HCW

Yo Socks! Had I taken the time to edit my post better, I probably would have written; "Seeing as some had a pereception that the early Corps groups were basically a bunch of drugged out, sexed up hippies when they came to HQ..." I'd say I'm more "seriously kidding" about statements like that. However, I did also say, "The people in the first few groups of Way Corps in general are an incredible group of people...." I also said "BASICALLY" -->. :)--> I was trying to communicate more of a perception than a reality and limitations on my writing skills have surfaced I probably should have mentioned Del in the list of guys qualified to take over as Pres. too. Yeah, I've at least met most of the first 3 Corps. Got to know a few more than some of the others. JOYFUL NOISE! You guys were part of the best that the ministry had to offer. Remember the America Awakes concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial? Remember the clouds and the rain that threatened cancelling the concert? Remember how somebody prayed and you guys started playing and the sky cleared up? It turned into a beautiful sunny day. Good GOD what a thrill. Hearing you guys sing, "Wake Up America! With God above youo've gotta love our coun-try! Waaaaaaaaaaaake up America..." Always loved that song. A real anthem for cultists the world over. ;)--> It was the cover of your "America Awakes" album that inpired me to want to join TWI staff. I felt it was a shame that the ministry had to hire an artist who wasn't (at least that's what I was told) associated w/ the ministry to do 1st class artwork "for God." I worked hard to develop until I could do work of that calibre. Small , friken wayworld, huh?

You know? I had a good and wonderful experience in high school too. I was 106th in a class of about 750. Earned higest honors standing with a 3.5 GPA. What's the point? There are people in my graduating class for whom the years of high school were pure hell. They rue the day they walked into the building. I don't. If I had to do it over again, like go back in time, I would. I'd try to use the wisdom of my years now to guide me in altering some decisions I made back then that I now consider to be mistakes. See any parallel? Here???? Pyschologists say, and Shakesphere wrote Othello to explore, there is no "reality" but reality for individuals is shaped by their perception of their environment. Dr. Phil says we create our own reality. Our unique point of view and our own contribution or lack thereof does color our view of "reality" for each of us. I have no rose colored fantastical view of the "good ol' days down on the farm." In fact the ONLY reason we speak of days as being good ol' is that days subsequent to and in comparison were so God DAMN BAD!!!!!!! People post good stuff because there was good stuff to speak of. Its THAT simple. There was bad stuff to speak of also. That being said, I do believe there is A reality, a central set of facts that cannot be altered, shaped or refuted by anyone's perception. I have my own question(s) regarding this stuff; #1. Why is that that when we, who were there, who, for the most part, were NOT damaged by the experience, post positives about our experiences, SOME of you who were NOT there, or were hurt there, consistently speculate about how BLIND, DUPED or MISGUIDED we were???? #2. Why is is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO hard for some to accept the CONCEPT that TWI was once good then changed to bad???? #3. If I & others like me were seeing things in such a delusional, rose colored way WHY did they FIRE us? Why did they tell the new faithful to stay AWAY from those that they kicked out???? #4. IF they changed from VPW to LCM and LCM's regime is so obviously bad, is it SO impossible that the direction they turned from was good? OH! I can answer that one, it went from bad to worse. There is not a staffer on earth from "the old days" that would ever tell you VPW, the ministry, or even themselves was perfect. We screwed up "all the time." The primary difference from my view is that at one time the HEART of the ministry and VPW was good. We would try our best to fix things if we messed up. NOW. they don't even seem to know they are messed up. There's a major difference. Let me give you a concrete example of what I'm talking about. WordWolf. You said I, "...unfairly stereotype the vast majority of us. " No I didn't. The "You" I referred to was only the "you guys" who DID and do "talk like VP was a complete charlitain...." To my knowledge that is not only NOT the vast majority of you who post here, I don't think that "you" is even YOU!!! If the shoe doesn't fit DON'T cram your foot in it. It hurts a lot less if you don't do that. YOU does in no way mean or suggest EVERYONE. If the "you" aint you, it then means THEM or THEY to YOU. Get it? This, to MY perception of reality suggests that YOU, WordWolf are not seeing, nor thinking clearly. In so doing you project and speculate that I do not see what I saw, nor know what I was looking at. I know how complicated positions can be. Just haven't spoken much on that tip yet. I looked at the picture and said to Mrs. VPW. "Who's the guy with the BIG KEY???!!!" I saw pictures of a train w/ some guy who looked like VP praying. I asked, "Is this the guy who got his arm healed?" She said, "No. This one is him..." and showed me another picture. SHe had a picture of the croud & you could see the guy with his arm hanging, she had another with the same guy, with the hanging arm waving. But then maybe he was faking the hanging part....? I didn't WANT to see anything. I just looked at the freakin' pictures! Gee whiz man cut yourself a break. You sound like an idiot. Old pictures from the 50's are glossy photo paper with Kodak on the back. Photo paper hasn't changed much at all since then. Paper is made from TREES man! Get a freakin' grip on REALITY!!!

