leading The Lift Network of Churches. They have NEVER rebuked and condemned this brutish pretender.

What does that say about the HEALTH of the churches they lead or counsel they offer others?  


The Bible says their site and their leadership are all smoke and mirrors.  Nothing but wind and confusion.

”See, they are all a delusion; their works amount to nothing;
their images are as empty as the wind.”

Isaiah 41:29    Berean Study Bible


« Last Edit: January 12, 2020, 08:31:08 pm by Janet Easson Martin » Logged

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Janet Easson Martin
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« Reply #8 on: January 12, 2020, 09:45:45 pm »

The Bible does not support Church leadership that turns a blind eye to spiritual abuse. In fact, those Christian leaders are defying it’s instruction (through Paul) to PUBLICALLY REBUKE that leader before the entire church. Not carrying out this vital command from God’s Word SPREADS CORRUPTION throughout the leadership in that church and brings spiritual damage to its body.  I believe the abandonment of this edict persisting long enough causes destruction to that church’s mode of operation that it is beyond repair.


“Do not entertain an accusation against an elder, except on the testimony of two or three witnesses. But those who persist in sin should be rebuked in front of everyone, so that the others will stand in fear of sin.”
1 Timothy 5:19-20


The evidence of scores of victims speaking out on this very site testifying against this leader/founder’s deplorable actions or his twisted teachings more than fulfills the Bible’s requirement for PUBLIC REBUKE. To the best of our knowledge no GCx Church [GCM, GCI, GCC, GCAC, CCN, RELIANT, LIFT NETWORK of Churches, and M28 (formerly GCx)] has ever publically rebuked their founder, Jim McCotter, for his innumerable sins (or abuses) against the members he so brutally bullied around.

I personally believe the corruption of spiritual abuse is too deep and widespread, among McCotter’s disciples and their disciples and the leaders they “trained” and appointed; to bring HEALTH back to these churches.  It would likely be most honoring to God and to his precious people if these GCx leaders stepped down from leadership and closed the doors of their churches.  I also feel it would honor God if the assets remaining in these former churches would be donated to an unaffiliated organization trustworthy and equipped to offer psychological and spiritual recovery to their victims.



« Last Edit: January 16, 2020, 10:39:42 pm by Janet Easson Martin » Logged

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« Reply #9 on: January 26, 2020, 03:29:35 pm »

Lift Network is listed as a GCC regional ministry on the GCC site and the Plains region has been removed.
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Linda
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« Reply #10 on: January 26, 2020, 04:53:01 pm »

Interesting. Do you have the link for that? Thanks.
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« Reply #11 on: January 26, 2020, 06:16:38 pm »

http://gccweb.org/ministries/member-ministries/
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Linda
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« Reply #12 on: January 26, 2020, 07:33:11 pm »

I’m confused.

So what’s the point of GCC?

Is it just that they don’t want to admit that there has been a split in GCC, so they are forming a bunch of little regions, but still letting churches be GCC churches?

Makes no sense.
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Linda
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« Reply #13 on: January 27, 2020, 09:17:34 am »

Looking further at the "Ministries" section. It looks like the "ministries" that GCC offers are GCLI, the devotional, the weekly Hopler letter of encouragement, the pastor's wife letter, and a couple of prayer groups.

The "Regional Ministries" section nonchalantly lists ministries that are distinctly separate from GCC, but are made up of men who are members of GCC churches. It says these "ministries" are autonomous and have their own "boards". Ha! Really?!

How does that work? Conversation:

Person: Tell me about your work?
Regional Ministry Pastor: I am a pastor of "such and such" church, but in addition, I serve in a regional ministry made up of like minded churches for the purpose of cooperation in missions efforts.
Person: That's interesting. What is the name of that group?
Regional Ministry Pastor: It's called "Lift Network". Here's our web page if you'd like to learn more.

That conversation works.

Lift Network seems like a real ministry with a separate board and web page that explains itself.

Second Conversation:
Person: Tell me about your work?
Regional Ministry Pastor: I am a pastor of "such and such" church, but in addition, I serve in a regional ministry made up of like minded churches for the purpose of cooperation in missions efforts.
Person: That's interesting. What is the name of that group?
Regional Ministry Pastor: It's called "East".
Person: East?
Regional Ministry Person: Yes, East. We have a board and everything.

Are we to believe that there are separate "ministries" that go by the name of "East", "Heartland", "Northlands", and "Midwest"?

These are all names that were the names of the regional districts within GCC and many of the names mentioned were the regional leaders?

Hey, boys, you forgot to go through the web page with a fine tooth comb. You need to take out this sentence.

"Brent is also a regional director for the Northlands region in GCC."

And replace it with this sentence:

"Brent is also a regional director for an autonomous ministry group called "Northlands" that is made up of regional ministries based in local churches who work with pastors for the purpose of mutual encouragement and cooperation in mission efforts, but it is autonomous and has its own board separate from GCC."

Next question?

Why are there two regional ministries that work with Iowa churches and Wisconsin churches?

Lift Network and Midwest?

I smell schism.



