DogLover

SoulSearcher, They don't really care any more whether they recruit new students. They are living off the "boom years" of the ministry, and as long as they can appear to be doing the work of their mission under non-profit rules, the Board of Directors can continually milk that money. There is nothing Godly about the setup of the Way these days (perhaps there never was, I don't know) but the way it is set up today, the only Godly things done are done in the lives of individual believers who love God, yet are trapped in the ministry by a misguided sense of guilt or commitment.

I know this isn't a biblical site, but the Bible does give a couple important answers that relate to this ... it says in the Gospels that people (at least of Israel) aren't married or given in marriage in the afterlife of Paradise ... and most importantly, for the Christian believer, it says that "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard" nor has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those that love Him ... so no matter what The Way International or anyone else thinks, that can't be it ... because then the Bible wouldn't be true. If you don't believe the Bible is true, then you don't have an answer, but if you do, then this provides some detail.

I'm confused ... are you guys kidding about a missile in the silo or an underground bunker under the OSC ... or are you serious?

Shellon, My compassion goes out to you. MD F*rt. the Trunk Coordinator of the Way at the time, sent a letter to a friend of mine (former Way clergy) when he left TWI, saying that he would have been killed in Old Testament times, and that he would be dead within two years. That was in 1995 ... 15 years later, my friend is alive and kicking and living strongly for the Lord, without the condemnation and legalism that is rampant within The Way ... and he has biblically helped quite a few people in that time, adding to the 27+ years before that time. After he let me read the letter, he tore it up. His life continues to prosper. If you have not already read THE SUBTLE POWER OF SPIRITUAL ABUSE, I highly recommend it ... it talks about how abusive spiritual groups use fear tactics such as the one described to keep their followers in line. For any of you out there who are still "in," I suggest strongly that you leave. I left on January 11, 1996 and have had a great life fellowshipping with other Christian believers since then ... and, by the way, the home church I attend is not coordinated by a lesbian and her lover, as the Way is purported to be.

Paula WAS Paula Burkey when she was with me in the 13th Corps, but she and Rand divorced and she remarried. I don't know her married name. She is Harve's sister, not his wife ...

I don't know her married name, but I have a good friend who is looking for her ... Paula was in the 14th Corps. Does anyone know if she is still in, or how she might be contacted?

Someone said: The Way International did not help any one. I beg to differ. It helped me. I've been out since 1996, but I cannot and would not deny that it helped me, despite all its founder's and other leadership's shortcomings and sins. I don't mean to excuse any of that, and they WILL be accountable for them. David had sex with Bathsheba and had her husband, Uriah, killed, and yet he went on to receive revelation recorded in the Psalms, as well as being "a man after God's own heart." This was while he was a believer .. .and yes, he paid the price even in this life for that sin because of the death of his son ... so there will be consequences to pay, but I don't think in my case and many others that it would be accurate to say the Way International did not help anyone ...

A skink is a small lizard ... blue-tailed skinks are rather common here in western North Carolina. Quite attractive for a lizard, if you like lizards.

It's stupid to even consider that someone could do that ... if anyone could have done it, it would have been Jesus Christ ... but even he was tempted by the devil. You will note he replied, "It is written..." not "You're not on my schedule for the day." Just absurd arrogance on the part of TWI leaders.

Michael Fort was very kind to me during my interim year at HQ (1983-84) and for the first block of my final year (when he was moved to Emporia to be an assistant Corps Coordinator). You would not have wanted a kinder, more supportive friend and coordinator. He seemed to have nothing but contempt (maybe disappointment and regret, I don't know) for me when I left the Corps in May of 1985 after a horrible LEAD evaluation, six weeks before I was to have graduated. We talked after that on the phone, though, and he was cordial and supportive. I have written him several times since I left the Way on January 11, 1996, but have never received a reply. I wish him and his family the best ... not because of what he has done since then, but for the kind and supportive friend he was during a difficult time in my life. I know he has done unkind things since then, but I speak only for that period of time in my life.

I met that student once in the late 1970s in North Carolina ... he was in her Academically Gifted English Class ... named R*cky C*nady

Many moons ago, Doug was the Limb Coordinator of NC ... then lived in Hawaii for quite a few years. The last I heard he is in either Australia or New Zealand ... I'd like to get in touch with him to tell him something important. Thanks, DogLover

During my interim year in the Corps (1983-1984), I went into town with a 12th Corps friend to Adolph's, the restaurant that is no longer there. They refused to wait on her because she was black. No, I am not kidding. They would take my order, but not hers....and this is the heartland of America in the late 20th Century! I found it hard to believe.