Gee wiz - - where do I start. EXC. . My new momma in de word. I can never doubt the validity of anyone's personal experiences, especially if I have the smallest expectation that anyone would accept the validity of mine. I trust that all of you are beginning to see that the TWI you experienced and the one I and older old timers than me lived in are different. In fact the new and current TWI is a perverted mirror image of what we once knew. Lots of questions: Most people had no idea of VPW's motorcoach escapades. We bought the first coach in '76. VP had an office in the EOB, in the Wierwille home and one in the coach he soon consolidated his all of his daily workload to his office in the coach. He got tired of forgetting which office what was in, it just made more sense for him to work out of one space and the coach was the logical choice. Often Howard Allen would drive late through the night (he felt that it was the optimum use of VP's time for him to drive through the night while VP slept so he could use daylight to teach and do business) and VP would be asleep when they pulled in, Mrs. would be asleep in the house. Howard always parked the coach right next to the little shed north of the Wierwille home in precisely the same spot (within inches) on the east side of the courtyard. Howard would secure the coach, plug in the external power and leave the motor running. The hum of the engine was like a lullaby to VP. He used to say he could sleep better in the coach than he could in the house cause the road vibration made it like a rocking crib. Howard would walk across the BRC parking lot to his house & VP would wake up around 5:30 - 6am and start his workday without having left the coach. Lots of times, VP would come to the BRC for breakfast @ 7. Usually he'd eat in the house w/Mrs. The official HQ workday started @ 8, everyone who worked w/VP had to adjust their workschedule to fit his. He generally started his workday before the rest of us and worked longer. I lived in "The Upper Room" remember? The doors to the loft faced east, towards the house, I'm a night owl so I saw them come home quite a few times; had a few late night chats w/Howard. Like , "Where you guys been? How long you gonna be home? Any cool stuff happen?" The lights in the coach would be on and VP would be up and working every morning when we got up. It was not unusual to see VP in the morning while we were on our way to the EOB (Executive Office Building) to get showers, (pretty exhiliarating on cool fall mornings, I might add ). We felt privileged to live in the upper room cause most all of the top male leaders in the ministry had lived there in their first days at HQ. We felt like we were carrying on a tradition, it was almost like a fraterinty of "upper room brothers," plus it was like living with VP. He visited us occasionally we'd hear him klunking up the stairs, "Who's livin' in here now?" The he'd tell us some insanely funny story of how Craig, Vince Finnegan, Ralph Dubovsky, or Bo Reahard had done some dumb thing there. or in the barn. People were always getting called to the coach for some meeting or other, while he was at home or on the road. They would just park It was a completely normal thing so basically the only people who knew of any elicit escapades in the coach were the participants. My opinion and common sense suggests that the aides and perhaps the secretaries may have known what was going on. Personally, I had wondered occasionally about what business certain people had w/VP. Beyond that, noone not involved really had reason to think anything fishy was going on. ***************************************** As far as the destruction of the ministry, NONE of the oldtimers had one spec of doubt about that. VP was adamant about successfully passing the ministry on to future generations. I was responsible for the ministry's historical photo files and VP personally OK'ed me to have access to anyone and everything related to the ministry's history. It was my job to organize thousands of pictures and catalog them chronologically and according to what even was what. I had piles of photos and drawer after drawer after drawer of slides of basically every event in the history of TWI. I spent hours with people like Milford & Betty Bowen, Corame Peters, J. Fred Wilson, Don & Wanda W., Mrs. VPW, John & Meg Kish and people in the 1st thru 4th Corps saying, "Who is this and what were they doing? Who shot this?" etc. I have a pretty unique position in TWI. From the time I spent with the people and the pictures I fell like I was "there." For the better part of ten years '78 - '88, it was my job to be "there" and capture TWI on film for all of you and our children's children. VP always said to me, "Son while you're shooting, think of your children's children and go from there, we are doing all of this for them." In case you wondered, that's partly why I'm able to pull up these memories from decades ago as if it were yesterday. I don't have any sick allegence to TWI or VP. My allegence is to GOD and the children of Jasmine, Kanisha, Sean, Bradley, and Alana (my children, age 18, 9, 7, 5, & three respectively). +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The people in the first few groups of Way Corps in general are an incredible group of people with a lot of raw and in some cases undeveloped talent. They were, we felt, privileged to get their Corps training directly from VP. They got all of the "top brass" positions, some of