Catalano Kids/Blitz/Tucson/Tempe/San Clemente

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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[Mdcatalano]

I was on the Blitz. I was 2yrs old. Grew up in Tucson, Az. Still trying to break free from so much fear and pain from those years. Wonder if anyone here knew us?  My parents were Brian and Ruth Catalano. Five of us kids, Mathew, Mark (me), Tad, Christy, Jared.

[Del]

Not certain I can be of help via this particular venue, but, yes I knew your folks in San Clemente, as well as your grandfather, Jim. Fear and pain are difficult to live with; it's familiar territory for most of us, so you're not alone.

[Janet Easson Martin]

Welcome Mdcatalano!  There are a number of children of GCx parents who have written on this Forum.  There are likely many more who have read and still possibly read hear.  They may not reveal themselves publically, but might private message you via the Forum.  Reasonably, a conflict exists for many of them to reveal too many public details because they don’t want to hurt the relationship with their parents. 

This Forum has helped some of them find healing.

[Linda]

Welcome, Mark. Glad you are here.

[Huldah]

Welcome, Mark. I look forward to hearing your story if and when you feel ready to share.

You said you grew up in Tucson. Was there a Blitz/GCx church in Tucson at one time? I lived there in the mid-80s, which was only a few years after I left the Blitz church in Ohio.

[Mdcatalano]

Thanks for the welcomes and info about other GCx kids on here. The Tucson church started around ‘72 I want to say. After the Blitz. My parents, Mike Begley, the George and Gene Evens, Schoolers, and others were a part of it. I don’t recall that many names. I’m open to direct contact and conversations. Gonna spend some time looking around in there. I appreciate the encouragement and that I’m not alone in this.

Regards,

Mark
Mdcatalano@gmail.com

[Huldah]

Are you familiar with Marching to Zion, a book about the early years of the GC movement? It mentions many of the people you knew. It's long out of print but it's available free online, http://gcxweb.org/Books/MarchingToZion/.

[OldTimer]

Hey.  How wonderful!!  My wife and I knew Brian and Ruth well.  They gave us "evil" advice about our getting married.  Other "evil" advisors on whether we should get married or not were from Dave and Barb Gumlia and (yes!!) Herschel and Mardine.  Herschel later lied to Jim M. that he had said we should get married, because Jim M. opposed it.  We were one of the first couples to be married in the blitz.  We have very fond memories of your parents, and we left the Blitz in 1982, but we were in it since 1970.  Check out our initial posts on this forum.  We knew the Schoolers real well, and many others from the original gang.  I hope your parents are doing well.  We would love to see them again.  We probably met you kids when you were little.  We had 3 kids when we were in San Clemente for those few weeks.

In fact I think we last saw your folks in San Clemente when the Henry Hintermeister affair "exploded."  I was with Jim M. when he went to Henry's house.  I think Jim wanted me to go with him to be a "witness" he could use against Henry in his subsequent excommunication.  We lived in Jim's house for a few days while we hunted for our own digs.  Never found a house because the Henry thing made us leave town like freed slaves in the night!  We had just left our home church only to be welcomed to "hell."  This was spring or summer of 1982.  It was after Jim's "Loyalty" conference for blitz leaders in the Colorado Rockies.  Anyway.  There is helpful info in among these posts, but you have to work to find historical info.  I tried to start with some historical background info within our first postings but there didn't seem to be any of the old ones on the forum.

[Janet Easson Martin]

Thanks so much for posting again, OldTimer.  I would imagine there are other “old ones” reading here, but staying quiet.  The great thing about this Forum is that one can post anonymously.  

I am so tickled when I receive a PM from someone I knew ‘back in the day’ though they post under a pseudonym on here.  Hopefully, more will do the same for you.  

“YOU WERE NOT ALONE” sure are encouraging words.

[Janet Easson Martin]

“Never found a house because the Henry thing made us leave town like freed slaves in the night!  We had just left our home church only to be welcomed to "hell."  This was spring or summer of 1982.  It was after Jim's "Loyalty" conference for blitz leaders in the Colorado Rockies.
-OldTimer


Your first hand knowledge of being part of this group since 1970 is EXTREMELY HELPFUL!!  Others reading here may not be aware that much of this history has been “erased” by GCx and most of its leaders.  It’s birth and foundational years are crucial to the contriving of so much False Teaching that widely permeates the organization.

Could you elaborate on why Jim McCotter excommunicated Henry for those who are more recent to the Forum?  Can you expand on your comparison of ‘freed slaves’?  Would you want to explain what you meant by “welcomed to ‘hell’”?  Can you share some about Jim’s ‘loyalty conference’?  

[OldTimer]

You know...I think I have the actual tape of Henry's excommunication...I'm not sure.  My wife and I moved recently to be close to our children and grandchildren and I am sure I saw it recently in my huge "box of secrets."  I have a transcript of it I think, and also some papers from that time.  But it is buried in my shed right now because I didn't want to revisit it but didn't want to throw the stuff away either.

Jim M and Henry H. and Mike Royal and some others got sucked into a pyramid scheme with a product called "Slick 50."  Wait...I think I may also have Henry's letter to Jim outlining what happened.  I think Jim then used that letter of defense to prove Henry as factious.  I'm not sure how I got it.  I wish I could tell you that I will go to my shed tomorrow and dig this stuff up, but it is not likely for at least some months, since we are not even done putting 50 years worth of stuff away.