To clarify Bolshevik's statement about the in-res Corps "getting" $30 a month ... we didn't GET anything ... we had to provide our OWN $30 a month ... that was the maximum amount we were supposed to spend in a month. I don't know about others, but most of the folks in my Corps (13) that I knew of spent as much as they wanted to. Even the Corps Coords would often make exceptions ... for folks needing car repairs, for instance, and one time I was coming back from the Indiana Campus from a dental appointment with an in-res Corps person (12) and she had permission from Michael F*rt to use her daddy's credit card (which he had sent her) to buy up to $500 worth of clothes and shoes. I am sure there are folks that "religiously" kept their budget books, but I would suspect in the later Corps (9 and after, at least) that people probably spent whatever they had/wanted/could get away with. Just mho.

Skyrider wrote: "and 50-70 interim corps each year (late 70s to mid 80s) were paid $75 a month........." To be honest, by the year 1983-84, we interim Corps were paid (in Michael F*rt's words) "three hots and a cot" and one hundred dollars a month. I'm not sure when it went up from $75 to $100, but by 83-84, it was definitely $100. An added perk for our final year is that we received $100 per month tuition/sponsorship credit toward our Way Corps obligations for each year we had served on staff in addition to the $30 per month credit for each year we had served as WOWs.

John also graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ... he was there when I was there. I know his sister, Sue Carlson, is a grad of the 6th Corps, but I am thinking that John was a grad of the 8th Corps. He was still living in Raleigh, NC and coordinating a Way Home when the 6th Corps was in residence.

I agree ... the similarities of our own "cultic organization" are incredible.

Many, many years ago after my self-confidence was shattered by T*m J*nk*ns*n during a block at Gunnison and I left the Corps six weeks shy of graduation, I called him (he was still "in" at Emporia then, sufffering from the shock of POP) I wrote him and he had NO recollection of what he might have done, but did call, I believe, to say he was sorry (this would have been 1986). When a friend of mine asked for that same consideration from him in the early years of THIS decade, the silence was deafening. Same goes with W*r*e*n "Barney" B*rn*a*t ... (my 10th Corps WOW Coordinator) total silence, even when asked if we could put hard feelings behind us, as Ephesians 4:32 mandates ... I guess he just decided that part of the Bible didn't apply to him in his new Geerite group.

Ralph's a very accomplished nurse these days ... with a "real" diploma. Thanks to all those that offered. I know how to get in touch with him now. He is just a wonderful, wonderful person that brought lots of joy and wisdom to our lives and I miss seeing him and hearing from him (on a regular basis) immensely, as do many of you. Three cheers for you, Ralph!

I was in from 1972 until January 11, 1996 ... and I never heard it put just that way. Fact is, we DO have an old man (Scripture says), but TWI twisted that truth to make people afraid to think for themselves in any way, shape, or form except that of which they approved ... some of which was scriptural, much of which was not. I remember a (at that time recent) 9th Corps graduate in Chicago (YC) telling me when I asked her whether it was right for certain unmarried people to sleep with other unmarried folks that I "had no right" [her very words] to expect her to know the answer to that just because she had been through the Corps. At a later time, the Area Coordinator (the wonderful - yes, he was - KK) told me I had EVERY right to expect her to know the answer to that question. Bottom line is, she just didn't want to ADMIT she knew the answer, so she used it as an excuse to melt my face for even having the audacity to ask it!

I think they are "coordinating" Gunnison.

Somewhere in my vast array of notes from many things, Way and non-Way, are many pages of notes from hearing those tapes. What I remember from them is that LCM outlined all the different devil spirits he thought Chris Geer had.

Biggest Way loser (still in, I believe) in the Asheville, NC area: J*m D*r* ... arrived in Hickory with three children and wife pregnant with 4th child in a van with almost bald tires ... real responsible, that one. Then, because they were now full time staff, he arranged for dental appointments (which he had not been able to afford before, he told me). Also had a long list of rules and what snacks you could eat at what time posted on his refrigerator to remind his kids. Also, never let them stay up for church "unless invited," even though they were allowed to play quietly in their rooms on the second floor. Often had breath that smelled of stale, strong coffee ... also used believers to do his yard work and babysitting, while allowing his oldest son, his namesake, to belittle the babysitter. Even admitted how out of shape he had gotten after a few months of being full time staff ... not working, but home "working the Word" and eating his wife's homemade cookies. As Bugs Bunny might have said, "What a maroon."

From what little I have looked at on Vince Finnegan's website (once a year or so ago), one of the main differences I saw was that he speaks of being able to lose one's salvation (what the Southern Baptists call "backsliding"). My Bible says "incorruptible seed." Obviously, his followers use a "new" version. If it is incorruptible seed, then I cannot lose it.