the latter single digit corps viewed, by default because there was nobody else, literally in some cases. They were "there" the had heard it from VP. They were the first generation of trained leaders, responsible to; as faithful ones faithfully teach what they were taught. Seeing as the first three corps were basically a bunch of drugged out, sexed up hippies when they came to HQ, some individuals of the later groups felt they could handle the tops spots better. There was a sense that the top spots went to folks "just because they knew VP." The Corps groups through the years got larger, with more and more accomplished, educated, experienced young people. They were kinda right about the "knowing VP" thing. VP's position was that he would take a person "with a heart for God who didn't know anything" over an MBA any day of the week. VP felt the MBA would try to tell God what to do when it came to his profession where the person with heart would ASK God what to do cause they didn't know dang about what they were doing! CRAIG was in the category of person who didn't know dang, but he really seemed to have a heart for God in the early years. Craig worked hard to do stuff to put himself in front of VP, some felt more than he actually earned and deserved. Time w/VP was a prized commodity, you always came away from it with more than you had when you went in. Craig was overly greedy w/ VP & took time w/ him. Some felt VP was getting old and didn't see what was going on. JAL was infinately more experienced and qualified to run the Corps than Craig. The guys running the other root locations, ("locale" was an LCM word, I always felt he used obsure words and coined phrases & did stuff like that trying to look smarter than he was) the regions, corps coordinators, some of the larger limbs and departments, other countries; those guys were impressive; no doubters. VP began talking up the idea that he would not always be President back around the 35th Anniversary PFAL class (or was it Advanced Class '79???). He said that ANY believer was a potential candidate for Pres. The reality though, was that there were only a few guys who were probably really candidates, Johnny Townsend, Vince, Ralph, Bo, John Lynn, Craig, and a couple others. I noticed (who didn't???) this jealousy thing concerning the "major" leadership positions. Craig made, in my view, to much of that. By the time of the double digit Corps there were no more "major" positions available. I believe, Craig's obsession with his relationship w/ VP actually poisoned the Way Corps. It got so bad that we had to start marketing the twig as "the most important" leadership position in the ministry. Craig was completely focused on gettin' the President spot, He always acted like he was apprenticing w/ VP for the spot, Other people held tight to their piece of the TWI pie cause there was always some young buck, hotshot Corps grad coming along trained and ready to take your spot. Myself included. We 11th Corps were the biggest group of "hotshot" Corps "ever." We just knew we were "all that AND a BIG honkin' bag of chips, WITH cheeze & salza, thank you." **************************************** If I were to tell you what I think VP's legacy really is it would .... off a LOT of people. For now let's just say that TWI didn't "turn to $hit in a matter of a couple of years." TWI started on its downhill slope the day Uncle Harry died. Uncle Harry was the true backbone of TWI. Were it not for HIM, his heart, HIS faithful service to God's ministry, TWI would never have been anything. VP knew that, he said that more than a few times in more than a few places. Uncle Harry was VP's conscious. VP always had a wild hair up his butt, Harry always reigned him in. VP was well aware of his extreme A1 type 1 personality. Uncle Harry was mentor, confidant, big brother and a lot of other good things for VP. As much as everybody in NK didn't like VP EVERYBODY LOVED Harry. The town knew Harry would keep VP from going "too kRAZy." When Harry died VP died a little too, VP was never the same after that. We were not fools who staffed HQ, we didn't habg around VP cause he "smiled at us and made us feel special every now and then...." We tested what he taught and it worked. You need to grasp the concept that TWI eroded significantly as VP became less and less involved. By the time VP died, there were so many, most significantly Donnie and Rosalie Rivenbark and Craig (in that order) who said regularly, "That's how Dr. used to do it, we do it this way now." My last two years on staff were a hellacious, surreal comedy. Crazy, unbelievable errors occurred at every level of the ministry. It was insane? YES. It was surreal, the way that life went on, business as usual, concerning VP's funeral. Us "old timers" & "lifers" were angry about it although few had a position powerful enough to do anything about it. When Bill Winegarner (ROA Coordinator) left the staff and Rosalie took over as our Trustee Cabinet member, ugh! That was a big deal, BW just didn't give a damn about most any of the crap around HQ. He was in charge of the biggest deal in the ministry. All of the other departments served the Rock of Ages in one way or another. In a practical sense BW was more powerful than LCM. ROA needs this amount of budget - - he didn't really ask - - it was for the ROCK! Most everything revolved around the ROCK and as long as VP was alive ROA was untouchable, the WOW's meant everthing to VP. ROA was for OUR PEOPLE, we HAD to do our best & ROA had to be the best, It got the best of everything. BW ruled the Rock, so... his word carried a lot of clout. When things got bad I went to Bill for help. He was a type of mentor, whe he left things got worse. