My Story

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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[Hope]

I started attending candlewood's college group spring semester 2009. I was first impressed with the friendliness of everyone. I was raised in a group that consisted of believers from different churches and double checking scriptures to make sure nothing was be manipulated. I admit that it sounded legit at first.

The first thing that I was corrected for was not isolating myself with candlewood peeps. I had been meeting other Christians that weren't apart of the Rock on campus and enjoying the fellowship. It was suggested that I get to know candlewood people, look for the lost, and let the found find the lost. I thank God that I was able to connect with Christians because they were in God's family and not associate it to any churches. My lifegroup leader told me she couldn't get to know me unless I was committed to Candlewood and the rock. One of the things I won't forget and should have been a red flag.

The second thing was not being able to attend all the events. I was taking science classes, working part time, getting to know Candlewood, and enjoying my family in town. I had a hard load of classes with other things that needed my attention as well. I had a hard time balancing my schedule, I often had to skip events. The leaders corrected me so many times for not showing up. I felt that they measured if my relationship with God was on good terms if I attended church and all events throughout the week. I was often tired and needed to balance my schedule opposite the leaders standards. I was also thankful that I was taught to ask God about things in my life. I would ask God if I should go to certain events or other things in my life. God placed convictions that protected me from some of the activities and kept me from being apart of the rock women when they vandalized the rock men's dorms. It was a blessing where I questioned the leadership and learned to be less dependent on what the leaders wanted us to do. If you scheduled a group hangout that wasn't in the leaders plan you received correction for overstepping your boundaries.

I had a couple of interactions with the pastors. I remembered when I witnessed the manipulations, it was sickening. I realized that if they showed favoritism to anyone those people became pawns or as I called them pets to the pastors. If you wanted to be in leadership you had to follow everything according to the pastors guidance and or a pastors kid. I remember when I needed to talk about things going on in my life, I felt like I was being watched on campus and being followed by them. I learned the consequences of leaving candlewood, breaking the rules of the leaders, and questioning the leaders. I pondered leaving for a long time, I didn't know if I was ready to be shunned or to have the leadership use me as a example of what not to do. I remember when the pastors would come talk to lifegroups, it was creepy two old guys coming to the college dorm in the evening....sometimes it was about multiplying or correcting things as a group. After I learned and experienced the manipulation first hand, I started hiding a recorder on me so I could make sure I recorded the manipulation.

The blitz or summer LT is a joke. Candlewood families would use it as free babysitting and extra income for the summer. LT refers to leadership training, which for women is following the men and church leadership. At the end of my last LT they handed out the summer tshirts, they were on unity and love. The last summer LT had been the worst LT, the teachings were supposed to bring us together in love and unity. I chose to not wear the shirt or share in sharing, I didn't know where the love and unity was present. There are memories that I have been able to move forward from and others that I don't focus on because I don't know how to process them.

I learned how to get out of my comfort zone and develop into a person who can be a introvert/extrovert, which helped me to meet new people and walk into a new church where I could grow in my walk with God. I spent months before I left Candlewood listening to other pastor's sermons and testing the scriptures to make sure it wasn't being manipulated. I prayed about the new church and left when God was transitioning me to a place of being refreshed and growing in my walk. God blessed me with a amazing church family of believers from other churches to remind me that fellowship is a beautiful thing. I have been able to serve on teams where we don't know each other but are united by a common thread with nothing being manipulated; the smiles and gratitude from those that the teams have served is precious.

[margaret]

Glad for you, Hope.  Glad that it didn't take as long for you as it did for me! How are you doing now? You've already found a decently-functional church?
You mentioned red flags. Looking back I see so many, and wondering why it took me SO long to finally say, "enough!"
Proud of you!

[Hope]

Glad for you, Hope.  Glad that it didn't take as long for you as it did for me! How are you doing now? You've already found a decently-functional church?
You mentioned red flags. Looking back I see so many, and wondering why it took me SO long to finally say, "enough!"
Proud of you!

Thanks. You might say it took me long enough, I knew what was going on after attending for two years. I could have been naive, I like to think postive and first assume it's a fluke. I knew I had to have a strategy after seeing how they treated others who left. I spent months checking into the church I go now, while still attending the GCC church. It was weird attending the new one and I knew that I needed to leave the GCC church, so I spent time getting to know new people, finding a place to serve not out of obligation, and a good bible study.

