Excerpts from November 28, 2005Cults continue to recruit nationwide, by Lana Phan, Times Staff Writer, University Times, California State University, Los Angeles
...CultsOnCampus.com, a Web site that provides current and archived news on the activities of cults and cult-like groups on campuses nationwide. One of the groups monitored on the site is the International Church of Christ (ICOC), or the Los Angeles Church of Christ...
...Kevin Walheim was approached to attend church services and Bible studies by members of the ICOC while he was a student at Cal State Northridge...
..."I feel spiritually raped ... I am now 28 years old and still living at home with my parents because I am not ready to live on my own having my mind controlled for so many years," Walheim wrote in an essay on Reveal.org...
November 12, 2005Brothers' Statement to Kip McKean, Disciples Today, Kingdom News Network (KNN)
Brothers from the International Churches of Christ
Editor's Note: It is with continued heavy hearts and deep respect for God and his Word that we publish this letter to our family of churches known as The International Churches of Christ. This statement was first published for the subscribers to this site (Disciples Today) on November 2, 2005 in our attempt to first bring this to the attention of those in our fellowship of churches. We are now releasing it for a broader distribution...
...The seriousness of his sin was obvious when Kip was asked to resign as the Lead Evangelist of the Los Angeles International Church of Christ in 2001 and asked to resign his role as the World Missions Evangelist for the International Churches of Christ in 2002. Though his current ministry in Portland, Oregon has grown, the character sins have not changed and Kip has publicly announced his intentions to continue dividing disciples and churches around the world...
...A November 2nd statement from 84 ICC church leaders announced that they would have "no further fellowship" with McKean unless he repented of "character sins" and "divisive tactics." The statement accused McKean of "dividing disciples and churches around the world," of "building a kingdom for yourself" and of telling a "self-advancing" revisionist history of the movement. The statement asserted, "We believe that you began your new movement with 'The Portland Story' article calling out 'the remnant' to follow you."...
Matthew Couch, assistant director of the Ohio Union and a council member, said colleagues at other universities having developed a similar brochure prompted this effort in 2002...
...Couch said there was some concern at the time about the controversial International Churches of Christ being on campus...
..."They had been banned from several campuses, including the University of Cincinnati, which was one of the institutions whose literature on high pressure groups we ... borrowed from," Couch said...
October 9, 2005Brothers' Statement to Kip McKean, Disciples Today, Kingdom News Network (KNN)
Brothers from the International Churches of Christ
...Some of us fondly remember over 30 years ago when we all became totally committed followers of Jesus as college students at the University of Florida...
...After numerous personal conversations, discipleship groups, prayers and pleadings confronting you with the leadership sins in your life over a number of years, you resigned as the Lead Evangelist of the Los Angeles Church of Christ in November 2001. After more pleading and prayers, you resigned as Missions Evangelist and recognized leader for the International Churches of Christ in November 2002...Recently, because of your unrepentant heart and actions, several churches have publicly rebuked and warned you about your divisiveness. You were also recently removed from the program of the 2005 International Leadership Conference and were removed from the planning group for next year's conference for being divisive. You responded by mocking these rebukes in your sermons and articles and by using your time at the 2005 ILC to recruit people to Portland...
October 14, 2005A Detail Response To Brothers' Letter to Kip McKean
"Concern For All The Churches"
From the Portland International Church of Christ Leadership
...Since the 2005 Portland World Missions Jubilee, there have been numerous letters of warnings and markings for divisiveness from former International Churches of Christ (ICOC) leaderships against the McKeans and the Portland Church. On October 3, 2005, Kip McKean received a letter signed by over sixty evangelists and elders which had grave concerns and accusations about his character, his motives and his ministry building skills. Once again divisiveness was a central issue...
October 10, 2005 A Brief Response To Brothers' Letter to Kip McKean - From Bob Bertalot and Tony Untalan, Elders in Training, Portland International Church of Christ
CultsOnCampus.com has numerous postings about cult activities around USC and other California universities...
...When asked what she thought about the accusations in the 1990s that the Los Angeles Church of Christ was a cult, Markowski said, "I think stupid decisions were made by different people ... but you learn from your mistakes."...
October 20, 2005Cults are on campus, Letters, Daily Trojan, Marisa Ligons, Senior, Religion, History, University of Southern California
I found it interesting in the article published about how USC shouldn't be worried about cults on campus, yet there are definitely cults on this campus ("Web site aims to warn others about cults," Oct. 4).
I am not talking about the traditional thinking of a "sacrifice your babies and vulcan mind-meld" type of cult, but definitely high pressure groups which can be categorized as cults for the abuse in which they make their members constantly endure.