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I saved the India trip for last.... Mrs. VPW kept all the best of the photos for her Wierwille family photo albums. The ones I had in the historical file were the leftovers that she didn't want. She was wise enough to not let young whippersnappers like me take care of her true family treasures. (Would you? I wouldn't!) She kept all of the best pictures of the India trip. Photos of the stuff she had in the house before it was sold included. (If i remember correctly, she got most if not all of the stuff they sold back BTW. Some people close to the family bought things and kept it for safe keeping, as they thought VP was crazy for asking her to do it.) I've seen pictures of the India trip. Mrs. had a picture of VP holding the key to the city he received. There are pictures of the cround pressing the train in Jubblpore. The croud was so thick the train could hardly get going. She showed us pictures of VP praying for people and has pictres of the man whose arm got healed. She would not ever let those pictures out of her possession. The trip wasn't BS. You guys talk like VP was a complete charlitain and we who followed him were star struck, glass-eyed idiots. Men who would do anything for him, just because he asked and women who would spread their legs for him just because he winked. You insult me, us all, and most notably - yourSELF. Skepticism is healthy, I welcome it. I'm a skeptic myself. Frankly, if more people were as skeptical about TWI as I and a LOT of us were in the late 60's & 70's there probably wouldn't have been the widespread abuse spoken of. Do ya really think we were THAT stupid? I was first "witnessed to" by my best and most trusted friend. At age 15 I was wise enough that I wouldn't go to twig for MONTHS while he kept asking. Then I finally went to twig to challenge those idiots and pull my best friend OUT of it. TWI had no reputation back then. Nobody could tell you of any worldwide ministry, fabulous headquarters, airplanes, etc. The first time I ever heard VP's voice I thought he sounded wierd & didn't hear a word he said. My Mom was TOTALLY against me getting involved w/TWI. - - He's UGLY! was the first thing I said when I saw him. I challenged EVERYTHING wafers said at first. They said, "Chapter & verse" on everything I retorted to them about "The Bible says...." It was a full year & 1/2 before I finally agreed to take the class (PFAL). The first time I went to HQ. I said, "It stinks around here." I"m a city kid, fertilizer to me is a bunch of stinky dang on the ground.... Why would anybody BUY dang and SPREAD it all over their YARD??????!!!!!!!!!!!!! I said "THAT??? That's the BRC?" Not impressed. My position changed when I saw signs, miracles and wonders like the way people promised. I was a top high school student, a leader in a huge school with a genius level IQ (what happeneded ??? ) My Mom saw a difference in her son & eventually relaxed her position about the ministry, AFTER she had visited HQ herself. I'm not trying to insult anyone or exault how smart I must have been. Later in the ministry they flat out seduce people; now they take advantage of the good nature of people's hearts and use people who are sincerely searching for God, telling them "We have God, come with us we'll show you." They sicken me.

I have no boobies either

Nope. I'm not a Geerite or any other "ite." not involved with any splinter group either. You know? If Donnie Weirwille HAD kissed my butt it may have felt sweet on my posterior for a time.... What he actually DID do concerning my butt was SAVE it. That resulted in me still having a butt for some of you guys to kick and others of you to support. Thanks for the kind words and I welcome even the MOST harse, terse and even downright MEANest comment anyone has about anything I say, do or even THINK. OK? If anyone presents a difference of opinion, I WANT to hear it. Seen something I haven't? Cool, tell me about it. Know something I don't, teach me. Believe something different than I do? Keep it to yourself. No, just kiddin. :)--> If I'm wrong I'll admit it. I don't believe I know everything. I KNOW I haven't seen everything. I'm just sharing my experiences & thoughts. I'm not trashing Donnie. Not criticising either, no personal vendetta or axe to grind. I used to wonder what happened? How did the whole thing crumble like it did? After POP fingers were pointed in every direction. There was even a school of thought that "WE," the believers, killed VPW. It was said that VPW died of a broken heart.... Lotza craziness abounded. My position on Donnie is based on recalling many conversations w/him, comments he made in staff meetings, sharing times, etc. I aint mad at him. The clincher for me was hearing him talk about how he felt about that India trip thing. Personally, I'm not sure if he ever really got over his anger with his dad about it. In all of the times he and VPW talked about that trip I don't recall either of them talking about resolving Donnie's feelings about it. In fact, I remember Donnie saying things to the contrary. Lots of little comments, remarks, well placed quips & barbs over the years that one day it hit me.... They are BOTH still mad about that! It came