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Author Topic: The Cyclical Abuse of Evergreen, The Rock and now Hometown Church  (Read 2749 times)
bill.whalen
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« on: March 26, 2021, 11:26:25 pm »

Hello,

I was part of The Rock for 16 years.  Through much counseling and deconstruction, our family survived.  There still new things being realized...like Mark Darling essentially taught us how to implement a system of abuse in our own house that makes me sick today.

One thing that bothers me is that ministry continues forward via Hometown Church without any connectivity to Evergreen.  If you google the history of Evergreen it seems that it's hard to find any sources.  There used to be articles and information from the 80s and 90s that showed some of the concerning patterns that I believe are cyclical in nature.  I recall at some point having found a document online in which the pastors of Evergreen apologized for issues that they perpetuated in the structures of what they promoted in families, marriages and other dynamics in leadership.  This document mentioned and listed the various allegations that Evergreen had perpetuated and the list of measures they agreed to take in order to avoid future issues of similar fashion.  Unfortunately, they didn't follow through... I've personally deducted that in those years (late 80s/early 90s) Evergreen had a more vibrant community that included a number of young families.  As a result, the influence of Mark Darling and Brent Knox started to take hold...and that led to the apology that eventually had to be publicly offered with the measures they'd take to be held accountable.  The Rock was created and once we all started having kids, those cycles were re-introduced.

It seems that the events that led to Mark D's falling out...and his eventual required counseling were also not something Brent and Mark Bowen decided to follow through with.  They should have ensured that Mark received the agreed upon counseling that resulted from the issues with Suzanne. 

My concern is that there isn't any sources that connect Evergreen and Hometown so that people realize what some of the teaching and behavioral patterns of abuse look like.  And also, why Brent and Mark are still pastors at these churches?  Their repeated ignoring of abuse should be held accountable...?
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Janet Easson Martin
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« Reply #1 on: March 27, 2021, 07:00:37 am »

A warm welcome to you, Bill.  I am so sorry you and your family suffered such abuse that required counseling and deconstruction to survive.  Very sadly, this experience is all too frequent in GCx founded churches according to testimony on this website.  Thank you for highlighting this very serious issue.  It is greatly concerning that GCx founded Churches are continuing on today with little reform under new names that are hard to research.  The cyclical abuse appears to be a fundamental concern in the GCx Church you attended and in many GCx founded churches across the board, according to reports here.  

Though the national Board of GCx has officially disbanded, their churches for the most part are continuing on.  Some of them with leaders from the former National Board.  The “resolution” in response to the vast reports of abuse under leaders discipled by McCotter or their disciples, seems, in general, to be changing their outward identity, rather than truly reforming their inward spiritual abusive nature. This frequent name changing for churches is usually a red flag that something very wrong is going on.  It is quite concerning that true church history is tampered with or “erased”.

Below is an excerpt from a former member who left around 2005 (if I remember correctly) who also describes this spiritually dangerous dilemma of frequent name changes in GCx founded churches.


...there was a point at time when I was at GC that I began to seriously suspect that I was in a cult. A cult! I had gone to several Christian churches in my life and never before had I ever seriously considered that possibility. But, there I was truly wondering about my church. So, I went to the largest source of information I knew of, the Internet, and searched for search terms "GCM cult" and ""Great Commission Ministries" cult" and so on. I found absolutely nothing to indicate that it was, and so naively I thought, "Hey, if it was bad enough there'd be stuff online about it at least." Turns out, if I had known to search for "GCI cult" I would have found plenty of information. In that instance, it was GC's name change that concealed the past from me, and after I found out that is what had kept me from the information I felt very and purposefully betrayed by the movement.

I believe GC would deny it all the way to the bank, but current members have attempted to talk to me about GCI and the modern GC as if they were completely different organizations ("That was GCI! Not GCAC!"), when in reality many of the big leaders from back then (Whitney, Dennis Clark, Herschel) are still around at the top of the leadership chain today, and many of the teachings are just the same (or in some cases, when they resurrect old materials, exactly the same). I believe GC is in the middle of another name shift today, veering away from GCM and GCAC and towards the new GCC (as of a couple years ago) acronym. Once again, finding information on this group requires a lot of knowledge about their name history, and gets harder the more times they change their name. Again, why change the name all the time, and kick people out who are bringing up the truth of the past, unless you're trying to hide it.
-puff of purple smoke


« Last Edit: March 27, 2021, 07:06:10 am by Janet Easson Martin » Logged

For grace is given not because we have done good works, but in order that we may be able to do them.        - Saint Augustine
Linda
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« Reply #2 on: March 27, 2021, 08:09:19 am »

Welcome, Bill.