« Last Edit: January 27, 2020, 10:07:59 am by Linda » Logged

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Linda
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« Reply #14 on: January 27, 2020, 04:40:11 pm »

Hopler, et. al, if you are going to try to pretend that you have all sorts of "regional ministries" that are not GCC ministries and throw "Lift Network" in the mix, you probably should go through your member churches web pages and have them eliminate statements on church web pages like these that contradict your statement:

Within GCC, Eagle Creek Community Church is active with GC Plains Regional Ministry, which serves churches in these states Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa.

Within GCC, Harvest Church is active with Northlands Regional Ministry, which serves churches in these states Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. 

Within GCC, Submerge Church is active with the Northlands Regional Ministry, which serves churches in these states: Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. 


There are more, but I gave you three freebies. You're welcome. Really, I should charge for this. Wink

Also, I have screen shots. I'm looking at a lovely color coordinated chart showing the GCC regional structure. This one is from October 2016.

GCC had 5 regional ministries at that time that were "organized geographically" They were:

The Plains
Mountains West
Northlands
Heartland
East Regional Ministries

In 2011, there were 4.

Great Commission Heartland (GCH)
GCC Regional Ministries (GCC-RM)
Great Commission Northlands (GCN)
Great Commission Northwest (GCNW)

I do know that a few months ago, the GC Mountains West web page morphed into the M28 Alliance web page and none of those churches are currently GCC churches. Split 1.

Hey, GCC, if you are going to try to convince everyone that there isn't a split that involves Lift Network wanting to be separate in some fashion, the least you can do to keep up the deception is be a tad more creative and come up with new names for these "regional ministries" and also not call them "regional ministries". You're welcome.

As you can tell. I HATE deception. God does, also.

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Janet Easson Martin
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« Reply #15 on: January 28, 2020, 08:25:25 pm »

Smoke and mirrors as usual.  

Watched the docu-movie “Enron” this past week.  Some of the persuasion, marketing, false advertising and false confidence toward its employees and stockholders reminded me of what we have observed in GCx, toward their own people and the people outside their group they are trying to “assure”.

Thanks for pointing out some of their repetive patterns of deception.
« Last Edit: January 28, 2020, 08:28:15 pm by Janet Easson Martin » Logged

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Linda
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« Reply #16 on: August 21, 2020, 07:25:58 pm »

Here's a bit of fiction. Just like Moby Dick or Treasure Island.

https://www.m28alliance.com/blog/m28-alliance-ship-is-setting-sail/

These guys are always rewriting history.

I guess the Mark Darling fiasco was the divisive boiler explosion? That's less controversial than saying "One of our pastors had his ordination removed due to inappropriate behavior and a bunch of us got mad that some didn't cover for him because we had a commitment to have each other's backs even if they do bad stuff because we are loyal so we got mad and left and started our own movement, but we don't want anyone to know exactly what we mean by boiler explosion because then someone might Google and we would have some explaining to do".
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« Reply #17 on: August 21, 2020, 07:40:40 pm »

There sure is a lot of heartache and pain from decades of GCC [GCx alias] spiritual abuse left out of this “golden” storybook.  

Please be aware that the characters are not new, and have not publicly or practically repented of this abuse.
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« Reply #18 on: August 21, 2020, 08:43:01 pm »

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea of a boiler explosion on an old wooden sailing ship. But, anachronisms aside, whitewashing the past seems to be a pattern for GCC.

The church I belonged to was called Solid Rock. It's now known as Linworth Road Church. Their website (https://www.linworthroadchurch.com/history) paints the early years of the church in glowing terms.

Quote
It all started with fifteen men and women barely out of their teens with a simple vision to recapture New Testament Christianity. They were shaped by the idealism of the late 60’s but  recognized the ultimate revolution was one of love  initiated by the ultimate revolutionary, Jesus. These young heroes and heroines portrayed A.W. Tozer’s famous definition of a Christian: holy rebels set loose in the world.

What were they up against? A massive state university unfriendly to evangelical Christianity; cultural upheavals sending shock waves throughout the country; a nation tearing off the veneer of Christian morality; a local Christian community that did not understand them; and finally, their own weaknesses and inexperience.     

The ruined dreams and abandoned educations, the broken family relationships, the crushing legalism, the informants, the excommunications over trivial reasons, the young woman whose excommunication letter was signed by 132 other church members including some she had considered personal friends... these are just "weaknesses" excused by "youthful zeal" and "inexperience."

It would be better not to have even mentioned the church's history than to portray such devastation as heroic and godly.

It's very unfortunate that whitewashing the past is such a widespread part of GCC culture.
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margaret
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« Reply #19 on: August 22, 2020, 04:52:14 am »

They indoctrinated their followers with their patriarchal, authoritarian take on the Bible. Then they'd shame the followers for not adhering to the strict code of obedience. And then, once the followers finally opened their eyes and began trusting their gut and their inner voice, they were left discarding various levels of their faith. Some discarded all and are now avowed agnostics or even atheists. Some discarded most; they can not read their Bibles or attend a church of any kind.  Some were left with their faith fairly intact, and still stand on the foundation of faith in God, Jesus, and the church.
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