together for me after having children of my own, working to keep from developing unresolved issues with them. And observing my wife and her father both NOT dealing with, not resolving their issues....They were saying the same types of things I heard coming from Donnie, VP, et al. Don was mad at his Dad for doin' it. VPW was mad at Donnie for being mad at him. VP was too stubborn to just apologise & say something like, "I'm sorry for hurting you and YOUR Mom. I really felt it was something I had to do...." VP would say stuff like that, in public. There were more than a few times I watched Donnie do a "slow burn" when his dad said stuff like that in meetings. It seemed to me like VP made what Donnie considered to be feeble attempts to apologize from the lecturn, doing what he should have done personally and privately with his son. The resentment was there, I saw it myself. Donnie was a highly intelligent, estute, eloquent, educated, well read, classy and tenderhearted man. I felt an affinity w/him as I wholeheartedly agreed w/his position that every staff position in the ministry should be manned by trained, experienced professionals - just like corporations "in the world." We talked about it, personally over coffee or tea (I'm a tea drinker) at his house, more than a few times. "Dad doesn't get that." Donnie told me, "He thinks all you need is God and a "heart" to do it." "Yeah right." I'd say, "No offense, but most of the design & art in the "old stuff" is pretty damn crappy." "...But is has HEART!" he'd say. We'd laugh out loud! He'd tell some of the stories about how people with God & a heart to do..." broke equipment, drove tractors into the pond, flooded rooms, burnt food and served it at meals in the BRC basement, almost squished people by dropping heavy stuff off the loft in the barns - - stuff like that. We agreed that the ministry needs "cunning craftsmen" like in the Old Testament, people who have God, a heart to do AND specific high level abilities to do the job at hand. We weren't trashing anybody, just talking about legitimate needs of the ministry. There are at least a blue million hilarious stories of staff screwups. We'd bust a gut talking about 'em all the time. I have a few stories of my own TWI screwups. Back to our regularly scheduled program.... Donnie felt that the ministry had grown to the point where we needed to replace some staffers with pro's. God-inspired professionals. This was another point of contentention w/ VP. He felt that the ministry could simply "choose ... men of honest report, full of the spirit, that we may set about this business." The Way Corps trains spiritual leaders, teachers of God's Word to move the Word; you don't need college for that, PERIOD. was VP's position. Why should the Corps "leave this work to serve tables?" Hence the advent of the College Division; to educate more "secularly oriented" people in spiritual things. I think Donnie was smarter than his dad. VP pushed the idea that a person should go WOW before going to college. Donnie advocated getting your college education. Donnie never went WOW... hmmm... or Corps.... Told you he was smart. There's a video TWI produced that has Donnie speaking about how he felt about the India trip. When I watched it once after having been outta TWI long enough to way-head thinking out of my brain. It was SOOO obvious to me that at the time of that interview Donnie was "still feelin' it." Who could blame him? Things Mrs. VPW had said while showing us Wierwille family photos came back to me & it suddenly all fit. VP was relentless in wanting Donnie home. I don't blame him for not being into the "ministry of the Word." In his own words, VP's kids never asked to be involved in their dad's ministry. Especially the baby JP. He felt that his mom leaving her baby like that dealt both her and the baby a huge unnecessary blow, damaging their family. It was selfish, his own father was willing to sacrifice his wife and family for "the ministry of the word????" Donnie wanted to be an educator not vice president of The Way. Its not inconceivable nor even unusual for second generation of business owners to rebel against dad's business. In fact it is a statistical truth that son's of business owners usually mess up the business. I'm not saying Donnie messed up TWI. I'm saying that he came back into it determined to do things his way with a healthy dose of unresolved anger at his dad. VP's behavior didn't help. He could be a bull in a china shop, especially in the early days. He was an impulsive hothead, extremely high strung with a shoot-first ask questions later attitude. The original corporate structure of TWI provided for every corporate decision requiring a two-thirds majority vote of the trustees. Uncle Harry was the only person in the world who could really handle VP. He had good business sense and Ermal Owens was so laid back and wise that he seemed to never speak. A man of incredibly few words. The installed the three of them specifically so Harry & Ermal could vote down VP's crazy ideas. "He had a million of 'em." Craig adopted the worst of VP's personality traits; the ones that fed into his own overly abundant ego. It was cool and fun & all, that Craig was one of the guys and played ball w/us, but... HE always HAD to play quarterback! Just because he was Craig. People would offer VPW favors usually in RESPONSE to what VPW did for them, because of who he was to them. Craig would require favors because he was Craig.