Mike Royal knows a lot about this time.  I was not "slick" enough (didn't have any money to "invest") to slide into the scheme, but I do remember the argument between Jim and Henry in Henry's garage which was loaded floor to ceiling in "slick 50" product.  Henry lost all his money and was destitute and financially ruined.

It was creepy living with Jim...even for a few days.  He had uncomfortable teachings about being "open and free" inside his house with wife and children...taking baths and showers together, etc.  Surely others knew of this.  Perhaps.  I hope.  Tried to make us feel prudish.  Didn't work.  We were shocked.  Surely someone from long ago would have testimony to this and more.  Until a second witness, I have said enough.

Jim lived right across from the ocean,  There was his multi-story house, the highway, then a cliff, then the beach down below, and then the ocean, I think.  That's how I remember it.  Jim's garage was a rats nest full of stuff.  Titus M was a very unruly child.  It was embarrassing to us.  He seemed traumatized.  Don't remember the other kids at all.  Don't even remember much about Barb.  Only Jim.  He was a dominating figure.

Got to go.

[Linda]

That is so bizarre about Jim.

I was just revisiting the Slick 50 stuff in Marching to Zion and the Henry Hintermeister letter documenting the abuses of JM and JMs subsequent rebuke of Henry. This group has harmed so many people for so many years. Here's the link to that section.

http://gcxweb.org/Books/MarchingToZion/MTZ-ContinuingSaga.aspx

I really should have started a flow chart years ago to get a better picture of the scope of the damage.

To any reading this who experienced this spiritual abuse, I am truly sorry. It should not be.

[Huldah]

It was creepy living with Jim...even for a few days.  He had uncomfortable teachings about being "open and free" inside his house with wife and children...taking baths and showers together, etc.  Surely others knew of this.  Perhaps.  I hope.  Tried to make us feel prudish.  Didn't work.  We were shocked.  Surely someone from long ago would have testimony to this and more.  Until a second witness, I have said enough.

I've been mulling this over. If you knew this, OldTimer, then there were others close to McCotter who also knew it. I wonder who among the early leaders also was aware of these things but kept the truth from us. Dennis Clark, maybe? Herschel Martindale? Did the Solid Rock leaders like Mike Keator, Tom Short, or John Hopler have any suspicions that all was not right at the very top?

My time at Solid Rock was very brief, yet as a brand new member, I genuinely trusted them and believed they were the true New Testament church. I'm still trying to process the fact that some of the people who promoted McCotter as such a shining light and who urged us to submit ourselves unreservedly to the church's leadership may have known these things all along. I find myself hoping that most of the SR leaders didn't know. It's just too awful to imagine that they knew or suspected but chose to deceive us when so many of us were so very young and trusting.

[OldTimer]

Of course they did.  We met Mike Keator in 1970, along with Dennis and Jim etc when they went to New Mexico in "the Blitz."  My wife wanted to move to Columbus Ohio when Mike went there, I think in 1972.  She decided to go to a different work and we married soon after.  It was against the advice of the "elders" and Jim M. opposed it.

[Huldah]

Well, that's depressing. I've known for decades they were wrong in a lot of their practices and teaching, but I always believed that at least they were basically sincere in their errors. I honestly never suspected that they were deliberately misleading anyone.

[Huldah]

Another thought: we know that some of the GCx leadership is keeping tabs on this forum, which they are free to do.

I wish that any of you who were deacons or elders back in the 70s, who have any reliable knowledge of this, would come forward. I'm sure  this would be difficult for you, but I'm also sure you understand how much some of the members struggled back in those days to live up to the standards of the movement. It might be some comfort to hear the truth spoken. It wasn't the members who failed; it was the demands themselves that were wrong, especially coming from a founder whose own life was apparently quite unstable.

Edited because I just had a really hard time putting this into words.

[Janet Easson Martin]

Tears come to my eyes as I read your post, Huldah.  Yes, it is NEVER too late to speak truth to bring healing.  God is so merciful that he can and does use those who once wounded to bring healing if they come with genuinely repentant souls.  

I would enthusiastically agree with Huldah’s simple request.  God’s people are precious and honored in his sight, and deeply loved.


Will you seize this opportunity to love The Father and His Children?

[Vince Capobianco]

Jim McCotter is live on a podcast every Friday at 4pm answering ALL questions asked of him about his past, present and future.  Why not stop all the guessing and gossip and slander and get your answers right from Jim?  Time to put your "money where your mouth is", and jump in and ask on behalf of yourself or others all the questions you want!  If you want to ask questions immediately, you can text them to 404-405-6358 24/7, and we'll que them up for the podcast, which you can watch at your convenience!  EVERY Friday at 4pm! 

Jump on through facebook or youtube...

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/JimMcCotterLIVE/

Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_-a-MOV_qjSKEpLcx9pR3g/featured

[Huldah]

Why not stop all the guessing and gossip and slander and get your answers right from Jim?  Time to put your "money where your mouth is", and jump in and ask on behalf of yourself or others all the questions you want

What guessing and gossip and slander? Give us even ONE example of something that you know to be untrue.

Are you even aware that some of the people on this forum knew McCotter back in the day, so they're writing about their personal experiences? So you're the one who's slandering them.

If you're serious about any of the things you say, then come back and interact with us, instead of just doing drive-by copy-and-paste.

[Vince Capobianco]

Jim is on live right now on facebook.  Why not stop the guesswork and ask him yourself whatever questions you'd like to.  He's on every Friday at 4pm.  You can text any questions to 404-405-6358 anytime and he'll answer them on the podcast.  Go to facebook...

https://www.facebook.com/JimMcCotterLIVE

Let's make this website moot.  Ask your questions directly.