I am so sorry for what you went through and how hard your church experience was on you and your family. I hope it helps to know that you are not alone.

God bless you,
Linda

Hello,

I was part of The Rock for 16 years.  Through much counseling and deconstruction, our family survived.  There still new things being realized...like Mark Darling essentially taught us how to implement a system of abuse in our own house that makes me sick today.

One thing that bothers me is that ministry continues forward via Hometown Church without any connectivity to Evergreen.  If you google the history of Evergreen it seems that it's hard to find any sources.  There used to be articles and information from the 80s and 90s that showed some of the concerning patterns that I believe are cyclical in nature.  I recall at some point having found a document online in which the pastors of Evergreen apologized for issues that they perpetuated in the structures of what they promoted in families, marriages and other dynamics in leadership.  This document mentioned and listed the various allegations that Evergreen had perpetuated and the list of measures they agreed to take in order to avoid future issues of similar fashion.  Unfortunately, they didn't follow through... I've personally deducted that in those years (late 80s/early 90s) Evergreen had a more vibrant community that included a number of young families.  As a result, the influence of Mark Darling and Brent Knox started to take hold...and that led to the apology that eventually had to be publicly offered with the measures they'd take to be held accountable.  The Rock was created and once we all started having kids, those cycles were re-introduced.

It seems that the events that led to Mark D's falling out...and his eventual required counseling were also not something Brent and Mark Bowen decided to follow through with.  They should have ensured that Mark received the agreed upon counseling that resulted from the issues with Suzanne. 

My concern is that there isn't any sources that connect Evergreen and Hometown so that people realize what some of the teaching and behavioral patterns of abuse look like.  And also, why Brent and Mark are still pastors at these churches?  Their repeated ignoring of abuse should be held accountable...?
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bill.whalen
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« Reply #3 on: March 30, 2021, 08:07:10 pm »

I do recall in my research of the history of Evergreen in Bloomington I found an official omission and errors document where the church apologized for its ways.

Of course nothing changes. Does anyone recall this document?  I believe it was late 80s or early 90s.

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bill.whalen
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« Reply #4 on: March 30, 2021, 08:15:49 pm »

Actually what I was thinking about is linked on this forum but the site that was originally hosting the information is no longer live. Anyone have the info or know who was managing the site?

It was linked as 1991 Church Error Statement
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Linda
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« Reply #5 on: March 31, 2021, 04:32:52 am »

Hi Bill,

My husband and I had many meetings with many ECC pastors after Darling called for a life commitment to ECC at an all church gathering at Hosanna Church in early 2005. Tim, Spencer, Brent, and finally Darling (who asked us to leave). The commitment for life teaching was what got us Googling “Great Commission Churches and cults”. The results were shocking.

In the early days, GCC churches got themselves on cult watch lists. Wanting to get off, they composed the Statement of Error and Apology. We found out about this because the Google search led us to Wellspring in Ohio which is a cult rehab center that was started by a former GCC elder to help people  get out of GCC and other groups like it.

We were meeting with Brent and Spencer and asked about the Statement. Spencer knew nothing about it.  Brent said he remembered some type of statement, but it was more “clarification” and not an apology. He asked if we’d like a copy. We said yes. He never got us a copy even after we reminded him. Larry Pile from Wellspring had a copy and sent us his book “Marching to Zion” which was available in full on the GCx site until someone hacked it.

You can find it by searching that site on Way Back Machine. I’ll try to get you a link.
« Last Edit: March 31, 2021, 05:00:43 am by Linda » Logged

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Linda
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« Reply #6 on: March 31, 2021, 04:58:08 am »

Here is a link to the book on the history of GCC.

https://web.archive.org/web/20190517082808/http://gcxweb.org/Books/MarchingToZion/
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Linda
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« Reply #7 on: March 31, 2021, 04:59:17 am »

https://web.archive.org/web/20190524055548/http://gcxweb.org/Misc/WeaknessesPaper.aspx

Here is a link to the Statement of Error that Brent referred to as a statement of "clarification".
« Last Edit: March 31, 2021, 08:22:56 am by Linda » Logged

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Janet Easson Martin
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« Reply #8 on: March 31, 2021, 09:52:51 am »

GREAT work, Linda!!  Many thanks for digging up those links to very important documents.
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For grace is given not because we have done good works, but in order that we may be able to do them.        - Saint Augustine
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