Thanks excathedra

Greetings all. I'm new to GS, just found it the other day actually. Before I post something on this topic allow me to introduce myself; briefly. I'm 11th Corps. Spent my apprentice year on staff @ TWI HQ "78-'79. Came back to my staff job during final in residence year and came back again after graduation in "83. Was on staff til Aug "88 (about eight years in all) when I was the second staffer to be fired (Sal Secchitano was first) at the "beginning of the end." At any rate. My job at HQ put me in regular contact with both VPW and Craig. I lived in "the upper room," right next door from the Wierwille home for about three months in '78 and would visit regularly w/VPW and Mrs. on the stoop outside their back door. Whenever VPW would return home he & Mrs. had a regular thing where they'd sit on or near the stoop and talk. They really loved the view of the trees in the courtyard area. I'd sit with them from time to time when be coming "home" from work in the evening and talk about "things & stuff." I was only 21, a city kid transplanted in the country far from home. They took me under their wing & became sorta like aboptive grandparents to me. Our apprentice corps twig met twice weekly in the basement of the Wierwille home and Mrs. and Wanda would supply cookies, ice cream & other refreshments. She visited our twig on quite a few occasions and showed us old family photos & talked to us about "the old days" & stuff like that. No. I'm not over romanticising the situation. That's what my experience was. Nope. I wasn't, nor did I ever become an foot-kisser; not one now either. At any rate, I got to know them well. This was pre OSC; the WOW auditorium was a far away dream, no dorm then, etc. We were less corporate, more like family then. We could go down into the BRC kitchen and get food, snacks or whatever; kitchen staff, if they were there would say, "Just go in the fridge and get it." There was always leftovers from what we didn't eat at meals. Mid-night snacks just like you'd get at your home. Ralph Dubovsky was regular fixture there. We would pig out! We lived together, worked and had fun together and got to know one another as family. There were only like a couple hundred people working there that first year. The OSC was just a shell and there was basically nothing west of the trailer park. All this goes to say, I know LCM too, he's "Craig" to me. My job as staff photographer required me to always be there at every event wherever VPW or LCM was to shoot pictures for the historical files. Always there, I was behind the scenes and right up front at every major ministry event for ten years from 1978. I'm a personal friend of everyone in what they now call the trustee household. I used to hang out at Howard Allen's house & babysit his kids. Mrs. Allen would feed me cookies & milk. Whenever Craig was home he'd call around or one of the guys (the jocks) would call him to let him know when were were playing and what. Sometimes we'd get a ballgame together that day so he could play. We'd play whatever was in season, fall was football, spring & summer was softball or basketball. My job also had me doing artwork directly for VPW. That meant I would meet privately w/him (in the motorcoach) to discuss specifics for projects and then come back to show rough designs & pick which way to go for the finish. (No, he never hit on me, he was only into girls.) VPW trusted me to tell him what he should do and present him with alternatives & he would pick the one he liked best & we'd go with it. "You're the artist, don't ask me what to do, you TELL me..." All this goes just to say... I knew VPW & Craig pretty well. I can tell you what I experienced of their relationship. My POV was somewhat unique, as it was my job to watch them. I was also in charge of TWI's historical photo files and spent a LOT of time talking to the real old timers about stuff. They filled me in on "basically everything" about the ministry's background so I could catalog this huge stack of photos. VPW had a way about him where he mentored, like everybody. This "Father in the Word" thing evolved out of that. I don't remember if it was Craig, Johnny Townsend or somebody else who coined that "father in the Word" thing. VPW had this fatherly manner where he was always teaching something in just about every situation. I never saw him as a father figure but those from the first three Corps groups, he was more like a father to some of them. Craig, at one time was a real star in the Corps. He was really a dynamic, stand out guy like the prototype Corps guy. He was always "one of the guys" to us and was actually likeable. We had a lot of fun. He was always cracking jokes & stuff like that, macho guy type stuff. When LCM took over as Corps Coordinator that put him around VPW all the time cause VPW was really into the whole Corps thing. VPW spent lots of time with the first three Corps groups; lots of time with Craig. We all loved VPW. He actually earned the love, respect and loyalty he got. He had a way of making you feel special when you were around him. Teaching The Way Corps was the apple of VPW's eye. The Corps became like Craig's "thing," he was the consummate Way Corps person. That was kinda why he got the position. The first time I saw Craig speak about The Way Corps I was 17 years old (in 1975). Craig was SO dynamic and powerful, whatever the Way Corps thing was I wanted it. As the ministry grew Don Wierwille came back to HQ with a Doctorate Degree and experience in administration. He took over as Vice Pres. and began to organize the staff. This relates to the Craig/VPW relationship because VPW and his son Donnie were estranged. Donnie became angry at his dad when he was about 13 years old because VPW made his mother sell "all" of their stuff for their trip to India AND VPW made his mother leave her baby (John Paul) while his dad went galavanting around preaching and healing strangers in India. Donnie did not understand why his dad would make his mom do that. Just like TWI taught that to truly understand the Word of God you have to understand Biblical culture, to understand the nature of the LCM/VPW relationship one must understand New Knoxville culture. In New Knoxville, nobody goes to INDIA. You also don't welcome outsiders as "family." Culture there mandates that