As a former member of the International Churches of Christ, I found it laughable that you quoted their leadership, when perhaps they are the worst of all groups on the USC campus...
October 11, 2005Cults must be covered, Letters, Daily Trojan, Megan Singer, Junior, Sociology, Psychology, University of Southern California
Guensie Grecy's article, "Web site aims to warn others about cults" (Oct. 4) is intriguing.
...Perhaps Grecy could have educated people to the psychological effects leaving a cult has on those who found the courage and strength to leave? The entirety of the issue of cults on campus must be addressed...
Dear Brothers and Sisters of the Phoenix Valley Church of Christ,
...The practices we objected to concern efforts to recruit members from other churches, noting that such efforts had already involved members of the Phoenix church. On that issue, we called upon Kip and Portland members to cease and desist these disturbing efforts...
...Kip and Portland members have contacted members here in recruiting efforts since our warning letter...
October 2005 My family was sucked into a cult, As told to Michelle Lee Ribeiro, CosmoGirl
The article explains why Lauren Wolverton and her family joined and left the International Church of Christ in Portland Oregon.
The article includes a photo of Lauren with her family.
The article also includes a photo of Kip McKean who now leads the Portland International Church of Christ.
In an untitled letter Henry writes to a friend, he answers the charges Los Angeles, Kip and a host of other ICOC leaders that his letter caused the time of troubles...
...A letter by a leader and to the leaders! And an open letter at that...
...To leave the movement was to leave God! How could it have been otherwise when it was framed so skillfully and preached so passionately? To this day, tens of thousands of our members still think that to leave the ICOC is to leave God. Or at least believe it is probably so. And now that same kind of hubris has spawned a calling out of the remnant from within the ICOC itself! Shame.Shame.Shame. That my friend, is the real reason for the damage, the 'human wreckage'.
There is no getting around this widely (but not entirely) accepted teaching and belief. I think it's utterly laughable that our highest level leaders try to deny it or act evasive...
...Remember this: How many hundreds of thousands did we lose before my letter?
...I have come to believe the ICOC was a cult or if you prefer: a cult-like/authoritarian Christian sect...
...we were a cult. God knows I tried not to come to this conclusion, but I just can't see it any other way. And I think I can prove it a thousand times over (remember-I have the testimony of nearly 10,000 emails, calls and letters, not to mention 22 years 'inside' and two years' outside') And although the ICOC is radically reformed in many places-which is great, you still have a few unrepentant/unreformed cult leaders kicking around...
...after Kip was asked to step down from his position as "missions evangelist" of churches in the International Church of Christ (ICOC) fellowship of churches, he assumed the leadership of the small Portland church...
...several brothers met with Kip nearly a year ago at the International Leadership Conference held in Chicago to warn him about the divisiveness that he was promoting. One of our elders, Gordon Ferguson, was a part of that meeting...
...the building of the past 20+ years under Kip's leadership was clearly faulty...
...It must be asked who appointed Kip and the Portland church to be the ones to determine which churches are really legitimate and which ones aren't?...
...Kip and some members of the Portland church are actively recruiting members from other churches. This has become a widespread phenomenon...
...Unfortunately, in "The Portland Story," our brother Kip, in seeking to "call out" disciples to an ostensibly higher level of commitment, engaged in several serious and inappropriate kinds of unwholesome criticism and comment: mischaracterizing our church history...
...Certainly it is true that many of our churches are struggling. Many of them are still picking up the pieces left from damage caused by Kip, other leaders and members...
August 2005On Recent Developments in the ICC, (International Church of Christ), John Engler, Barnabas Ministry (There are 3 particularly relevant documents everybody involved in or concerned about the ICC needs to know about.)
August 28, 2005Boston Elders Address the Actions of Kip McKean, The elders of the Boston Church, Boston Church of Christ
...As a result of Kip's divisive behavior, conversations and writings, he was warned last year at the Chicago leadership conference by a group of mature elders and evangelists. Kip committed to changes, but his actions indicate that he is not serious about working respectfully together with others...
August 27, 2005 (PDF) Call To Brotherhood Unity and Revival, Elders and Regional Evangelists, Los Angeles International Church of Christ
...There are many of us who believe that in order for our churches to go forward and multiply, the time has come for us to reaffirm what we believe...
August 21, 2005The Portland Story, Kip McKean, Portland International Church of Christ
...In the fall the Portland leadership will begin to seek out church leaderships in congregations that are struggling to ask if we can help them build a foundation of sold-out disciples...
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