I started volunteering in the community outside of the GCC church the summer before I left. Inside the GCC church, you mainly served in the church or helping one another out, not what you would think of making a difference in the community. I enjoyed being able to have a common thread that didn't include the GCC church.

I know I could never go back. I can handle the aftermath of leaving and knowing who is a true friend in my life. I'm still listed as a member of the GCC church. I'm debating if I  should request my name to be removed, though if anyone would ever have questions I might be able to help them see the truth or leave them thinking about what is going on inside GCC church.

[Janet Easson Martin]

Hi Hope!

Sorry I didn't respond a lot sooner. I'm glad you found this site. (I'm curious how you did.)  I did see you have been on here since, so hope you don't mind an overdue "Welcome!"

What you wrote is VERY helpful in exposing the truth about what goes on inside GCC (GCx) churches.  The spiritually abusive treatments you received are the same age-old complaints against it. Your more recent attendance around 2009 to 2011 once again confirms it has not really changed as it claims.

An identifying mark of False Teaching Groups is to isolate, as you mentioned a couple of times.  Another is to meet their demands to be worthy of respect and love, like you explained about the leaders needing your devotion to them rather than God.  GCx's goals are centered on scheming to enlarge their own pyramid. Your personal plans to listen to God and keep your life in a reasonable balance conflicted with their "pyramid scheme". Good for you to keep talking to and relying upon God more than men.  I love how you spoke of Him reminding you that "Fellowship is a beautiful thing", as you met with healthy believers in a healthy church.  To my knowledge God does not tell us we need church authority to hang out with believing friends. In fact, it seems he encourages it and says He is there in the midst of the gathering.

Thank God you had previous experience with believers from different backgrounds who were wise enough to hold the scripture above man's word.  As we also see in God's Word, Jesus puts a very high priority on sincere unconditional love, especially toward fellow believers because it's the hallmark to the world of His kind of love. Making demands of brothers in exchange for love IS NOT the new commandment Jesus had in mind.  

Thanks for outlining so well the harm brought to you by this group.


Janet

[Differentstrokes]

I feel your pain! That particular lt was my first one officially with candlewood and it was the worst!! I really wish I could get back the time I wasted in candlewood

[Hope]

Hi Hope!

Sorry I didn't respond a lot sooner. I'm glad you found this site. (I'm curious how you did.)  I did see you have been on here since, so hope you don't mind an overdue "Welcome!"

What you wrote is VERY helpful in exposing the truth about what goes on inside GCC (GCx) churches.  The spiritually abusive treatments you received are the same age-old complaints against it. Your more recent attendance around 2009 to 2011 once again confirms it has not changed as it claims.

An identifying mark of False Teaching Groups is to isolate, as you mentioned a couple of times.  Another is to meet their demands to be worthy of respect and love, like you explained about the leaders needing your devotion to them rather than God.  GCx's goals are centered on scheming to enlarge their own pyramid. Your personal plans to listen to God and keep your life in a reasonable balance conflicted with their "pyramid scheme". Good for you to keep talking to and relying upon God more than men.  I love how you spoke of Him reminding you that "Fellowship is a beautiful thing", as you met with healthy believers in a healthy church.  To my knowledge God does not tell us we need church authority to hang out with believing friends. In fact, it seems he encourages it and says He is there in the midst of the gathering.

Thank God you had previous experience with believers from different backgrounds who were wise enough to hold the scripture above man's word.  As we also see in God's Word, Jesus puts a very high priority on sincere unconditional love, especially toward fellow believers because it's the hallmark to the world of His kind of love. Making demands of brothers in exchange for love IS NOT the new commandment Jesus had in mind.  

Thanks for outlining so well some of the harm brought to you by this group.


Janet

My friends and I had parents who were concerned for us. They did research and located the "1991 GCC statement of church error". We were all given a copy and we read it. I kept this hidden knowledge from Candlewood. I did my research after the fact and came across this forum along time ago. I started checking the sermons with the Bible after reading the letter and noticing the differences. I disliked the lifegroups, we discussed our verse for each week, prayed, and listened to a sermon. They did try to keep us encouraged and engaged into the church, but there was no reading the bible as a group or discussing in depth on scriptures. Once the discussion of the Holy Spirit and tongues came up, I was told we don't understand the verses so we are going to just ignore it.

It was a big blessing I had previous history in fellowship with other believers. It was the biggest factor that they tried to break, they strongly encouraged me to stay connected with only candlewood peeps.