one is ALWAYS an outsider unless you were born there. Even if you were born there or YOU are not REALLY from there if your parents were not born there. TWI actually helped alter the culture there to have them accept "outsiders." SO. If you see where this is going.... Donnie left New Knoxville to go to college (a firstborn male son usually does not leave the family farm there either). VPW broke local tradition, Donnie did too. Donnie went his own way partly to spite his Dad. He did not go to college to get educated to come back and run his dad's "ministry." He left to LEAVE. VPW always wanted Donnnie to come back to HQ after college to "help run the family farm" which had now become The Way Ministry. Donnie basically gave VPW the finger and said NO. He adamantly refused VPW's pleadings to come home & got a job as a school principal. For years he stayed away. I don't believe Don Wierwille was EVER committed to the ministry of the Word. He came back to HQ to be the one to build the corporation, the organization. His goal was to be at the helm of a large business HE built. LCM, it seemed to me, didn't have such a great relationship with his own father. I met him at some big even, I'm thinking it was Craig's Inaguration ceremony. He just didn't come off to me as the proud father. Someone noted here that Craig's dad was mad at VPW for taking his son.... I tend to agree. Although I never heard that specifically, I don't think Craig's dad was too happly with Craig throwing his life away to move to some podunk farm in Ohio to become a Jesus freak. Craig WAS a rising star in the Southern Baptist (conservative white republican) church. If your son that you put through college at a major University (UK) left home to go "train" with a few long haired hippie type pinko fag Jesus freaks on a farm in nowhere Ohio... what would YOU say??????? Those first two Corps could never even THINK of meeting the Corps dress code they have today. I think it was Bo Reahard who came to HQ with only one pair of jeans & they RIPPED. Whoever it was, he came to meetings with his foot hanging out! Anyways.... When Craig arrived on the scene he was probably longing for his father and VPW was definately longing for his son. Their relationship grew like this father/son thing. It was in full effect when I came on the staff scene in '78. Craig had no apparent professional skills and certainly no qualifying professional experience prior to becoming Pres. He does have an amazing memory however, he used to wow us with it in the Corps. The Corps Coordinator position is one of the few jobs at HQ that there is definately no secular equivalent to. I don't know what else Craig would have done on staff had he not been Corps Coordinator. By 1983 when I came back to staff Donnie had influenced things to the end that just about everybody on staff had actual secular credentials to do the job they were doing. Some of the oldtimers had gained a level of professionalism by growing with their job as they didi it over the years. Us new generation of staffers (I actually had graduated from art school with a degree before I came on staff) were trained, educated and even experienced at the job they did. I got the sense that the "top leadership" guys in the ministry didn't much mind Craig being Corps Coordinator. Nobody seemed to mind his apparent "Golden Child" status w/ VPW. The Corps was kinda "over there" away from the corporation & "move of the word" stuff. We made our own decisions in the nuts & bolts of moving the Word while Craig built the Corps. Our goal was to be able to run the ministry without VPW having his hands directly in everything. VPW hated having to put out fires whenever he came home because people were incompetent. Craig, as Corps Coordinator was always #2 to VPW, cause while VPW was vital, everybody knew the Corps was really HIS, Craig just ran the day to day grunt stuff. Then after the Corps grew to 5 locations other guys in the ministry were "equal" to Craig because as Corps coordinators they ran their location basically as they saw fit. Even though Craig had the "inside position" w/ VPW it kinda didn't matter because Craig really didn't know how to run a campus. Emporia, the biggest and central Corps location was Donnie's responsibility. Gunnison was Howard Allen's, HQ was VPW's and LEAD was Donnie Smith's. In a way Craig was a big something that wasn't much of anything, he just ran the "program." He'd travel around, yell at the Corps and come home. Craig came to HQ basiclly right out of college at KU. He told us while we visited the Corps Chalet (his home on grounds) that he had dreams to play pro football, like most guys who play Division 1 NCAA football do. He said he was a star in high school ball but when he got to the NCAA he realized that all he had to do in high school was grunt and push people out of the way. Craig was always second string at KU. He told us how the COACHES felt other guys picked up the blocking schemes and techniques ("I had to LEARN stuff!" He said.) faster & better than he and played the other guys in practice more than he and he didn't get the opportunity he felt he deserved to prove himself. Therefore he warmed the bench, not playing as much as he wanted. He was upset about his lack of playing time when KU went to the Orange Bowl. His team did actually go to the Orange bowl but Craig wasn't a starter, he hardly even got in the game at all. He didn't get his uniform dirty; that's an insult to a football player. So here he was, again, after busting his foot to become the #1 guy in The Way Ministry, he was actually on the sidelines warming the bench in a lot or respects. The Trustee Cabinet ran HQ & Department heads ran their stuff. In residence Corps were just interns to us staffers, we told them what to do. After a while many of us Corps Grads stopped coming to Corps night. I refused to put on a suit, leave my wife & kids at home and go to Corps night to hear a tape of Dr. Wierwille teaching what I heard live when I was in residence. When "confronted" cause "Craig" said he wanted us Corps Grads to set the example for the inresidence Corps, I said I'd be a better example to them by staying home with my kids and raising them in the Word. I said I could teach them better if I studied my Corps notes; it was a waste of time for me to sit and take the same notes I already have. Nobody could refute that. Craig's words "fell to the ground." He was just "Craig" to me. VPW taught me personally during my visits in his motorcoach that NOBOBY but GOD could tell me what God's will for me was. VPW would say, "When somebody comes up to you saying God told me to tell you.... You should say, He didn't tell you to tell me to do it, He told YOU to do it." I knew Craig's "special" relationship with VPW told him the same thing. Craig wasn't the only "special" relationship VPW had. He was actually closer to Johhny Townsend and Walter Cummins than Craig. Those guys were not nearly as needy of the attention and "king of the hill" position Craig strived for. There were actually a few other guys in the ministry at the same leadership level as Craig. There were at least five other guys qualified to take over The Way as President, all of whom were actually better suited to run the business end of the ministry. VPW said he felt it was between Chris Geer & Craig about the spiritual/teaching aspects of the presidency. Craig wanted so badly to BE VPW in the sense that he'd do all of these "man of God" things like VPW did. Craig comes off like a good 'ol boy. VPW was very natural and presidential in his manner and carried himself with an air of class and dignity. He never did the stand-up comedian thing. He would speak with power and a Godly authority that drew people to him. Yeah he was a closet (or should I say motorcoach) horndog to the Nth degree; but when he taught! And he had something that girls said was sexy. I always thought he was not good looking at all. Craig has always been a wannabe. When he became president he lost his mind and became drunken with power thinking he can do anything he wants. To sum it all up. I believe Craig came to HQ hurting for a father figure and VPW accepted him cause he was hurting for a son. VPW would yell at people a lot. When you made a stupid mistake at times he would make an example of people; yelling at you badly in front of the whole staff. He was VERY high strung and generally loud and yelled to the extent many would term abusive. It was like a family thing cause he would generally do it amongst the staff, not from the pulpit. I asked him about that privately once after he had yelled at me publically because I didn't have my camera at what turned out to become an historic event. He told me, "I yelled at you like that son, because I know you can take it. There are some people here that if I did that to them they'd crack like a vase." Craig and VPW loved each other. VPW loved everybody. He called each of us staffers "his" like a term of endearment thing. Like if your name was Nancy he'd say, "How's my Nancy doing?" like every time he greeted you. We all had a genuine respect and love for each other as we all felt we were called by God to serve His people at the center, the root of God's ministry. Craig & Dr were like part of the center of that. Genuine respect and love? Absolutely. Back in the day Headquarters was a truly special place. You could actually "feel" the presence of God there. We all loved each other. Possessed people would walk onto the grounds and their spirits would leave them. "You are Welcome at The Way" at one time was true of ANYONE. I knew without a doubt that VPW loved me. He showed a great deal of love to a lot of people. VPW, himself, paid the last few hundred dollars of my Corps sponsorship when he heard I was short. (I still have his handwritten note in a box somewhere in my basement. If somebody calls me on it I may scan it & post it.) I know Craig was very hurt by seeing VPW deteriorate as he did. I'm guessing he felt abandoned. I'm guessing that Craig felt he wasn't ready to run the ministry without VPW as there was a prevailing air of the same. Nobody on staff was more dependant on VPW to do their job than Craig. Craig seems to be an extreme example of "I'm FINALLY GONNA GET MY WAY!!!!!" There was a year or so near the end where VPW's travels was more like a farewell tour than anything else. Dr. began teaching, like everywhere he went on "The Joy of Service." He would say how important it was that we saw that and got back to it. It was pretty obvious that he was no longer "the ministry." It was like he was dead already. He & Craig seemed to rarely be home at the same time, I thought it was wierd. Like a dark cloud over the place. I'm thinking VPW probably expressed dissapointment in LCM to him at some point then. We all knew he wouldn't last much longer but his end seemed to come way too fast, way too soon. It was like he was on a gentle glidepath down then fell off a cliff - - next thing we knew he was gone and we were digging his grave. We were all in shock. Craig started changing when he took over the ministry. Those of us who "knew him when" felt this, "Call me Rev. Martindale" stuff was crap. At one time he was a lighthearted good 'ol Oklahoma boy. He stopped playing ball with us as much. Any of us used to be able to talk to him about what time we were gonna be on the field or the court. We'd see each other at work or lunch and say, "Craig's home did he call? Anybody call him yet?" He used to call himself when he got home. It changed to Eric Koetteritz had to call Eddie Gobel and leave Eddie a message and Craig wouldn't show up most of the time. That put a sour spot taste on "the game" & it gradually faded to an every once in a while thing. One of the early rumors about VPW's death was that he died of a broken heart. HQ was a completely different place by then. Leadership had become hard hearted and legalistic. The corporate needs had superceded the needs of the people. The "we are family" feeling was ancient history. I think Craig thought he could believe the ministry through beating the IRS back from taking away the Non-Profit status of the ministry. They wasted a over a million abundant sharing dollars and lost. When VPW died we dug his grave by hand with shovels and spades. Tom Mausolf coordinated the effort and to my thinking that was one of, if not the last time I felt that certain feeling of family at HQ. No bickering, just complete cooperation and teamwork measuring, digging, throwing rocks out, shaping the sides, etc. The funeral was a blur to me. Wow. I haven't thought about this stuff for years. Hope it helps.